Me, me, ME!

That’s the mantra of the musician.

I’m a nobody on the way to somewhere. I’m big but not big enough. I’m a superstar and I’ve got a new release and you’ve got to HELP ME!

Like me, share my post, listen on Spotify, subjugate your own interests on behalf of mine.

But that’s not how John Oliver does it.

Oliver has created a club, a tribe, a group of believers who will follow him anywhere and do anything for him. But he doesn’t ask for anything for himself. Instead, he motivates his people in a cause! And if you know anything about millennials, you know they’re cause-driven. Every business has a charity component. Assets are secondary, otherwise they’d all be in pursuit of hot iron instead of living in L.A. without cars and taking Uber, unthinkable to their parents. It’s all about meaning and belonging.

And Oliver has tapped into that.

So during the show he’s a ringleader. Pointing out the inanities of society. Going into depth on abuses you might be unaware of. Actually, it’s not that different from the Howard Stern paradigm, but Howard keeps himself separate, he keeps wanting to take himself out of the equation, pointing out problems that piss him off but not imploring his audience to take action. But when he does…

Stern moves mountains. His fans buy products, he helped Christie Todd Whitman get elected. Stern has a better bond with his audience than any rock star.

And John Oliver’s got that same essence. But his game is to use his power for the common good.

Net neutrality. No one cares anymore. Kind of like privacy. We can’t fight the same war over and over and over again. Hell, Oliver himself has already done a long segment on net neutrality.

Only this time, after pointing out how the government makes it so hard to express your displeasure, he reveals a shortcut, wherein you can go directly to the site he created, click once and be brought to the page where you can tell the FCC where to go.

It’s ingenious. It’s like hanging with your high school buddies and hearing someone reveal a great prank and saying I’M DOWN WITH THAT, LET’S DO IT!

Yes, there is a sense of humor, which none of those in Washington have whatsoever. We can run rings around them if we just unite and use our brains.

This is the future of entertainment. It’s not about top-down worship.

Hell, look at music festivals. The lineup is announced AFTER tickets go on sale! Proving that the festival itself is a greater attraction than the talent.

Think about this. You’re nothing without your audience, but your audience no longer wants to be passive, and it’s only tweens who pay mindless fealty to entertainers. Whereas modern masters can move mountains and burnish their own image by focusing on the EXTERNAL!

It’s not as simple as donating a dollar a ticket to charity.

It’s got to be active. On both sides, both the performer and the audience member.

You’re a team, of disrupters. Unite us and we have untold power.

Furthermore, the first time Oliver attacked net neutrality his acolytes crashed the government servers. Which had them doing dances in their brains, they stuck it to the man, the somnambulant press covered the story. That’s right, the media just reports, WE MAKE THE NEWS!

And you too can make it. If like John Oliver you harness the power of your audience not for yourself, but for good.

Think about it…

You can watch the whole thing, or forward to fifteen minutes in, where he says “So sadly, it seems once more, we the people must take this matter into our own hands”

P.S. Google News shows over 100,000 links on the search “john oliver net neutrality.” Want to reach people? Don’t make it about you, make it about EVERYBODY!

Subject: Thoughts on 700 new subscribers and Mauldin – from John Mauldin

Bob,

I’ve been meaning to dictate/write this letter to you for some time. I’ve been reading your pieces for at least a few years, and while we are of the same age (more or less as I am almost 68), radically different growing up experiences. I have to apologize to you that you only got 700 new subscribers. I should’ve put a link in and it would have been much higher. Next time I will.

Will the new readers stick? Hard to say… I am not sure that your tribe and my tribe are all that different, but then again I’m not sure who your tribe is. And that’s where your writing speaks to me. You talk about musicians finding listeners and giving them what they want. We think about expanding our investment information junkie tribe and making them feel included, feeding their information needs. We actually hired a person this year whose entire job description is to make new readers, who sign up for my free letter, feel appreciated and wanted. Hopefully they will buy something. Eventually. Like a musician, I appeal to a certain audience/tribe. It’s an interesting business model and not unlike the music business. Really, the investment publishing business has a dozen different genres as different as country music and hip-hop.

If we should ever find ourselves in the same ZIP Code, I think you might be fascinated to sit down and compare the experiences that I go through in Internet marketing investments and newsletters and the music business. I make my marketing team read your letter religiously.

