EvoBloggito

Let's Sit This One Out vs. That Looks Like Fun

Author: Ray Gulick; Published: Jun 11, 2009; Category: Business, Communication, Marketing, Video, Zeitgeist; Tags: Humor, Seth Godin, Zeitgeist; No Comments

I read Seth Godin’s blog almost daily, and check out just about anything else the man has to say in print or on video. I don’t always agree with him, but he always makes me think. The other day, he shared a video on his blog that showed people dancing at a concert, and how it grew from one crazy (and probably intoxicated) guy to a mob of people (also probably intoxicated). Watching it can tell you a lot of what you need to know about group behavior as it relates to creating a tribe or building a market. Seth talks about the importance of the third guy joining in, and you should go read his post.

However, I’d like to focus on the people in the foreground. The ones trying to maintain their dignity as (near the end of the video) people all but run over them to be part of the mob. Why didn’t they get up and be part of it? They didn’t even have to walk far (a few of the folks sitting in the foreground did get up and dance, but not many). Why did they adopt and maintain "anti-mob" behavior?

Here’s my theory. Sitting close by, they witnessed a crazy guy making a fool of himself from the very beginning of his let-it-all-hang-out performance, before other crazy guys (and gals) had joined him. You can almost hear the conversation.
"Look at that guy making an ass of himself, Bobby Joe."
"What a jerk, Bobby Jim. Don’t you get any ideas about dancing around like that."
"If I was dancing, I wouldn’t be lurching around like a drunken idiot."
"If you were dancing, you’d look just like that, only worse."
And so on…

What I’m guessing* is that these people created their own barrier to participation by taking a mental position they could not easily abandon. Having agreed on the foolishness of such behavior and reinforced in each other their superiority for not participating, they were no longer free to say "Hey! That looks like fun!" when other people rushed over to join in the "foolishness."

Most of us have done this at one time or another. In fact, I’m willing to bet that right now almost all of us are prevented from doing something we would enjoy or that would benefit us in some way, for no other reason than that we’ve adopted a mental position/barrier. The trick is to identify our assumptions (what if we start with what we’re resisting?) and examine whether or not they still serve us well.

*It’s also possible they’d made a realistic assessment of their dancing abilities and had wisely decided it was better to enjoy watching other people have fun, in which case, they hadn’t had enough beer.

Waiting for the Small Business Fairy to Bless Your Small Business

Author: Ray Gulick; Published: May 14, 2009; Category: Business, Marketing, Zeitgeist; Tags: Business, Economy, Humor, Zeitgeist; One Comment

Fairy tales were fun when we were little. The dastardly, selfish, and conniving were always punished. Meanwhile, handsome, brave, pure-hearted princes or tailors hooked up with beautiful, pure-hearted princesses (or beautiful, pure-hearted commoners) and lived happily ever after, often after some help from a fairy godmother or some other magical being.

Unfortunately, too many small business owners appear to be waiting for the Small Business Fairy to whack them with her wand, rather than adopting new marketing techniques with which other businesses have found success. If you’re one of those, you should know that I talked with the Small Business Fairy recently, and I have some bad news. The Small Business Fairy doesn’t have much of a work ethic, and she’s not ever going to get to you, no matter how brave, pure-hearted, or otherwise deserving you might be.

If you want to find your fortune with your small business, you’re going to have to do it without the Small Business Fairy’s help (trust me: she’s not coming). You’re going to have to muster all the bravery and pure-heartedness you can and start a business blog. And maybe establish a business Facebook page. Maybe even, you will need to "tweet." You, brave small businessman (or business woman) must hack your way through the thorny underbrush of social media. Having done so, however, you will be rewarded, as good fortune (and Google) smiles upon you. And there are people who can help you get there: no magic wands or spells, but sound advice.

It could be worse. There could be dragons.

Interview: Talking to the Small Business Fairy about How to Succeed

Author: Ray Gulick; Published: May 9, 2009; Category: Blogging, Business, Communication, Marketing; Tags: Blogging, Business, Humor, Marketing; No Comments

Recently, a post by Mike Dougherty of Network Solutions alerted me to the existence of the Small Business Fairy. Actually, he said she doesn’t exist, but we tracked her down and interviewed her about her job and how she helps small businesses be successful.

How did you become the Small Business Fairy?
Well, like most little fairies, I really wanted to be the Tooth Fairy: she gets all the press. I didn’t get that because—I’m not going to say her name, it’s against the rules, actually—”she” slept her way to the top. I have principals, so I had to look elsewhere. I was offered opportunities to be the Nuclear Non-proliferation Fairy and the Small Business Fairy. The people you meet in small business are, for the most part, just “nicer,” so I went with small business.

What are your primary duties?
I thought it was mostly ceremonial, but it turns out it’s a hell of a lot of work. I’m supposed to review all these business situation reports (BSRs) and decide who to bless with good fortune. When I was new at the job, I used to read each one carefully and weigh all the factors, like who’s working hard, and who really deserves success, and what are the local multipliers… blah, blah, blah. That took way too much time, so now I just send the BSRs down to the dart room.

The dart room?
Yeah. The elves down there (they’re not the brightest, between you and me), they tack BSRs on the wall 10 at a time, and then one of them, with a blindfold on, throws a dart at them. The one that he hits gets set aside for my signature. Then they put up another 10.

You’re kidding me! That’s how you decide which small businesses are successful?
If you can think of a better way, the suggestion box is right over there…well it used to be over there. It was getting full and suggestions were all over the floor under the box, so I had it taken to the incinerator. It’s much neater in that corner now. I should put a plant there.

