A few moments ago I began watching a Hulu documentary on the Fyre Festival. I saw the Netflix documentary on the event when it went live one year ago.
Long the subject of meme's, the Fyre Festival became the poster story for greed, hollow influencer endorsements and everything wrong in the online world.
Currently, the founder finds himself doing time in prison for wire fraud. Beyond legal implications, this festival proves how illusions eventually collapse. Meaningful, long term success requires generous service, patience, persistence, time and trust in both the process and in the business itself. All things of genuine substance lead to eventually long term success. Illusions collapse sooner or later
Illusions Have No Foundation
Imagine trying to build a 40 room mansion on a foundation of quick sand. Everything collapses quickly. Ditto for any business built on a complete illusion.
The Fyre Festival founder created a marketing campaign based on glitz, glamour and social media influencer endorsements. He did fine job selling a spectacular experience and even generated tens of millions of dollars in revenue but never had anything of substance, like a finished product, in place.
He advertised luxury villas as being part of the experience but rented tents. Party goers expected world famous models – who endorsed the festival via their social media – to be at the festival but found only angry fellow folks scammed out of a small fortune in ticket fees.
Do you market massive promises you cannot deliver on? Beware; the illusion you create collapses soon enough, along with your reputation.
Be Honest
I retired to a life of island hopping through smart blogging *before* creating Blogging From Paradise. I created the blog to show you how I did it so you can do it too.
I never would have created the blog unless I actually retired to a life of travel through blogging, or else, I'd be creating an illusion destined to crash and burn.
Be honest. Being genuine allows you to build your venture on a rock solid foundation of authenticity. People trust you because you share honest, credible advice, based on your genuine nature in all you do.
Never Panic
Obviously, the founder of the Fyre Festival panicked terribly and made incredibly rash decisions in creating the illusion of an actual event. He feared suffering through diminished profits so he made the critical error of selling a spectacular experience without securing the proper resources to deliver the experience to his customers.
Even worse? He allowed his greed to override his smart business sense, accepting payment before he set up the festival.
Never make promises you cannot deliver on immediately because of your fear manifest as panic. Take a deep breath. Slow down. Calm down. Allow any panicked fears to arise in your being and pass. Relaxed, calm, confident entrepreneurs only create valuable ventures of immense substance and value. This is the way to create lasting, meaningful success in whatever venture you choose.
