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From the cover of the June 2015 issue:

Wow, that guys sure knows how to spin a stick! 

But what was with the swinging water bottle at the beginning? What did that have to do with the stick twirling?

Nothing, really. 

But it was also probably the main reason why you watched the video in the first place.

Let me explain.

Demonstrating the marital arts technique of twirling the stick (I have a feeling that “stick twirling” is not the technical term for it, and I mean no offense to anyone who practices this art, but I’ll continue to call it “stick twirling” out of sheer lack of desire to Google the proper name for it right now), demonstrating this technique was the “reason” for this video. This lesson is the “meat” of the message. 

But, as entertaining as the demonstration is, it didn’t start with that.

No. It started instead with the guy pushing a water bottle suspended on a string at face-height, away from himself and letting it swing back and forth for a moment.

Why did it begin this way?

Two reasons.

One is good, old, reliable, attention-getting curiosity. 

Perhaps you’ve seen other videos online of physics professors letting heavy lead balls that are suspended from strings drop away from their face and then swing back towards their face? Of course through their knowledge of physics they know that the heavy weighted ball will not hit them in the face due to the loss of energy. (This only works if the professors lets the weight drop, not if the professors pushes the weight. If they push the weight then it will gain some momentum and have enough energy to come back and hit them square in their over-educated faces. Hard, too.)

I was reminded of those videos when I first saw the beginning of this clip. 

“Oh boy, I wonder if this guy is about to get hit in the head with this water bottle?”

That kept me watching. (I know, I know, I’m an immature sucker for a cheap laugh. Well, in the words of John Lennon, “But I’m not the only one.”)

But this swinging water bottle trick subtly does even more to engage the viewer.

You see, the back-and-forth swinging motion actually cues our mind – like a hypnotist who holds a pendulum in front of us and begins to speak, “You are getting sleepy… very sleepy…” – so that we pay attention. It gives us something to focus upon. This is called a “hypnotic induction”.

When our focus is fixated on the swinging bottle we are mildly “hypnotized” and are more open and receptive to the next message.

At this point we are prepared for the lesson.

It happens very quickly, so you may have to watch the video a few times to really see it.

But think about this subtle yet powerfully persuasive sequence:

1 – Curiosity (to gain attention)

2 – Hypnotic induction of some kind (to focus the attention)

3 – The meat of the message (which will be super-charged from the fixated focus)

My writing routine was unexpectedly interrupted today.

Usually, I get out of bed and go downstairs to my computer, put on some music (by casting Spotify to my TV from my phone), and write for anywhere from 10-45 minutes first thing in the morning. 

And this morning started out no different.

I was just getting into a flow of good writing when I heard it…

…

Nothing.

My music had stopped.

Spotify had disconnected for some reason and stopped playing.

I interrupted my flow-state of writing and reconnected Spotify to the TV.

The music started playing again, and I returned to my writing.

It took a moment to get back into it, but after about 10 seconds of warming up my mind I got back into the groove of where I was before the music stopped.

My fingers were gingerly tapping away on the keys when –

There it was again!

(What the heck!?)

…

Silence.

The music had once again disconnected!

It’s surprising how utterly jarring it was to simply have the music stop playing. 

It made me realize how much I use the sound and the rhythm of the music to keep my focus while writing.

After the second time it disconnected I decided to acquiesce. I did not have the will to battle technology so early in the morning. So I just turned the music off and went on writing in the forced silence.

Routines are quite important – especially when it comes to developing a habit that you want to consistently get better at – but you have to be flexible as well.

In order not to break my writing routine I had to alter my music-listening sub-routine.

But it got me to thinking, just how powerfully distracting the ABSENCE of sound can be, simply because it is a noticeable shift in the writing environment that I am used to.

It’s a lesson in standing out.

You don’t always have to “scream” to be heard.

Sometimes being a bastion of silence in an over-stimulated world can be just as (if not more) attention-getting than going to the next higher decibel.

You don’t have to be “weird” “zany” or “gimmicky” to stand out. 

Silence isn’t “weird” “zany” or “gimmicky”.

But it is different.

And contrast is key.

Contrast makes you stand out, it almost forces you to get noticed, even if you are not that “interesting” on your own.

How interesting is silence?

Not very.

But how noticeable is silence when you’re not expecting it?

Impossible to ignore.

And of course, that’s the first step in the process of persuasion – getting attention.

Hopefully this little tale of distracted writing can inspire you to explore your own attention-getting methods, and think about how you might not have to work so hard to achieve a jarring and undeniably noticeable presence in your own market.

Instead, use the power of contrast to do the heavy lifting for you.

“World building” has become quite a hot topic in the info-business world as of late. Or the idea of building your brand’s very own “universe”.

Worlds. Universes. It all sounds pretty hifalutin. And how exactly does it relate to building an info-business? 

If the idea of world or universe creation seems daunting, as it did to me, consider building yourself an amusement park instead.

Here’s what I mean.

Amusement parks (in case the only person who’s never heard of one before happens to be reading this) have a variety of different rides, games, and other forms of entertainment. The most famous examples would be Disneyland or Universal Studios. 

They have different sections that appeal to different people depending on how they feel and what they want to experience. 

There are high-intensity rides like roller coasters or water slides, for the real big-time thrill seekers. (Think of these like the high-ticket offers you sell.)

Then there are the mildly intense rides like a Ferris wheel or a small “kiddie” rollercoaster for people who are a little hesitant or perhaps are “beginners” and haven’t been on any rides before. (These are like your mid-ticket and/or subscription products.)

Other than rides, there are all sorts of different games – from games of chances like duck pond where players choose one of many random floating rubber ducks and underneath it will say whether they’ve won or not, to games of skill like the balloon and dart game where you throw darts to pop balloons and win prizes. (These could be your low-ticket items.)

Then of course amusement parks all have copious amounts of food and various bits of merchandise you can get as a memento of the whole experience. (This might be the free content you provide or maybe even literal merchandise.)

The point in describing all of this is that all of these ideas can be used as an analogy for your business.

Imagine your products as “rides” or “attractions” in your amusement park.

That’s not to say that your products need to make your customers’ hearts beat out of their chests and hurl them around at multiple miles per hour. But think about the flow of the experience you want your customers to have and provide them with options that go well together.

For instance, in a real amusement park, someone might start by going on a merry-go-round. The person who wants to have a successful amusement park asks themselves, “After going on the merry-go-round, what ride would they most likely want to go on next?” Some rides lead naturally to the next one. Perhaps they’d like to go on the rollercoaster next, or the “graviton”. 

Or, what if they didn’t like the merry-go-round?

They might want to keep their feet on the ground and play a simple ball toss game instead.

It’s the same with your products. Take one of your products and think, “What would be the next logical step for someone who loves this product? And what if this one was too much for them – what would they want help with if that were the case?” 

Maybe your customers want to go on the same ride multiple times. You could make a series of products that are similar but different enough so people keep coming back again and again. 

And what is your business’s equivalent to food? Do you offer bite-sized “snacks” for the customers in your market who are looking for something to “eat”?

The possibilities are endless.

This quick article only scratched the surface of how the concept of building an amusement park can be used to transform not only how you think about your info-business, but your whole concept of customer experience related to your business as well.

And once your theme park is built, you always have the option of expanding it into its own world, or universe, if you really want to.