Rihanna channels Deadmau5, or something.

This is not the kind of blog post where we look at two things and conclude that one is better than the other.

Instead, let’s check out one side of a coin, then flip it over and look at the other side.

The coin is success. While there are many ways to define success, for now let’s think about success as more sales, more attention, more attendees, more customers, more wins, etc. Not success in life, but rather success of a thing, a product/service/event/team, etc.

When we work very hard on something and then present it to the world, we’re hoping for success. More often than not, we get a flop, or a break-even-ish kind of semi-success. This is true even of the most talented, experienced people with every resource at their fingertips. Here’s a great post about a group of extremely talented, well-paid songwriters, producers, and marketers creating a flop for Rihanna.

Why is it so hard?