HOWARD TULLMAN JOINS LISA DENT ON WGN RADIO TO DISCUSS HIS INC. MAGAZINE COLUMN ON EBAY

 LISTEN TO THE SHOW HERE

LISTEN TO THE SHOW HERE

NEW INC. MAGAZINE COLUMN FROM HOWARD TULLMAN

 

    SUCCEEDING ON SUBSTACK IS TOUGHER THAN IT LOOKS

            Many years ago (and more recently again in the midst and aftermath of the pandemic) I warned the thousands of smart, middle-aged, corporate executives who had been fired and had decided to embark upon an entrepreneurial adventure (which would be seeded by their severance pay and/or their savings and retirement funds) that it was much, much harder to launch and sustain any startup venture than they imagined and that the vast majority of them were utterly unsuited for the task. (See https://www.inc.com/howard-tullman/should-you-start-a-businss-now.html.)

            Not only were so many of these folks temperamentally unfit for the constant ups and downs of the process and completely unaware of the many operational and cultural differences in the DIY startup world, but their past experience would also not only weigh them down and be wholly discounted, but it would also make them even more unlikely to succeed. (See https://www.inc.com/howard-tullman/so-your-kid-wants-to-be-an-entrepreneur.html.) Many of these people couldn’t even run their own bath. Not everyone is cut out to be a diva, a prophet, a speed demon, or a huckster.

            Unfortunately, between the massive federal layoffs initiated by the Orange Monster, the cutbacks and staff reductions driven by threats to reduce or eliminate grant and public media funding, and the accelerating demise in general of so many parts of the media business, as Yogi Berra used to say: “it’s déjà vu all over again”.  

            Worse yet, no one seems to recall the debacles of the dot com years, the implosions of the real estate and financial markets, or the fact that these days the “gig” economy and the world of wunderkind “influencers” look more and more like a “share the scraps” cesspool – lots of noise, no signal, and no money – inhabited by a miniscule number of winners and millions of losers.

            So, with specific reference to opinion writers, talking heads and news readers, and former network journalists, it’s been very hard for me to watch the daily departures of mature, experienced, and well-respected media mavens and mentors who are all intent on jumping with both feet into the new highly uncertain world of blogs, newsletters, podcasts, and videos. They’ll all be Substackers soon - whatever that may eventually mean and whether or not they end up liking it. I hope they learn to like it because there’s no going back for them even if there’s still a glimmer of the great news businesses that used to be.

            And, as hard as their lives had arguably become in an environment where the truth took a consistent and humiliating backseat to corporate and financial considerations as well as outright fear of Trump’s threats and lawsuits, they’re about to go from repeatedly pushing a stone painfully up a hill like Sisyphus to racing rapidly down the other side while hanging on for dear life with both hands. And, just as you learn in racing, in the insane hurry up economy, nobody waits for you. 

            They’ll learn quite quickly that other people don’t always dream your dream and that their allegedly “built-in audiences” are frugal, fickle and lazy to boot. They’ll basically love you ‘til they don’t and the Patreon model (https://www.patreon.com/login ) that they’ll pay because they love you or want to support your crusade is a financial fantasy. They’re most likely not to follow you anywhere, even for free, because free isn’t cheap enough. Brand extensions aren’t automatic or givens: Cheetos Lipstick, Harley-Davidson Cologne and Colgate Beef Lasagna were just a few attempts that bit the bullet in no time at all. 

            As someone who’s seen and written about these kinds of radical transitions for more than 50 years, I feel an obligation as well as the need to revisit my earlier cautions and to offer a few important observations that are likely to have been overlooked in the frenzy to move forward.

You Can’t “Ape” Your Way to Success.

            In this noisy and cluttered new media world where everyone is competing for a small slice of a finite and shrinking pool of attention, the primary key to success is differentiation at a time and in a context where thousands of others are trying to do the same thing. You need to start from the premise that no one’s interested in the old models or the tired formats of the past. And honestly, older white-bread white guys aren’t in such great demand either.

            The “news”, such as it is these days, is already everywhere, stale by the time you see it, and free. Regurgitating the same old stories – even in an ultra-timely fashion – simply won’t get the job done and no one wants to pay for it. You’ve got to have a new take, have a hook to set yourself apart, figure out how to attract a viable portion of the world’s attention at least for a moment, and then deliver consistent and valuable content every day in order to hold your audience. It’s a “what have I heard from you lately” world with a million alternatives just a click away.

            While John Chancellor once said that the function of good journalism is to take information and add value to it, the truth is that the media business today is far more about entertainment than education. It’s about looking, listening and laughing rather than leisurely learning. About fear and anger rather than fashion or foresight. Enragement, not engagement. The key seems to be pithy, bite-sized, observations and outsized opinions rather than painstaking analysis, careful commentary, or attempts to prove anything. People aren’t looking for proof – they already know what they believe – they’re looking for confirmation and reassurance. The truth has as much to do with this process as mustard does with ice cream.

