Apple’s become massive. But it didn’t start that way.

Read more thoughts on the art of communicating week-daily at https://michaelgerharz.com/blog

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With Apple's massive success over the years, it's easy to miss that Apple's

greatest pitches were not to the masses, quite the opposite, in fact.

Many observers dismissed the iPod initially, asking what a FireWire

interface would be good for.

Many ridiculed the iPhone initially, asking “no keyboard, or what?” And many

laugh at the Mac book air initially.

“Well, no DVD drive?”

Steve jobs embraced that fact.

Knowing that he couldn't sell a billion iPods right from the

start, he didn't even try to.

He didn't speak to the masses.

He spoke to the people who got it.

Those who cared for the same things, apple cares about.

That's a crucial insight to understand Jobs’ reality distortion field.

This term was crafted by people who didn't get it to make fun

of the people who did get it.

Of course, what really happened was that Jobs intentionally resonated strongly

with what mattered to the latter while, again, intentionally dismissing the rest.

Jobs didn't bother to make everyone fall in love.

He gave the fans a reason to love the new product.

He gave them a reason to be a proud early adopter.

He gave them the feeling that Apple understood their struggles and built

a solution that smoothly solves them.

And then, these fans spread the words.

Slowly.

The iPod took years to become a mass phenomenon.

So, what matters to your fans and how can you speak their language so

clearly that it appears to outsiders as a reality distortion field?