The Subtraction Economy

Economies change over time.

Previously, the key make up of the markets centred around commodities.

Then it became goods, then services.

After a time, it became experiences - you go from just providing the service, to considering how the end user gets to actually participate in that service, what their experience is like.

Over time - this becomes an expectation - people get used to this, plus expectations were also set by huge companies with resources to spare and data to work with - Amazon, Netflix, Uber, AirBnB all changed our expectations from businesses

In coaching - we went from being providers of a service, to having to compete not just on the outcome, but how it felt to be working towards that outcome.

That’s why there’s onboarding sequences, communities, check-ins, apps etc. These are the floor - which is typical of the expectation economy. Every good experience resets what normal feels like, so the bar moves.

I’m here to tell you that you can’t win that race - there’s always another coach who can offer more - but more importantly, AI will out-add a human, so you’ll be flesh and blood entering a robot race.

Instead of pondering how we keep up, I want to think about what economy is next.

And I actually think the answer is the opposite of the race for adding more - I think it’s where we take things off people’s plates.

The Subtraction Economy will rely less on ‘stuff’, and more on the promise of the outcome, with less stuff to carry.

Fewer decisions to make, less to track, less to have in their head - we all carry a lot, it’s beginning to take it’s toll - and the coach who alleviates the load is the one who stands out.

I think this is especially true when we can start integrating things like wearables, like data, like AI - we get more of a picture of the person, without them having to do lots of communicating of that information.

But subtraction is only a business if you understand the mechanism underneath it.

You can only take something off someone’s plate if they trust you to hold it. And that specific kind of trust - I believe that I can put more things down when it comes to this stuff, and my coach will help me with it - plus their community will support me through that? That’s the key.

The trust to subtract is going to become more important - and so we’re going to see the best coaches think less about giving clients more, and more about what they could take away, that the client would thank them for.