Speaker A argues that doing what you care about is the foundation of business success, citing Neil Gaiman's advice to write what you love rather than chase trends. He describes his own editorial process for Top-10 videos: he cuts anything that doesn't move him and only keeps material that makes him feel alive, believing this approach yields greater viewer appreciation than mailing it in for short-term views.
Good morning, Believe Nation! Today's message is: Do what you care about. Over to you, Neil Gaiman. I wake up every morning with an espresso to keep me going.
Write things people want to read. Write things you care about. Don't— you know, I get puzzled and lost when people start asking me questions about what they should be writing for the market or whatever. There is no market. Nobody— there's nobody in the whole world of marketing ever would have woken up one day and said, "A Series of Unfortunate Events is exactly what the world needs." Yeah. You know, nobody would have turned around and gone, "Ah, your market niche is do a sort of reply to Kipling's The Jungle Book and set it in the graveyard. That's not, you know, things like that happen because somebody wants to tell a story and because you have an idea and because you think you can tell that story better than anybody else.
I've said this a lot on the channel, but the most important business principle to understand is that if you want to have success in a business context, it's about providing value. You wanna make money, you wanna have an impact, you wanna create an amazing company, it's going to come from providing value. The more value you provide, the more success you'll have. And one of the easiest ways to provide value to others is to first provide value to yourself by creating something that you love and that you care about and to have your opinion be the proxy to create products and services for other people. If you create something that you love, that you are personally attached to, you're creating around the need that you have and then share it with the world, chances are there's a lot of people who also have that same need, desire, passion. It may not be something you create that everybody consumes and everybody loves, but if you love something, if you watch something, create something, make something, and you love it, and it makes you come alive, and it gets your heart beating, and you are proud of what you just made, it's something that you want to show your grandkids, you can't wait to tell people about, like, if you have that kind of deep attachment to the stuff that you're creating, then I guarantee you there will be other people in this world who will also love it, and they will pay you for it, and you will have success as an entrepreneur, as a creator, because you made that. And so you should let your opinion, your emotion, be the guide to help you create those products and services. Even now for my channel, right, we've got 6 people who work on my YouTube channel. Last night I was working all night on the top 10 videos, the research that goes behind them. I cut half of the videos that came through for the, uh, Chris Rock top 10 that we're working on because the videos were okay, but they didn't move me. Like, I didn't watch that clip, whether it was a 20-second clip or 4-minute clip, I didn't watch it and want to make any kind of improvement to my life or business. I didn't watch that clip and it made me think. It was just an okay clip. It wasn't terrible, wasn't boring. It just didn't make me think. That doesn't belong in my Top 10 series. Like, I want to include clips that make me come alive, that make me question myself, that help me grow. I want to create something that I'm proud of, that I love, that moves me. And then I know when I do that, you guys will enjoy it too. Maybe not everybody, you know, maybe what resonates with me doesn't resonate with every single one of you, but on the whole, When I spend the time to make sure that I love the product that's being created, more of you love it as well. And I made these videos, the start of the series, the genesis of the Top 10 series and Inspire Some, Believe Life and all of this, was not because you guys requested it, wasn't because people were telling me you need to do this, because I needed it, because I wanted it. I had to create it, I had to birth it. And now you guys help with the picking of, hey, who do we do next? And still, I'll use judgment. Like, there's some people that we just don't have enough content on to be able to create a meaningful top 10 video. And that might generate millions of views if we did this person, but there's just not enough good stuff, and so we don't do it. And, you know, my channel, my business is at the point where I could, I could mail it in for a little bit, right? We have enough of an audience. I could put out just okay top 10 videos. You guys would still watch them. For a little bit of time. We could just smash together some interviews, pull out some random points and put them together. But that wouldn't— it's not sustainable, right? And it's not enjoyable either, and it's not the value that I'm trying to have. It doesn't make me feel good as a human being, and it's not having an impact on your life and your business. And so the most important basic business principle is to be successful as an entrepreneur, you need to provide value. And quite often The best way to do it is to create something that provides value for yourself, because if you can do that, there's tons of other people who have the same problem, same passion, same need, and by you solving it for them, they will pay you for it. So the question of the day today is, I'm curious what you care about most in your business. You know, there are some things that you could give away that you're doing now because you kind of have to, but what do you care about most that you don't want anybody to touch because it has to have your stamp of approval on it that will not go out until you have seen it and love it? What is that piece in your business that you will never let go because you care so deeply about it? Leave it in the comments below. Super curious to find out. Thank you guys so much for watching. Have an amazing day. Continue to believe, and I'll see you again tomorrow morning for another shot of espresso. I wake up every morning, espresso keep me going. I wake up every morning.
