Was just in NYC. 🗽
Thought a lot about money.
Thought a lot about creativity.
Thought a lot about how to have both.
(I also thought A LOT about feces on the Subway. Here's me, hanging onto the grab bars with my sweatshirt wrapped around my hand. Has the pandemic ruined me forever?!)
Walked by this sensational shoe store in DUMBO, where the maker writes on the bottom of your shoes, and I wanted to f**king cheer.
THIS IS WHAT MAKES PEOPLE FEEL SOMETHING ABOUT YOU.
No one makes anyone *feel anything* anymore.
No one takes the time to do anything original, anymore.
Everyone's making websites, launching brands, starting businesses, launching products, and yet? If I hid the logo, they'd be entirely interchangeable. I'd have no idea which brand was which. That's a bad sign. That means that the only thing you can compete on is price. Because it's the only thing that's different about you.
Of course, that's a terrible idea.
No business on planet earth is going to fare well if its main sales strategy is "lower the price, Peggy!" You can only do that so many times before you cheapen everything and now you're made in China. But also, have you tried making money? It's really hard to do when you don't ask for enough.
I would much rather create a mind-blowing ⚡️ customer experience and charge a premium and get to do my most original, creative, proud, interesting work.
This is the part most people get backwards. They think charging more is something you do to customers—squeezing them like a big ol' juicy Meyer lemon. 🍋 But when you've made someone feel wonder or delight or genuinely seen, paying more isn't a cost to them, it's a contribution. They want to participate in what you're building. They want to be part of the story. Premium prices signal that the experience is worth it, and it isn't a barrier: it's a filter that brings you the customers who actually ✨ get it. ✨
Because when you make the right people really feel something? Wonder. Joy. Meaning. Thrill. Surprise. Delight. Desire. Awe. Beauty. Magic.
People are happy to pay.
Because you have made them feel connected. Lit up. High. Alive. And...also confident that you'll deliver an awesome experience.
Emotion is the actual product. The thing you sell is just the delivery mechanism.
Like those walking tours of Ireland I can't stop thinking about. GOD do I want to do that. You know, where you walk from town to town, and they transfer your luggage to the next inn?
There's only one problem: there are sooooooo many companies that offer it. For example, here's one and here's another.
Both have great reviews. Both have decent websites. Both have similar websites. How do you choose?
This is precisely the problem: the market is saturated with competent, professional, forgettable brands.
If just one of these companies were to focus on crafting an original website, full of unexpected delight? And then follow that up with an equally original, creative in-person experience full of delightful customer touchpoints?
They would OWN Ireland. 🤣
Emotion is the one thing that can't be commoditized.
Everything else about your business—your features, your prices, your color palette, your supply chain—can be copied, undercut, or out-scaled by someone with more money or more time. But the specific feeling a customer has when they interact with you? That's yours. That's the moat.
Feeling creates loyalty in a way that features never can.
Not to mention, doing something original is a form of respect for your customer, an acknowledgment that they're worth more than a templated experience.
The maker who writes on the bottom of your shoes isn't doing it because it scales. He's doing it because it doesn't. Because you'll remember it. Because you'll tell your friends. Because you'll write a whole freaking newsletter about it.
That's the whole game.
It's not about being the cheapest.
It's not even about being "the best."
It's about being an original f**king gangster.
And making something you're proud of.
And doing it with your whole heart.
And out-funning everyone else in the game...
...while also out-earning them, too.
Speaking of delight, this week inside of Dead Voice Club we start learning how to write delightful AF *newsletters*. As voted on by the community! 🥇💪 Join now so you don't miss this brand-new class, full of the latest strategies (and more Ash rants when I go live on Thursdays, hahahaha).