Do You Stay In Your Lane Or Take A Risk?

Marie Kondo’s latest business move is pretty fascinating.

She has been an almost textbook case of authority: work out and prove your theories on clients, write a book that turns into a runaway best-seller, and convert that into a top-rated Netflix show that transformed literally countless lives.

Now, like any authority, she has to decide how to build a scalable business.

She created a certification course for KonMari method consultants, presumably to both leverage her time and bring her point of view directly into clients’ homes.

Without insight into how that’s working for her business, let’s assume that it’s perhaps challenging to leverage given the relationships inherent in any sort of design/organizing assignment.

So what does she do next to keep growing?

Logic might say more books (depending on the revenue opportunity), digital products on organizing, and most especially speeches and personal appearances.

Instead, she adds physical products to her website. Her critics call them the very thing she’d have encouraged clients to discard, i.e. a $75 tuning fork.

They’re missing the point. Kondo’s new products spark joy in her home, which is absolutely on-brand. I can pretty much guarantee a goodly chunk of her audience will line up to buy the things she’s anointed.

It’s not the expected next move, but she decided to take a calculated risk—I hope she nails it.