Beyond 9/11

Today is a day of reflection for many of us in the United States. Most of us know where we were 10 years ago when the planes crashed into the World Trade Center.

We look back on the monumental occasions and often let the other, less noticeable events fade away.

Last weekend as I was skimming my emails I found a piece from Seth Godin that reminds us to pay more attention.

May it motivate both of us to make some positive changes in the week ahead:

The Sunday Seth:

Not fade away

Most partnerships don't end up in court.

Most friendships don't end in a fight.

Most customers don't leave in a huff.

Instead, when one party feels underappreciated, or perhaps taken advantage of, she stops showing up as often. Stops investing. Begins to move on.

No, I'm not going to sue you. Yes, I'll probably put my best efforts somewhere else.

Just because there are no firestorms on the porch doesn't mean you're doing okay. More likely, there are relationships out there that need more investment, quiet customers who are unhappy but not making a big deal out of it. They're worth a lot more than the angry ones.

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Labor Day

Tradtion says this is the end of summer.

Like Memorial Day is the start of summer.

But Labor Day has to do with work.

And recently I wrote about this on The Not-So-Secret Writings of ScLoHo:

Offense or Defense?

Posted: 23 Aug 2011 04:00 AM PDT

As a former employee of a group of radio stations, a few years ago I was asked to sign a non-compete agreement.

This was the second time I had to sign one of these and this time it was incredibly one sided, all in favor of my employer.

I was prohibited from working in my chosen profession for 365 days after leaving, no matter who terminated my employment.

I was not allowed to work for any broadcast or print medium within about 100 miles.

Why?

They were scared.

Scared that I would take my clients and get them to cancel their advertising and follow me to my new employer.

They were paranoid.

Paranoid that they would train salespeople only to have them take their new found knowledge and go to work for a competitor.

Scared and Paranoid are not good ways to run a business.

If these are part of your primary business culture, I suggest you stop playing defense and flip it around.

Start playing offense.

Instead of worrying about employees leaving, create an environment that they'll never want to walk away from.

Or partner with those that have good ideas and you may find your next new big "thing".

And if they really want to go, give them your blessing, you never know how building bridges instead of burning them may be beneficial.

The words of Scott Howard aka ScLoHo

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No Regrets

That's the life you want to live.

Sure, you may have a few moments of doubt.

Or sheer terror and panic when you realize that there is no other way.

No other way than to move forward.

It's like the decision I made June 1st when I signed the paperwork to leave me job and take a new one.

I walked away from 8+ years with the same group of radio stations to venture into a new field.

Seth Godin sums it up:

Dig yourself a hole

Make big promises.

Burn your boats.

Set yourself up in a place where you have few options and the stakes are high.

Focused energy and serious intent will push you to do your best work. You have nowhere to run, nowhere to hide. (Better than the alternative).

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Build it Right

An amazing thing has been going on the past several years.

You and I have been building our reputations.

If you have been careful with your life, giving your word, standing by your word, doing the work, standing by your work, and helping others with a sincere heart, then you have been building it right.

I'm not talking about perfection, but there is a big difference between deceit, and mistakes.

Drew wrote about this recently:

Your brand’s foundation

Posted: 18 Jun 2011 07:51 AM PDT

How are you building your foundation?

A brand, much like someone’s personality, isn’t something you concoct or fabricate. You can’t put it on and take it off at will. It’s not window dressing, but instead it comes from within your company, the culture, the people, the vision and of course…the marketplace in which it exists.

You can, of course, amplify your brand by doing the right things with intention and frequency. But…the foundation is already set.

In fact…you build your foundation with every choice you make as an organization and as the individuals who work for that organization. David Ogilvy once said “every advertisement is part of the long-term investment in the personality of the brand.” In today’s digital world where everything is archived by Google — it goes far beyond that.

Long before you are consciously on the radar screen of your target audience…you are creating your brand’s foundation with every:

• Tweet
• Facebook update
• Snarly employee wearing one of your logo’d shirts in a bar
• Branded truck driving carelessly
• Sponsorship of an event
• Comment left on someone else’s blog, FB, etc.
• Advertising/Marketing offers

Think of each action as a log or brick. Without meaning to — you are stacking each of those choices/actions together to create my first impression of you. The foundation upon which I will decide if I want to keep interacting.

And by the way — your absence is as noticeable as your presence. Those choices should be made as carefully as deciding where you do want to be seen.

Here’s my question. How intentional are you being about your brand’s foundation? Are you building it with a vision and purpose or is it just happening haphazardly?

Hat tip to Derrick Daye for reminding me of this Ogilvy quote.

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Seth Godin is full of it...

Earlier this month, I had a conversation with a 20 something who thought that Seth Godin was full of himself.

Maybe.

She thought that the things that Seth says are just common sense and people make too big a deal of his words.

Maybe.

But for someone who is old enough to be her Dad, (I'm not), I also understand why he is so appealing.

Some of the stuff he writes about and speaks about is common sense if you were not "brain washed" by your parents to find a good job with a good company that has a good pension plan and stick it out for 40 years.

I recall my Dad offering similar advice but I refused to take it. I was in charge of my own destiny and staying with the same company for too long was the wrong way in my mind.

Seth pushes people further than some feel comfortable.

Maybe.

I subscribe to his blog and Sundays at 6pm feature a Seth Godin blog post. I find it as a way to challenge my thinking for the week ahead.

Others think highly of him too.

I wouldn't go as far as the genius label that Jim Connolly gives Seth..

Maybe.

The magic of Seth Godin

Posted: 21 May 2011 01:57 PM PDT

It is my honest belief, that Seth Godin is a genius.

Genius?

Without interrupting me, Seth somehow manages to compel me to need to tell you about his work from time to time. Seriously, I feel like I am actually under-serving the community here, if I forget to mention him periodically; in case new readers have not yet discovered him.

Conversely, I am currently being bombarded with sales emails, from a vocal advocate of Seth’s work and permission marketing in general. I gave them permission to email me, but with each additional pushy sales message they send me, I become less and less inclined to want to recommend them. I have never bought a product from them either. Professional curiosity is all that’s keeping me on their list.