You Don’t Get Paid Until You Pay Your Dues.

            Ignoring the wisdom and lessons of decades urging folks to try before they buy, whoever is advising these newcomers to put out a few interesting paragraphs and then slam up a subscription paywall to interrupt the initial experience is a moron. This strategy is a slight cut above pure clickbait, but to any serious person and interested reader, it’s just an offensive turnoff and utterly counterproductive because instead of introducing the prospect to compelling samples of the author’s work, it shuts the door without a single example and generally results in a swift click away. Email subscriptions, after some introductory exposure, make sense especially because you build a direct connection to your reader, but paywalls are a complete waste.

            You’ve got to be willing to invest your time and effort for a while at least without expecting any financial return regardless of your experience, talent, brand or prior reputation. The best players under-promise and over-deliver, which makes for a strong connection, a lasting relationship, and even a willingness to pay. All smart business is ultimately based on patiently building relationships. If you’re in it just to make a quick buck, you might just as well be selling shoes. You don’t want to be splitting up the loot before you rob the train.

            As much as it can appear to be a frantic race and a contest, in the long run, the people who survive will have built a small, but passionate community of followers who are willing to support their work financially because they trust the authors and because they find real value in the work. The authors, in turn, will be authentically connected to their followers and able, at the same time, to create content that is meaningful and satisfying both to themselves and to their fans. It’s not about beating the others; it’s about building a valuable business for yourself that you can be proud of. You get the chicken by hatching the egg, not smashing it.

You Might Not Have the Stomach to Do What It Takes.

            One of the reasons I retired from practicing law was that, as corporate litigation became increasingly expensive and lengthy, the clients eventually lost their appetite for the battle and their willingness to pay the required costs for doing the necessary work correctly and completely. Doing a halfway job wasn’t my style just as discouraged and disappointed doctors every day are told by indifferent clerks and flunkies working for insurance companies that they don’t care to pay for certain medical tests which the professionals feel are essential to properly diagnose and treat their patients. Even apart from the desire to take pride in the work you do, no one gets into these professions to do a crappy job.

            In the same fashion, experienced journalism professionals who’ve spent their lives and done their work according to long-established standards of honesty, fairness and objectivity - supported by talented staff and plenty of resources - may simply not have the stomach or willingness to take things of importance, depth and substance on the fly without the time to properly investigate or prepare and then proceed to simplify and hollow them out so that they can be swallowed by their audience without chewing or thinking.  Patience, prudence, modesty and humility have no real place in the attention economy. It’s a war zone with no bottom.

You Might Not Have the Stamina to Stick It Out.

            It’s hard, if not impossible, for a man or woman in their 40s or 50s with a full life, a family, a home and various other financial commitments, to compete effectively and flat-out every day on a 24/7 basis with kids in their teens and young adults who have absolutely nothing else in their lives, no reputation or integrity to preserve and protect, no moral inhibitions, incomparable levels of shamelessness, and few ethical constraints. The new adult entrants talk about freedom and independence without recalling Janis Joplin’s note that: “Freedom is just another word for nothin’ left to lose”. They’re putting their whole lives and careers on the line to compete with kids having their latest lark and living on their parents’ dime.

            Outsiders and grown-ups rarely understand the daily grind of feeding the content beast along with the physical pressures, mental stress and difficulty of getting on the non-stop creation treadmill. You’ve got to fill the void with something every day. When you add in the responsibilities of developing, marketing, managing and operating the other aspects of building a new business in an impossibly competitive industry with thousands of players all chasing a shrinking and cluttered pool of interested readers, listeners and viewers, it’s easy to see why it’s not a business for the faint-hearted or for those who are already fatigued and burnt out.

You Might Have Already Missed the Boat.

            Finally, and unfortunately, you can’t turn back the hands of time and you might just be too late to the party to make a go of it. These spaces are already crowded, and they already demonstrate the same “winner take all” tendencies of the tech world. A few big names will emerge, a few platforms will dominate and deliver, and the costs of entry and participation - which once formed significant moats - have already become trivial and are about to be totally obliterated by A.I.

You’ll know in relatively short order the answers to some of the critical questions above. If it’s not working or working for you, don’t kid yourself and continue. It’s never too soon to turn back if you’re on the wrong road.

NEW INC. MAGAZINE COLUMN FROM HOWARD TULLMAN

 

Why Your Business Needs to Fight Against Apathy

The political environment is so bleak that there's a temptation for many people to avoid any kind of engagement. Don't do that to your team. They need your leadership to restore a sense of optimism that helped this nation thrive. 

 

BY HOWARD TULLMAN, GENERAL MANAGING PARTNER, G2T3V AND CHICAGO HIGH TECH INVESTORS@TULLMAN

 

Is it just me or are we all suffering a kind of lethargic stasis and persistent apathy that are another long-term effect of the utter helplessness and lack of control so many of us felt throughout the pandemic. Then, we watched millions of Americans suffer and die and millions more lose their livelihoods in large part due to the ignorance, indifference, and gross incompetence of one narcissistic man - the Orange Monster.

