At the kitchen table, Mike, a social media influencer, listened to his son Xander’s frustrations on the playground.
“I’m having a hard time fitting in,” Xander told his dad. “I like playing all of the playground games, but right now, tetherball is king on the playground. Should I stop playing all of the other games and just focus on tetherball?”
“You have to listen to the market,” Mike said in a fatherly tone. He looked at his phone to check a number that meant little to most people. “When social media pivoted to video, I urged my clients to follow that wave. Our credibility and numbers have never been higher.”
Xander committed to tetherball and, within a few days, was king of the tether pole. He was dominating the playground.
Then Xander came home and spoke to his dad again. “Everyone’s decided to move on from tetherball and play foursquare. But I invested so much time in tetherball.”
“I’m actually having a similar problem,” Mike said. “Everyone is moving to a subscription writing model, and I just invested in video.”
“Weren’t you dominating video?” Xander asked.
“Yes, and now I can dominate subscriptions,” Mike said.
“But won’t everyone just start playing basketball next week?” Xander asked.
“What choice do I have?” Mike asked.
Xander shrugged, “I guess I’ll start dribbling.”