The Dip: Seth Godin - Book Analysis & Summary (Part 2)
“Being the best in the world is seriously underrated. Stick with the good stuff, quit the bad stuff and have the guts to do one or the other." - The dip, Seth Godin
Before you enter a new market, consider what would happen if you managed to get through the dip and win in the market you’re already in.
Quitting when you hit the dip is a bad idea! If the journey you’re on is a worthwhile one, then quitting just wastes all that time already invested — quit in the dip often enough and you’ll find yourself becoming a “serial quitter” — starting many things, but accomplishing little.
Simple. If you can’t make it through the dip, then don’t start.
If you wanna be a superstar, then you need to find a field with a steep dip. You ALSO need to quit all the cul-de-sacs that you’re currently idling your way through, quit those projects, investments and endeavours that don’t offer you the same opportunity.
Seven reasons you might fail in your mission of being the best in the world:
- You run out of time and quit.
- You run out of money and quit.
- You get scared and quit.
- You’re not serious about it and quit.
- You lose interest or enthusiasm and settle for being mediocre and quit.
- You focus on the short-term instead of the long-term and quit when the short-term gets too hard.
- You pick the wrong thing at which to become the best in the world at, because you don’t have the talent (your team, your company or you).
You can know before you start whether or not you have the resources and the will to get to the finish line.
Eight systems that are dependant on dips.
These dips are in the places where organisations or individuals are most likely to give up:
1. The Manufacturing dip.
It’s easy and fun to build something in your garage. It’s difficult and expensive to ramp up for large scale production. The time, effort and cost creates the dip — this keeps the supply of stuff down, and insulates those brave enough to invest in scaling up their production. Those struggling local artists at the weekend craft market are struggling because they don’t have the guys, or the wherewithal to take their work to the next level.
2. The Sales dip.
Most ideas get their start when one person (you) starts selling it. The dip hits when you need to upgrade to a professional sales force and scale it up. In almost every field, the competitor that develops a professional, aggressive sales force first, has advantage.
3. The Education dip.
A career gets started as soon as you leave school. The dip hits when it’s time to learn something new, or reinvent your skills.
4. The Risk dip.
Bootstrappers learn the hard way that at some point, they aren’t able to keep paying for everything themselves — successful entrepreneurs understand the difference between investing to get through the dip (smart move) and investing in something that’s a risky crapshoot.
5. The Relationship dip.
There are people and organisations who can help you later, but only if you invest the time and effort to work with them now, even though “now” isn’t necessarily a convenient time for you to do it.
6. The Conceptual dip.
You got this far operating out of one set of assumptions, abandoning those assumptions and adopting a new bigger set may be exactly what you need to get to the next level.
7. The Ego dip.
When it’s all about you, it's easier. Giving up control and leaning into the organisation gives you leverage, most people can’t give up control or the spotlight and get stuck.
8. The Distribution dip.
Getting your product into Walmart is far more likely to lead to huge sales than putting it online. Why? Scarcity — everyone is on the web, but getting into Walmart is hard.
Optimistic entrepreneurs and employees who blithely wander into a serious business totally outgunned and unprepared to work their way through the dip ahead are in danger of building a "space shuttle". There’s nothing wrong with optimism — the pain and waste comes when the optimists have to make hard choices when they get stuck.
The space shuttle is a cul-de-sac, not a dip. The only reason why the space shuttle still exists is cos nobody has the guts to cancel it — if we cancelled the shuttle, we’d create an urgent need for a replacement. The lack of a way to get to space, would force us to invent a new, better and cheaper alternative.
So, why not quit? Same reason as always… day-to-day it’s easier to stick with something that doesn’t make too many waves, that doesn’t hurt.
The goal of any competitor is to create “The Valley of Death” 💀💀💀 — a dip so long and so deep that the chasm can’t be traversed.
The only reason why Google was able to take Microsoft on in developing their own office software was because they changed the playing field (platform) from the PC to the internet.
Professions create this valley as well, the law industry makes it increasingly difficult to pass the bar exam, making life better on the other side for everyone who’s already a lawyer. That male model with the great abs gets work for photoshoots precisely because so many people have quit in their quest to get what he’s got — you grew up believing that quitting is a moral failure… a “go down” moment.
It’s not about avoiding the humiliation of failure, more importantly you can realise that quitting the stuff you don’t care about, or the stuff you’re mediocre at or better yet quitting the cul-de-sacs frees up your resources to obsess about the dips that matter.
