The conveyor belt principle

In our race to invent the next great thing, we managed to create a new industrial complex. The implication is that the freelance copywriter who once earned six figures creating old school copy suddenly finds himself out of work.

So, he turns to Mechanical Turk. If he’s among the lucky few selected from millions of people vying for the same crowdsourced work all over the world, then he is invited to crank out 1,200 words of perfectly crafted, brilliantly edited, professionally formatted, search-optimized copy. It pays $12.00 a piece.

If he’s lucky enough to write four such tedious articles a day, he has just made a whopping $48. It’s not exactly the $75 per hour he once earned, but what’s a writer to do?

So, if you do the math, his pre-tax income is $1,400 per week; $16,128 per year. If he has any dependents, he’s under the poverty threshold in all 50 states.

Then, along came Upwork to accelerate the race to the bottom.

This, of course, had depressing outcomes for gig workers even before the health crisis pulled the three-legged chair from underneath the most vulnerable among us.

There’s no more room for mediocrity. If your work is average, forget it. If it’s just good enough, forget it. The Internet has democratized the marketplace. Good enough just ain’t good enough.

So, what can you do?

Consider the conveyor belt principle. Imagine that your clients are going through life in autopilot. They get up in the morning, brush their teeth, maybe eat breakfast, head off to work (or these days, stroll to the home office), and start firing off emails. They might home-school the kids, so they’re constantly hushing them and trying to break up fights in between Zoom meetings. In short, your clients—like most of us—are going through the conveyor belt of life. All day long.

Routine.

Bland.

Ho hum.

At some point during their day or week, your client will come in contact with your work. This is the moment of truth. The question is, will it be another bland experience, or will it take him or her off the conveyor belt of life?

What happens when something takes you off the conveyor belt of life? The first thing that happens is that you notice. There’s a strong reaction. It grabs your attention. Sometimes, it’s less obvious—it’s a smile of the mind. Equally powerful.

Decamping the conveyor belt of life is what happens when you see a memorable scene in a movie, a breathtaking piece of art, or a beautiful sunrise. 

It happened the first time you saw Betty White run a pass route in the Snickers “You’re Not You When You’re Hungry” commercial before morphing into Mike. It was unexpected. It took you off the conveyor belt of life.

It happened when you first saw the Eargo hearing aid commercial.

It happens every time you get lost in a good book.

So, how can you create similar value for your customers?

How can you take them off the conveyor belt of life?