I know a guy who has returned to school to get certified in medical billing. He used to be a transcriptionist and software ate his job. I know another guy who dropped out to wander around the country in a van. He was an adult caregiver and is trying to support his van-life as a virtual assistant. More recently, I met another guy who runs a content marketing agency that’s been battered by ChatGPT, Claude, and the other AI’s.
What do these three guys all have in common?
They’re all trying to work at the bottom of the value spectrum, the area where value has the characteristics of a commodity or is one.
AI will destroy the medical billing guy’s job before he graduates, the van guy won’t be able to compete with Phillipino VA’s, and the agency guy will be forced to evolve his business model or die.
The bottom of the value spectrum is the zone where you have the least amount of competitive leverage. It’s the zone where downward pricing pressure is most intense and also the zone most sensitive to disruption.
There’s a healthy human impulse to make things simple or easy. It’s an excellent approach to many things in business. For example, it should be simple and easy for your customers to use your products and simple and easy for you to deliver those products.
But the value you offer the market should be hell for competitors to copy.