The world is a tricky place to live. I read a line in the book Thinkertoys the other day that got me thinking. It read:
“There is no way of knowing how far intention and action can take you. This world offers no guarantees, only opportunities and vicissitudes. When you reach for the stars you may not get one, but you won’t come up with a handful of mud either.”
This world offers no guarantees – only opportunities.
Think about that for a moment.
I live just outside of Windsor, Ontario and people are in rough shape here. The situation is the hardest on people who worked hard and sweated for years because of a guarantee, a promise.
They feel that guarantees and promises need to be kept. We’re looking to our governments to enforce those guarantees and bail us out. Can’t blame em, can we?
So what’s left? Where do we turn?
What’s left after we come to the realization that the guarantee wasn’t really a guarantee at all? It was a sham. We bought into it, and they tricked us. Good people got screwed.
What can we do?
Well, we could hope they might have a change of heart. “OK, you’re right. We’re sorry. We’ll reopen the factory and overpay you again, even though we can make the parts 75% cheaper elsewhere.”
We shouldn’t bank on this happening.
Therefore, the only thing left is opportunity.
Opportunities come from ideas, and we’ve all got great ideas. We’re all capable of coming up with a few new ideas.
Take a look at the businesses I read about this week.
Butch Bakery Masculine cupcakes for men. Seriously… I love a cupcake just as much as the next guy; but if I can veto the pink sprinkles for some army camouflage, I’m buying. source – springwise.com
Panty by Post – A Canadian company has decided to deliver sexy women’s lingerie on a monthly basis via subscription payment. Brilliant. source – springwise.com
If you’ve been hit by hard times now might be your opportunity to reach for the stars. Remember, there are no guarantees (ZERO), but the world has unlimited opportunities (UNLIMITED).
Unlimited is always a better choice than zero.
Homework:
Your assignment this weekend is to come up with five ideas for businesses or services you could create. Send me a message if you need help with this assignment.
I read an amazing book the other day written by the guys over at 37Signals.com – Jason Fried and David Heinemeier Hansson. They had just released their eagerly anticipated book Rework.
I was anxiously awaiting the books release. So on launch day, I ordered a copy on my Kindle. I took a quick peak, which turned into reading a few pages, which then snowballed into reading the entire book in one sitting.
Rework represents the new rules of business from the guys who are walking the walk and not just writing books. The CEO, Jason Fried, started 37Signals as a small web development company back in 1999. As of today, the company has created on-line tools such as Basecamp, Campfire, Highrise, and many others. 37Signals now has over three-million customers worldwide. Not such a small web development company anymore are they?
To me, this book solidifies many of the assumptions I’ve carried for a long time. Those spending time learning the concepts and theories in business school might be wasting their time. Learning in-depth concepts and theories maybe outdated and may not work as well anymore.
Mark Cuban’s quote represents that pretty clearly. He says,
“If given a choice between investing in someone who has read REWORK or has an MBA, I’m investing in REWORK every time. A must read for every entrepreneur.”
-Mark Cuban, co-founder HDNet, owner of the Dallas Mavericks”
I tend to agree with Cuban here. So Mark, if you’re looking for someone…. drop me an email
It’s a fast and enjoyable read, and I highly recommended it to anyone with an interest in working for themselves or starting a business.
I wanted to say it’s a great read for anyone with an interest in entrepreneurship, but David and Jason say, “enough with entrepreneurs!”
They suggest we should retire that term immediatley. They say that the term entrepreneur is loaded with baggage and smells like a member’s-only club. They continue to say, “everyone should be encouraged to start his/her own business, not just some rare breed that self-identifies as an entrepreneur.”
If you’ve ever wanted to start your own business, but you’re worried that you don’t have the business savvy of an MBA graduate, this just might be your ticket. This could be the tool that provides you with more real-world applicable business knowledge than an MBA, and you can acquire it in just under two hours for about $10 bucks.
Today I saw a cool update on Facebook from my buddy Jamie. His 12-year-old daughter, Joy, had just landed her first job.
Wait, maybe that’s the wrong wording. Joy didn’t just land a job, she landed her first paying client.
Instead of waiting for an opportunity to knock, Joy created her own.
Joy took the initiative and decided she would start a pet sitting (and dog walking) service.
Joy took the initiative even further by creating and printing her own business cards.
