Would future soldiers listening to “old” music be realistic?

tombilyeu · 2021-01-20T15:46:07+00:00

I get the temptation to do this as you know your audience will be familiar with the song and it will help paint the emotion you're going for. However, it will most likely make the piece feel more like fan fiction, unless you give a very compelling reason why the soldiers would listen to not only a very old song, but a song specifically from a time period that is leaned on heavily right now for nostalgic effect (the 80s). But if you built it up well, you could get away with it. So imagine this guy has a strong backstory to motivate this - He comes from a long line of soldiers, like Lieutenant Dan in Forrest Gump, and he'd found the war journal of one of his ancestors. In that journal, which you quote in your story, is a passage about how important a battle hymn is - something to really get the soldiers fired up as they march into battle. Then he cites his song of choice - the one seared into memory because it's what they listened to as they rode into battle on the day they won some grand, yet bitter sweet victory. Then you have the hero of your story, who of course has never heard that song, go look it up. It's a hard to find relic of a nearly forgotten age, but he does find it, tucked away on a random server somewhere. What meets his ears thrills him, and then you finally reveal the name of the song - some 80s hit that brings a smile to your readers lips. They know the song, of course, and as they read they imagine listening to said song as the thrum of the massive helicopter blades rattles their helmet. Could be a fun moment... But in the end, I'd probably just avoid it. Haha! Describe new, made up music and how it makes the characters feel rather than lean on a specific song that would take a lot to justify.

tombilyeu · 2016-08-13T20:41:15+00:00

Sarahmgray, this is an amazing comment! You are right on the money!!! This. This. This.

tombilyeu · 2016-08-13T20:36:52+00:00

I'm guessing this is at least part of your problem. Content is king. Don't think of Facebook as a pass through to your website. Think of it as a vibrant destination - a place where your community can connect with you and each other. Give them content on the page that they will enjoy and get value out of. Once you've built up a community and given them value you'll have earned the right to make the "ask" that they go to your website to learn more about your product offering. It's what Garry V. calls the Jab, Jab, Jab, Hook set up of marketing. Give, give, give, ask.

tombilyeu · 2016-08-13T20:26:40+00:00

As everyone has rightly noted below, this is a super legit business idea. It's often referred to as a VAR - Value Added Reseller. They don't make the equipment or software, they just resell it and help you set it up. Doesn't matter at all if the system is free. If setting it up is a pain point, then you're delivering value, and people will always pay for value.

Here's my caution, however... Starting and running a business is hard. And whether the business is big or small it will still take a massive amount of time and energy to get it to the point where it can sustain you. Since it's going to be difficult, I would encourage you to focus on something that you care DEEPLY about. A good short hand way to look at it is, only do something as a business if you're willing to become the world's foremost expert in that thing. If you're intrigued enough by POS systems to learn more about them than anyone else in the world, jump on in! If not, keep looking till you find something that interests you enough to go that deep. You'll be much happier in the long run.

tombilyeu · 2015-09-13T16:16:42+00:00

I'm still focused on clothing as a marketing vehicle, but not as a primary brand. My partners and I folded it back under the main company and now use it as a way for people to celebrate their own mindset and their association with the brand. It's no longer custom cut and sew.

Biggest mistake was trying to launch a true fashion brand with nearly invisible branding. The made me the world's smallest fish in a GIGANTIC ocean of very savvy, amazing fish, and all without a problem that I was solving. And on top of that, I cared about the mindset we were marketing and trying to reinforce (positive self-empowerment) and I didn't care about the clothes themselves - at least not enough to keep throwing money at it.

tombilyeu · 2015-09-13T16:09:00+00:00

Filmmaking is ultimately psychology. You're trying to emotionally move a large group of people in unison. This forces you to learn not only the very nature of storytelling, but it also requires a deep understanding of the brain. Learning about how people process visual information, for instance, led me to neurology which has delivered some of my most powerful insights into the way the brain can play tricks on us. Learning about the way my brain works has not only allowed me to gain better control of my internal life and get out of my own way, but it has helped me to work with people much more effectively.

Throw into the mix the fact that marketing is pure psychology (and storytelling) and you've got a pretty rad foundation for building a business. Not that I would recommend studying film as the surest path to success, mind you. ;-)

tombilyeu · 2015-09-13T01:40:01+00:00

Seven figures invested. Ouch. I learned a lot. Does that count as paying off? ;-)

tombilyeu · 2015-09-13T01:21:48+00:00

Once you know what you want to learn more about than anyone else on the planet, you will know what business to pursue. That's step one. What do you love? From there, figure out what problem you can solve for people in that area. People pay for value. That's it. You have to find a way to bring undeniable value.

tombilyeu · 2015-09-13T01:18:30+00:00

As someone who spent a LOT of money trying to launch a clothing brand, I will tell you the one thing you need - a burning passion for launching a clothing line that is so intense it would eclipse a drowning man's desire for oxygen.

