Do Everything: Trying to Market as a Polymath
Yesterday, I was speaking to a marketing professional about how best to strategically present poleninjatutorials.com. He was friendly and helpful, talking about funnels and brand identity, single focus niches, and my "biggest" challenge. All of it was interesting and good, and also, I felt like I was reading a book with stock questions. Sometimes, I couldn’t be sure I wasn’t just talking to myself. As we continued the discussion, I realized that once again, I was having a familiar, "ugh" sensation…
Of not fitting the mold.
Nothing he was saying was wrong. In fact, it was all very sound advice, but at the same time, the message was striking a parallel chord inside me to something else I’ve heard my entire life:
Focus on what you want, hone your strategy to get what you want, don’t be spread too thin.
In life, people frequently say that if you want to be the best, you have to focus on only one thing.
"Jack of all trades, master of none," is the common phrase.
It confused me because, what’s the difference between one thing and the next? Why does it mean, by default, that I have to be a “generalist” if I have many skills? Can’t I be competitive at a lot of stuff?
Now, there really is absolutely no way to not sound like an egotist when writing something like this, and that’s also generally frowned on (rightfully so). But at the same time, I have to acknowledge what I feel is true inside me.
“A polymath (Greek: πολυμαθής, polymathēs, "having learned much"; Latin: homo universalis, "universal man")[1] is an individual whose knowledge spans a significant number of subjects, known to draw on complex bodies of knowledge to solve specific problems. “
-https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Polymath
To me, the entire world—every profession, every activity, is simply a variation on another one. In pole, every move is simply a variation of another move, a starfish is the same as a human flag, but with the feet. Twisted grip is the same as regular grip but with an extra rotation.
I use this phrase, constantly: "Everything is the same."
Be it pole dancing or parkour, photography and writing…a chiropractor is just a martial artist that pushes the bones in the right directions. The patterns to behavior, the communities, the processes of anything and everything are all the same or very similar. The skills are similar.
Even things that "should" be opposites are more similar than we often realize. Detectives and criminals might have similar psychological profiles. Meat eaters and vegans talk awfully similar, the communities of the religious conservatives versus liberal atheists are just as narrow minded and biased as the other.
Sure, the devil is in the detail, but I don’t understand why we are culturally imposing limits to how much a person can do and learn. I agree with focusing. I agree with honing and doing things well, but that’s a different message than the opposite:
Focus (yes), hone (yes), don’t be spread too thin (no!).
I believe the limits of ability are not based on category, but in the individual.
The required skills of being a janitor versus being a neurosurgeon are vastly different in quantity (let’s assume), but does that mean the janitor cannot expand into another profession and learn more because they have to focus on only one career? Are janitors restricted from learning anatomy? Or neurosurgeons from the important practical procedures of commercial sanitation? Why would anyone say, "I can’t learn more because it’ll limit my knowledge and ability in what I already know." Couldn’t the world’s best janitor also be the world’s best neurosurgeon?
I argue that the more you know, the more you can do, the more…life you can live. Ability is opportunity.
In fact, in this day and age of interconnectedness, social media, and popular culture—to be the best in any one thing is nearly impossible. We are so interconnected that the bar is raised higher and higher; it is so difficult to take only one thing and be recognized for it. It is much easier to combine different things that seem unrelated, and to shove them together in a magical way that no one foresaw before you.
When COVID-19 hit the world, I was nearing the end of a world tour of almost 4 months. I had patients at home waiting to get treatment, and I was doing photoshoots and filming tutorials in between teaching pole dance classes and co-running intensives.
Being a doctor, of course, is most lucrative, so when I got home, I was in desperate need to "get to work". But then COVID-19 shut down my clinic, and I had to cancel not only all my appointments, but everything.
Like everyone, I and my patients suffered. Pole dancing studios shut down. My workshops were cancelled and my future tours, delayed. Photoshoots had to be cancelled as well. It seemed like everything was suddenly impossible. I, similar to everyone, was asking were I was going to get my income.
But, because of the very fact that I have other directions and abilities to resource, I was able to quickly "hone" more energy into a direction I was already heading: online instruction.
I’m still in the early stages, but the success has been far greater than expected (in large part due to all the people stuck at home). I have more than 400 students now, and almost 3000 lecture completions. I’m bring on two new pole instructors in the next few weeks, and I’m starting to learn about marketing in my own, organic way. Sure, I can get better with the way I market. Sure I should have a better, cleaner, set up. But there’s something beautiful about just trying things and learning as I go. Organic methods to create organic results, I suppose.