Joy took the initiative by creating a flyer and posting it around the town.
Joy took the initiative to deliver the business cards and speak to people about her service.
And so it goes. The song remains the same. Opportunities are created by taking action, not by waiting for them to magically appear. It’s really that simple.
Thanks Joy for sharing this very valuable message with me again today. It’s often easy to forget. I’m glad you’re learning at such an early age.
I debated for a long time whether I should call this post “the song remains the same,” or, “Joy to the World.”
In one of my latest posts I mentioned that if I had inspired even one person to do something outside their comfort zone then I would be a happy camper.
Little did I know, that person would be mother. I found out that this week that she had started her own blog called “The Mustard Chronicles.”
A friend on Twitter summed it up nicely by saying, “your mom wanting to blog – the ultimate compliment to you.”
I’m honored and thrilled if I have helped inspire her.
Maybe it’s the fact she’s my mother that I find her first few posts rather funny? Maybe it’s because I know the voice behind the words so well? Either way, I think a blog is a great way to use your voice and express yourself.
Should you start a blog? Maybe.
Does it matter if anyone is listening or not? I would say “no.”
The best listener when you start is your first one. When you have one, then it’s time to find the second. Far too often we get caught up looking for the “quick fix.” We want lots of traffic, big email lists and large subscriber numbers.
We want to know people are listening and we’re not just wasting our own time.
But this is the wrong approach. Focus on finding the first follower and if you’re doing something remarkable the rest will follow. If you’ve got something that you want to say, then there’s a good chance someone in the world is willing to listen.
No, not in the sense you were thinking! My wife won’t let me write that post!
But hear me out.
Yesterday I heard a comment while watching an event being streamed live on ustream.tv with someone very successful. One of the viewers made a comment suggesting that this person’s success and was the result of “luck.”
You’re lucky if you win 30 Million bucks in the lottery.
You’re lucky if you’re on a plane that strikes birds and the pilot lands it safely in the Hudson River.
You can get lucky in a variety of ways.
Of course, we often hear most people complaining about the lucky people. We get jealous from other people’s fortunate good luck.
“He’s so lucky he got that job”
“That lucky SOB is being paid that much to do THAT!?”
“I can’t stand Phil! He’s so lucky!”
But what about Mark Zuckerberg who created Facebook, did he get lucky?
What about Larry Page and Sergey Brin who created Google, did they get lucky?
Sometimes my view is a little different from others but here’s what I consider lucky.
Consider the scenario:
You just got laid off from your dead-end job. Some would consider this the worst thing that could happen. After all, you were promised a pension! Oh my gosh! A pension!
And we’ve all seen how safe those are.
Do you consider this twist of fate lucky or unlucky?
Here’s my opinion. I consider this good luck. You’re being presented with an opportunity. You might not see it right away. But being laid off or fired is a lighting bolt of good luck.
You’re being given a chance, a moment, to reinvent yourself on your own terms.
Does this mean starting a business or a new career? Not necessarily. You can go out and find another job but this time it’s on your terms, not theirs. Don’t settle. Especially when luck is slapping you across the face with a giant tuna fish.
Luck is not something we either have or don’t have. Luck is the result of effort and hard work.
To win all those contests it took time and effort. I entered 30-50 contests per day and as a result I got lucky. I know it’s hard to believe especially when you look at the sheer number of prizes and contests I won in a short period of time. But folks, these contesting people are nuts and dedicated and they WIN. Why? Because they enter religiously.
The luck is created because of the work put towards the end-goal.
Take a look at this section of a popular Canadian forum. This is where the dedicated contest go’ers post their wins. You’ll see the same people winning over and over and over again. Go back a few pages and just look at the crazy stuff people are winning.
It’s not because they are a collective of “lucky people,” it’s because they take action and extend a consistent effort towards something.
The same concept can be applied to ANYTHING. Want to make more money? Have a bigger and better business? Find a better job? Same concept.
Luck is created by taking action. Luck is taking an opportunity when it’s presented and doing something about it.
You know what happens when you take action and start doing things? You start to get lucky.
You know what happens when you skip the 4 hours of reality shows tonight and tackle something productive? You get lucky.
Guess what happens shortly after that – the people around you start to get ticked off at how lucky you are.
You can blow piles of cash on newspapers, radio advertising, television commercials, or just hope for the best.
