Gary Vaynerchuk is terrific. He’s the modern voice for passion. I’m 52 though and must tell you that Gary Vee is not the voice of my generation. We’re dinosaurs. Gary is much too young to be our voice. But we had our voices. So did generations before us. Every generation needs them. People who preach the value of passion. People who talk about creativity. So few people fully become engaged in the pursuit of both passion and creativity. We need all the evangelism we can get.
I’m quite interested in the stories people can tell. I’m interested in their stories – the stories of who they are, and who they hope to be. The journey of chasing passions with creativity is more and more becoming a clear focal point for me. I explain more in this short 11 minute audio. I hope you’ll click play and listen.
Thank you for stopping by. Thank you even more for giving me a small chunk of your time and your attention. I hope to make it worth your while. In about a week I’ll be back with some surprises. This blog won’t have a new design, or a new look – just a new, targeted direction. And I’m pretty sure you’ll enjoy where we’re headed. Stay tuned!
No strings attached. No risk to your prospect. Whether you’re a rock band, a retailer or a manufacturer – there’s big value in implementing a strong show and tell strategy to your marketing.
Winston Churchill once said, “If you have an important point to make, don’t try to be subtle or clever. Use a pile driver. Hit the point once. Then come back and hit it again. Then hit it a third time – a tremendous whack.”
Don’t give up too soon. The landscape is littered with people who quit too soon. Read Seth Godin’s book, The Dip, and you’ll better understand this idea. For those of us who are getting long in the tooth, we’ve known this for quite some time. Until we hear “NO!” we need to keep pushing. Sometimes a “NO!” really doesn’t mean “NO!” We have to understand that. Most importantly, we have to trudge full steam ahead and be persistent until we just can’t go any more, or until all hope of success seems to vanish. But make sure you never quit too soon because success might just be lurking right around the corner.
You owe it to yourself – and those you’d like to serve – to give it the best whack you can! Keep whacking away until you get what you’re after. Enjoy the video. Thanks for taking the time to watch it.
I’ve been in sales and marketing for over 37 years. With all the new technology, some things never change. When I was 15 I learned the truth of it all – you’ve got to be known, liked and trusted. Competency is mandatory, but even marginally competent people who are well-known, well-liked and well-trusted outperform those brilliant jerks among us.
You wouldn’t walk up to a complete stranger and offer to sell them your ebook for $97, but people do it every day online. What if the person isn’t interested in the subject of your ebook? The fact is, you don’t know that person and they don’t know you. First things first.
You’ve seen signs like this one before. Why ask nicely? People would just ignore this request if it were worded nicely, wouldn’t they? So, let’s go ahead and insult them knowing they’re going to ignore our request. We’ll just call them pigs right off the bat. Welcome to a world that often struggles with being nice.
Some time back a gentleman remarked, “When did we lose our civility?” I wasn’t sure if we ever had it, but it did cause me to ponder the topic more deeply. For instance, I considered why I enjoy the TV show, House. Yes, I admit it. I enjoy it. I even DVR it. Yes, the main character is a royal jerk. He’s also quite adept at sarcasm, a skill I’m rather fond of. But civility escapes him. It’s as though he can’t be bothered with being kind. He knows he’s a jerk. He’s brilliant, but he’s still a jerk. I don’t think for a moment that his lack of civility makes him more brilliant. Just consider how much more brilliant he’d be if he were a nice guy. Might not make for a terrific TV show, but he’d be a world-class doctor, wouldn’t he?
Listen to my observations about civility. Then, go to Andrew Warner’s site, Mixergy, and listen to his interview with Noah Everett, the young man who started Twitpic. I stumbled onto Andrew’s site early last year and have been an avid fan ever since. I’m hardly a young upstart, but I’m captivated by the stories. Even old dogs can learn new tricks. The most refreshing thing about Noah Everett was his integrity and niceness. The young man clearly was brought up by parents who loved him enough to instill in him the power of being a good guy. I love his Twitter tagline, “The nice guy that finished first – founder of Twitpic.” I recorded this audio earlier, but yesterday afternoon while working out in the gym I listened to the interview. Serendipity? Maybe. But you really should give it a listen, and you should learn the power of being nice. Noah proves it pays. By the way, his parents didn’t do so bad with his name either.