When Seth’s blog posts arrive in my inbox each day, they are keenly awaited. Each post delivers value. Seth’s posts are written by him, but for us. The guys sending me the pushy emails also offer valuable blog posts, but they are written by them, for them. It always seems like I am being sold to. I feel like I need to keep my guard up.

If I see a link in one of Seth’s posts, I click it eagerly. I trust him. My guard is down. I believe that the link will offer me value. I’ve been educated to expect something positive. It works beautifully. You know what? Seth has never sold me a book, but I have bought every book he has ever written. In fact, I usually buy a dozen copies of each new book. I keep one and give the others away to people I know, who are ready to read what Seth has to say.

If you want to know what I am talking about, do this:

1. Go to Seth’s blog.
2. Subscribe.
3. Then, take some time to read your way through his posts. Do not just read the latest posts. Bookmark the blog and work your way backwards!

If you do, you may learn how to inspire people to write posts like this, about you and your work.

Photo: Seth Godin

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Free Stuff

All of us like Free Stuff if....

If we see value in it.

Last year I received a free Kindle.

It was my kids who paid for it, so it wasn't entirely free, but it was a gift to me and I've seen the value in it.

I have several books saved on my Kindle and have actually read several of them from beginning to end.

Sundays at 6pm I post a Seth Godin blog post that I call my Sunday Seth. It is designed to get us thinking, perhaps a bit differently than we usually do.

Seth is also involved with something called the Domino Project.

I subscribe to the Domino Project updates too.

What does this have to do with Free Stuff that is valuable?

Take a look (and if you don't have a Kindle you can still get this. Click here.

The Champions on Your Side

---

Resistance is the enemy to great work, says author Steve Pressfield. But with enemies come allies. Consider, who and what will push you through the dips and help you do the work that matters.

Here’s an Eexcerpt from Do the Work about the champions on your side:

1. Stupidity

2. Stubbornness

3. Blind faith

4. Passion

5. Assistance (the opposite of Resistance)

6. Friends and family

Stay Stupid

The three dumbest guys I can think of: Charles Lindbergh, Steve Jobs, Winston Churchill. Why? Because any smart person who understood how impossibly arduous were the tasks they had set themselves would have pulled the plug before he even began.

Ignorance and arrogance are the artist and entrepreneur’s indispensable allies. She must be clueless enough to have no idea how difficult her enterprise is going to be—and cocky enough to believe she can pull it off anyway.

How do we achieve this state of mind? By staying stupid. By not allowing ourselves to think.

A child has no trouble believing the unbelievable, nor does the genius or the madman. It’s only you and I, with our big brains and our tiny hearts, who doubt and overthink and hesitate.

Don’t think. Act.

We can always revise and revisit once we’ve acted. But we can accomplish nothing until we act.

Be Stubborn

Once we commit to action, the worst thing we can do is to stop.

What will keep us from stopping? Plain old stubbornness.

I like the idea of stubbornness because it’s less lofty than “tenacity” or “perseverance.” We don’t have to be heroes to be stubborn. We can just be pains in the butt.

When we’re stubborn, there’s no quit in us. We’re mean. We’re mulish. We’re ornery.

We’re in till the finish.

We will sink our junkyard-dog teeth into Resistance’s ass and not let go, no matter how hard he kicks.

Blind Faith

Is there a spiritual element to creativity? Hell, yes.

Our mightiest ally (our indispensable ally) is belief in something we cannot see, hear, touch, taste, or feel.

Resistance wants to rattle that faith. Resistance wants to destroy it.

There’s an exercise that Patricia Ryan Madson describes in her wonderful book, Improv Wisdom. (Ms. Madson taught improvisational theater at Stanford to standing-room only classes for twenty years.) Here’s the exercise:

Imagine a box with a lid. Hold the box in your hand. Now open it.

What’s inside?

It might be a frog, a silk scarf, a gold coin of Persia. But here’s the trick: no matter how many times you open the box, there is always something in it.

Ask me my religion. That’s it.

I believe with unshakeable faith that there will always be something in the box.

Passion

Picasso painted with passion, Mozart composed with it. A child plays with it all day long.

You may think that you’ve lost your passion, or that you can’t identify it, or that you have so much of it, it threatens to overwhelm you. None of these is true.

Fear saps passion.

When we conquer our fears, we discover a boundless, bottomless, inexhaustible well of passion.

Assistance

We’ll come back to this later. Suffice it to say for now that as Resistance is the shadow, its opposite—Assistance—is the sun.

Friends and Family

When art and inspiration and success and fame and money have come and gone, who still loves us—and whom do we love?

Only two things will remain with us across the river: our inhering genius and the hearts we love.

In other words, what we do and whom we do it for.

Get your copy now. Do the Work is available for free on Kindle for another three weeks only (thanks to GE) and for purchase in hardcover, 5-pack, 48-pack and audio.

Article by Amber Rae

Amber Rae is The Domino Project's chief evangelist. A creative catalyst and starter of meaningful things, she lives for inspiring people to act on their ambitions. You can find more of Amber at heyamberrae.com or on Twitter @heyamberrae.

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Fakes & Frauds

from Jim's Marketing Blog:

Can we really trust business gurus? 5 Things you should know

Posted: 21 Feb 2011 03:23 AM PST

All business advice is not created equally.

Whilst some business advice can help you achieve breakthrough results, other business advice can cause you to lose your money and sometimes, lose your business!

The challenge for small business owners today, especially those looking online for free business advice, is that it has never been easier for someone to create fake proof that they are an expert. As business owners tend to look for advice in areas of business where, by default, they typically don’t know a great deal, it’s extremely simple for the fake experts to fool them.

Some fake experts are easy to spot

The fake marketing expert, who gets very few comments on his or her blog, is perhaps not the best person for you to invest in, if you want to learn how to build a passionate community of readers who will connect with you and buy from you. The success guru, who can’t afford a high quality, professional website is equally transparent. However, some fake experts are less easy to spot! You have to dig a little deeper.

