Effortless

So what can they do but start making things up? Almost invariably, the result reads like a much-too-long online dating profile, so overloaded with information that it’s hard to tell the relevant details from the red herrings.

Female Mid-fifties Married with kids Living in a big city Upper-middle-class professional Well-educated, probably holding an advanced degree Politically liberal-leaning Spiritually inclined, regardless of religious affiliation

So entrepreneurs overcorrect, going from not enough detail to having way too much.

There is no objectively “good” offer, identity, or path—just offers, identities, and paths that are obvious, resonant, and intuitive to a specific ideal customer. That’s why identifying your ideal customer avatar is so important.

And with each incremental step on that road, Amazon’s offer became a little bit more obvious. In the same way, investing your resources in creating a more obvious offer will make it easier for you to sell and grow, and harder for your competitors to keep up.

obvious, resonant, and intuitive are like beauty in that they exist only in the eye of the beholder.

The first mistake entrepreneurs make is selecting a customer avatar that is just way too broad. In an effort to keep the doors open to as many potential customers as possible, the net has been cast so wide that the avatar isn’t specific enough for you to make any useful decisions

They contain just the key details that allow you to call a clear stereotype of your customer to mind, and nothing more.

the obviousness of an offer, the resonance of an identity, and the intuitiveness of a path can only ever exist in relation to the needs and wants of a particular customer.