The long game vs. the short game

The short game is when you write a book, put it on Amazon and expect people who’ve never heard of you to buy it.

Or when you make an online course and put it on Udemy.

Or Skillshare.

But the problem is that millions of other people do the exact same thing.

Millions of other people put their stuff on Amazon, Udemy or Skillshare [replace with any other platform out there, like Elance, Fiverr, etc].

And when you put your stuff on some of these platforms you’ll be competing with everybody else who’s competing with everybody else.

You’ll be competing with everybody else who’s playing the short game.

So what happens when you’re in such a tough competition?

You’ll end up losing.

In 99.99% of the cases.

And that’s exactly what’s happening on all of these platforms where everybody else is competing with everybody else.

Prices go down.

They go so low that you’ll end up making $3–4 on each sale of an online course you put on Udemy.

Or even less on a platform like Skillshare that’s based on streaming and a winner takes it all model.

Or 30cents when you sell your ebook on Amazon for 99cents.

That’s the short game.

The short game is about skipping all of the hard stuff.

It’s about putting your stuff out there and hoping that some people will find out about you.

But they never will.

The short game is for lazy people.

For people who don’t want to do the hard stuff.

Like building an audience.

Or learning the tools out there.

Or marketing.

Or sales.

Or building up trust.

Or showing up over and over again

Or engaging with people.

And on and on and on.

It’s for people with excuses.

The short game is a game you can’t possibly win.

You can play it but it’s very unlikely you’re going to win.

Because you’re competing with millions of other people where only the top 0.01% will make it.

So how do I know?

I’ve played the short game more often that I’d like to admit…

And it never worked out.

Just like it never worked out for millions of other people out there.

On the other hand there’s also the long game.

The long game is where you’re doing what most people will never do.

Things like building an audience.

Or learning the tools out there.

Or marketing.

Or sales.

Or building up trust.

Or showing up over and over again.

You know.

All of that stuff that’s super annoying.

And exhausting.

The stuff that takes a hell lot of time.

And that’s the difference between being able to sell thousands of ebooks for $15 and being able to sell just a few copies for 99 cents.

That’s the difference between being able to sell hundreds of online courses for thousands of dollars and being able to sell just a few courses for just a few bucks.

That’s the difference between getting clients who pay you more than enough and getting clients who pay you just about enough to survive.

That’s the difference between Seth Godin, Gary Vee, Tim Ferriss, James Altucher et. al. and everybody else…

That’s the difference between playing the short game vs. the long game.

Which game are you playing?

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Originally published at yanngirard.typepad.com.