In 1996 the Chicago Bulls reigned supreme and Michael Jordan was raking in $80 million per year. Joe Kleine was last on the bench, making the NBA minimum of $272,250.
Same winning team. Why the 300:1 difference in pay?
Because Michael Jordan was just slightly better than everyone else.
And because Michael Jordan drives sales of basketballs, tennis shoes, T-shirts, soft drinks and toothpaste in Paris, Barcelona, Taipei, Tokyo, Melbourne, and Davenport Iowa.
Joe Kleine doesn't.
Thomas Friedman put it like this: "The gap between first place and second place grows larger, and the gap between first place and last place becomes staggering. In many fields there is rarely one winner, but those near the top get a disproportionate share.
"The potential market for any good or service, for any singer or songwriter, for any author or actor, for any doctor or lawyer, for any athlete or academic, now extends from one end of the world to the other.
"Either you dominate the worldwide market or somebody else will."
When you emerge as the winner, as "THE Accounting Firm", "THE Doctor", "THE Salesman", "THE Basketball Player", "THE Man" or "THE Woman" in any particular field, you can potentially win not only the United States or Europe, not only Japan or China. You reap enormous profits and royalties from everywhere.
Don't miss this:
For almost everyone reading this, the name of the game is not being "The Doctor."
It's about being The Internal Medicine Specialist for Patients who are 60 years old and older.
It's not about being The Lawyer. It's about being The Attorney for Industrial and Environmental Tort Law.
You hyper-specialize, so that even on the mighty Internet, you are a big fish in a little pond. Even in hyper-narrow niches, if you're #1 on the Internet, you win, Big-Time.
I can think of no place where this is more clearly seen than in my own Renaissance Club Roundtable group.
Joe DiSorbo is rapidly becoming the #1 in online product fulfillment. Julie Brumlik, #1 in skin care. Glenn Livingston is #1 in online market research. Jeff Hughes, #1 in high-end, high-touch call centers.
If you're gunning for the #1 spot in your niche - and if you qualify - you can be admitted to this group, a forum where #1 marketers in many realms gather three times a year and sharpen their games.
[Via Perry Marshall]
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