Paolo dropped the glass. The glass hit the tile. The glass shattered into many small pieces. Paolo did not move. He looked at the glass. He looked at his phone.
The phone sat on the counter. The screen was bright. A notification appeared. It was a like. One like. Paolo had posted the video .
He had spent on the video. He had edited the video on his laptop. He had used music. He had used transitions. Now the video had one like. The glass stayed on the floor. Paolo stayed in the chair.
My arm is numb. I slept on my arm. The nerves are waking up now. The nerves feel like needles. It is hard to type. It is hard to think about the video and the glass.
I am a baker. I work the third shift. I understand the oven. I understand the dough. The dough needs time. The dough does not explode. The dough grows. Paolo does not understand the dough. Paolo wants the explosion.
The Judge in the Algorithm
Paolo has posted 214 times. He keeps a list. The list is in a notebook. The notebook is red. Each entry has a date. Each entry has a result. The results are the same. The results are low.
Paolo believes in the lottery. He does not call it a lottery. He calls it the algorithm. He thinks the algorithm is a person. He thinks the algorithm is a judge.
The judge has not picked him. Paolo thinks the next post will be the one. The next post will go viral. The next post will change his life. He has thought this 214 times.
The platforms sell the tickets. The tickets cost time. The tickets cost hope. Paolo gives his time. Paolo gives his hope. He watches the screen. He refreshes the feed.
The thumb moves down. The screen spins. The numbers do not move. The numbers are a floor. But the floor is too low. The floor is in the basement.
Building on Lightning
A viral post is a lightning strike. People see the lightning. People do not see the ground. You cannot build a house on lightning. You build a house on a floor. Paolo has no floor.
If a person finds Paolo’s profile, the person sees the low numbers. The person sees the 18 likes. The person sees the 312 followers. The person leaves. The person does not follow. The person does not buy. The profile looks empty. The profile looks like a store with no lights.
The Bread and the Starter
Paolo thinks he needs a miracle. He does not need a miracle. He needs a baseline. He needs a foundation. A foundation is the thing that exists before the growth.
In the bakery, we have a starter. The starter is old. The starter is the floor. We add flour to the starter. We add water to the starter. The starter makes the bread rise. Without the starter, the bread is a rock. Paolo’s profile is a rock. He has no starter. He has no social proof.
“Social proof is the reason people stay. People are like sheep… If I see a bakery with a line, I stand in the line. I think the bread must be good.”
– The Baker
If the bakery is empty, I walk past. I do not care if the bread is good. I care that no one else is there. Paolo’s profile is the empty bakery. He is screaming about his bread. No one is listening because no one else is listening. It is a circle. The circle is hard to break.
Paolo cleans the glass. He moves slow. His back hurts. He thinks about the next video. He thinks about a new song. He thinks about a new dance. He is 34 years old.
He does not want to dance. He dances because he thinks the judge likes dancing. He is chasing a ghost. The ghost is the viral moment. The ghost is a story.
We do not hear the story of the ten million people who posted and stayed in the basement. The basement is crowded.
The basement is where you wait for the lottery. The floor is where you build the business. To build a floor, you need numbers. You need the appearance of success. This is not about lying. This is about signaling.
The Gravity of Gravity
The bird signals to the mate. The baker signals to the customer. The profile signals to the follower. If the signal is weak, the connection fails. A profile with 5,000 followers is a different signal than a profile with 300 followers. The content might be the same. The signal is different.
People think the content is the most important thing. The content is the bread. But the shop must look like a shop. If the shop looks like a garage, no one enters to taste the bread. Paolo spends all his time on the bread. He spends no time on the shop.
You can wait for the line to form by itself. This takes years. Many people quit before the years pass. They run out of hope. They run out of time. They stop making the bread. The oven goes cold.
Or you can build the line. You can create the floor. This is what smart people do in the Italian market. They look for ways to
to establish that initial weight.
They do not do this because they are fake. They do this because they understand the signal. They understand that a profile needs a certain mass to attract more mass. It is like gravity.
A small planet has no gravity. A large planet pulls everything toward it.
Discipline Over Hope
My arm is finally warm. The needles are gone. I am thinking about the dough I have to mix tonight.
Tonight’s production: A process where growth is ensured, not hoped for.
It is 84 pounds of dough. I know exactly how much salt to add. I know the temperature of the water. I do not guess. I do not hope the dough rises. I ensure the dough rises.
Paolo is guessing. Paolo is hoping. Hope is a bad strategy for a business. Hope is for the Sunday morning when you buy a scratch-off ticket. You do not build a life on a scratch-off ticket.
The Brutta Figura
The foundation is the visibility. The visibility is the credibility. When a person lands on a profile, they make a choice in .
They look at the name. They look at the bio. They look at the follower count. The follower count is the social tax. If the tax is paid, the person stays to look at the photos. If the tax is not paid, the person leaves.
In Italy, the social proof is the currency. We care about the appearance. we care about the “bella figura.” If your profile has no followers, you have a “brutta figura.”
No one wants to follow a person who is struggling. People want to follow a person who has already arrived. This is the paradox.
You need followers to get followers. You need money to make money. You need a floor to build a ceiling.
The Fuel of Envy
Paolo finishes the glass. He sits back down. He opens the app again. He looks at the “Explore” page. He sees a video of a dog. The dog has one million likes.
Paolo feels a pain in his chest. It is not a heart attack. It is envy. Envy is the fuel of the lottery. Envy makes you buy another ticket.
Paolo thinks, “I can make a video of a dog.” He does not have a dog. He thinks about buying a dog. This is how the lottery breaks your mind.
If Paolo had a floor, he would not feel envy. If Paolo had 10,000 followers, he would look at the dog and laugh. He would know his own value. He would see his own numbers. The floor gives you peace.
The Choice
Building a foundation is a choice. You can choose to be a creator who waits. Or you can choose to be a creator who builds. Building means taking control of the variables.
You cannot control the viral hit. You can control the baseline. You can control the start. You can control the support you get.
Servizi Social Media is a tool for people who are tired of waiting. It is for people who want the shop to look like a shop today, not in five years.
The bread is in the oven. The smell is filling the room. It is a good smell. It is the smell of work. It is the smell of a process that works.
Paolo is still sitting in the dark. He is thinking about the dog video. He is thinking about the lightning. He is missing the ground. He is missing the floor. He is missing the point.
🥖
Paolo stands up. He puts the phone in his pocket. He goes to the kitchen. He looks at the spot where the glass broke. The floor is clean now.
But the floor is still just a floor. He has to decide what to put on it. He can put another glass there and wait for it to fall. Or he can build something that stays.
He can stop buying tickets. He can start building the shop. The night is long. The oven is hot. The dough is rising. The floor is there. It is always there. You just have to decide to stand on it.