This is the truth about being a polymath: self-learning is critical.
When I obsess about any topic, I throw everything I have in it and it’s all I think about. I make endless mistakes, and that’s part of the journey; it’s part of getting good at anything. I want to make the mistakes, and at the root level, I don’t want to pay someone to avoid making those mistakes at this stage because…it means that I won’t learn.
In the beginning of anything, you can make mistakes without much consequence. Why wouldn’t you take advantage of this special time? I’ll pay someone, later, to do it better if I lose interest in the subject—and then, I’ll have the knowledge to gauge how valuable a person can be for me.
I’ve always struggled with formal learning, anyway. I can’t learn in a classroom effectively, I’d rather read the text book and try stuff in the real world. I like to pursue whatever muse strikes me when it strikes me, and I like to experiment beyond the confines of what is considered "sound advice".
Often, I have to go back after I’ve made these mistakes and implement the basics because somehow, I missed the basic. Sometimes, it’s quite painful to start over. This has been my journey in, literally, every profession I’ve ever pursued.
Sure, sometimes, life is challenging with this lifestyle. Time management is crucial, and when I fill out any document (for a silly example) I never fit the mold, and often, it bites me in the ass (PPP loans, EIDL, etc). No one seems to know what to do with a self-employed person with many forms of legit income and professions.
This friendly individual with advice on marketing was very helpful, but maybe he wasn’t for me, right now.
Yes, I’m small, so the numbers are different in scale, and they will change in time, but based on the analytics of my current, organically generated mailing list:
I have a 60-70% open rate (22% is average).
About 20% click rate (2.5-3% is average).
And a 9% conversion rate (1% is average).
More than half of the mailing list opened the email multiple times.
Only two unsubscribes, ever.
This is looking okay; I have some room to try new things. It might just be because the mailing list is still small (4-500) for all I know, and because of COVID-19 driving sales.
But I want to believe that the reason these numbers are so high compared to the industry average is that the content is valuable. I try to load each one with a lot of educational content, and essentially, a bunch of high-value materials.
I’ve never feel good about asking for money in general, even less so without first offering something of value. This is why the current model of engagement is simple: every promotion I do first comes with deciding what I can give that’s valuable to others.
So, in conjunction with this blog, you’ll notice that you’re on a new website. It’s the only thing that connects all the pieces that don’t seem to come together is: me.
Photo by Michael Loh
I’ve been hard at work updating all the websites:
PoleNinjaPhotography.com, along with a redesign, now has prints for sale. You can purchase any image you want from the website.
VitalBalanceChiropractic.com is also completely redesigned, and I’ve launched on poleninjatutorials.com a little course called "Dr. Ken’s Perspective", which is, for now the content I’ve uploaded on IGTV already, but it is going to be about health in general for the very expensive price of FREE. And, coming soon, as mentioned earlier, are two new instructors who will be offering Silent Tutorial courses!
KennethKao.com has launched, as you can see, and it will integrate more of my writing journey soon. All blogs have been moved here from the other sites. I’ll be writing on a number of subjects, but this is where you’ll find all things related to any project I pursue.
At a young age, I’d set out to be "master of all trades" and "to live as many lives as possible." Most people told me that I was making a mistake and that I would regret it; it was impossible to be successful in too many fields.
Well, we’ll see if those warnings are true in marketing, as well. I don’t disagree, but I’m going to find out if there’s some kind of middle ground, at the very least (also, if you’re a writer, watch out for the launch of a new website with my writing group, the “Antonyms”).
At least in life, I feel like I’m succeeding in my childhood goals. I’ve reached widely acknowledged professional or elite heights on every path I’ve pursued. I’ve shared many varying communities and I’ve seen differing perspectives from all walks of life from all over the world. I have indeed lived many lives, and best of all…
I’ve more stories than any one person has the right to have.
While I learned quickly the limits of time, energy, talent and intelligence (meaning, the lack thereof), I also learned that it didn’t take much to excel in any field because…I already had the skill sets in some parallel activity or occupation. I do plan on releasing more about my methods of pursuing anything and learning anything, if only to understand my own process better, so follow here for more on that, too.
Now, to learn a bit about segmental mailing lists, SEO, and funnel—wut?
I’m going to post more about my experiments into marketing myself as a polymath, and I hope that even with all the mistakes, you’ll stick with me and enjoy the ride.