“The more you do things that are natural to you, the less competition you have.” – Naval Ravikant
In late 2014, I made a power move.
It was expensive, risky, and unheard of in the industry at the time.
But it had the potential to turn my young basketball training company into a juggernaut.
So I closed my eyes, wrote a check, and shot my shot.
What happened next is still one of the biggest mindf*cks of my career.
Here’s the story:
In an attempt to increase the “credibility” of my training programs…
(which had all been created by me — a 6’1” white kid from Canada who got hurt before he could play a single game of college basketball)
…I signed NBA All Star Bradley Beal to produce a jump shooting program for my brand:
Everyone I spoke to — friends, advisors, even my own email list — said:
“An NBA player in your videos? Holy sh*t nobody has ever done that. This is going to be enormous.”
Excitement grew as we rolled through our pre-launch campaign, and my expectations began running wild.
Could this be our biggest launch ever?
Could it double our biggest launch ever?
What’s even the ceiling on this thing?
Finally, with hype at a fever pitch, I set the program live.
Then I logged into our shopping cart and immediately started hitting refresh.
But instead of the tidal wave I was expecting, I saw…
Droplets.
One at a time, slowly, sales trickled in.
Slowly? Trickled?
That is not what I expected — or, what I paid for.
Shaken, I frantically started stress-testing our funnel to see if something was broken.
But everything was running fine.
Fine?
By the end of the launch, I’d just barely broken even on the giant check I wrote Brad…
Not to mention the full-stack video team I’d flown in to shoot & edit the program, and every other contractor, developer, and agent who contributed to this giant waste of time.
It was an expensive lesson to learn, but I learned it loud and clear:
Authority and credibility are not nearly as important as relatability.
Sales of my own programs dwarfed Brad’s by several zeroes, because what I lacked in authority I made up for by deeply understanding the experience my customers were having.
I knew the pain of being stuck on the bench, watching players who don’t work as hard as I do get the playing time I wanted … sitting on the back of the bus after a 2 point game with a knot in my throat … rushing to my room because I’m ashamed to tell my parents how the game went … collapsing on my bed, close to tears, wondering if all the work I was putting in would ever pay off.
And so when they looked at me, they saw a version of themselves:
Someone who had been through exactly what they were going through, and had found a way to the other side.
But when they saw Brad, they saw a mirage:
Something they wanted badly to attain, but was so far away they couldn’t wrap their mind around it.
The same is true in the online space today:
Founders often think they need Hormozi’s numbers or Huberman’s scientific background to be successful.
And yes, if you want to sell 100M worth of books in 3 days or grow a science podcast to 10M subs, you’re gonna need clout.
But for every Hormozi and Huberman, there are literally thousands more founders quietly growing 7 & 8 figure businesses simply by being relatable:
Understanding the experience your customer is having.
Speaking to them about it in their language.
And helping them solve their problems from the level they’re at, rather than shouting down at them from above.
So if you feel overwhelmed, under-qualified, and silently a little depressed every time you watch a Hormozi video, remember:
You don’t need to be Hormozi to be successful.
Credibility creates logical trust, but relatability creates emotional trust.
And emotional trust creates customers.
- T
P.S. I just opened applications for one on one coaching for the first time in over a year.
A few important notes:
I’m only accepting applications until end of next week, before we shut the doors again.
It’s expensive, and your revenue must be at least 20k/mo to apply.
I’m only accepting 3 new clients (this is full one on one mentorship, and my commitment level is very high).
If you think this might be a good fit, here’s where you can check it out today.
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