How are you duplicating yourself?

My mentor was a huge proponent of human cloning.

Not the physical creation of a genetically identical copy of a myself, but the business concept of duplication.

He would tell me, you’ve got to find a way to deliver value without actually being there. Figure out how to package your expertise into a fixed scope, publicly priced thing that people can buy as an off the shelf product. The multiplier effect will create geometric growth and build brand momentum without your direct involvement.

Ah, quite the romantic ideal. What entrepreneur in their right mind wouldn’t want to clone themselves?

But the strategy of duplication can be tough nut to crack.

First of all, it requires you to get out of the traditional services mindset and into the world of productization. This was hard for me for a long time. In my work as a writer and public speaker, I typically focused on the conceptual and theoretical, rather than the tangible and concrete.

But it started occurring to me that any person or business can clone themselves. They can take the value and skills and advice they provide and let a product deliver part of that value in exchange for money. It’s cheaper, faster, significantly less labor intensive, and best of all, more scalable.

But the one tradeoff is, you have to lovingly say goodbye to a certain level of customization. You have to take your ego out of it and focus instead on user value. Your work becomes less about the delivery mechanism and more about how your product improves people’s condition.

Take your average marketing agency. They offer a managed service to their clients, for which they charge by the hour or monthly. They’re really good at it, they love doing it, and clients sing their praises.

But if they really wanted to clone themselves, that would take the delivery of the equation and make that service repeatable, scalable and standardized. Perhaps through a comprehensive playbook, an automated flow of digital media, a software solution, whatever.

This is the price of admission of duplication. You bring an offering to the market in a highly repeatable manner, and it’s less about you. Which means you’re giving up control.

Just think about the number of dystopian science fiction novels and movies that have portrayed the dangers of human cloning. Anytime you see legions of robot duplicates marching in lockstep, it never ends well for society.

Terminator films taught us that lesson six times in a row, and we humans haven’t learned our lesson.

Thankfully, the business application of human cloning probably won’t lead to judgment day.

It will, however, lead to greater profits, increased growth, without working ourselves to the bone.

Come with me if you want to live.

How could your business deliver value without actually being there?