Thor got to chop off Thanos’ head with his Stormbreaker towards the beginning of Avengers: Endgame. And Thanos still showed up the villain in the end. I’m the action and sci-fi movie kind of guy. The more the action and science fiction, the merrier it is to watch. I’ve watched all the 4 series of Avengers; The Avengers, Age of Ultron, Infinity War and Endgame. It’s not coincident that Endgame is the highest-grossing film of all time; and that all four series made the top 11 highest-grossing films. But beyond following the storyline of a movie, I look out for the ingenuity of the creators behind the movie. And I found one powerful business strategy that films like Avengers, X-men and WWE have in common. This lesson is so powerful that if you are not implementing it in your business or career, you’ll be losing out big time financially.
Yes, I watch WWE as well. I know it’s scripted and just for entertainment, but so are movies. I amazed at how the storylines are crafted; although they are flawed sometimes. I also find how superstars control crowd reactions interesting. How one wrestler can quickly turn from the good guy to the bad guy with one simple move; like how the crowd reacted when Barley turned from the hugger to the dominant-champion. It’s simply a play of psychological manipulation. But that’s not even the most powerful lesson I learned from WWE as a business.
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The one simple lesson I want to talk about is not really about the movies or the wrestling, but how the companies behind it play smart long term business strategy. Almost every successful person out there applies this simple but powerful lesson. And if you want to be financially successful, it’s inevitable that you apply to this lesson.
Avengers
Before Avengers, Marvel Studios already had movies for Iron Man, SpiderMan, Thor, Hulk and Captain America. All of these superheroes were brought into one movie, The Avenger. After the first Avenger, new superhero movies were created like Doctor Strange and Captain Marvel. It didn’t end there; Marvel Studios introduced even more superheroes who do not yet have movies of their own into the Avengers team. This is where it gets interesting.
These New superheroes are already building suspense as viewers are clamouring for a movie to tell the story of these unknown superheroes. Not only that, but Marvel studios also continue to create more movies around the Avengers storyline like Captain America’s Civil War and Thor’s Ragnarok; all stories somehow linked to Avengers. The game here is that; instead of Marvel Studios had to think up a new idea for a movie every single time, they have built an entire world, first from different ideas crystallized into one big idea; and then that one big idea giving birth to multiple bodies of movie ideas. Marvel Studios took one idea, the Avengers, and are milking it for every juice it can bleed out. From its super hero’s franchises and film series, Marvel Studios have generated over $22 billion dollars. Still with me?
They did the same thing with X-Men. First, we had X-Men 1, then 2 and 3, I think. Then they went back in time to create movies on the origin of the major X-Men like Wolverine, First Class, Dark Phoenix and more. The same concept; take one idea and milk it for every juice it can offer.
At this point, you might have started thinking about what I’m thinking; but still, stay with me.
Next is WWE
How does this relate to WWE, you ask? Isn’t it obvious? From simple in-ring wrestling, the company had turned into a full entertainment business creating movies with its superstars, video games, gears and toys, carton and reality shows; all around the one big idea. Today, WWE is a multi-billion dollar company.
What’s the business lesson in all of this?
You see, most of us are obsessed about having an orgy of ideas. We want to do too many things and hope that one of them works. In the business world, some identity as serial entrepreneurs, which is often another way of saying, ‘I’m a Jack of all trade’. Other people have so many ideas that they feel like they are already successful even without implementing any of them.
If you think about the most financially successful people today, you can easily identify their primary source of wealth. When you think Bill Gates, you think Microsoft; Jeff Bezos – Amazon. Mark Zuckerberg – Facebook. Warren Buffet – Stock Investment. Donald Trump – Real Estate. Some people will not be happy I mentioned Donald Trump but I’m just trying to make a point. It is what it is. Also, you can forget about these international figures and think about the wealthy people in your country. You’ll find a similar pattern.
The simple lesson I learned from Marvel Studios, WWE and several of these other successful companies is that‘wealth is created when you exert intense pressure on one idea’.
Multiple Vs Single Stream of Income
When you think about multiple streams of income, what comes to your mind? Is it having multiple businesses and investments generating income? Or is it having one idea generating income from multiple sources? Think about that for a moment.
[pause]
Let me ask that question again but slowly this time; when you think about multiple streams of income, what comes to your mind? Is it having multiple businesses and investments generating income? Or is it having one idea of generating income from multiple sources?
You see, when I started my journey as an entrepreneur, I dabbled into many things; from the film industry to construction and commerce. Even when I start an online business, I was also trying to do many things; from web design and development to Forex trading, freelance writing and blogging. It felt like I was actually doing something; at least I was always busy. But I wasn’t making headway. I began to really make progress when I decided to focus on one thing. At first, it didn’t seem like it. It felt like I was leaving out a lot of opportunities focusing on one idea. But when I look back, that was the best decision I ever made. As the business began to grow, I was able to allocate resources to take that one idea and expand it into different sources of revenue.
Wealth is created when you exert intense pressure on one idea
You may say, but wealthy people invest in different businesses; they have multiple streams of income from different industries. Well, here is another way to look at it.
Wealthy people don’t create their initial wealth from working on different ideas at a time. The first, as Andrew Carnegie puts it, “put all their eggs into one basket and watch that one basket”. It is when their first idea become successful and they can afford to hire other smart people that they start investing their money to work for them in multiple places. Elon Musk made $165 million dollars from the sale of PayPal before he was able to start 3 different companies almost at the same time. This is why the rich keep getting richer. The rich play a very different game from the masses. They make their money work harder for them than you can make your two hands, one brain and two legs work for you.
I’ve invested in other things like real estate, agriculture, cryptocurrency, stock, and other businesses. But all these wouldn’t have been possible without first exerting intense pressure on one idea.
How you can make this work for you
Let’s say you are in the business of selling and installing a solar inverter. Instead of waiting for work-in customers to patronize your service or for people to recommend you, you can list your product on e-commerce websites, have your own website, set up a YouTube channel to educate people on using a solar inverter, grow email subscribers, and social media presence. That way you have different sources of generating new customers and reaching out to old ones.
You can also go from selling your product to offer consulting services to help businesses invest in the right energy components, train people in the business and recruit affiliate marketers. From the simple idea of selling solar inverter, you can have a media, training, and consulting arm of your business.
As much as you may not want to admit it, we are not good with multitasking. Our brain does not work like that. Multitasking is like trying to cut down two trees that are 3 meters apart at the same time; alternating between two blows on one tree, and two blows on the other simultaneously. You will be more efficient if you focus on cutting down one tree first before you move to the other. Trying to do more than one thing at the same time only dilutes your effort.
If you want to lift your life from average to financial independence, your reasonable chance is to pick one cause and exert intense pressure on that one idea. Explore every opportunity that idea has to offer and focus all your energy on it. Nurture it, grow it and make it work. Because you create wealth when you exert intense pressure on one idea.
