WOW #003: Can I Have Your Attention?

Quote of the Week:
“We must learn to master our focus and our self-awareness to properly take advantage of the attention economy. Limitless access to knowledge brings limitless opportunity. But only to those who learn to manage the new currency: their attention.”
- Mark Manson

Attention is a 2-way street with clear road signs:

1. Receive positive attention through creating authority and value
2. Manage your attention from seekers by monitoring time and mindset
   

It's more important than ever for One-Person Businesses and small companies to be active, savvy participants in the attention economy. Today, style completely outnumbers substance (and it’s only getting more lopsided):

• According to marketing experts, the average person sees between 4,000 and 10,000 ads daily
• 72% of employees feel pressure to multitask during the workday
• The average person spends about 145 minutes on social media every single day

In Mark Manson's quote, he mentions 2 valuable “currencies," knowledge and attention. 

Knowledge represents the credentials and the entry pass to launch your one-person business. Attention is something that has to be promoted and guarded at the same time.

Success for One-Person Businesses marches to the drum beat of communicating your worth while not being distracted by competitors, (or those with negative things to say).

It may not always seem like it, but social media and over-the-top self-promotion are still fairly new concepts in the history of business.

That said, If you aren’t actively managing the process of creating authority and attention for your One-Person Business, there is no better time than the present.

To quote Gandhi: “History is the best teacher, who has the worst students.” 

Now is a great time to take inventory for you and your OPB, and to consider how all of this is affecting both your bottom line and your overall mindset.

3 Takeaways:

1. Creating authority is a non-negotiable task for OPBs. In our OPB-OS course materials we mention that conversations about your business and industry are always happening, regardless of whether or not you're participating. Take your seat at the table and implement a well thought out social media strategy.

2. The attention economy is a global construct, yet lies in the hands of individuals. Global platforms create enormous possibilities for reach and influence that are still hard to fathom. You control your brand, message, tone, and reputation. Be authentic.
   

3. You become what you think about and what you think about at times goes to the highest bidder. There are a lot of voices and dollars competing for your attention and response. Set limits on yourself if you feel it necessary. Part of tipping the social media scales in your favor is not spending too much time on other's attempts to nip away at your mindshare.

1 Action:

Audit your last 5 posts. What was your intent? Did you consider your target audience and tone when posting? What would you change in retrospect? Chosen platform, frequency of posts? Take notes and test some changes for the following week.

Attention is scarce. Manage yours and that of your audience with positive intention.

Have a great week

Hubert