Crippled CEO Blog #060:
Two weeks ago, I wrote a blog, #58, detailing why I 💙❤️ Superman.
I didn’t like it.
I’m usually pretty happy with my posts each week, but I was certain this one was garbage. Meandering, lacking in salient points, not clearly useful. Not good.
But I posted it anyways, because I write a blog every Sunday, that’s my commitment to myself and y’all, and this was the one I had written.
That post is one of the best received, most liked blogs I’ve written so far.
People seem to love it.
I was surprised. I still am.
It reminded me of an important lesson that’s easy to lose sight of when we create things, or oversee the creation of things.
Even when assessing my own work, I’m just one opinion, just one data point. Now, I value my one opinion pretty highly, because I’m awesome and have great taste, but it’s still just one opinion, and there’s a possibility my opinion might be in the minority. I might be wrong.
This is especially critical to keep in mind when we are making things for commercial consumption — a logo, a website, a brochure, and so on. You might hate it, but you are just one person. Despite your opinion, it just might be wildly successful.
When Chamber Media pitched me the idea of having an Amish family with 50 kids as the focal point of our Pool Fence DIY video, I thought it was dumb. It seemed silly and juvenile. I just didn’t understand how it would work to sell a pool safety product. And the video was a LOT of money — far more than we had ever spent on any other ad or content, by a factor of ten at least.
But I reminded myself that I was just one opinion, and I also wasn’t the target market. I left the decision up to the group, and we decided to move forward with it. That video has been seen tens of millions of times and has assisted in millions of dollars in revenue. The vast majority of the comments it receives are nothing short of comparing it to sliced bread. It’s been praised by many as the best Facebook ad of all time. It’s been a huge success.
Thankfully, I didn’t decide my opinion should have more weight just because I was the one signing the check and making the call. That is an easy thing to think, especially since it means you’re the one taking the risk. But at the end of the day, even if you’re paying for it, or even if you created it, you are still just one opinion, and everyone else might just disagree.
(I bet you can think of somebody that can use this right now. Why don’t you be a pal and send it to them? Also, take 27 seconds and guarantee you never miss a post by sending a text message with the word CRIP to the number 484848. That will allow me to send you a message each week alerting you of the latest post. You will be happy you did it.)
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