To make things even worse, we believed that there was absolutely nothing we, as citizens, voters, parents, and workers, could do about the situation. This is an unfortunate and frustrating lesson, and a feeling of civic powerlessness that will linger for years. I’m afraid that, in addition to making it even tougher to get our people and the country back on track, our collective lethargy doesn’t bode well at all for the 2024 elections.

As I look around, I’m continually struck by the lack of energy and enthusiasm for just about anything in hundreds of our younger people, thousands of our team members, and in those dreamers, entrepreneurs, and business builders who used to be breaking down our doors seeking support, introductions, and, of course, funding. It feels like the whole world is painfully tentative, hesitant to move forward, still stuck in the “wait and see” mode. It’s the very people that we need to wake up, smell the coffee, and get back to building new businesses who seem to have thrown in the towel.

 And their belief, confidence and commitment in our institutions and to the concept that our political leaders can find a positive path forward seems weaker and more fractured than ever. Millions are simply turning their backs on politics-- a plague on both your houses-- and this attitude and defeatist withdrawal can’t be good news for President Biden in 2024 as the rational and caring people leave the battlefield to the MAGAts who now wholly dominate the primary election process and the media attention.  

 As Yogi Berra purportedly said, it’s déjà vu all over again and the prospects and the possible outcomes couldn’t be more unappealing or a greater threat to our democracy. It’s getting harder and harder every day to console and motivate our people and to comfort and excite them about a future that looks bleaker all the time. It’s almost impossible to convincingly pitch a vision in which you yourself don’t believe. And, if you can’t sell your team a vision and show them a path to get there, you can be assured that they won’t stick around for long. 

We’re facing an insane and highly risky election season, where the lower courts and law enforcement won’t be able to prevent the expected and continually encouraged election interference and vote suppression. There’s also the prospect of several additional years of spectating as Trump and his lawyers make a further shambles of what’s left of our legal system. And that, of course, assumes that he loses.

 An entire generation of college graduates about to enter the workforce as well as millions of our current employees are being shown how completely unequipped our governance, legal and regulatory systems are to deal effectively with business frauds, crooked politicians and common criminals who pay absolutely no attention to the traditional values of integrity and decency Americans have believed in, or to the basic assumptions of good faith and honesty that are the fundamental predicates of our democracy.

 Worse yet for all of us, the net and numbing effect of this forbidding and forlorn vision of the future is to convince these folks -- our peers, partners, team members, friends, and families -- that there’s basically nothing to be done. So, they settle for scraps and “gigs” instead of starting startups or building the future and they sit sadly, stew silently, and just wait for things to happen. This perceived lack of control-- the absence of any sense of agency -- is a serious threat to our businesses, our economy and to our political system.

 I fear that President Biden and the Democrats have no idea  how to re-invigorate the voters, overcome the apathy and indifference that will keep millions from even bothering to vote, or to effectively oppose all the widespread and already ongoing MAGA vote suppression activities.

 But, in our own enterprises, there are five small and effective steps which we can take to at least do our part to get our teams back on track.

 (1)   Give Your People Good Reasons to Get Back in the Office

There’s no way to win the battle for your team’s hearts and minds when they’re sitting at home somewhere and staring mindlessly at a screen all day.

 (2)   Give Your Teams Important Short-Term Projects with Simple Goals

Think of yourself as a coach with a team coming back to practice after a really rotten season and you get the idea. You’ve got to start slowly rebuilding your team’s confidence and you do this best by creating opportunities for quick, solid wins for them. You want to put them back in control of their own destinies.

 (3)   Celebrate Your Wins and Share the Stories of Your Successes

Success is absolutely contagious. Telling your people and the world at large war stories about great wins is something that never gets old, but it’s easy to forget to do it regularly and aggressively. Your customers can help in this process by talking about how important your support and partnership with them has been - especially during the toughest of times. Taking any of this stuff for granted is a great way to lose.

 (4)   Let Everyone Know That They’re Not Alone

Family time is great, but it’s still lonely at home when you’re talking about work. Everyone needs community, connections, and challenges and the workplace used to supply a tremendous amount of information, support and even gossip - all of which helped to build and sustain company culture. Replicating collisions and conversations online is challenging, but I’ve seen companies having Friday end-of-week Zoom beer blasts without a single thing on the agenda other than touching base with buddies and bosses you might not otherwise have a chance to chat with for weeks on end.

(5) Make Sure They Know They’re Making a Difference

Another important confidence builder is regular reminders that the work your people are doing is important to a lot of others who are depending on them to come through-- customers, clients, partners, vendors-- and it wouldn’t be getting done and done well without their talents and efforts.

Bottom line: no one is going to do the heavy lifting for you and it’s not going to happen all by itself, but if you get to it and make the effort, your business will have a brighter and more certain future.