It’s lines like this from today’s letter that inspire me: We don’t need much, but we do need great. Every week when I sit down as I have for soon to be 18 years, I look at a blank screen and say, “dear gods, don’t let the magic stop now.” I started with a few thousand names back in 2000 and the letter just took off. I did a few things right, got lucky on more things.

I read you because you remind me that my focus has to be on the quality of my writing material that I give to my readers in the experience they have. And everyone on my team has to have that same focus. Seven books and five bestsellers and a million readers later I haven’t made a dent in your world, and likely never would or will accept that I do drive traffic when I mention a name. No reason for you to read me or know me.

But mostly, your letter was the reason you got 700 new readers. People far outside the music business intuitively understand that attention is everything. And you seemingly effortlessly just let the words of wisdom roll off your fingers on the screen helping us focus on what we should be focused on which is making sure that we deserve the attention of our readers. And so they searched for your name on Google and subscribed. From my experience, readers who have to work to get to you or your best subscribers. And they become the most loyal. I will likely read that letter on attention once a month for many years.

Frankly, from reading you it sounds like those in the music business are a bunch of whiners. Their business changes over a few decades. They should be in a business where Google changes the search parameters every three years and you go from being the number one to somewhere on page 37. Overnight. And then the same damn thing happens again three years after you claw yourself back up to where you are on page 1 again, meeting their new parameters which are again just changed and so every penny you spent on SEO is down the drain. And bitching to Google does absolutely no good so you just deal with it. Because they’re in the business of trying to improve their customer experience.

And then you find yourself putting in a six-figure budget just for the ability to be able to send out millions of email addresses a week without being flagged as spam. Wasn’t even in the budget line 4 years ago. Now we are spending mid-six figures just growing our list. Five years ago we grew organically. Then Boom, the world changed. One of my main competitors is down 80% on their deliverability and income. And these guys are pros, having been around 30 years. Early Internet pioneers and then everything just changed. And then changed again. My executive team fully expects to have to reinvent the entire business delivery model every 3 to 4 years now.

Getting attention and follow through is much harder today than 15-10-5 or even two years ago. We seem to run harder just to stay in the same place, let alone grow the business.

I know I’ve only got 25,000 followers on Twitter. I find Twitter to be mostly noise as far as revenue production. But you’re right, I will get somebody on my team starting to focus on getting more twitter followers. There’s no reason I shouldn’t have a hundred thousand with some effort. It’s probably good for the branding and all, but still not sure how you make money out of it. We keep trying to figure out how to monetize Facebook. We know we have to do it to stay relevant but damn it’s not easy. It’s like being on CNBC or FOXBusiness or Bloomberg. Its validation but as far as I can tell it does almost nothing for increasing my readership. Honestly? I get more viewers from putting a link in my letter to the segment I was on than they probably have watching it to begin with. Business news aggregators? They are changing even faster.

My cell phone is ___-___-____ and you are welcome to call. I am writing a book on how the world will change over the next 20 years I would love to pick your brain.

All the best and good luck on the health front!

With warm regards,

John Mauldin
President

Mauldin Companies
2900 McKinnon, 1708
Dallas, TX  75201
www.mauldineconomics.com

P.S.: ALL 700 NEW SUBSCRIBERS STUCK!

The buzz comes AFTER!

We were searching the Netflix/Amazon files for something to watch. Primarily new, one of their series, something we could sink our teeth into while we await “House of Cards” and “Bloodline.”

Not that I used to employ Netflix this way. I used to assume everything was on there, now that’s not the case, now it’s HBO with a whole hell of a lot more product all available instantly, but we’ll get to that feature later.

And after dissecting the offerings, I take my watching time seriously, we delved into “Dear White People,” which was a mistake, not because of the subject matter, that intrigued me, but because it instantly became soap opera sophomoric with modern details thrown in. I mean I’m better off watching “Atlanta,” which I’ve never seen, but is now unavailable. What’s with these filmed entertainment people, haven’t they learned any lessons from music? I’m paying for all these services already, I’m certainly not gonna buy it.

So we dug into “13 Reasons Why.”

Now I pulled up “Dear White People” because of the reviews, which were all positive. But the even more favorable reviews scared me away from “13 Reasons Why,” since they all pegged it as “Young Adult,” but at this point I was just looking for something good, I could see Felice’s mind wander during “Dear White People.”

And “13 Reasons Why” IS good. Good enough to watch, which is more than I can say about “Orange Is The New Black,” but it’s certainly no “Transparent,” no HOC, no “Narcos”…but we got hooked.

