Read what Seth Godin has to say. The reason riding a unicycle is difficult
...is because it's sudden.
All the time you're practicing, you aren't actually riding. You're falling. Then, if you don't give up after all this failure, in a blink, you're riding. No in-between. Failing...riding.
Learning things that are binary like this is quite difficult. They are difficult to market because people don't like to fail. They're difficult to master because people don't like to fall. "You don't get it, but you will," is a hard sell.
Here's a great parenting tip: the best way to teach your kid to ride a bicycle is to wear Rollerblades. I can teach just about any 7 year old to ride a bike in ten minutes using this technique. The reason? For ten minutes, they are riding the bike while I hold them up. Once they get over the speed and steering hump, it's easy. The hard part was the falling.
If your goal is to have a mainstream service or product, then your opportunity is to create non-unicycle moments for your customers, employees and students.
So how does that apply to you?
I think about how awkward or scary it can be when someone goes to church for the first time.
It's scary enough to go to a new church, to a foreign church, one where you don't know what to expect. What about if you've never gone to church before!! How scary could that be?
If you are a church goer or a church leader, look at the experience from the outsider's point of view and make it easier for them. Consider how or when in a church event, an outsider might feel foreign, in adequate or stupid. How can you accompany them, possibly on rollerblades or whatever is appropriate, so you can take more of the potential for falling/failing out of the equation?
A friend told me of a co-worker on his staff who accompanied him and the sign maker through the new wing of the church. They were discussing where to put signs and how to word them. My friend's co-worker finally gave them the perspective they needed in suggesting that the signs weren't for the church members, the regular attenders, but for those who were visitors, those who might feel lost.
If it's not too junior high-ish, I think that was a smack yourself in the forehead and say, "duh" moment. It was for my friend, though he's more the type to just shake his head in disappointment with himself wishing he'd been as perceptive. At least he's a learner and open to ideas and advice.
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