So, does that mean being successful in small business is just pure luck? There’s no way to succeed just by “deserving” to succeed?
Are you from a really small town, or what? Of course being deserving has nothing to do with it! And it never did, from way before I took over this job.

But you can tap a small business owner with your wand and make him or her successful, right?
Sure! I do that all the time…well, at least once a month. It’s really fun. But businesses can be successful whether I do that or not. I’m not omnipit…omnipot…all powerful, you know.

Well that’s good news! How can small businesses be successful without your help?
It’s pretty boring stuff: managing cash flow, hiring good people and treating them well, offering good value in products and services, smart marketing, blah, blah, blah. That stuff is a lot of work. Most small business owners prefer to just set up shop and wait for me to whack ‘em on the head with my wand.

I’m interested in what you’ve observed in marketing that works for small businesses.
Social media is the big thing that works for most of the small businesses that get involved in it. Blogging, tweeting, getting fans on FaceBook, that kind of thing.

Why do you think those things work for small business?
Well, first, they’re free or low cost, so there’s not a lot of money being spent to reach their customers (especially when you compare it to broadcast or print media). And second, their customers spend a lot more time online than they used to. When they’re online for entertainment, a lot of them are on FaceBook or YouTube or some other site. When they’re online doing research for an upcoming purchase, or just looking around for stuff they’re interested in, they’re likely to find blogs that contain some good information, because Google loves blogs.

Do you have a blog or a FaceBook account?
Well, no. You know, I’m so busy blessing people. Plus I don’t know how to get started.

I could help you.
Really? Would it cost me anything?

I don’t know. Any chance you could whack me with your wand?
I’ll give that some serious thought.

Six SICMA: 6 Simple Techniques for Quality Blogging

Author: Ray Gulick; Published: Apr 26, 2009; Category: Blogging; Tags: Blogging, Humor, Seth Godin; No Comments

Other than the name’s deliberate similarity (I freely admit to link-baiting), Six SICMA has absolutely nothing to do with the Six Sigma management process developed by Motorola engineers and subsequently adopted by hundreds of corporations in the 90′s. On the other hand, maybe it does, just a little. Six Sigma was meant to ensure quality in manufacturing and services. Six SICMA is meant to ensure (or at least enable) quality and regularity in your blog posts. Six SICMA is an acronym: Stay Intellectually Curious and Mentally Acute. It includes 6 simple techniques for getting and staying sharp and engaged. As many of us are aware, simple doesn’t necessarily mean easy: some discipline may be required. And there are probably more than 6 techniques, but then I’d have had to call it something else, wouldn’t I? Please feel free to tell me about other techniques that work for you.

Cultivating Intellectual Curiosity

1. Read smart stuff by smart people – People like Kevin Kelley, Seth Godin, and [fill in your own smarty here] can challenge your assumptions and and cause your understanding of business and life to grow and your views to change. Fundamentally, that’s what intellectual curiosity is: a willingness to seek and incorporate information that allows or requires you to change or expand your thinking. Doing so helps you avoid getting stuck in old, unproductive thinking. It does not, however, insulate you from the possibility of becoming stuck in new, unproductive thinking, so select your reading material with care.
2. Use your imagination – When thinking about a challenge or dilemma, we all start with assumptions. What if we identified those assumptions, substituted different assumptions, and tried to view our challenge in this new light? You’d be like a scientist conducting a "thought experiment." Imagining different assumptions often leads to imagining different outcomes. You might find the distance between present outcomes and imagined outcomes closer than you’d "assumed."
3. Take the long view – You may have heard that history repeats itself and, if so you probably understand that everything is temporary: good economies, bad economies, your party being in or out of power, your favorite television series being cancelled…actually, Mannix is not coming back. But with the understanding that most conditions are conditional, you can avoid the kind of despair that sells newspapers (or, used to sell newspapers), but paralyzes your thinking about how to meet your current challenges. When you believe there is a point in finding answers, you’ll be motivated to find better ones.

Maintaining Mental Acuity

1. Be physically active – Nothing stimulates your brain like getting off your butt. Regular physical activity (the kind that makes you sweat and breathe harder than normal for at least 30 minutes a day) pumps oxygen into your brain as well as the rest of your body. I don’t think it’s a coincidence that most of my inspiration for blog posts occurs during morning hikes with the dogs.
2. Cultivate a sense of humor – A sense of humor doesn’t have much to do with your ability to tell a good joke. It has more to do with recognizing and appreciating a good joke when your hear it. Lots of jokes are not meant to be jokes, but so much of what happens in the news and in your daily life is ridiculous: a complete joke. If you can recognize the silliness or absurdity, you can smile or laugh out loud about it, and feel mentally refreshed.
3. Tend to life outside business and blogging – Especially when you’re busy, it can be easy to let family, home, and other interests take care of themselves or slide down the list of priorities while you tend to business. Bad idea. Kids grow up, husbands or wives feel neglected, and the yard needs work. Sooner or later, neglect eats away at the foundation your life is built on. Keep in mind that business is supposed to improve the lives of you and your family, not replace them.

Blog Readers Only Come for the Jelly Beans

Author: Ray Gulick; Published: Apr 16, 2009; Category: Blogging, Communication, Marketing; Tags: Humor, Local Search, SEO; One Comment

When we implement a blog for a client, it feels a little like we just delivered one of those little Easter chickens (the ones that drop jelly beans as they walk). As delivered, the blog is ready to go, but the bloggers have to load them up with jelly beans, wind them up, send them off to drop jelly beans a couple of times a week to really benefit from having a blog.

Blogs need readers. Readers need to see new posts. No new posts, no readers. No readers, no benefit for your business.

Let there be jelly beans. At least weekly, please.