JHS Pedals is a boutique guitar pedal company out of Kansas City. 

In a world of ever-cheaper pedals churned out overseas by corporate machines, their pedals are comparatively very expensive. Why? Because they make all of their pedals by hand right here in the USA. In fact they employee over 30 people full-time. That’s 30 American families who put food on the table every night thanks to a single boutique guitar pedal company.

A few years ago Josh Scott, the founder and owner of JHS Pedals, started a YouTube channel called “The JHS Show.” If you were to guess what he talked about just based on the name alone, you’d assume it was all about showcasing the JHS product line.

In practice, he hardly ever talks about his own products. Instead, nearly every one of his hundreds of videos features other guitar pedal companies’ products.

I’ve watched dozens of his videos, maybe more, and have yet to hear him say a single negative thing about any pedal from any of his competitors. Instead he raves about them. He geeks out over each pedal and pedal-maker’s eccentricities and strengths. He demos them in the best possible light, and then includes links directly to his competitors’ products for you to check out and possibly purchase.

I’d never heard of JHS Pedals until I discovered his YouTube channel. He hardly ever talks about his own pedals. And yet, now all I daydream about is buying a JHS pedal.

Get it Now

“There’s only us. We’re the best. All our competition is crap. But we have limited time and resources, and only the lucky few get to work with us, so you better act fast.”

As anyone who has taken Economics 101 in college will tell you, our entire economy is based on scarcity. When there’s less of what people want than how much they want, the price goes up. Abundance is the enemy because it drives prices down. 

This was such an important principle that we started manufacturing scarcity just to keep prices up. 

Limited edition: Only 10 copies. Get yours now before they’re gone!

I’ve fallen for it. As a broke young adult I once spent $300 I definitely didn’t have on a limited edition set of magic books from my favorite magic creator because they were only making 100 copies and then it would be gone forever! 

Of course, you can still get those books today, because they made a second edition (also limited, but for different reasons), and so on.

The books weren’t actually scarce, they just chose to print less of them for the illusion of scarcity (befitting a magic company, I suppose).

Interestingly, I still treasure those books today. When they catch my eye on my magic shelf I feel a sense of pride. Scarcity tells a story, and sometimes that story is, “I’m the only one who has this and that makes me special.”

The Digital Revolution

We’re talking about physical products, but today it’s much more likely you’re buying a digital product or a service. 

Suddenly, scarcity no longer makes sense. There can’t be a limited run of downloadable software. There can’t be a limited edition of a streamed video. And most importantly, there are unlimited choices of competitors for whatever you do or sell.

You’re not the best (service, software engineer, teacher, plumber, friend, etc), and you’re definitely not the only option.

So, how do we navigate our lives, be in it business or in personal relationships, in a world without scarcity?

Everyone is Awesome

Josh Scott discovered the truth about how we engage with each other and the market in the post digital revolution: generosity is the new scarcity.

Instead of shamelessly self-promoting and trying to get customers for himself, Josh props up the entire industry by highlighting everyone’s strengths and celebrating great guitar pedals. He inspires his audience to be excited about guitar pedals in general, and teaches us about the weird and winding history of his industry.

In doing so he builds trust, the most precious attribute any person or brand can have today. Attention, as I discussed in a recent article, can be bought. But trust must be earned.

You can see it in the comments on every one of his videos.

“Man, I feel like I should buy a JHS pedal just to thank this guy for everything he does.”

“Dude spends all his time supporting other pedal companies. I feel like I need to buy a JHS pedal to support him.”

Hundreds of comments just like these appear on every JHS Show video. And in the few years since he launched the channel, JHS has risen to the very top of the guitar pedal industry.

Guitar pedals are not scarce, anymore. Plumbers are not scarce. Communication experts are not scarce. Even friends are not scarce. Where once your only choices for friends were the people you lived near or worked with, you are now one click away from every human being on planet Earth. 

What’s scarce is an attitude of generosity.

Don’t take your customers for granted. Don’t take your friends for granted. Don’t assume people have no other options. Instead, recognize they have unlimited options and yet have chosen to invest their time and trust in you. 

Use your time and energy to prop up the people around you, even your competitors, and you’ll quickly discover you don’t really have competitors at all.