Seth's Blog : Whose business are you minding?

Industries have rules. Rules and benefits. Hollywood requires agents, casting calls, big budgets and content aimed at a certain part of a certain market. If you follow enough of the rules, the thinking goes, you get a multi-million dollar budget... [] [Whose business are you minding?](/384435768/0/sethsblog~Whose-business-are-you-minding.html) Industries have rules. Rules and benefits. Hollywood requires agents, casting calls, big budgets and content aimed at a certain part of a certain market. If you follow enough of the rules, the thinking goes, you get a multi-million dollar budget and the red carpet. Broadway requires a certain length, certain compromises, certain deals. This creates scalpers and hangers on and small audiences filling small theaters. And, if you follow just enough of the rules, you might end up with Hamilton. Perhaps one in 10,000 pull this off. Publishing requires a fealty to the book and to the bookstore, alliances with the right cultural forces and a willingness to create scarcity. If you're persistent and very, very good, you can get picked by the New Yorker and you get picked by Little, Brown and you end up with The Tipping Point. Perhaps one in 100,000 pull this off. Outsiders who want in, who want to make their mark in movies or investment banking or in politics often decide that minding the business of their industry is the way to reach their goals. After all, it's the insiders that win the awards and get the benefits that go to people who are by and for their industry. But what if instead of focusing on the industry, you focused on the change you seek to make? On the audience you seek to serve. On doing your customers' business, not the industry's... It's not in any of the manuals, but the door is wide open, the path is far wider and you can start today. [Add to FaceBook]( [Like on Facebook]( [Share on Google+]( [Add to LinkedIn]( [Tweet This]( [Subscribe by email](   • [Email to a friend]( business are you minding?;5672727) • [More Recent Articles]( [] - [Just because you can doesn't mean you should](/383265120/0/sethsblog~Just-because-you-can-doesnt-mean-you-should.html) - [Your Bob Dylan story](/382153602/0/sethsblog~Your-Bob-Dylan-story.html) - [Two confusions](/380966654/0/sethsblog~Two-confusions.html) - [Four ways to improve customer service](/379722832/0/sethsblog~Four-ways-to-improve-customer-service.html) - [Creating discomfort](/378494326/0/sethsblog~Creating-discomfort.html) [You're getting this note because you subscribed to Seth Godin's blog.] Don't want to get this email anymore? Click the link below to unsubscribe. --------------------------------------------------------------- [Click here to safely unsubscribe]( from "Seth Godin's Blog on marketing, tribes and respect." [Click here to view mailing archives](, [here to change your preferences]( or [here to subscribe]( • [Privacy]( --------------------------------------------------------------- Email subscriptions powered by [FeedBlitz](), LLC, 365 Boston Post Rd, Suite 123, Sudbury, MA 01776, USA.