What the future holds
In the future things will only get more advanced. Greater steps in technology and medicine will mean we have an easier, more prolonged life. The platforms we use will change. Just when you think we have reached peak advancement, there will always be something that hasn’t been introduced to the masses, something that wasn’t available to use before, a new way of thinking or living, or a new product etc. Tech will become cheaper to produce. We are already in a place where anyone has access to all of the information ever produced by other human beings, the internet. Businesses will become easier to set up, and we will all become greater a multiple skills and disciplines as more and more information is shared and made available online be more and more experts in their respective fields.
Sounds exciting? It is, but certain things won’t change about the future. The intangible.
Following on from last week’s post about building relationships with your customers and followers. Where I discussed doing the unscalable in your brand or business, engaging with people, and going the extra mile in order to gain people’s trust in you. Of course you are a trustworthy person, but people need to be shown that. On a personal level. Unscalable practices are intangible, it can’t be measured by metrics, or followers, or subscribers to your newsletter. It isn’t a real number. Marketers and businesses put so much emphasis on numbers and trying to put people into boxes to be labeled.
Yes, you can measure the amount of products you sold that day, but you can’t measure how happy people were with that product, if they will remember an experience they had with it and associate that experience with your brand, or if they trust the brand. Big business will always be obsessed with big numbers. That won’t change. But smaller, micro or even solo entrepreneurial business like yours, your screen-printing business, your cake baking business, or aerial photography business should be focussed on long-term, customer-satisfying relationships. It’s the people who follow your early movements who will become the advocates, the ambassadors to your brand, the repeat customers.
If you focus your efforts on making your customers/followers happy, by provide someone with so much value as you can, by really speaking to hem, finding out their problems and delivering the solutions in the form of what they want, you build enough trust in followers that they will spread the word for you.
The future doesn’t change how hard you will have to work to achieve something.
The tools you use may become easier and more plentiful, but the learning and experience it takes to perform actions doesn’t. Think about how many platforms there are to upload video, photos, audio, and the amount of tools there are available to create this content. There are so many pieces of software that essentially mirror another piece of software, the only difference is it has another company’s name on it.
But with the amount of tools at your disposal, are you creating enough valuable content that really matters?
There are going to be ‘x’ amount more ways to create and deliver content in the future, but it doesn’t matter if you aren’t creating content right now. Good, meaningful, valuable content that people resonate with that you can attach your name to. This is how you become great, this doesn’t change in the future. Software, platforms, apps, technology, equipment all change. But our performance, our knowledge, our willingness to sit down and focus on learning something and becoming an expert at that thing doesn’t change.
Only the tangible change. This is why people value experiences over things. When you are on your deathbed, you’re not going to remember that Macbook you bought when you were 20, or that Rolex you bought when you were 40. You remember the experience you had with family and friends in difference scenarios, circumstances, and locations.
Future Proofing Your work
One thing will remain the same. Presenting yourself in front of others. Having a presence in the world. Creating great content that matters.
What are you going to be remembered by when you leave the world? What is your legacy?
Be comfortable sharing your thoughts, being proactive and champion a change for the better no matter what industry you are in. there are enough people who aren’t, and enough people willing to drag you down when they see you doing well. These aren’t your audience, and they never were or will be.
Defy conformity. If you think something should be done a different way than what is standard in your industry, then do it that way. More than likely, something is the standard in your industry because it’s the easiest way, regardless if it’s the best way of doing it.
Be comfortable performing in front of camera. Video is the future, a combination of sight and sound that no other medium is doing right now that is accessible to everyone. Start writing blog posts, designing website, developing apps, taking photos, painting. These are skills that you can develop over time by studying, reading books, watching tutorials, and then ultimately, doing it.
Find a group of people who share similar values to you. Have conversations with them, help them with their problems, listen to people, share with them. Find people who live near you and meet them. Even if it’s out of your way, you will be glad you did it in the end.
Stop hiding behind an avatar. Become more personable with people. Audience and trust building is about forming relationships. How do you form a relationship? You get people to trust you. How do people trust you? Provide them with free value on a consistent, high-quality basis, that solves their problems. When people trust you, that’s when they buy from you.
Practicing, developing and learning are actions that will never cease to exist in the future and the idea of building an audience of loyal followers who value your work and your word is something that will never change. Don’t wait for the next big thing. It will never arrive.
The future is now.
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