Thoughts on ‘Platform’
My dad was the one who recommended this book to me. I was expressing my sadness over having published a great book but being a virtual nobody, and he said he'd heard of a book that was all about increasing your following. And despite the (ad nauseam) amount of lists contained in the book, I have to say that overall I'm pleased I read it, and here's why:
1. Michael Hyatt is clearly an expert when it comes to the subject matter. And it makes it easier to both take him seriously and to believe that his methods really do work. Or to put it another way, he's legit, yo.
2. Because I have my own book organized in this fashion, I'm a huge fan of the small bite-sized sections into which Platform is organized. They make reading it easier. Because let's face it, he's throwing a lot at you, and it's nice to be able to take it in one concept at a time.
3. There are so many suggestions and ideas (with a wide range of money, time, and effort involved) that virtually any artist can begin implementing them right away. Maybe not all of them, or maybe not all at once, but many of Hyatt's ideas are so simple that you can make them right away and immediately feel like you are being pro-active.
4. I have seen improvements in my own efforts. Now, keep in mind I was starting at ground zero, so any amount of improvement in traffic or readership will seem more significant to me than it actually is, but it's still been a wonderful exercise to try out several of his suggestions and see results, however small-scale they may be.
Not that this means I'm well on my way to becoming the famous, best-selling author that I would like to be. Au contraire. I'm still embarrassingly unknown. And I confess to being overwhelmed by a fair amount of Hyatt's book. He mentions many different kinds of software and programs that he uses for his own marketing and communicating efforts, and being the one of the least tech-savvy people on earth, my cluelessness intimidates me when it comes to actually implementing many of his ideas. And let's also consider the time involved when it comes to creating a following. If I learned anything from Platform, it's that I'm never going to get anywhere by putting in a few minutes here and there throughout the week. But you say, I'm busy. You and me both. I work full time, I serve in the community, I'm pursuing my fourth degree, and I'm also falling in love, which (happily) takes more of my spare time than anything else these days. So while you (like me) might feign busyness as a reason to not be working on creating your "tribe" as Hyatt calls it, just realize that you will only get out what you put in. (PS - Michael, this post was in list form just for you : )