In some ways, the less such an essay says, the easier it is to become a “tabula rasa,” where the reader fills in the huge, empty spaces with things they already believe.
The next step is to applaud the essay because the reader feels it “feels right.” Of course it feels right if you mentally fill in the blanks, and if it says nothing that can be empirically falsified.
It took me a second to understand that you mean the article, not the comment you replied to.
I agree. I think the title is insightful, but I was surprised to see that the article picked a single, poor example to develop it. This is probably being upvoted for the title only.
It can still spark interesting discussion here though.
The general principle is good, and can be found in literally any textbook about market segmentation and business strategy. And the idea of motivating the reader by giving an example is sound, even though in and of themselves, single examples reek to high heaven of survivorship bias.
If it motivates someone to not give up because they don’t seem to fit the existing templates for success, that is necessary, but not sufficient by a long shot.
What’s missing are concrete tactics for succeeding with the strategy of “make your own niche.” Lacking specific tactics for replication—at any scale, in any field—its primary value IMO is as an exhortation to go out and research how to succeed with this strategy.
It’s only a short essay, so it really has no more weight then the preface of a book. And that’s what it reads like: An anecdote at the beginning of a book about succeeding as a niche or specialized entity…
Only the rest of the book—with specific chapters detailing the strategy at finer levels of detail and laying out tactics to thrive—is missing. We are left to either fumble around blindly, frustrated that we are unable to “paint the target around our arrow,” or go out and do a lot more reading and learning to assemble the rest of the book by hand.
If anyone does find this inspirational or thought-provoking, there are entire books touching on the subject that provide a lot more value. If this motivates people to go out and read such books, it’s not a complete waste of time, but it is incomplete and fails to say “Hey, this is just to whet your appetite, this is the beginning of a long journey. Bruce took decades to discover what worked by trial and error and working with others, you can read these books to get you started on the right road.”
I’ll contribute one book recommendation: “Marketing Warfare” by Reis and Trout. It’s also lightweight and easily digestible, but it contains a simple model of competition that divides business into four different strategies (offence, defence, flanking, guerrilla) and then details specific advice for success in each one.
What they call “guerrilla” is closest to what this essay espouses, and readers may find their advice a little more actionable. But even then, that book is not a complete how-to. You have to keep learning and keep researching.