But I’ve got a better suggestion. If you live in Ontario (or even Detroit/Buffalo), you’re in luck. On March 2nd, 2010, there’s going to be a very special event held in Toronto called “The Art of Marketing”. This is, without a doubt, an all-star jam-packed conference that you can’t afford to miss.
And I’m especially calling on all the businesses in my area – the Windsor/Essex County area. Get in your cars, grab a Timmies, crack the stereo and hit the 401. This is a BIG event that packs some serious thunder. It will pay back in major dividends for you and your business.
Sure, you can go and buy a pile of books, spend a few days reading about social media tactics online, or maybe even hire someone awesome like this guy to come in and whip your business into shape….
Or – you can attend this event and learn WAY more and spend a lot less. I’d still hire this guy though.
Here’s who will be speaking at this jam-packed event.
Seth Godin on Leadership & Creativity – If you’ve been to my blog more than once you know I’m a Seth Godin nut. I think eight of my last 10 posts have included the name “Seth Godin.” Seriously. Seth Godin is by far, one of the (if not THE) top marketing gurus of our time. He’s written many best-selling books and has been called one of the top 21 greatest speakers of the 21st century.
If I can give you just ONE reason why this event is worth your time or money, this is it. I’m guessing Godin will be presenting concepts from latest book Linchpin. I wrote down my thoughts about Linchpin here.
That would be enough for most people. If Godin was coming to Toronto on his own to give a talk on leadership and creativity, you could bet the lineup would stretch down the road and wrap around the corner. But the organizers thought “we can make this event even better,” and they did.
Permission Marketing : Turning Strangers Into Friends And Friends Into Customers
The Power of Telling Authentic Stories in a Low-Trust World
Is Your Marketing out of Sync?
Why Smart Companies Abandon Worry and Embrace Change
Are You Indispensable?
Mitch Joel on Digital Marketing & Social Media – Mitch just released his book Six Pixels of Seperation and will be talking about social media. Thank goodness for that. Everyone and their sister is using social media. But only a handful of businesses are actually getting it. This is your chance to learn how to properly use social media and stand out in a very crowded room.
How to “burn the ships” and rethink marketing in a connected world
Mind-blowing stats about the online world and what people are doing/saying about your brand
How to thrive in a world where anyone can (and is) saying whatever they want about your brands, products, and services
Why “why?” is a much more important question to ask your teams than “what?”
How to understand what “control” means in a digital world
Why traditional advertising is making us all more irresponsible than ever before
The theory behind “Digital Darwinism” and how your business will evolve in the next 24 months
Sally Hogshead on Persuasion and Influence – Sally says that the average consumer’s attention span is nine seconds. Count em. 1-2-3-4-5-6-7-8-9. If you haven’t captured your audience in those nine seconds, you’ve lost them. I can’t be bothered to read your ad or check your storefront window as I walk by. Why? Because my buddy is IM’ing me; I’ve got 16 texts coming in; I just got invited to seven events on Facebook; and 11 people just re-tweeted my awesome tweet.
Technological and cultural triggers in the evolution of branding, from persuasion through engagement, through advertising yet to come.
Why some brands are winning and some are losing the critical battle for authenticity.
Why advertising is a tension between art, commerce, and ethics.
Pros and cons of consumer-driven, immersive, imbedded utility, and now trans-media based branding approaches.
The roots, triggers, and implications of the coming revolution in narrative branding.
Discover via case studies from around the world, how understanding this profound shift in the way we create, share, and combine story and technology may prove to be one of the most vital skills of the 21st century marketing.
Max Lenderman on Branding & Experimental Marketing - If there are two words when combined that get me excited, they are “Experimental marketing.” Want to learn the newest and most radical marketing techniques being used around the globe? Max will show and tell you how to start using them in your own business.
Learn how oligarchs are using radical advertising and marketing tactics to launch brands and reinvent products.
Dive into the multi-billion-dollar racket of brand fakery at Silk Street, the epicentre of piracy and counterfeiting in China, and learn how pirates are reshaping brands around the world, and what brands are doing to combat and co-opt them.
Learn the secrets of success to marketing and advertising to four billion poor people in this world by examining how brands and products reach the hinterland of India, which has the world’s largest poor population.
Find out the strategies and ethos that are driving the future of marketing and advertising in the global marketplace.