Here are 5 things to consider, when you check someone out:

1. ANYONE can claim to be a published author, thanks to services like lulu.
2. ANYONE can claim to be a social media expert, thanks to software that allows them to gain tens of thousands of followers.
3. ANYONE can claim to be the host of their own radio show, thanks to services like blogtalkradio.
4. ANYONE can call themselves a guru, but very few genuine business experts ever do.
5. ANYONE can have a professional looking website or blog, thanks to software like Headway (affiliate link.)

The bottom line: Free advice can be extremely costly, if you are making business decisions based on bad information. Never act on advice until you are satisfied that the person advising you is an expert.

Over to you

So, what are your tips on how to avoid taking bad advice? Please share them with a comment.

Photo: House of sims

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Stop & Focus

I know, I know... it's one of the busiest times of the year, right between Thanksgiving and Christmas.

But you and I need to do this.

From Marketing Profs:

Protect Profitability: Start Each Day With a Mission Statement

"Many business owners have dutifully written their vision and mission statements, working hard to craft statements with impact and importance," writes Marla Tabaka at Inc. "But what happens to those statements?"

All too often, they're shuffled out of sight—and out of mind. In Tabaka's experience, many clients can't articulate a mission statement; often, they've simply forgotten what they wrote in the first place.

So how can you regain—and maintain—a laser-sharp focus on your company's raison d'être? Tabaka recommends this three-step process:

Define your true and full vision. Almost everyone starts a business with the purpose of turning a profit, but you might have additional humanitarian or environmental goals. "Certainly this isn't true for everyone," she notes, "but don't negate the importance of your higher purpose if you have one."

Use imagery to communicate the big picture. Sometimes a written statement isn't enough. Tabaka suggests the creation of a poster board that keeps your mission front-and-center with drawings, photos or collages. "Too often the rewards connected to our goals get lost in the passion and dream of carrying out our mission," she notes. "Give yourself permission to include meaningful symbols of the rewards you seek; money, travel, fame, respect, or whatever is important to you."

Make your vision a daily reality. Take a few minutes each morning to ponder your visual mission statement. "Still your mind and gaze at your images, allowing your body and mind to feel and live your success," she advises.

The Po!nt: Focus. To achieve your goals—especially in tumultuous economic times—stay true to your purpose by keeping it at the front of your mind.

Source: Inc.

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Should You Go Undercover?

from Drew:

Marketing tip #17: Stop assuming!

Posted: 29 Oct 2010 11:44 AM PDT

I've said it before....no one is worse at seeing your business objectively than you. If you own or run it -- you cannot possibly remove your own biases, opinions and hopes from the equation.

So when you make operating, marketing and customer service decisions, you need to second guess yourself now and then. You need to remove yourself from the equation and see it from your customer's perspective. But how do you do that, if you can't possibly be objective?

You walk in your customers' shoes. Literally.

You need to experience exactly what they experience. Go through your own drive thru, try to navigate your phone system without using any of the back end short cuts, see what asking for a credit or return feels like.

I'm betting that 90% of companies never do this. They think they know what their customer wants, so based on that dangerous assumption -- they run their business. We all know the old saying about what happens when you assume...

Over at IowaBiz today, I explore this topic some more. Come jump into the conversation.

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Where Should You Labor?

Yep, it's Labor Day in the USA.

So I've got something from Drew last month that I've saved for today:

Where should your CEO invest his/her time?

Posted: 18 Aug 2010 08:05 AM PDT

As a business owner, I am always wrestling with how to best use my time.

• Should it be spent with clients, adding my 25+ years of experience to their marketing arsenal?
• Or should I invest my time in my employees, helping them hone their skills?
• Maybe I should be out and about, kissing babies and getting my agency new clients?

There's probably no single right answer. But it's a worthy question.

That's why I enjoyed listening to Barry Moltz's interview with Craig Newmark (founder of Craig's List) and how he believes he should be investing his time.

It's a good and quick listen. Click here to get to the podcast. You can listen to it from the website or download it to listen later.

Note: The first half of the show is Barry's interview with Barbara Rozgonyi, a LinkedIn guru. Also a good listen.

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The New Normal in Car Sales

There's a young man named Brian who works at one of the most recognized car dealerships in Northeast Indiana, as the General Sales Manager.

Over the past 9 months, I've learned a lot from Brian about changes in his business. His dealership has lost inventory, because G.M. scaled back the number of brands they carry.

Gone is Saturn. Gone is Hummer. Gone is Pontiac.

What's left? Cadillac, Buick, and GMC Trucks.

And three empty buildings.

Brian has learned how to manage, though. He was recently promoted to GSM for the used cars along with his other duties.

There's a lesson for all of us. Our old ways of doing business are changing, and often those changes are beyond our control.

How we adapt however, IS in our control.

Check out this story about the auto business and perhaps you'll get some ideas on what you can do in your business:

Life At 11 Million U.S. Transactions

What To Do When You Lose 6 Million Sales? Shake Things Up, Top To Bottom

So how does the car business cope with the loss of nearly 6 million annual sales in the space of three years? It reinvents itself -- top to bottom.

Look around and you see a different auto industry taking shape -- a "transformational moment," says AutoNation Inc. CEO Mike Jackson.

Why are companies that struggled in 16 million sales years doing just fine in a market of 11 million? Because discipline is breaking out all over -- at manufacturers, suppliers and dealerships. A pragmatic, tightly controlled approach has evolved from the recession, and the changes touch almost everything.

Incentives are smaller, simpler and more tactical. No-haggle and limited-negotiation pricing are getting a real tryout across the country. And inventories are lean and balanced.

Here's how that's playing out in the showroom:

Pete DeLongchamps, head of manufacturer relations at retailer Group 1 Automotive, tells of a neighbor who said he planned to stop by his dealership, trade in his 140,000-mile Chevrolet Suburban SUV and drive out in a new one.

DeLongchamps gently explained the new reality: "The factory's working 10-hour shifts," he told his neighbor. "You can't get Suburbans."

So the guy ordered one with exactly the equipment he wanted and drove his old Suburban for eight weeks until delivery.

"Instead of walking the lot, we sit with our customers, talk about their needs, place orders and take deposits," DeLongchamps says.

