Heyaa
Another Sunday, another newsletter to write.
I kind of wait for this day now⊠to write something just for the sake of writing. Writing whatever I want⊠free from a clientâs âcritic.â
It rained last night, actually the entire yesterday. Not just a 10-minute downpour, but multiple, hour-long heavy rains..
Now, today feels good. Cool, dark, silent. I should make the best use of this unhurried morning.
So, I pulled my laptop from the pile first thing in the morning⊠Didnât look at my to-do. Other things can wait.
Let me put up a song first.
OK, itâs 7.15 on a Sunday morning, and Iâm playing:
Donât ask me why. Came up in a random search for Christmas music. I searched for some rain music first but wasnât actually in the mood to listen to something soothing, I guess.
I am not entirely logical at times.
Reminds me of something I read in the Positioning book last night.Â
The book mentioned how some products become popular just because the name is good to hear and people can connect what the product does (without much effort).
Renamed my book group last week, for that reason. I call it BookBeezz now. (fingers crossed)
Actually, the book has been quite beneficial for me. Reading it brought many ideas to help me establish a position for Book Blabber (BB). For blog as well as merch store.
So, today, I want to share a concept I read in the book earlier this week: FWMTS.
FWMTS stands for Forgot What Made Them Successful. It means many companies often fail because they tried to move on from their positioning⊠the positioning that brought them success once upon a time.
Hereâs an example I quote from the book:
In the case of Avis [Car Rental], this was a position against the leader. âAvis is only No. 2 in rent-a-cars, so why go us? We try harder.â [Now,] for 13 years in a row, Avis lost money. Then they admitted that they were No. 2 and Avis started to make money.
Avis adapted to its reality and positioned itself the way prospects saw it. It wasnât the leader in the industry.
It accepted its destiny⊠And focused on promoting its strength: it tries harder to provide better service than the industry leader (i.e., Hertz).
But shortly after the company was sold to ITTâŠ
Avis decided it was no longer satisfied with being number two. So it ran ads saying, "Avis is going to be No. 1." That's advertising your aspirations. Wrong psychologically. [...] Avis was not destined to be No. 1 unless it found a weakness in Hertz to exploit.
Avis wanted to be number one, of course, right from the beginning. Anyone would want to be an industry leader.
But Avis established its position as the number 2 car rental company. People saw Avis as the No. 2 who tried harder (than the No. 1).
So, when people saw Avis promoting itself as âtryingâ to be No.1, it started losing. You know, you never say youâre the one. You just improve your services and make people believe youâre.
Now, I didn't fact-check any of it. But the example seems like a fact, a valid scenario. One of the BookBeezzz - Rishikesh - recommended the book a few weeks ago.
That example about car rentals and several other things made me question if I can take off my merch store anytime soon.
I donât have a âpositionâ for BB, you know. Itâs just a merch store for book lovers. There can be many such. There are actually.
And I am trying to give it a different vibe than that of a âstore.â As published on QuickScream:
â[Book Blabber] is a space where readers are celebrated in every possible way.â
In fact, I donât even like selling. I am not a business owner as such.
The examples from the Positioning book made me think. And I think BB is not meant to be a store (or a blog). I canât ârunâ it as such. Itâs just not in me.
So, I will probably grow it as a tribe only.
I will make it more Abhijeet-like. Laidback and lazy. Who loves to read, write and try different things at his pace. Connect it to Abhijeetâs vibe: to never be in a hurry.
How? I donât know. Some day, maybe while reading some another book, an idea will strike, and Iâll get working on the revamp.
Maybe, I need stories⊠random stories, and daily experiences to share. Those are what made this lazy writer grow into what he is today.
One shouldnât forget what made them successful.
And thatâs all for today.
Bidding adieu.
Live long and prosper.
See you next week, with another story.