Ok, paradoxical question:
If I publish a book called "How to Become a Millionaire by Publishing a Book on How to Become a Millionaire", and I become a millionaire, were you right to buy it?
On one hand, the book isn't based on any prior knowledge.
Because, when I'm writing it, I haven't done anything yet.
So nothing to teach you.
But if it works, and I actually do become rich, then the book's premise is true.
In that case, why not buy it?
Yes, but: the book works precisely because you buy it.
In the end, it's your belief that makes the success possible.
A paradox we could sum up like this:
If you buy a marketing book that's bad, then it must actually be good.
(Since the purchase wasn't due to quality but 100% to marketing – and that's the real lesson.)
All this to say that marketing gurus often get rich by explaining how to get rich.
And it smells like a scam.
Get rich first. Explain it afterwards.
Except that the foundation of marketers is communication.
That's what they do. It's their job.
And there's fundamentally nothing wrong with describing what you're doing in real time. It's actually pretty honest.
The real question is: why does it make you want to buy their book?
Because let's be honest: you really want to.
There's something in the way they speak, the way they convince... That defiance, that confidence.
We'd love to be able to do that.
We tell ourselves the answer might be in one of the chapters.
That by reading, we'll be able to do the same.
But no: the answer is in the meta.
Their strength, their confidence, their "je-ne-sais-quoi" comes from the danger.
A mix of pleasure and risk in describing the present as a certainty.
Surfing the wave in public without knowing where it goes.
Walking the tightrope above the crowd without knowing if it'll hold.
And at every step, explaining why it hasn't snapped.
Because if it snaps, there'll be nothing left to explain.
That's what's gripping. That's what makes us envious.
That absolute confidence.
When nothing is settled.
Spoiler:
It can't be learned from books.
Or maybe it can?
By the way, my book "Walking the Tightrope" is coming out soon and...
I'm kidding.
Happy Thursday.