Dan Heath on Strategy & Communications - Dan, along with his brother Chip, wrote Made to Stick. This is an amazing book about why some ideas survive and others die. This book will transform the way you think about communicating and sharing your ideas. If you haven’t read it, buy it. But then again, why not just come and listen to Dan speak?
This is going to be a great presentation It’s no surprise the organizers have left this event for the last one of the day.
Simplicity: Simplify your message. Simplicity isn’t about dumbing down, it’s about prioritizing
Demand before Supply: Before your message can stick, your audience must appreciate it
Credibility: How to create credibility in an untrusting market place
Emotion: How to enter the emotional realm, emotions lead to actions
Stories: Driving action through the power of stories
So after all is said and done, you’re looking at this and thinking “Holy Schmoly – That’s a pretty awesome event Noah!” But deep down you’re probably assuming the event costs thousands and thousands of dollars.
And why wouldn’t it?
People would easily pay that and more to hear Seth Godin speak. People HAVE paid that and more! You can’t blame them either. By just applying a few of the right techniques, or making a few changes to the current way you do business; you could easily make a lot more moola!
So what’s it all going to cost you?
Well, I hope someone is near you when you read this because you may just keel over and have a heart attack.
You might end up spitting coffee all over your computer monitor.
You might dance around like a nut for a few minutes.
Because the event is only $399 bucks.(keep reading)
But, let’s just say you enjoy the finer things in life. Like special access doors or being so close to the action that the speakers saliva might hit your forehead.
You want to wine-and-dine enjoying a 3-course meal while I’m outside stuffing my face with street-vendor Hot Dogs. You can do that too. VIP pricing is only $499 bucks. (keep reading)
Still alive?
Good.
Because you might not be after I drop the next bomb. I persuaded the organizers to do even better. Things are in rough shape in Windsor/Essex county! Give us a break I shouted! And they responded.
If you use the code CN25, you’ll be able to take $50 bucks off your ticket. This means you can get in for only $349 or you can be a high falootin VIP for only $449! The choice is yours!
Folks, this is a no-brainer. If you want to find me at the event, look for the guy outside keeping the Hot Dog stands in business.
Don’t want to go yourself?
Pony up and send your marketing employee.You know who I’m talking about. The one you keep locked up in the office with no windows. The person, or highly specialized person, you’ve hired to engage in everything your organization calls “marketing.” Send her.
She will thank you, not just for a day out of the office, but by showing you the new ways to grow your business. At first it will be hard for you to accept your employee’s recommendations. That’s normal. She’ll explain that there’s more to life than your yellow pages advertisement or the coupon in the local newspaper. She might even show you why, just because you have a Facebook & Twitter account, that doesn’t mean you’re doing anything even close to social media marketing.
To continue with my Seth Godin fanboy’ness I wanted to share an interview with Seth that David Garland conducted today. David who I met and found through twitter runs a cool site called “The Rise To The Top.” It’s worth bookmarking in your RSS reader. David’s got good advice and has some great guests.
Key points I took away from the interview.
The world is changing, are you a dispensable cog? If so, you need to become indispensable.
Are you creating art or conducting “paint by numbers?”
Are you an entrepreneur or a freelancer? For a long time I thought I was an entrepreneur but I’m working more like a freelancer. It’s time to change that.
The lizard brain and why you can’t follow anyone else’s map to defeat it.
I just had someone in my office who has created a product to sell online. He needed help creating a PayPal button to actually get paid for the product.
We accomplished the task at hand and then got to talking about the costs associated with starting an online business.
It’s 2010 and the barriers of entry into the marketplace have never been lower.
Do you want to be an author? Do you want to create and sell art? Maybe you want to design t-shirts, cups, or business cards? Maybe you want to draw and sell your own comics, because it’s being done.
There has never been a more affordable and opportunity overcharged moment in history to get your ideas in front of people’s eyes.
You’re probably wondering what the heck my lizard brain is and why it would be posting to my blog. I don’t blame you. When I first heard the term I was just as confused as you might have been when you read the title of this post.
I first heard the term in Seth Godin’s latest book “Linchpin.”
If you’ve been reading my blog for any amount of time, then you already know I’m a big Seth Godin fan. When I saw Seth offering to send advanced copies of Linchpin as a gift to those who made a donation to the Acumen Fund, I took up the opportunity.
