Episode 159 – When You Blend In…You Don’t Stick Out!

When everybody else zigs, zag!
When everybody else zigs, zag!

Which economy are we now in? I forget.

Information? Knowledge?

We’re definitely still in the “Attention” economy, but haven’t we always been?

We want to stand out from the crowd.

But…we also want to fit in.

We want to hear about how really successful people did it…so we can do it, too. Over and over you hear the question asked, “How did you do it?” That’s because we think there’s some secret that we don’t know. And it’s because we don’t want to put in the work…especially if we can just copy somebody else’s work. Remember those jerks in school who’d stretch their arms over their desk so we couldn’t see their work? We hated those smart alecks.

But if we’re all copying each other – or if we’re all copying the successful people and trying to do exactly what they did – won’t we end up blending in? If we all dress alike, talk alike, work alike…won’t we be alike? And then, won’t that make us all average?

Is your brain tired yet? Mine is always tired. But such is the life when you have to live with my brilliance! It’s a curse.

Well, here’s what we really want…

To be part of the crowd, but we want the crowd to applaud us, follow us, friend us, subscribe to us, read us, watch us, buy from us, and hold us up above all the rest.

We want to be like everybody else…but better!

With more business. With more followers. With more fame. With more income.

Well, of course. Why not?

Indeed. Why not?

Randy

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Perry Marshall’s Marketing DNA Test (My Results)

I’ve been on Perry Marshall’s list for years. He’s a Google Adwords and PPC brainiac. I’d also describe him as a terrific marketing guy. Oh, and he’s very likable.

You should check him out at PerryMarshall.com

Since I’m on his list I got the email he sent out telling about his new Marketing DNA Test. I spent a few minutes and took it. These are the results. That’s right, I’m unashamed. Transparency and authenticity – 2 words that make me want to vomit – are all the rage so here you go!

Enjoy. Laugh. Cry. Feel badly for me. Feel envy about my greatness. Pity my weaknesses. It’s all done in a real quest to learn more about myself. One of these days I’ll figure it out. Guess I’d better hurry things up, huh?

Randy

 

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Bula! Minute 001 – When There Is No Wind, Row!

When There Is No Wind, Row
When There Is No Wind, Row

Bula! Minute (noun) – a brief audio centered around one thought or idea; normally a short podcast lasting 3-4 minutes

A super-quick audio that conveys an important, if not urgent, message. It’s about the necessity to take action.

While I’ve always loved the phrase, “When there is no wind, row!” — I really think we should row even when there is wind.

Randy

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Risk-Taking: The Single Biggest Key To Entrepreneurship?

[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gxXwRsjvl70?rel=0]

Honestly, I’m not sure there is a single biggest key to much of anything…especially business building or entrepreneurship.

• Connecting with people
• Gaining experience
• Knowing how to sell
• Good time management
• Having enough capital
• Blah, blah, blah

Some people think great “fill-in-the-blank” (i.e. business people, artists, singers and such) are born, not made. Others believe that hard work can accomplish most anything.

As is often the case, the truth may lie somewhere in between. I’d like to believe that all of life is what we make it, but I know much of life is beyond our control. Even so, I think we should tackle life with that perspective – life is what we make it.

If life knocks us down…we can decide to get up or stay down.

If life reveals an opportunity…we can decide to take it or let it slide by.

So it may be that if I were asked to single out one thing – one trait – that might likely serve as a key to successful business building, it might just have to be the willingness to venture into the unknown. To take a risk. To believe in what we’re doing, to have confidence that we can “make it” but to understand that failure is also possible.

Our culture is clogged with rhetoric likely based on this truth.

“Nothing ventured, nothing gained.”

“No risk, no reward.”

Randy

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Episode 157 – Act Like A Kid: Turning Dreams Into Reality Through Pilfering And Cleverness

Piney woods, a childhood haven for imagination
Piney woods, my childhood haven for imagination*

Pine needles still provoke calm and creativity. I spent hours laying on the floor of piney woods, clearly away the pine cones to make a soft spot where I could just lay on my back and gaze up into the trees. The trees were usually too thick to see the sky. I had another spot or two where the pine trees were enormous, but not nearly as close together. I’d go to those spots if I wanted to look at the clouds drift by.

As kids we were either working to build a fort, a cart to roll down the hill or some other medieval-inspired project or we were playing hard. It didn’t seem we spent much time doing anything else, but there was a third thing we often did. It was a vital part of doing those first two things. Thinking. Dreaming. Conjuring up ideas. Being creative.

Every fort I ever built, every cart I ever dared drive (after helping build it), every tree house…they all began in my head and in the heads of my friends.

Nobody talked to us about that stuff. Parents didn’t talk about it. Teachers sure didn’t. We didn’t read books.

Adults read books about creativity, passion and doing cool things. Kids just think them up, then do them. And if our ideas didn’t work, the fun was in figuring out how to make it work!

It’s sorta sad to think of how many books on creativity I’ve read since I’ve been grown. And you know what? I needed to read them, and that makes it even sadder. As adults we analyze things. As kids, we just do them.

Maybe it’s time for us to be more like kids. I’m going to take a drive to the east Texas piney woods and go lay down for awhile.

Randy

* Photo courtesy of Bruce Crooks via Flickr

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