It’s Not For You.


For the decade and a half that I was a struggling entrepreneur, rubbing two sticks together for heat, I’d find myself in San Francisco a couple of times a year. And I’d stay at the Phoenix. Not because it was free (Chip charged me the slightly-discounted starving-entrepreneur rate) but because (at least at the beginning) Chip needed the business and I needed a cheap place to stay.

The thing is, I never liked it very much. It was too noisy. There were buses in the parking lot (!) and rock stars in the pool. And I never got a massage, hmmmm.

Anyway, it took me a little while to realize the lesson, but once I learned it, I had it forever. It’s not for you. The magic of Chip’s hotel mini-chain is that it wasn’t a chain. That each hotel was specific. Specific and indispensable. The one and only. The one worth seeking out.

Once the Hotel Rex opened, I got a better night’s sleep. Because that one was for me.

Having the confidence to be specific is a huge leap, and in a world of the smallest viable audience, an essential one.

This is the 4th post in our week-long series of Chip Conley and Seth Godin sharing lessons on how to harvest and cultivate wisdom. Here are the 1st, 2nd and 3rd posts from the series.

Discover More Wisdom

November 18, 2019

What verbs haven’t you earned? What are the things you’re talking about doing, but ...

Can’t Be The Noun Without Doing the Verb

May 30, 2020

If you’re stuck at home, here’s another option: a new, 3-minute PBS video of ...

Finding Dog in Nature.
{"email":"Email address invalid","url":"Website address invalid","required":"Required field missing"}

Choose Your Path to Midlife Mastery