Bot Academy

The U.S. First Amendment protects all speech, including lies.

Before you throw stones at me, I hope you will read on.

In all of history, new ideas, and their originators have been considered heresy, idiocy, and lies, until they weren't.

Let's review just a few as examples.

Nicolaus Copernicus
Galileo Galilei
Giordano Bruno
Charles Darwin
Antoine Lavoisier

These gentlemen faced persecution in their own time for ideas they put forth that are now widely accepted as scientific fact today.

One was placed on house arrest for the final years of his life.
One was burned at the stake.
One had his books banned.
One faced significant controversy.
One was guillotined.

Too bad they didn't have The First Amendment.

What does this have to do with entrepreneurship, and those of us here on LinkedIn?

I'll just list a few names, and their corresponding entrepreneurial ideas that were ridiculed.

Steve Jobs - Fired from Apple, then rehired. Self-proclaimed crazy, misfit, rebel 🏴‍☠️
Jeff Bezos - Amazon was mocked as Amazon.bomb 💥
Elon Musk - I can't even list how SpaceX, Tesla, and Neuralink have been characterized, but thank you to them all. He is currently being called "H1tl3r" for protecting free speech through X. 🎉
Reed Hastings - Established video rental companies dismissed this upstart Netflix dvd-by-mail rental idea that later introduced internet streaming of movies 🤣
Travis Kalanick - Uber faced significant regulatory pushback, and criticism from the taxi industry 🚖

Do I need to go on?

All of these companies are U.S. founded companies, and their ideas were considered lies at first.

- You can have a phone that can replace your computer - not possible - lie.
- You can sell books online - not possible - lie.
- You can create a profitable electric car company with a rabid community following - not possible - lie.
- You can create a reusable rocket company - not possible - lie.
- You can create a computer chip to embed into the brains of humans to reanimate physical disabilities - not possible - lie.
- You can rent movies to the masses through the mail, then start a movie streaming service online - not possible - lie.
- You can use an app on your phone to call for a ride from a stranger, and you will actually get in their car - not possible - lie.

If the U.S. did not have the First Amendment that protects free speech from government regulation and control, imagine what could have happened to these amazing entrepreneurs and their world-changing ideas (evidence by what is currently happening to Elon).

The First Amendment does not protect certain kinds of speech. It protects all speech, especially offensive speech that most people consider a lie.

Before those of you compelled to give me the "yelling fire in a crowded theater" argument, stop the knee-jerk reaction, and just think for a minute about the context in which I'm presenting my statements. Context matters, and you know it.

So, what do you think?

Is it important that these types of lies are protected under the First Amendment?

When you stop following someone else's script for success on social, and embrace your own uniqueness is when you finally don't give a s**t what anyone else thinks.

If you're quirky, be quirky.

If you're stoic, be stoic.

If you're mischievous, let's make some mischief.

Be You, and those who resonate will love that.

Way more than if you were trying to be someone else.

If you don't believe me, take it from Jalapeño Joe.

Spicy Sauce for the day 🌶️

Funnels, Funnels everywhere, and movements hard to find.

By design, sales funnels are a one-way tickets to a sale.

The purpose is for you to capture, and sell to as many leads as possible.

→ Top of funnel is designed to CAPTURE potential leads.
→ Middle of funnel is designed to PERSUADE those leads to buy.
→ Bottom of funnel is designed to SELL through fear of missing out, false urgency, and upsells/downsells.

Buyer's funnels, however, require a major mindset shift to understand and embrace.

The purpose is for a buyer to invite you into their buying process.

🌶️ Top of funnel is designed for a buyer to become AWARE of the potential solutions to their problem.
🌶️ Middle of funnel is designed for a buyer to CONSIDER all their options through research online.
🌶️ Bottom of funnel is designed for the buyer to become READY to buy from businesses they now know, like and trust to offer the best solution.

The language and intent of these funnels are diametrically opposed, and the true distinction can be seen in the middle.

The middle of a sales funnel is where we persuade, and sell leads through monologues.

The middle of a buyer's funnel is where we are considered as a trusted source by the buyer through dialogues.

A 2023 Gartner study showed that 75% of consumers prefer a seller-free buying experience.

No one wants to be sold, but everyone wants to buy.

Are you ready to start doing the work to secure the trust of your buyer's invitation?

I don't think anyone can say that ad costs have dropped over the last decade, so unless your margins can continue shrinking at the same rate, you need to start doing something different.

Here is that different. 👇👇👇

Let me know what you think.