And what bugs me about the show is it’s supposed to be about high school and everybody looks like they’re in college, and I know high school was supposedly done better in “Freaks and Geeks,” which I’ll get around to some day, but the darkness in “13 Reasons Why” appealed to me.

We’re not finished, we’re seven in with five left.

But now I feel part of a tribe, part of the juggernaut, you see “13 Reasons Why” is building a head of steam.

Now the movie business still functions on the old paradigm. Teasers a year in advance, trailers a few months in advance and then bombardment with spots and billboards the week before, all imploring you to go on Friday night. But the truth is, if something’s good you’ll find out about it, and if it’s bad, you might find out about it even sooner. So all that money is spent to what effect?

Whereas on Netflix… There’s almost no advance buzz. They announce shows, but they’re not in the superhero genre that dominates movies and they’re voluminous in number so they can’t be promoted as Tiffany-quality as they do on HBO, they’ve just got to come out.

And make it or fail.

And most do fail. Because they’re just not good enough.

But the winners…

Gain viewers over time, become water cooler conversation even months later, when you’ve forgotten whether you’ve seen the big summer release or not, the one about as nutritious as a Coke.

Now this is not TV. It’s not even HBO, where they dribble out the episodes over a period of time, where if you don’t get in early you give up, you don’t even bother to participate. I saw an episode of “Big Little Lies,” I liked it, wanted to watch more, but was on the road and didn’t have the time. Then everybody’s talking about the finale, the reveal, and not only am I not gonna watch that, I’m never gonna watch the rest of the series, I feel left out.

But finding a Netflix series is like stepping on a land mine. To mix metaphors, you go down the rabbit hole, in darkness, alone, it’s a private journey but you link up with like-minded viewers on the other side.

It’s not too late for you to check out “13 Reasons Why.” You can begin tonight and still feel a member of the club. No one watches all 13 episodes in a day, it’s not a race, just a matter of making the commitment.

And once you do…

You notice the continuing press.

Put out a movie or a record and you don’t hear another thing about it after the week of release. Have a hit Netflix show and it permeates the culture for months. I know, I know, Netflix is loving the backlash, the inane parents saying “13 Reasons Why” CAUSES teen suicide. But when you’re in the marketplace you can get lucky, others can give your story to you, promote your product.

Yes, “13 Reasons Why” is about the suicide of a high school girl, but I’m giving away nothing, ruining the show not at all, because that’s the set-up, that comes right up front. I don’t need any spoiler alerts. Watching this show is like living life. It’s less about the facts than the experience.

So, how can Netflix get it so right and everybody else get it so wrong?

Maybe, because the rest of the media outlets were born before the internet era. Cable has still not figured out the future. I mean the cable systems have, they’re all about the internet, but the channels? Did you see Charter just kicked MTV up to a pricier tier, one a lot of people don’t want to buy? That’s a death knell.

But who needs MTV anyway?

We don’t need much, but we do need great.

And when something is great it takes a while to percolate in the marketplace. You hope to get traction MONTHS down the line. Don’t tell me about the new releases, tell me about the records everybody’s talking about six months from now, the wisdom of the crowd, abhorred by purveyors but loved by consumers. After all, we check the reviews on Amazon, we don’t want to waste either our money or are time.

So maybe you’ve already finished “13 Reasons Why,” you’re gonna e-mail me your take.

Or maybe you’ve been thinking about watching it.

Or maybe you’ve never even heard of it.

But one thing’s for sure, you’re gonna check it out now.

Because that’s the life we lead. Where we want a peek at what is creating the buzz, we want to get inside, marinate and then render an opinion, whether it’s thumbs up or thumbs down, we want to belong.

This is the culture you want to tap into. You want to create a haven, a hive, that draws honeybees to it. And it all comes down to the work, hype doesn’t matter. The only hype that counts is that which comes AFTER you’re on the road to success, that trumpets the bandwagon, that features in-depth stories about these people who were previously nobodies. You trickle out the info and fans eat it up.

I’m eating everything up about “13 Reasons Why.”

Does not turn out the way you planned it.

Assuming you planned it at all.

Some of us come from pushy parents, with visions of our futures. We jump through preordained hoops and we get to a threshold, a fork in the road, and we’re clueless as to how to move forward.

