Worry Not That Nobody Cares About Your Stuff

Warning.

This is a little story about what it takes to launch and sell something, new or old. It's not pretty, but it is full of trials, tribulations, highs, lows, wins and losses and stumbles to a simple, inexorable truth.

That truth?

People don’t care about your sh*t.

But they do care about the story you tell.

So, read on...

Here’s the thing.

Consider Pendle. He creates samples. He is the owner of Sound Dust. Sample king. Impresario geek. Creative wizard.

Why buy his samples?

There are many alternatives. Thousands, in fact.

He has about 10,000 friends. I know, popular, right? People who know him know of his stuff and his particular ways.

But knowing him isn’t reason to buy.

I did a little exercise the other day.

I think I read a lot of books. I am surrounded by them. I always have a couple on the go.

But I was curious… why do I buy books at different times? What is the prompt.

So I looked through all my Amazon purchases over the last ten years (see, it’s not just Amazon who benefits from my data).

And you know what?

I haven’t read a fraction of the books I bought.

Why is that?

Maybe I am hoarder, filling a void of emptiness, a legacy of hurt feelings and a sensitive youth. I know. Sad times.

Or maybe I’m only partially interested in the book.

In buying the books, I am buying an idea, a story. I am acquiring it, consuming it, owning it. Making the idea, the story it represents, part of me.

This is why people buy almost everything. Remember those good feeling and solutions? People buy to spend time with the idea of you, the story you represent.

People buy Pendle’s samples because they’re buying the idea of Pendle.

Likewise, people will buy your sh*t because they’re buying the idea of you, the story of you. You know this.

Having ten thousand friends is helpful and important. It’s entry stakes. But that’s all.

It is not reason to buy.

Reason to buy is earned, created, worked for.

It is the fruit of a story crafted and told. Little and often, for as long as possible.

Why share this?

Launching your new (or old) thing takes time and toil and effort. it needs a launch. And I’m not talking balloons and vol au vents.

I’m talking a story, crafted and seeded.

A story to first get people off Instagram onto a dedicated email, and then a story to build a journey which culminates in a frenzied, breathless, grunting... purchase. Of your (useful) stuff.

This takes up front planning. And dedicated time every week. For many weeks. Earn the climax, as they say.

And tell the story.

Remember: nobody gives a sh*t about your stuff. So make them care about your story.