Читать книгу Oversubscribed - Daniel Priestley - Страница 14

Let's take a look at actors in the US as an example of an industry in oversupply. There are more than 160,000 people who have a Screen Actors Guild (Screen Actors Guild – American Federation of Television and Radio Artists) membership and there are barely 3,000 actors who make better than minimum wage from their acting income. About 99% of actors can't afford to live on the money they earn from acting. Fewer than 1,000 actors in the US make over $150,000 a year.

From an economic standpoint there is a massive oversupply of screen actors. So, there's absolutely no reason why a producer would pay a large sum for an actor. Yet, as we know, they do it all the time. For some actors, a fee of millions per film isn't only a possibility; people line up to pay it. These actors are separate from the market. They have made their own market.

George Clooney, Brad Pitt, Sandra Bullock, Jennifer Lawrence and Julia Roberts have millions of people who will go and see a film if they are in it. They have created their own market and they are oversubscribed. Their income isn't linked to the market; it's linked to their market.

No doubt these top earners are gifted, but their income has very little to do with the craft of acting. It has everything to do with their ability to get people to pay to see the film. These people have the power to get onto talk shows and into the media to promote a film. If their names are attached to a film, the funding and the talented crew come to the table. Producers are actually paying for the ability to successfully mobilise talent, publicity and funding for a project; the acting skill is a bonus.

Creating your own market is about solving bigger problems for people than others do. Being unique is not about performing a task at a high standard; it's about having a unique ability to get things done.

When your business is seen to be unique in the market, you'll make money regardless of what everyone else in your industry is doing. Even if there's thousands of other people who can technically do what you do, it won't impact on the price you can charge. Your price will be determined by your own market.

In 2019, Kylie Jenner was declared the youngest billionaire by Forbes Magazine. Management consultants would never have chosen makeup as the hot product to make a fortune in; the cosmetics industry has long been saturated with big established brands. For the 21‐year‐old entrepreneur, it didn't matter because she had amassed more than 120 million followers on Instagram who would eagerly buy whatever she featured on her profile. With a small team, basic shopping‐cart software and an absence of retail representation or glossy magazine ads, Jenner has shipped enough makeup to make her a seriously valuable brand.

It's easy to assume your income is linked to the economy and that your lifestyle is inextricably linked to what happens “out there.” It's a choice however, if you link your business to the industry, to the market and to the trends that everyone else is following; then you'll continue competing on price like everyone else does.

If you separate from the market and build your own market, you can generate as much money as your market will allow for.

You must start to build your own group of loyal fans. Cultivate a tribe of people who are loyal to your business, your products, your personality and your philosophy. Rally your own troops. Break those people away from the industry, separate them one by one from the market and make them part of something special.

We're going to explore several ways to carve out your own market.

You'll also discover that you don't need to create a massive market for yourself in order to be oversubscribed. Being smaller can be an advantage when it comes to getting yourself oversubscribed. As I illustrated in Chapter 1, two bidders who really want something can be enough to make the price rise. A lucrative lifestyle business may need only a few thousand loyal customers – a relatively small, dedicated fan base of people who really love what you do. A $100 million enterprise might need to appeal to just 25,000 customers who passionately engage with a product that speaks directly to them.