Few things inspire me like music. Correction, NOTHING inspires me more.
Four classics by three of the best harmonized voices ever: David Crosby, Stephen Stills and Graham Nash.
If you’ve checked out the blog all last week you’ve been exposed to LOTS of music. That was intentional. Well, of course it was. This blog doesn’t just write itself. I mean I intended to put up a lot of music this week. It was one of those weeks where I needed some inspiration so I listened to more music than normal – and that’s saying something. Early in the week I decided to just share, even though I know some don’t share my passion, or my tastes. This next week I may return back to normal, whatever that is. In the meantime, enjoy these classics!
The Dallas Cowboys were eliminated by the Vikings this past weekend. Sports conversation in Dallas centers around the Cowboys. Always. Even in the off-season. In this part of the world, no team is second guessed as much as the Cowboys. Especially when they lose. You’d think they’d be used to it by now, but quarterback talk and coach talk are always in vogue.
During Bill Parcells’ time here there was much discussion about the commandments that Parcells’ created for the quarterback position. Tony Romo struggled with many of these commandments until this season. He seems (at least to me) to have rounded the corner. But I was looking at these commandments the other day and wondering how applicable they are to other areas of life. You decide if any of them have value in your pursuits. Here’s the list:
1. Ignore other opinions – Press or TV, agents or advisors, family or wives, friends or relatives, fans or hangers on – ignore them on matters of football, they don’t know what’s happening here.
2. Clowns can’t run a huddle – don’t forget to have fun but don’t be the class clown. Clowns and leaders don’t mix. Clowns can’t run a huddle.
3. Fat QBs can’t avoid the rush – A quarterback throws with his legs more than his arm. Squat and run.
4. Know your job cold – this is not a game without errors. Keep yours to a minimum. Study.
5. Know your own players – Who’s fast? Who can catch? Who needs encouragement? Be precise. Know your opponent.
6. Be the same guy every day – in condition. Preparing to lead. Studying your plan. A coach can’t prepare you for every eventuality. Prepare yourself and remember, impulse decisions usually equal mistakes.
7. Throwing the ball away is a good play – sacks, interceptions and fumbles are bad plays. Protect against those.
8. Learn to manage the game – personnel, play call, motions, ball handling, proper reads, accurate throws, play fakes. Clock. Clock. Clock. Don’t you ever lose track of the clock.
9. Get your team in the end zone – passing stats and TD passes are not how you’re going to be judged. Your job is to get your team in the end zone and that is how you will be judged.
10. Don’t panic – when all around you is in chaos, you must be the hand that steers the ship. If you have a panic button so will everyone else. Our ship can’t have a panic button.
11. Don’t be a celebrity QB – we don’t need any of those. We need battlefield commanders that are willing to fight it out, every day, every week and every season and lead their team to win after win after win.
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Gary Vaynerchuk is terrific. He’s the modern voice for passion. I’m 52 though and must tell you that Gary Vee is not the voice of my generation. We’re dinosaurs. Gary is much too young to be our voice. But we had our voices. So did generations before us. Every generation needs them. People who preach the value of passion. People who talk about creativity. So few people fully become engaged in the pursuit of both passion and creativity. We need all the evangelism we can get.
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You’ve seen signs like this one before. Why ask nicely? People would just ignore this request if it were worded nicely, wouldn’t they? So, let’s go ahead and insult them knowing they’re going to ignore our request. We’ll just call them pigs right off the bat. Welcome to a world that often struggles with being nice.
The Dallas Cowboys were eliminated by the Vikings this past weekend. Sports conversation in Dallas centers around the Cowboys. Always. Even in the off-season. In this part of the world, no team is second guessed as much as the Cowboys. Especially when they lose. You’d think they’d be used to it by now, but quarterback talk and coach talk are always in vogue.