Waiting…waiting some more….and a bit more after that my advanced copy never showed up. The book was released on January 26th and I still don’t have my advanced copy.
Seth sent out an email apologizing to us Canadian folk still waiting. It didn’t come as a surprise to me to still be waiting. I’ve been dealing with my share of Canada Post issues over the past few weeks so I could understand this.
Friday comes around and FedEx comes knocking on my office door. Inside an envelope is a copy of Linchpin with a note. The note is from Seth. He’s thanking me for my generous donation to the Acumen Fund and because of that generosity he’s sent me a second copy of Linchpin. Seth suggests I can continue the spread of generosity by giving this second copy to someone else as a gift.
Brilliant marketing and truly generous. FedEx all your early adopters a second free copy of your book that they can share and give away! Ideas spread and so does generosity.
That would be great and I plan to do so if the first copy ever shows up, but for now, this copy is mine.
What did I think?
Being a Godin fanboy I knew I’d enjoy the book. I didn’t know I’d enjoy it as much as I did and here’s why.
This is Seth Godin’s best book. This book has more going on inside than any of his other books. When I read Linchpin I could hear Seth’s honesty and passion for what he was saying. I feel that Seth has gone to the next level with this book. I’ve read nearly all of Godin’s books and this one trumps the rest.
Unless you’ve read all his other books, you won’t really get that.
That’s OK. This book is still for you.
Godin starts the book by calling my a genius. Many will be taken back by such a direct and forward compliment. Me? A Genius??? You MUST be thinking of someone else? (this is your lizard brain)
I went with it anyways. I figured if Seth Godin was willing to call me a genius I’d accept the compliment.
I’m going to spend most of this week looking at the book in more detail because my lizard brain thinks it’s a great way to spend the week.
So what’s the lizard brain?
The Lizard Brain is an actual part of your brain. You can read more about it on Wikipedia.
The problem for us, is the lizard brain is what causes us to not ship. Seth uses this terminology all throughout the book.
You may be thinking “great, I don’t have anything to ship,” or “excellent, I’m not in the shipping business.”
But shipping is a metaphor for finishing your ideas and spreading them. It’s not about the actual physical exercise of shipping something (although it might be in your case.) It’s the term used for taking an idea and shipping.
We’re ALL in the shipping business.
This means you don’t just create. You take what you’ve created and you spread it. Employees can ship. They ship by doing amazing work that creates change.
According to Seth our lizard brains are hungry, scared, angry, and horny. The only thing our lizard brains want are to eat and be safe.
The lizard brain effects all those in business because it wants us to be safe.
Safe means not shipping.
Safe means not taking chances.
Safe means not getting outside your comfort zone.
Safe means not being laughed at because the business you just tried to start has failed.
Safe means writing this blog post when I should be creating.
Safe means checking into Facebook and tweeting your day away.
Safe means answering emails all day long because it makes you feel busy.
Safe means not creating.
Safe means creating but not shipping.
Safe means you’re the employee who follows the manual and job description word for word.
Safe means driving in the middle lane because it’s not too slow and not too fast.
The lizard brain is very real.
That’s the scary thing. I hate knowing that I’ve got a lizard living inside my brain. The scariest thing about it for me is I think my lizard is more like a vicious velociraptor.
Seth goes on to explain how the lizard brain works. We’re all able to pull from the lizard brain but we’re usually snapped back to reality by the resistance. This is the lizard brain at work.
But even with all the talk of the lizard brain, Godin’s really only got one true goal in Linchpin.
He wants you and I to become indispensable.
I’m going to talk about this more throughout the week. Most people in our society aren’t indispensable. We’re cogs in the machine and unfortunately, we’re disposable cogs.
I used to believe that having an office job made me different than a factory worker or a blue collar worker, but it doesn’t. It’s the same thing and both of these types of employees are disposable cogs (as we’re more frequently finding out.)
The high paid executive or office worker is nothing more than a nicely dressed factory worker. Seth’s goal is getting you to see this NOW because soon it will too late.
Being a linchpin isn’t about quitting your job to work 4 hours a week. If written for anyone, it’s especially important for employees and people looking to remain “safely employed” because Seth would argue that safe doesn’t exist anymore. The only safe position in our ever-changing economy is to become indispensable.