That anecdote illustrates how the "push" system of building and selling vehicles is fading. Automakers are closely matching production to sales -- a dramatic change for the Detroit 3.

That means U.S. inventories are hovering near record lows -- 2.1 million cars and trucks on July 1, half of the 4.2 million that were in stock on July 1, 2004.

General Motors Co. -- which used to run its factories at any cost, trying to create demand with hefty incentives and high, low-profit fleet sales -- now is underproducing hot models. On July 1, Chevrolet had just a 22-day supply of the Equinox crossover, a 31-day supply of the Traverse crossover and a 37-day supply of the Suburban -- all well below the pre-crisis norm of 60 days.

GM wants dealers to operate with much lower inventories and turn their stock faster. But one executive says many are having trouble adjusting to the new paradigm and regularly scream for more inventory. The exceptions, he says, tend to be dealers who also have Toyota franchises and understand how to function with fewer vehicles on the lot.

Dennis Egglefield, owner of Egglefield Bros. Ford in Elizabethtown, N.Y., says he is forced to live with lower inventory.

That means he risks not getting Mustangs in time for his spring-summer season or four-wheel-drives before the snow flies. To compensate, the dealership is encouraging regular customers to order in advance and also is trading vehicles more often with surrounding dealerships.

"Our floorplan is down," he says, "not from necessity but because we can't get the merchandise. We do a lot more dealer swaps than we used to."

For manufacturers, leaner inventories mean lower incentives. Average June incentives were down more than $300 from the industry's peak of $3,165 per vehicle in March 2009, Edmunds.com says.

"There is no faster way to profitability than to cut incentives," says Dave Cole, chairman of the Center for Automotive Research.

Structural change
Carmakers -- and not just Chapter 11 survivors GM and Chrysler Group -- have taken advantage of the crisis to fix structural problems.

Toyota, for example, had too many factories below capacity in 2008. This year it has closed NUMMI in California, consolidated Tundra pickup production in San Antonio and revamped plans at its new Tupelo, Miss., plant. Instead of the Prius hybrid, Toyota will make the high-volume Corolla in Mississippi.

Supplier relationships are changing, too. All three Detroit 3 purchasing bosses -- recognizing the difficulty of getting by without the technology and expertise of key partners -- have vowed to collaborate more closely with suppliers.

For instance, Chrysler this summer began offering more formal protections to suppliers. Previously, says purchasing boss Dan Knott, "I could pull the trigger at the last minute" and drop a supplier because "I didn't like the way you look."

Conversely, some old loyalties are crumbling. Auto advertising was once known for its stability, but a few of the oldest ties between carmakers and agencies -- Campbell-Ewald and Chevrolet, for example -- were severed this year as automakers struggle to re-establish brands and shake off tired stereotypes.

Dealers' new approach
Nowhere is the change more profound than at dealerships. Dealers have slashed costs in every corner of their stores to focus on the bottom line. Because of those cuts, many say they'll be profitable this year no matter what.

The combination of lower sales and shrinking margins has led dealers to experiment with new ways of paying salespeople. The traditional straight commission of 20 percent of gross profit has so squeezed salespeople that dealers fear a wave of departures.

A common switch: Pay a base salary plus commission.

With finance and insurance revenue falling as a result of lower sales, some dealers have cut dedicated F&I staff and let salespeople share some F&I commissions.

Some dealers are pushing their service departments to compete with repair chains such as Jiffy Lube. And they are tinkering with new pricing models, testing variations of no-haggle selling. By the middle of this decade, AutoNation plans to have all of its 200-plus stores using low everyday prices and limited negotiations.

Smarter suppliers
Suppliers that happily used to accept jobs with razor-thin margins just to keep their factories running are concentrating on contracts that are sure winners.

"You can't just launch 10 different car platforms (and have) four of them be winners and six of them losers," says BorgWarner CEO Tim Manganello. "That's a recipe for disaster. You need nine out of 10 winners."

Behr America CEO Heinz Otto says suppliers are chasing margins above 5 percent of sales. In the past they were OK with 2 or 3 percent, he says.

There's a dark side to the new emphasis on the bottom line: Many suppliers are moving engineering jobs out of the United States.

"You always have to look at your engineering structure -- and how possible is it to use engineering resources that are offshore," says James Rosseau, CEO of Magneti Marelli USA. "We offshore certain administration functions to reduce costs. I don't think we'll revert. The support functions, I believe, are gone."

With their lower breakevens, parts makers are poised for strong profits at today's volumes of 11 million to 12 million units annually.

That could be critical. Rebecca Lindland, head of auto research for the Americas at IHS Automotive, says current low sales are not building future demand but instead are working off the excess supply of the past.

"There's very little pent-up demand," she says.

Permanent? Or just a blip?
Are these changes permanent, or will they disappear with the first sign that things are back to "normal"?

It's a crucial question, since analysts say the industry's long-term health rests on continued discipline.

"We have a greater opportunity to make change that's permanent," says Jeff Schuster, head auto forecaster for J.D. Power and Associates.

"But as the sun comes out, it's easy to let go of some things you have learned."

(Source: Automotive News, 08/02/10)

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Buy this Book or

... NO ANIMALS WERE HURT IN THE CREATION OF THIS BLOG.

Despite the magazine cover...

I've been meaning to do a review of Seth Godin's latest book, but...

I have not yet finished reading it.

I'll read a few pages and then I have to stop and reflect.

I even received an advance copy 2 weeks before it was available to the public.

I recommended it to a class of college students after reading the first 15 pages.

This is an important book for you and those around you.

But I don't want you to wait for me to finish reading it before you start reading it...

So:





Earlier this week, I found this in my email from the Church of the Customer Blog:

Why it's important to be a linchpin and an artist

Posted: 07 Jan 2010 02:11 PM PST

If you want to succeed in today's world of work, author Seth Godin says you should focus on being a "linchpin." That's the title of his new book, so we asked him a few questions about it.

Q: What is a linchpin, and why is it important to become one?

A linchpin is the part you can't live without, the thing that makes a difference. In every organization there are one (or several) people like this. It might be the brilliant inventor who creates the impossible, but it's far more likely to be the great sales rep or customer service person who makes a connection, or the marketer who knows how to tell a story that resonates.