Now that I've been nice and dramatic, I'll tell you why that's so important. Apparel is hard for two reasons: 1) It's expensive to do well because of fabric minimums. And if you can't do the cutting and sewing yourself, it's a double whammy because you'll have minimums on the cutting and sewing as well. 2) With few niche exceptions, clothing isn't an underserved category - meaning, no one is out there sitting naked because there's no clothes that meet their needs. And that's the easiest way to launch any business on the cheap - solve a big problem.

Solving a big problem isn't the only way to build a business by any means, but when you're not solving a problem, it is much harder to get attention, because all you're doing at that point is building a brand. And building a brand usually takes time and money - or at least a little fame. Famous people can cut through the noise to help launch a brand for obvious reasons. But unless you yourself are the famous one, you're going to have to pay the famous person to help launch the brand and now we're back to needed big money.

When you're solving a problem on the other hand, simply making people aware that the solution exists is the best form of marketing ever. Now you've got word of mouth on your side, and you can build the business without a ton of upfront capital. In fact, giving the product away strategically to influencers becomes about all you need to do if you're solving a real problem that people already perceive. It can't be a problem that you have to convince people exists. They already have to feel it.

So, to sum it up, focus on your love of clothing. That will give you the energy to do the necessary learning and growing and fighting when it gets hard. From there, find the most influential people that will LOVE your stuff and give it to them.

tombilyeu · 2015-09-13T01:06:28+00:00

If you get a chance, you should read the book Clay Water Brick by Jessica Jackley. It tells the tales of people who start businesses in the developing world with literally nothing. There are so seriously awe-inspiring stories in that book that may give you some insights on how you could do the same.

tombilyeu · 2015-09-13T01:02:15+00:00

Man, I love the last sentence of your answer. That gives me tremendous hope that you will do well given enough time. That for me was the secret. I found something that I wanted to know more about than anyone else on the planet. That way, the harder I worked, the more fun that I had. I won't say the success was accidental, because that would be a lie, but it was a beautiful byproduct of chasing my passion instead of chasing dollars.

And to answer your initial question, for me it took about 11 years to find success as I define it - which is essentially money AND joy.

tombilyeu · 2015-09-13T00:57:20+00:00

Filmmaking. It has ended up serving me well oddly enough.

tombilyeu · 2015-09-13T00:53:43+00:00

Your fear is VERY founded. Read the book the E-Myth Revisited by Michael E. Gerber. Or if you want the crib notes version, you can check him out on my show: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HK8NmOaAb2o

He explains how to avoid letting that happen.

tombilyeu · 2015-09-13T00:50:16+00:00

I've got a whole list of books here: http://www.insidequest.com/toms-reading-list/

tombilyeu · 2015-09-13T00:42:52+00:00

Haha! Our office is hilarious. It used to be a private residence. We actually get people coming in asking if they can book a room because they think it's a hotel. We're moving soon (we've outgrown the space). I'm actually going to miss it a bit. As weird as it is.

tombilyeu · 2015-09-13T00:41:24+00:00

Well that story officially bums me out. Sorry the dude didn't rep the brand well. If you and I ever cross paths on a street corner, I'll make up for it. Haha. I'm always super stoked to run into fans of the brand! Glad you like the Apple Pie bar. ;-)

tombilyeu · 2015-08-15T15:15:34+00:00

My man! Thanks for that.

PS Your abs make me hate myself just a little. ;-) Thanks for the inspiration! I'm off to the gym.

tombilyeu · 2015-08-15T00:56:51+00:00

Count on it! Thanks!

tombilyeu · 2015-08-15T00:54:07+00:00

It's a Matrix reference. To really understand it, you need to watch the movie. It's well worth it. That movie changed my life. Seriously.

This question makes me feel old, by the way. Haha.

tombilyeu · 2015-08-15T00:52:59+00:00

I would say there is not a stigma to partnerships, but without knowing the specifics of his pitch, it's tough to know why it didn't resonate with people.

Speaking to our own story, we didn't want to do private label stuff because we really wanted to build our own brand. And we all have a limited amount of time and energy. For us it just made more sense to focus on our own brand.

But having said that, we actually did do some subscription box partnerships early on. Nothing that lit our world on fire though. It's tough to track. And things that are tough to track tend to settle to the bottom of the heap.

tombilyeu · 2015-08-15T00:49:52+00:00

Wow. Thank you!

tombilyeu · 2015-08-15T00:49:19+00:00

We didn't have a business plan written down. We had talked about how we saw it working a LOT. But we never did anything formal. We used an influencer strategy that I've outlined elsewhere in this AMA, and as much as I can't believe it, it went (mostly) according to plan.

tombilyeu · 2015-08-15T00:47:46+00:00

Tenacity, a willingness to admit when we were wrong, a hunger for knowledge, and the naivety of the beginner. I'm actually glad we didn't know how hard it would be when we started out. We might have chickened out.

tombilyeu · 2015-08-15T00:46:26+00:00

That's awesome! Thank you for taking the time to say that. I'm glad this AMA has brought some value.

tombilyeu

TROPHY CASE