Two-way doors.

Back in the summer of 2012, the guys over at Amazon had a board meeting.

Now one of the points on the agenda was…

Amazon Web Service.

One of the execs basically pitched this whole idea of AWS to the rest of them.

And everyone hated it.

Everyone was against, and being anal about it and how it will not work and this and tha-

“Guys. Stop.” interjects Bezos. “Why are we even discussing this? The way I see it… this is a clear two-way door!”

The others turn to him with puzzled faces.

“We have to spend this money anyway on more bandwidth and enhanced server capacity… just to keep doing what we do. Just to keep being Amazon. Now, if we manage to find somebody to sell this to along the way? Fantastic! We’ve got a new revenue channel. If not? Nothing happens. We just keep doing what we do. We keep being Amazon”

Word on the street is that’s how the idea of AWS was born.

And today, AWS makes them over $100B annually.

That’s 100 billion USD that would never have existed if Bezos hadn’t recognised this as a two-way door.

So what is a two-way door specifically?

It’s essentially a door, behind which an opportunity is located.

(An opportunity to increase revenue… cut costs… thicken margins… speed up delivery times, boost retention… it can genuinely be anything.)

Now the entire beauty of a two-way door…

… is how the door does NOT close behind you once you go through it.

In other words:

You can learn, explore and test out this opportunity – behind the door – and see if it works, you like it/don’t like and if you will go ahead with it.

It’s essentially a little trial of the opportunity.

Whereas a one-way door…

It’s the complete opposite.

Once you go through that one-way door?

Well… like the name itself suggests, the door closes behind you.

You’re stuck and committed to that opportunity WHETHER or not it works out!

I’ve seen a good example of this recently:

I’ve read about some Japanese guy who decided to save himself to an early retirement.

His goal was to save 100 million yen (roughly $650k) to break free from the grind of a corporate life.

To achieve this?

He lived as frugally as possible for 21 years straight:

• He primarily ate rice and vegetables…
• He lived without basic comforts like air conditioning and heating…
• He even went to such extreme lengths as to cook sweet potatoes on a car’s windshield using the summer heat!

He recently achieved this goal.

Not only achieved it but surpassed his initial goal – he saved up 135 million yen.

(Which is roughly $860k.)

However…

The recent depreciation of the yen has substantially reduced the value of his savings.

And as the article I read this from has written:

“… leading him to question whether the sacrifices he made were truly worth it.”

No, they obviously were not.

Did this guy not consider AT ALL the concept of inflation?

Not only that…

… but how does he plan on surviving on a ‘measly’ $860k for the rest of his life?

He’s currently in his mid-40s.

Which means he has some – barring any illnesses and disease – 20-30 years left at least.

(It’s actually probably more – Japan has the highest rate of 100+ year olds in the world.)

Did he not think about what happens after he achieves this goal?

Also…

Even if he somehow DID ration all those savings to last him until he’s 80…

He will STILL have to live frugally!

Okay, maybe not as frugally as he lived for the past two decades.

He’ll now be able to afford other food besides just rice and veggies, and he’ll probably indulge in the “luxury” that is heating and A/C…

But honestly?

You threw away two decades of your life – your best decades, your youth – for what? To live as normally as everyone else does…

This is why one-way doors require lots of proof & DD.

You should NEVER enter a one-way door unless you have absolutely done your homework…

…and gathered as much proof and guarantees as you possibly can.

(This guy didn’t – It was clearly a half-baked plan from the get-go.)

You’re committing to something that’s irreversible – so you better be damn sure about what you’re getting into.

But for two-way doors?

You don’t need to do much homework…

In fact:

It’s preferable if you act with Speed!

(As that saying goes: ‘money loves speed, poverty loves indecision.’)

All you need is just a basic understanding of the idea/opportunity…

…and what you stand to gain.

Because…

What do you actually stand to lose?

It’s like what Monish Pabrai – a hedge fund manager – calls a “Perfect Coin Flip”:

If it’s heads? You don’t lose much…

But if it’s tails? You win, and you win big.

Sort of like…

“Email Storyselling”

Yes, I’m going to shamelessly plug it – but I do it because it’s also another clear two-way door.

And I’m of the firm belief that your email marketing would be better with it.

(Heck, I’m not of the belief… I KNOW you would be better off with it. The bar is set incredibly low in this industry when it comes to email marketing.)

What do you stand to lose from trying to inject your email marketing with something new, innovative and different?

If it’s heads? You paid me to implement this for a few months before you pulled the plug…

(And you just go back to what you were doing with your emails before this.)

But if it’s tails?

Your upside is asymmetrical.

So if you want to enter through this two-way door…

… and explore and learn, and see how this opportunity can help inject some freshness and novelty into your emails?