Others grow up ignored. Or with values focused on belonging as opposed to achievement. And it’s hard if no one cares, but the truth is you’ve got to figure life out for yourself, and it’s better if you do. It’s just that you’ve got to avoid the potholes, the drugs, the diversions, the bad people who will lead you into backwaters that you may never recover from.

And the truth is it’s all internal, external pressures don’t ultimately work. Unless it’s to put a roof over your head and food on the table and sometimes I think it would be better if we were not coddled, if we were all challenged, because it builds character and survival instincts, to learn that even if someone is looking out for you, that does not mean you can make it, in business, in life, that you can navigate the 24 hours 365 days a year that seem alternately long and short, depending upon whether you are happy.

And you won’t always be, happy that is. There will be moments, completely unexpected. You’ll be driving with the radio on, standing on a cliff, and everything will come together, you’ll have a smile on your face, you’ll be thrilled you are living. Then there are milestones that should thrill you that don’t, like graduating, from college, even high school. It’s kind of scary, because you don’t know where you’re going, but even more you’re expecting to feel something you don’t. Life is all about expectations that go unfulfilled. And I’m not talking about winning and losing so much as people telling you such and such is a big deal and it turns out it is not.

When I graduated from college no one got a straight job. Now college is a preparatory institution wherein you shine up your bona fides so you can enter the workforce, one leg up from the rest, on your way to success. But you wake up one day and wonder if this is the road you want to be on. And that’s the scary thing about life, it’s hard to jump the track, once you reach a certain age you are who you are, you can buy a self-help book telling you how easy it is to switch careers but it’s not, especially if you’ve got obligations.

And society wants to tie you up, with a spouse and children and a mortgage and a car payment, and then you’re a slave to the grind. But if you opt out, you’re no longer a member of the tribe, you’re the other, on you own path, and sometimes the stars align and your choice is exalted, like in the hippy-dippy sixties, but usually this isn’t so. So if you’re going to take the road less traveled, you’ve got to be secure, no one is gonna hold your hand, you’re going against the grain and those who are with it are not going to to encourage and support you.

That’s another thing about life. You need money. Absolutely. More than ever. Don’t delude yourself that you do not. And more money brings more happiness and then it does not. Rich people are attractive, they have freedom, but then they start to believe their own hype become all about lifestyle and are then intolerable. Life is about your job, if you ain’t got one, you’re not very attractive. The pay isn’t important, it can even be voluntary, just as long as you show up every day and do the work, treat those surrounding you with respect.

So you don’t know when to jump off the cliff. When and if to get married and have kids.

Let me tell you, everybody else is flummoxed too. If you’re waiting for that inner voice to say yes, to say this is the path, you’re screwed. Everybody is unsure. But one thing’s for sure, some are more comfortable with risk than others.

And actions have consequences. You can’t extract yourself without pain. Divorce has a cost, primarily emotional. And you can abandon your children, but the guilt will haunt you forever. Which is why life is about character. Not that those with the best character get rich and survive, but they fit in best, and life is about fitting in. Isn’t that amazing. No one wants to be alone, they all want to be accepted and understood, have friends. Find those like-minded and be loyal to them, they’re all you’ve got, they’ll get you through.

And you’ll get fired and the industry will change and you’ll get sick and there will be wrenching transitions. If you haven’t been through them yet, just know they’re coming. You’re married for twenty years and then suddenly your spouse wants a divorce. Or the company moves to China, or suddenly there’s no need for the company at all. Watcha gonna do? I’m not sure, you’ve got to figure it out for yourself, good luck.

And then suddenly you’re old. Your parents told you about this. You look in the mirror and you don’t recognize that person and you don’t want to go back but you want to put the brakes on going forward. You can’t do what you once did, remember everything you did do, and so many expectations have gone unfulfilled.

This is your life.

Be thankful you get to live it.

It’s neither a race nor a competition. Rather a free-form art project. That’s right, grow older and all the STEM courses become irrelevant and the liberal arts ones shine. Because life is about experiencing the world and thinking about it, putting the pieces together. How are you gonna do this? It’s not just about getting up every day and doing what you should, that’s emotional death.

And that’s what you’re avoiding, emotional death.

So listen to your elders and ignore them. Study history and discard it. Read the maps but bushwhack, create your own path. Information is key but it won’t deliver anywhere near the answers you need. Be an individual but rely on others. And know when you get to the end, you’ll be stunned at the choices you made, but realize they were inevitable, that you couldn’t do it any other way.