In a post-factory world, manning the assembly line isn't so critical. Stuffing the candies into the boxes, running the punch press, following the manual... these are easily replaced roles, ones where neither the worker nor the organization gains much on the margin. If you want real job satisfaction and security, then, you need to figure out how to do the unexpected, to do work that matters and to create human interactions.

Q: You talk about linchpins being artists. What's the difference between a conventional marketer and one who thinks like an artist? Can you give an example of a marketer who is an artist?

Art, by my definition, has nothing to do with painting and everything to do with connecting with people in a generous way and causing a change to take place. A movie director is making art when she makes you cry. A product designer creates art when the UI is better than it needs to be and it creates efficiency or even joy. Marketers can find plenty of Dummies books and manuals and insider PDFs that demonstrate, step by step, how to follow the rules. That's easy and not particularly valuable. A marketer becomes an artist when she goes out on a limb, does the unexpected or the risky and makes a difference.

I'd argue that you two do art when you stand up and give a talk about the 1%. Or Biz Stone was an artist when he figured out how to launch and scale Twitter's marketing. Or Scott Monty at Ford when he does a car show rollout that bypasses the cocktail parties at AutoWeek in favor of individual interviews with social media mavens. The second time someone does something, it's a copy. The first time, it's art.

Q: We understand the concept of "physical labor" when it comes to work, but you stress the importance of "emotional labor." What do you mean by that, and can you give us an example?

I don't know about you, but I haven't gotten paid to do physical labor in a really long time. Maybe typing.

Emotional labor is the act of smiling when you're scared, or getting on a plane when you're tired. It's dreaming when you don't feel like dreaming, caring when the other person is (frankly) acting like a jerk. Emotional labor is work with your heart and your soul and your feelings. We seem to feel it should be easy, but it's not. It is, though, important.

Q: We love this quote in the book: "The easier it is to quantify, the less it's worth." Can you tell us, and our MBA friends, why this is true?

If you can quantify it, then probably someone before you figured out a why to grind it out. And if you can grind it out, someone can grind it out cheaper than you can.

On the other hand, the really valuable stuff, the stuff we pay a lot for, is unquantified. Things like creating joy or security or happiness. No easy measurements for those, thus they are art, and art is always worth more than the predicted.

We measure the quantified because we can. But we should create the unquantified because it's so rare.

Q: Our lizard brain tells us to "Shut up. Don't stand out. Don't speak out. Blend in." If we want to be a linchpin, how do we silence this negative part of our brain?

Steve Pressfield calls this the resistance. The voice in your head that destroys your art. There are a myriad of ways to defeat it. You can distract it. You can trick it. You can steamroll it. You can seduce it with small steps. I'm not sure there's one best technique, but I know for certain that it must be done. My book has only one goal: to sell you on committing to this very task.

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Guts, Nerve, Conviction

As I was reading this post from Drew, I thought of what words to describe it and came up with the three I mentioned above.

Read more and click on the links, unless you want to stay mediocre:

To find your nerve, find your core

Posted: 20 Oct 2009 02:54 AM PDT

A few months ago, I received an intriguing e-mail from a guy named Steve McKee. He had an idea.

He wanted to build "a website dedicated to supporting the community of corporate professionals who want to move beyond the economic morass and return their companies to the growth path. This grass roots effort is intended to help jump start corporations and, therefore, the economy."

Each day of the 4th quarter, they would have a different guest author address the issue of how do you get back your nerve and get back to some semblance of business as usual. As you know, I've been rallying against the paralysis caused by the recession (here, here and here) for quite some time so I jumped at the opportunity.

My contribution went live today and I'd like to:

• Share it with you
• Get your feedback
• Ask you to share it with others

Here's how I started....

When the recession hit, many companies lost their nerve. They began to second-guess their own decisions. They compromised on what they believed was right because right was too expensive. They chased after business that wasn't really a good fit — because any business was better than the potential of no business.

And they lost their way. A side effect of being lost is being scared. Sometimes being scared leads to being paralyzed. In my opinion, that's why this recession got so bad.

We got scared and we got stuck.

It's time for us to find our nerve and get ourselves out of this recession. I highly doubt there's going to be a bailout for any of us.

So how do we break loose from our fear and get some nerve? We get back to our core.

Please check out the FindYourNerve.com site to read the rest.

While you're there, check out the rest of the site. There are polls, plenty of blog posts from some very smart folks, and some eye opening facts about the recession and advertising/marketing.

Also note that this is a very savvy effort on Steve's part to promote and sell his new book, When Growth Stalls. Rally the troops around something they're passionate about and they'll do whatever it takes to get the word out. And sell some books along the way.

The site is well done, Steve's intentions are honorable and I encourage you to check out the guest posts.

Photo courtesy of Shutterstock.com

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SMove

The video:

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Another kind of Wisdom

Collective Wisdom is one of several blogs I write and edit. This one is updated between 21 and 30 times a week.

I also update a personal blog twice a day. On my Really? blog, I sometimes repost articles from the DLM site like the one I'm about to share with you.

With all the focus on advertising, marketing and sales, I also want you to strive to achieve balance in your life.

Read on:

39 Ways to Live, and Not Merely Exist

Posted: 28 Jun 2009 07:59 AM PDT

"The proper function of man is to live - not to exist." -- Jack London

Too often we go through life on autopilot, going through the motions and having each day pass like the one before it.

That's fine, and comfortable, until you have gone through another year without having done anything, without having really lived life.

That's fine, until you have reached old age and look back on life with regrets.

That's fine, until you see your kids go off to college and realize that you missed their childhoods.

It's not fine. If you want to truly live life, to really experience it, to enjoy it to the fullest, instead of barely scraping by and only living a life of existence, then you need to find ways to break free from the mold and drink from life.

What follows is just a list of ideas, obvious ones mostly that you could have thought of yourself, but that I hope are useful reminders. We all need reminders sometimes. If you find this useful, print it out, and start using it. Today.

