Of business plans and why we do what we do
My awareness has been raised as of late. I usually keep a variety of feelers in a wide array of industries, movements and memes. Part of being a jack of all trades, I suppose. In recent weeks, I’ve begun to take notice of a few shifts (both subtle and not-so) causing ripples across about everything I’m involved with, and it seems those ripples are all converging on us right here at Podiobooks.com.
If you haven’t purchased your copy of The Long Tail by Chris Anderson, do it. If you have any interest in the changing landscape of media, business and other more important aspects of life, you owe it to yourself to read this book. For me, it’s not as eye opening as it is reaffirming a movement I’m happy to be a part of. Everyone will take away something different from the book, but what I’m finding most compelling is the idea that sometimes, given sufficient time and levels of input, entropy seems to reverse direction — and not every successful business need start off with a solid plan. Sometimes good shit happens.
And maybe we’re seeing the beginnings of that right here. I certainly had nothing which could be equated to a business plan when the idea for Podiobooks.com came in to my head. It started with books from five authors — one of which birthed the general concept, one I dragged into it, another who forced me into stepping up my timeline, an author facing some radical life-changes, and one quiet guy with some business lessons to share. I found someone who shared my vision and had the technical chops to pull it off. And with these humble beginnings, we unleashed a new concept into the world.
Today, just over a year later, we’re pushing ever closer to 100 titles — a goal which seemed quite far off at the time. We’ve roped in others to help us with many tasks and have managed to provide a service which thousands of people appreciate. Some authors are enjoying a wider audience share than would have been possible in any other way. Listeners are finding out that more than music can fit on an MP3 player. And new doors of opportunity are opening for us all.
Just like my original decision to create this site, tonight’s post really doesn’t have a goal in mind. But it does have a purpose: to thank you all for your continued support, feedback and enjoyment. And I really am glad you are enjoying what we are doing here. The wheels are turning at the same time the track is still being laid down. Funny… I don’t usually care for roller coasters. But I’m curious where this one goes. 
August 13th, 2006 at 9:22 am
“The Long Tail” joins “Free Culture” by Lawrence Lessig and “The Future of Music” by Gerd Leonard and David Kusek as books in a new bible of sorts, one that will describe and lead the change from old media to new, from centralized distribution and control to one-to-one distribution and limitless individual choice.
Podiobooks.com is coming up on an anniversary, isn’t it? Watcha got planned?
Rollercoaster: goes up and down but goes in circles, ultimately. Yuck.
Think of Podiobooks as a train laying tracks as it goes across an uncharted landscape, full of discovery and potential.