After reading my friend Steve Kamb’s book Nerd Fitness, I was reminded that there exists an episode of South Park about a group of gnomes that steals underpants. I went back to watch the episode which showcases this tribe of gnomes stealing the towns underpants every night. When asked why they were stealing underpants they simply responded, that is Phase 1 of our master plan.
The follow up inquiry obviously is, what is Phase 2? Their response was, Phase 3 is profit! And around and around it went. They believed Phase 1 was collecting underpants and somehow that would get them to Phase 3 which is profit without any idea of what was involved in the middle. Ignorantly they moved forward.
What do we do? What do the people reading this blog do on a regular basis? They want to be published. They want to be on a magazine cover. Then they want to be on another magazine cover. They want a handful of magazine features. That is Phase 1. Get published. Phase 3 is still profit. Yet most models have no idea how to turn Phase 1 into Phase 3.
The missing link is Phase 2. The missing link is the work it takes to turn all this leverage built into something that sustains a profit.
James Patrick
IG @jpatrickphoto
jamespatrick.com