1. Love. Perhaps the most important. Fall in love, if you aren't already. If you have, fall in love with your partner all over again. Abandon caution and let your heart be broken. Or love family members, friends, anyone -- it doesn't have to be romantic love. Love all of humanity, one person at a time.


2. Get outside. Don't let yourself be shut indoors. Go out when it's raining. Walk on the beach. Hike through the woods. Swim in a freezing lake. Bask in the sun. Play sports, or walk barefoot through grass. Pay close attention to nature.


3. Savor food. Don't just eat your food, but really enjoy it. Feel the texture, the bursts of flavors. Savor every bite. If you limit your intake of sweets, it will make the small treats you give yourself (berries or dark chocolate are my favorites) even more enjoyable. And when you do have them, really, really savor them. Slowly.


4. Create a morning ritual. Wake early and greet the day. Watch the sun rise. Out loud, tell yourself that you will not waste this day, which is a gift. You will be compassionate to your fellow human beings, and live every moment to its fullest. Stretch or meditate or exercise as part of your ritual. Enjoy some coffee.


5. Take chances. We often live our lives too cautiously, worried about what might go wrong. Be bold, risk it all. Quit your job and go to business for yourself (plan it out first!), or go up to that girl you've liked for a long time and ask her out. What do you have to lose?


6. Follow excitement. Try to find the things in life that excite you, and then go after them. Make life one exciting adventure after another (with perhaps some quiet times in between).


7. Find your passion. Similar to the above tip, this one asks you to find your calling. Make your living by doing the thing you love to do. First, think about what you really love to do. There may be many things. Find out how you can make a living doing it. It may be difficult, but you only live once.


8. Get out of your cubicle. Do you sit all day in front of computer, shuffling papers and taking phone calls and chatting on the Internet? Don't waste your days like this. Break free from the cubicle environment, and do your work on a laptop, in a coffee shop, or on a boat, or in a log cabin. This may require a change of jobs, or becoming a freelancer. It's worth it.


9. Turn off the TV. How many hours will we waste away in front of the boob tube? How many hours do we have to live? Do the math, then unplug the TV. Only plug it back in when you have a DVD of a movie you love. Otherwise, keep it off and find other stuff to do. Don't know what to do? Read further.


10. Pull away from Internet. You're reading something on the Internet right now. And, with the exception of this article, it is just more wasting away of your precious time. You cannot get these minutes back. Unplug the Internet, then get out of your office or house. Right now! And go and do something.


11. Travel. Sure, you want to travel some day. When you have vacation time, or when you're older. Well, what are you waiting for? Find a way to take a trip, if not this month, then sometime soon. You may need to sell your car or stop your cable bill and stop eating out to do it, but make it happen. You are too young to not see the world. If need be, find a way to make a living by freelancing, then work while you travel. Only work an hour or two a day. Don't check email but once a week. Then use the rest of the time to see the world.


12. Rediscover what's important. Take an hour and make a list of everything that's important to you. Add to it everything that you want to do in life. Now cut that list down to 4-5 things. Just the most important things in your life. This is your core list. This is what matters. Focus your life on these things. Make time for them.


13. Eliminate everything else. What's going on in your life that's not on that short list? All that stuff is wasting your time, pulling your attention from what's important. As much as possible, simplify your life by eliminating the stuff that's not on your short list, or minimizing it.


14. Exercise. Get off the couch and go for a walk. Eventually try running. Or do some push ups and crunches. Or swim or bike or row. Or go for a hike. Whatever you do, get active, and you'll love it. And life will be more alive.


15. Be positive. Learn to recognize the negative thoughts you have. These are the self-doubts, the criticisms of others, the complaints, the reasons you can't do something. Then stop yourself when you have these thoughts, and replace them with positive thoughts. Solutions. You can do this!


16. Open your heart. Is your heart a closed bundle of scar tissue? Learn to open it, have it ready to receive love, to give love unconditionally. If you have a problem with this, talk to someone about it. And practice makes perfect.


17. Kiss in the rain. Seize the moment and be romantic. Raining outside? Grab your lover and give her a passionate kiss. Driving home? Stop the car and pick some wildflowers. Send her a love note. Dress sexy for him.


18. Face your fears. What are you most afraid of? What is holding you back? Whatever it is, recognize it, and face it. Do what you are most afraid of. Afraid of heights? Go to the tallest building, and look down over the edge. Only by facing our fears can we be free of them.


19. When you suffer, suffer. Life isn't all about fun and games. Suffering is an inevitable part of life. We lose our jobs. We lose our lovers. We lose our pets. We get physically injured or sick. A loved one becomes sick. A parent dies. Learn to feel the pain intensely, and really grieve. This is a part of life -- really feel the pain. And when you're done, move on, and find joy.


20. Slow down. Life moves along at such a rapid pace these days. It's not healthy, and it's not conducive to living. Practice doing everything slowly -- everything, from eating to walking to driving to working to reading. Enjoy what you do. Learn to move at a snail's pace.


21. Touch humanity. Get out of your house and manicured neighborhoods, and find those who live in worse conditions. Meet them, talk to them, understand them. Live among them. Be one of them. Give up your materialistic lifestyle.


22. Volunteer. Help at homeless soup kitchens. Learn compassion, and learn to help ease the suffering of others. Help the sick, those with disabilities, those who are dying.


23. Play with children. Children, more than anyone else, know how to live. They experience everything in the moment, fully. When they get hurt, they really cry. When they play, they really have fun. Learn from them, instead of thinking you know so much more than them. Play with them, and learn to be joyful like them.


24. Talk to old people. There is no one wiser, more experienced, more learned, than those who have lived through life. They can tell you amazing stories. Give you advice on making a marriage last or staying out of debt. Tell you about their regrets, so you can learn from them and avoid the same mistakes. They are the wisdom of our society -- take advantage of their existence while they're still around.


25. Learn new skills. Constantly improve yourself instead of standing still -- not because you're so imperfect now, but because it is gratifying and satisfying. You should accept yourself as you are, and learn to love who you are, but still try to improve -- if only because the process of improvement is life itself.


