This (below) is obviously good news for my sales figures, but it means more than that. Let me explain why.
My journey as an independent publisher of miniatures wargames has been an exciting one. Time and time again I have question the wisdom of the endeavour, giving up a promising career in Human Resources consulting to pursue it.
It would be easy to describe it as my "dream job", but the truth is that I loved my old job. I had a great professional reputation, terrific opportunities and great partners and allies, with no obvious reason to walk away. So why did I decide to take the step?
The fact is that my decision to run Precinct Omega Limited as a full-time enterprise was almost as much about my old job as it was about my new one. I have spent the last decade and a half basically telling other people how to run their businesses. My focus was mainly on the people side of things - recruitment, retention, performance management, restructuring and suchlike - but as my experience widened and my credibility grew, I increasingly found myself advising business owners on matters of overall strategy, compliance and longer-term planning. And I kept asking myself what right I had to give this advice.
After all, my career path had been as an employee, a follower, a peon. What real entitlement did I have to assert that I had a formula for business owners to achieve the success they wanted from their industry?
So going all-in on Precinct Omega Limited wasn't about quitting the rat-race or "living the dream", however much I do enjoy what I do. Rather, it was about taking on a project that would put my own advice to the test and to prove to myself - and to the world in general - whether I really did know what I was talking about when it came to creating a successful business.
he rTesurgence of Horizon Wars: Zero Dark over the last few months, back into the top ten on Wargame Vault, is a direct consequence of both my business planning and my flexibility within that plan to respond to new information. Generally, products in our market are released, they enjoy the boost of early sales, and then they lose sales volume over time. I saw this with Horizon Wars and I saw it with Over the Horizon (the independently-published supplement for Horizon Wars). And then I saw it again with Zero Dark. But I had an idea that this trend could be reversed - that, with the right foundation, the right word-of-mouth and the right marketing, a product could pull itself back into the spotlight and sustain and even grow strong sales. And, it turns out, I was right.
It feels like vindication, and I'm excited to see if I can build on this success into and beyond Year Two. Now, I'm not about to pretend that this work is done, plant my flag and go "Behold, world! A business genius!" I've been doing this less than a year and I still have so much to do and so much to learn before I can even begin to say I've proved anything.
But if you'd like more insight into how I've been studying the tabletop wargames market and what I've learned, then you might like to listen to my weekly podcast, where I talk about both the principles of game design and industry trends, as well as general business practice in the context of the tabletop games industry.
Or, if you'd like the real behind-the-scenes scoop on my ups and downs, my doubts and fears, and my flights of wild fancy that I mostly try to keep out of public view, then you might like to support the Patreon campaign. Join me on the journey and maybe, in a few years, you'll be able to say "I was there at the beginning, and I helped make this happen".
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