By The WBR Team
Have you ever had an idea that you thought was mundane, but that ended up wildly exceeding your expectations? Are you currently sitting on something that could be a game-changing source of value for your business without realising it?
You might be wondering what tea bags have to do with anything – let alone ChatGPT and your commercial assets. While as a British company, we certainly do perform much better with large amounts of tea to get us started, there’s more to it than that. What tea bags and ChatGPT have in common is the element of surprise.
A revolutionary idea, innovation, or invention often takes the unsuspecting world by storm. Sometimes though, nobody is more surprised than the one responsible for the discovery! Even the most ground-breaking idea sometimes needs to be shared with the wider world for its true potential to become obvious.
This was true for both the creators of the tea bag and ChatGPT. What ideas might surprise you when you share them with the world?
Tea bags: A marketing campaign which turned an industry on its head
As an invention and innovation, the tea bag might seem a little obvious to us now. It’s so much simpler than the alternatives after all. No worrying about mess, adding too much or too little and no clean-up. Just add hot water.
However, their invention might have been a complete accident, due to a misunderstanding. As the story goes, Thomas Sullivan was a tea merchant in New York at the start of the 20th century. In 1908, he was thinking about how to improve his marketing and attract new customers, when he had an idea. He would package single portions of tea into tiny silken bags and send them out as free samples.
I imagine that Sullivan was soon shocked to receive a flood of letters congratulating him on his genius idea. Rather than using his samples as intended to make a cup of tea traditionally, people had just put the silken bags in the water and let the tea infuse. Smelling an opportunity brewing, Sullivan refined the bag’s design, and what we would recognise as a tea bag was born.
The rest is history! What Sullivan had intended as a simple way to advertise his tea, but his creation had instead taken on a life of its own and changed how we consume tea to this day.
ChatGPT: The research preview that redefined the internet
Over a century later, OpenAI recently found themselves in a situation similar to Thomas Sullivan. On November 30th, 2022, OpenAI released a blog post announcing an experimental chatbot powered by their Large Language Model AI, GPT3.5.
Originally intended as a research preview and tech demo of what a well-trained AI might be capable of, full access to the tool was free. Five days later, it had over 1 million users. By January 2023, the two-month-old service had over 100 million active monthly users. It had gone truly viral. Over a year later, OpenAI is now valued at $29 billion.
Interviews with OpenAI scientists reflect how unexpected this meteoric success was for those in the business. There hadn’t been any shocking breakthroughs and the technology being used was nothing new. The only major difference was that this time, their work and ideas were made accessible to the public.
Sometimes it can be hard to see the full potential in something purely because it’s normal to you. It’s only when you share it with others that its value becomes clear.
Which of your ideas, services, or innovations might have a similar hidden potential? How could you share them with the world and make them a commercial asset?
How to turn your content into commercial assets
Our vision is “a world where every business story, lesson and insight ever learned is actually told”. Every person alive has their own unique talents and perspective on the world. Untold, it is impossible to know if their stories, experiences, or insights could redefine a niche, industry, or even the world.
Even if it’s not an innovation on quite the same scale as tea bags or ChatGPT, your content can easily become a powerful asset to your business. We recently released an article talking about 5 ways blogging and podcasts can benefit your business. However, whether it is a book, a blog, or a podcast, sharing your expert content can support you and your business or provide leads and revenue in ways that might surprise you.
For instance, writing (and promoting) a high-quality book can help you build your brand and personal profile, thereby creating opportunities for further streams of revenue. This could be paid speaking gigs – speaking and authorship are two massive authority pieces so they go hand in hand – or stronger business relationships that can accelerate your sales process and help you recruit top talent to your company.
Additionally, you can leverage your expert content to create additional commercial assets, thereby expanding your reach and revenue streams. One of our clients, Tom Soane, did this. He launched The Anonymous Landlord podcast in 2020, a show that provides valuable advice for landlords and property investors. He then decided to take that message further by compiling all his lessons, advice and experience, and turning it all into a new book.
This book ended up being an Amazon bestseller in eight categories!
The value of our ideas only grows when we share them. Sharing your perspective and discoveries with your audience doesn’t just establish you as a thought leader, it also might redefine your entire niche or industry.
What ideas have you had recently that you still need to share with the world? Have you got a platform that helps those who need your insights to find you? We know that this can be difficult to do alone.
If you’d like some support with your content marketing, book a Clarity Call today to find out more about Write Business Results and how our team of experts can help.