26. Find spirituality. For some, this means finding God or Jesus or Allah or Buddha. For others, this means becoming in tune with the spirits of our ancestors, or with nature. For still others, this just means an inner energy. Whatever spirituality means for you, rediscover it, and its power.


27. Take mini-retirements. Don't leave the joy of retirement until you are too old to enjoy it. Do it now, while you're young. It makes working that much more worth it. Find ways to take a year off every few years. Save up, sell your home, your possessions, and travel. Live simply, but live, without having to work. Enjoy life, then go back to work and save up enough money to do it again in a couple of years.


28. Do nothing. Despite the tip above that we should find excitement, there is value in doing nothing as well. Not doing nothing as in reading, or taking a nap, or watching TV, or meditating. Doing nothing as in sitting there, doing nothing. Just learning to be still, in silence, to hear our inner voice, to be in tune with life. Do this daily if possible.


29. Stop playing video games. They might be fun, but they can take up way too much time. If you spend a lot of time playing online games, or computer solitaire, or Wii or Gameboy or whatever, consider going a week without it. Then find something else to do, outside.


30. Watch sunsets, daily. One of the most beautiful times of day. Make it a daily ritual to find a good spot to watch the sunset, perhaps having a light dinner while you do so.


31. Stop reading magazines. They're basically crap. And they waste your time and money. Cancel your subscriptions and walk past them at the news stands. If you have to read something, read a trashy novel or even better, read Dumb Little Man once a day and be done.


32. Break out from ruts. Do you do things the same way every day? Change it up. Try something new. Take a different route to work. Start your day out differently. Approach work from a new angle. Look at things from new perspectives.


33. Stop watching the news. It's depressing and useless. If you're a news junky, this may be difficult. I haven't watch TV news or read a newspaper regularly in about two years. It hasn't hurt me a bit. Anything important, my mom tells me about.


34. Laugh till you cry. Laughing is one of the best ways to live. Tell jokes and laugh your head off. Watch an awesome comedy. Learn to laugh at anything. Roll on the ground laughing. You'll love it.


35. Lose control. Not only control over yourself, but control over others. It's a bad habit to try to control others -- it will only lead to stress and unhappiness for yourself and those you try to control. Let others live, and live for yourself. And lose control of yourself now and then too.


36. Cry. Men, especially, tend to hold in our tears, but crying is an amazing release. Cry at sad movies. Cry at a funeral. Cry when you are hurt, or when somebody you love is hurt. It releases these emotions and allows us to cleanse ourselves.


37. Make an awesome dessert. I like to make warm, soft chocolate cake. But even berries dipped in chocolate, or crepes with ice cream and fruit, or fresh apple pie, or homemade chocolate chip cookies or brownies, are great. This isn't an every day thing, but an occasional treat thing. But it's wonderful.


38. Try something new, every week. Ask yourself: "What new thing shall I try this week?" Then be sure to do it. You don't have to learn a new language in one week, but seek new experiences. Give it a try. You might decide you want to keep it in your life.


39. Be in the moment. Instead of thinking about things you need to do, or things that have happened to you, or worrying or planning or regretting, think about what you are doing, right now. What is around you? What smells and sounds and sights and feelings are you experiencing? Learn to do this as much as possible through meditation, but also through bringing your focus back to the present as much as you can in everything you do.

Written on 6/19/2007 by Leo Babauta, a writer, a runner and a vegetarian, and the owner of Zen Habits. This article was republished on 6/28/09.

Photo Credit: hunters.green

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Focus

You can't change the past only the future. And the future begins now. And now, and now, and now again. Look at these words from Seth Godin:

Ignore sunk costs

The most important decision-making rule you learn in business school is still largely misunderstood.

When making a choice between two options, only consider what's going to happen in the future, not which investments you've made in the past. The past investments are over, lost, gone forever. They are irrelevant to the future.

You have two pieces of land. One you bought for $1,000,000, one for $10,000. On which one should you develop a gas station?

I know. The one that's right next to the huge subdivision being put up, not the one next to the condemned shopping center. Does it matter how much the land cost to buy? No. Not at all.

You have tickets to the Springsteen concert. They were really hard to get. You spent four hours surfing StubHub until you found the perfect seats for $55 each.

On your way into the event, a guy offers you $500 cash for each ticket. Should you sell?

It turns out the amount of time you spent getting the tickets is irrelevant. If you wouldn't be willing to PAY $500 for these tickets (and you weren't, or you would have) then you should be willing to sell them for $500. Spend $250 on dinner and go buy better tickets for tomorrow night's show.

Or say you make a mistake and go to the concert instead of selling (those seats are $500 seats now). But Bruce is sick and Manfred Mann is substituting for him. You don't like him so much. But you paid $500 for the seats! Should you stay?

[Just because the guy spent a lot on the sign for his store doesn't mean he shouldn't spend more to spell the biggest word properly. The amount he already spent is irrelevant. What matters is what the benefit of spelling 'stationery' properly will be.]

Ignore sunk costs.

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Inspiration from Harvey

From one of my mentors:

Harvey Mackay's Column This Week

Finding strength in adversity

I have never met a successful person who hasn't had to overcome a little—or a lot—of adversity.

Adversity is the prevailing theme of the Horatio Alger Association of Distinguished Americans, which bears the name of the renowned author Horatio Alger, Jr. His tales of overcoming adversity captivated the public in the late 19th century. The association honors dedicated community leaders who demonstrate individual initiative and a commitment to excellence; as exemplified by remarkable achievements accomplished through honesty, hard work, self-reliance and perseverance over adversity.

In early April, I once again attended the 2009 Horatio Alger Awards in Washington, D.C., as I have every year since I was inducted in 2004. The association, a nonprofit educational organization that awards more than $10 million in scholarships annually, was established in 1947 to dispel the mounting belief among the nation's youth that the American Dream was no longer attainable. The Horatio Alger Association of Distinguished Americans is dedicated to the simple but powerful belief that hard work, honesty and determination can conquer all obstacles.

Oprah Winfrey, a Horatio Alger member, experienced much abuse and adversity as a young child. She learned that if you want to not only stay alive, but also make something of yourself, you have to overcome obstacles. She said: "Always continue the climb. It is possible for you to do whatever you choose, if you first get to know who you are and are willing to work with a power that is greater than ourselves to do it."

