I don’t care what the warning labels say: Plastic sheets make for great toys.
Not the brittle, crinkly ones you get on overpriced fruit baskets, but the good ones.
The thick, smooth ones that just sliiiiide y’know?
The ones that don’t tear easy.
Like… If you had to push your thumb through one of them, you couldn’t do it in one go.
The first time you push, the transparent plastic stretches and becomes cloudy. Makes you feel like a responsible adult is disappointed in you.
And when you remove your thumb, it doesn’t come back. It still holds its shape. Now they’re shaking their head.
Then you, being you, push again.
This time, it stretches a bit more and a rip starts to appear. The adult is getting irritated. They’ve folded up the newspaper, put on the glasses and they’re getting ‘that’ look.
But, you still haven’t pushed through fully.
The third time you push – you go clean through. And the adult loses their shit.
And oh my oh my… that sweet sweet feeling of the plastic yielding… – chef’s kiss – baby!
Weird kinks aside there’s a point to this.
Our personal growth is like tearing through a plastic sheet.
It doesn’t happen at one go. It takes time and effort.
And the results are rewarding.
Your Hero’s transformation is similar.
They don’t go from Broken World to Paradise in one go. There are many steps along the way – milestones if you will.
Your job as the Guide is to guide them from The Broken World to the first milestone. And then to the one after that. And keep them going till they reach Paradise.
How do you do that?
Quests & Loot.
Quests are tasks The Hero needs to complete. By completing Quests, The Hero gets Loot – valuable things that make them more powerful.
In business, Quests are tasks your customer needs to do to solve their problems.
In the same artery, Loot is things that your customers value. It could be:
- Money
- Knowledge
- Systems
- Introductions
- Email addresses
- Access
- Candy
- Status
- Power
- Tools
- Opportunities
- Connections etc.
Your job as The Guide is to tell The Hero the quests they need to do to get to Paradise. And the Loot they’re gonna get along the way.
That’s what good marketing is too:
- Talking about the Loot and Paradise
- Highlighting The Broken World
- And pointing out the Quests the Hero needs to do
Today’s challenge, my young plastic pusher, is to figure out what are the quests your hero needs to do.
What would they need to complete to go from The Broken World to Paradise?
Remember: Completing each quest gives a mini-transformation that helps The Hero level up too.
Go on, make that list. We’ll talk again tmrw about levelling up – and the two faces of good marketing.
With love from Bengaluru, this is Arvindh saying Vartaa Maamey!
P.s. Vartaa Maamey is Tamil gangsta slang that roughly translates to ‘See you later.’ I a Tamil gangsta flick last night, so of course I’m gonna use gangsta slang. (▀̿Ĺ̯▀̿ ̿)