If you’re going to quit, do it before you start. Don’t play the game if you realise you’re not going to be the best in the world.
When faced with the dip, most people suck it up and try to “average” their way to success — you must do something exceptional!
Realise that you only have two choices – quit or be exceptional.
Average is for losers. It feels safe, but it’s not — the temptation to be average is simply another type of quitting.
The author shares the example of human behaviour at the checkout…
- Some people stick it out and stay in their queue,
- others keep an eye out for a shorter line, and will jump… but just once...
- while others keep a constant scan on all the other queues and keep jumping from their queue to a shorter one, inevitably wasting their time and energy.
There are “queues” everywhere — that wannabe entrepreneur who’s on his 6 or 7th project. Every time he hits an obstacle, he switches to a new, better, easier opportunity. He never gets anywhere cos he’s always switching lines — countless entrepreneurs have perfected the starting part but give up long before they’ve paid their dues. The sad news is that when you start over, you have very little (if any) credit for how long you stood in line with your last great venture.
Selling is about a transference of emotion, not a presentation of facts.
Prospects have honed their salesperson radar, we’re really good at detecting sincerity — or the lack thereof. If a salesperson’s attitude is “hey if you don’t buy, there’s another prospect around the corner” — what’s projected is:
“hey I’m not that serious about you having this product”. On the other hand, if the salesperson is there for the long run, committed to making a sale cos it benefits both themselves and their prospect, that signal is sent loud and clear.
If you’re unable to get to the dip and do it in an exceptional way, you MUST quit and quit right now. “I’m getting through this dip with you, because it’s important for both us” — is the best signal you can send.
The dip of market acceptance.
The marketers who get rewarded are the ones who don’t quit, they hunker down and insulate and perfect their product while others keep looking for yet another “quick hit."
Don’t fall in love with a tactic and defend it, rather decide once and for all whether you’re in a market or not. If you are, get through that dip — the bulk of any market sits in the middle of the bell curve, waiting for something that’s proven and valued to buy. Your strategy, to be a trusted source in your chosen market, can survive even if your product is cancelled.
The opposite of quitting ≠ waiting around — the opposite of quitting is re-dedication / an invigorated new strategy designed to break the problem apart!
The dip is flexible, it responds to the effort you put into it. When the pain is such that you are ready to quit, you set yourself up as someone with nothing to lose. Having nothing to lose gives you quite a bit of power, you can go for broke.
The decision whether or not to quit is a simple one. Is the pain of the dip worth the benefit of the light at the end of the tunnel? If you're not going to get a number one, you might as well quit now!
It's okay to quit sometimes, in fact it's okay to quit often. You should quit if you're facing a dead-end the path, you should quit if you're facing a cliff. You should quit if the project you're working on has a tip but isn't worth the reward at the end.
The time to look for a new job is when you don't need one. The time to switch jobs is before it feels comfortable.
Never quit something with great long-term potential just because you can't deal with the stress of today. When facing a cul-de-sac examine your reasons for hanging in there...
- Is it pride?
- Who am you trying to influence?
- Are you trying to influence an individual? It's difficult, if not impossible to change someone's mind. Or are you trying to influence a market? Unlike trying to influence an individual, which can feel like scaling a wall (in that it gets more difficult the longer you try). Influencing your market is more akin to climbing a hill, it gets easier with every step you take. People in the market talk to each other, they are influenced by each other.
- What sort of measurable progress am I making?
- You're either moving forward, standing still or falling behind. There are only three options. Choosing to "stick with it" in the absence of forward progress is wasteful.
When the pressure is greatest to compromise, to drop out or to settle, your desire to quit should be at its lowest. The decision to quit is often made in the moment, but that's exactly the wrong time to make such a critical decision.
Quitting a job is not quitting your quest to make a living, make a difference or make an impact. A job is just a tactic, a way to get to where you wanna be. The same is true for an organisation, you don't define yourself by the tactics you use, your organisation succeeds or fails in its efforts to reach its big goals. The moment your tactics are no longer part of winning the dip, the moment they're in a cul-de-sac, you are obligated to switch tactics whilst keeping your aim on the bigger goal.
"Decide before the race the conditions that will cause you to stop and drop out." — Dick Collins (Ultramarathon runner)
Conclusion.
The lesson is simple. If you've got as much as you've got then use it. Use it to become the best in the world. Change the game, set the agenda for everyone else. If it isn't going to put a dent in the world, quit!