Retailing magnate, J.C. Penney, another member, added: "I would never have amounted to anything were it not for adversity. I was forced to come up the hard way."

Why do some of us have what it takes to pick ourselves up off the canvas when others are ready to throw in the towel? I don't know the answer, but if I did I'd bottle it.

I do know this: It isn't all that rare. The human species comes equipped with built-in mental toughness. Some of us just don't know it's there.

Take it from an old peddler: The hardest sale you'll ever make is to yourself. But once you're convinced you can do it, you can.

Adversity is the grindstone of life. Intended to polish you up, adversity also has the ability to grind you down. The impact and ultimate result depend on what you do with the difficulties that come your way. Consider the phenomenal achievements of these people who experienced extreme cases of adversity.

• Beethoven composed his greatest works after becoming deaf.
• Thomas Edison had an IQ of less than 100, almost died of scarlet fever and was nearly deaf, yet he became one of the greatest inventors in history.
• If Columbus had turned back, no one could have blamed him, considering the constant adversity he endured. Of course, no one would have remembered him either.
• Abraham Lincoln became one of our greatest U.S. presidents, despite dropping out of grade school, going broke, having a son die at a young age and running for political office and losing four times.
• Carol Burnett, another Horatio Alger member, was raised by her grandmother because both her parents suffered from alcoholism. She lived in an impoverished area, was divorced twice, yet went on to great success and her variety show won 23 Emmy Awards.
• Glen Cunningham was seven years old when he was so badly burned in a schoolhouse fire that his doctor said, "I doubt if he'll be able to walk again." Yet he went on to become the outstanding miler of his time.

Nature is full of wonderful examples of how adversity fosters strength.

Botanists say that trees need the powerful March winds to flex their trunks and main branches, so that the sap is drawn up to nourish the budding leaves.

Pearls form inside the shell of certain mollusks as a defense mechanism to a potentially threatening irritant such as a parasite inside its shell. The mollusk creates a pearl to seal off the irritation.

And it was Ralph Waldo Emerson who pointed out, "When it is dark enough, you can see the stars."

I don't like adversity any more than the next guy, but I welcome it. It has made me stronger, more fearless, and ultimately, more successful. Stare down adversity and watch it blink.

Mackay's Moral: A smooth sea never made a skillful sailor.

Miss a column? The last three weeks of Harvey's columns are always archived online.

More information and learning tools can be found online at harveymackay.com.

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Leadership

Recently, I have taken over the leadership of our companies sales force. Here are 4 traits that I am following:

Daily Sales Tip: Coaching Points for Leaders and Sellers

Last week I attended a keynote presentation by Alan Fiers, former US Marine Commander and former chief of the CIA's Central American Operations. He outlined four coaching points for leaders. They are good reminders for sales managers, but on the mark for salespeople acting as marketing consultants as well.

1) To lead, people must trust and respect you.
2) Demonstrate respect for people you lead.
3) Give people equity in your decisions...allow them to have a say in the decision.
4) Execute your decisions with confidence.

Source: John Potter, RAB Vice President/Interactive Revenue Development

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A Wisdom E-Book

From my email:

Special Report: Marketing Wisdom 2009 - Download Your Complimentary PDF of Real-Life Lessons Learned Your free copy of Sherpa's Marketing Wisdom 2009 report is ready for you. It features a new collection of some of the best real-life lessons learned last year by marketers just like you worldwide.

Click to download your PDF

Thanks to the hundreds of MarketingSherpa readers who contributed stories on email, search, social media and much more for this seventh annual report. The Editorial team pored over those stories to come up with the "best" test results and practical advice at big and small organizations alike.

And a big thank you to Omniture, which is covering the production costs for this report for the fifth year as a service to the marketing community.

In case you're wondering, you may share this link or copies of the PDF with anyone you like. And you can post the link to your blog or your newsletter. That link again.

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Review Time

In this internet world of ours, sometimes the advice we need today, is something that was said in the past. Think for a moment about how your life and business was in January 2008. See how much has changed in the last 12 months?

This is from Drew's Marketing Minute:

The Marketing Minute

Is my "best of" list the same as yours?

Posted: 24 Jan 2009 08:58 AM CST

Robert Hruzek over at Middle Zone Musings does an interesting project every January. He invited bloggers to submit a list of their favorite posts of the year, month by month. So, in a 12 post snapshot, you get a sampler's platter of a particular blog. It's a great way to discover some new blogs.

When I compiled my list, it occurred to me that your list (assuming you have a favorite) would probably be different. Yours would probably (correct me if I'm wrong) be posts where you learned something new or got an idea.

While I did choose some of those, mine tended to be a bit more personal and had some emotion tied to them. Heck, one of them wasn't about marketing at all -- or at least not very much.

My top two posts of the entire year would have to be:

June: Tim Russert - a lesson in branding

I was stunned and deeply saddened by the death of Tim Russert. As I followed all the news and commentary on his life and death, I was struck by how important he/his brand had become to me over the years. A wonderful lesson in personal branding.

July: And now, a word from our sponsor

Probably the most important message I delivered in all of 2008.

With this one following a close third:

August: The most brilliant outdoor campaign ever

Read about an outdoor campaign that broke every rule…and captured more media attention and consumer response than any outdoor campaign I have ever known about. I love this creative. Plenty of social media messaging lessons in this post as well.

So what's the marketing takeaway from all of this? As we create a blog, company newsletter, website, mixed media ad campaign or whatever -- we have got to remember that people have very strong preferences in terms of how they want to ingest information. Some love having access online, others want to hear it, and many still like to take information in via text (printed or online).

It's our job to make sure we've covered our bases and offer many choices, so we don't lose someone along the way.

To check out all twelve of my favorites, check out Robert's post and while you're there, enjoy some of the other entries as well!

So, what do you think? Would you have picked the same ones I did? Do you have a favorite? Is it a meaty, thought provoking post, something lighter with a video element or one that generated a great deal of conversation and learning in the comments section?

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