Book update (it’s pivot time)
Of course, I’ve pivoted my book already. Pivoting, for those not in the “know” when it comes to startup lingo, is when you regroup and change course because the original idea isn’t working.
When I set out to write my book (previous post about it) the theme was going to be something like this: In order to be an effective marketer today, you have to a) embrace startup culture in order to be nimble and effective enough to keep up with the consumer, and b) you have to make mobile the center of everything you do.
So I set out writing that book. I’m passionate about both of those topics and I believe they ARE the two things that marketers need to focus on, but I was always struggling with how to write a book with those two topics as the central themes. They kind of work together, or so I kept telling myself, but it always felt like two puzzle pieces that I knew didn’t really fit together but I was pushing them hard enough to make it work, the way my 9-year old does (he’s not the best puzzler, if I’m being honest.)
In the course of writing this book over the last three months, I kept getting validation that the startup culture concept is hot. I’ve spoken at one corporate event on the topic, I’ve been asked to speak at another, and I’ve been invited to attend a workshop for another. All centered around startup/innovation within a large corporation. This is a problem seemingly everyone is trying to solve.
I finally started asking some people that I trust on such things, to find out if I was trying to force these two concepts together because that’s what I wanted to write, but was it really the best direction for the reader? Turns out, it’s not. It’s really two books I was writing, and that’s how I’m going to approach it. I’m turning my attention full force into writing the startup+corporate culture book, and I’m putting the mobile side of it on hold for the moment.
Unfortunately, I had written 1/3 of the content for the first book and had the proposal (for agents) 90% done. I almost have to start over on both of those things, which is super awesome :)
So, if you have stories or thoughts on the new direction of my book, I’d love for you to reach out and let me know!
Some entrepreneurs (that you and I both know) have done a great job leveraging failure by making them seem like success. They have pivoted to start a new business based on their past (perceived) “success”. Outsiders never realize what a failure the first startup was because the entrepreneur rewrites history. This is not necessarily a bad thing, as usually the new startup is stronger than the original.
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