In my years a copywriter, I’ve never had a business card before. Never saw the need for one.
But recently, I started doing more face-to-face networking in and around Chicago, so I figured I needed something to give to the people I meet.
The above is my first attempt. Yes, I designed it myself.
I’ve love to hear your feedback. (I’ve already heard some great tips from my pal Wayne Buckhanan).
Thanks!
“It is the set of the sails, not the direction of the wind that determines which way we will go.” – Jim Rohn
The economy is front, middle and back page news these days. Debt ceilings, the declining dollar and defaults are all we keep hearing about.
And lets face it; the economy is in shambles. Experts across the country and around the globe are saying that a crisis is unavoidable at this stage.
Now I’m no economics expert, but I’m forced to concur.
The truth is, you and I can’t do much about America’s economy as a whole. The problem is just too big.
I’m not saying that to convince you to throw up you hands and take a fatalistic mentality. Quite the contrary. Any good coach will tell you not to get caught up in things you have no control over, but to focus on what you can control.
So here’s the question that really matters: how’s YOUR economy?
You can get bogged down about the macroeconomic situation, but you should be more worried about protecting your personal microeconomy.
2011 has been my most profitable year yet as a copywriter. While so many of my colleagues are complaining about taking a hit, having difficulty finding gigs. On the other hand, right now, I have a waiting list for clients who want to work with me.
I’m not saying that to brag, believe me. I bring it up because if I can do it, so can you.
I’d be remiss if I didn’t give you a few insights into why my economy is not currently reflecting what we’re seeing in the economy at large.
1.) I’m continuing to give. So many businesses are clenching their fists, holding back what they could be sharing, for fear of being ripped off. Or, instead of taking the time to nurture leads and develop relationships, they are rushing the selling process.
Give as much value as you can. Giving information (in a strategic fashion) will firmly establish you as an expert, as an individual or business that cares about it’s customers and communities.
2.) Positioning. Don’t get caught in the death spiral of commoditization. You absolutely must be unique, especially during a downturn like we’re facing now. If your competitors can honestly make the same claims that you make about your business, you can only compete with them on price. You don’t really want to do that, do you?
Find your own unique selling proposition/competitive advantage and make sure your target audience knows why you’re a smarter choice than the other guy.
3.) Don’t react in fear. Define a plan of attack and be proactive. What do you want to achieve? Who do you want to work with? What account are you aiming for? What do you have to do to get it?
Fear is killing your competitors.
Remember: “The possibilities are numerous once we decide to act and not react.” (George Bernard Shaw)
4.) Find out what your audience wants and help them get it.
5.) Don’t be afraid to negotiate confidently.
By all means, seek to understand the big picture. But also understand that no matter what the economy at large is like, there are always some people who are winning. Put yourself in a place to be one of the victors.
Education has never been more important than it is at this moment. Your parents always told you to get your education. Every year your teachers prepared and encouraged you to continue down the path to higher levels education.
Repeat: education is more important now than it has ever been. But not for the reasons that have been drilled into your mind.
I was watching television the other afternoon during one of my rare couch-potato moments. My brilliant wife pointed out that there was an advertisement for a college or university during every commercial break. Apparently getting a degree is big business these days.
The lessons you learn when you understand what’s really going on here can transform your business.
Let’s get right to the point, shall we? Here are 4 crucial insights:
1. People value education. But why? Do they want to know more for the sake of knowing more? Of course not! People want to learn so they can get what they want. More. Faster. More easily.
Why does anyone go to college? If this were Family Feud, the number one answer would be “To get a good job.” Simply put, people seek educations to get what they want in life.
2. Schools are rarely short on students. Good schools have people fighting to get in.
3. Some of the most trusted individuals in any community are its teachers. Professors are acknowledged experts in their fields.
4. Educators shape the way their students understand the world.
Now, I’m not telling you to go back to school. In fact, I believe the way the modern school system is structured is radically flawed.
Can you see how the 4 lessons above can apply to your business?
I’ll say it one more time: education is more important than ever. Your potential customers are constantly looking for information. Why? So they can get what they want. More. Faster. More easily.
How do you differentiate yourself from the competition? Better yet, how do you rise above the rest of the pack to become, not the best, but the only person your prospects want to deal with?
The most powerful way to accomplish this feat is to become the educator in your niche. Establish the University of You!
By setting yourself or your company up as the source of quality information and/or training, you have gained all the advantages that Harvard or Yale have. You are the expert. Trust is easier to gain, even from skeptics, because of the credibility you’ve built. Your “marketshare” of people seeking knowledge in your field will increase naturally and dramatically.
And you will have the opportunity to really influence the people you communicate with. Think about it— who has had a greater impact on your life, a teacher/mentor or a salesperson? (Not to diminish the importance of selling!)
There are more benefits to educating your prospects than can be covered here. If you’re ready to start reaping those benefits, consider the “Ivy League” approach to doing business. No degree is required. Just start taking action today.
While I’m posting social media conversations on my blog, here’s a few tweets that I exchanged with a guy I follow yesterday:
IJR: The world has become such a easy place to market to; sell them lies and they will buy it… Give them truth and they will shun it…
Sell them lies: Diet pills, shakes, body braces, etc and they will buy… Sell them truth: More vegs + exercise and they will shun it
Me: it’s not necessarily truth they shun. It’s WORK.
The world is so easy to market to, not because people buy lies (although they do), but because they want ease.
That’s why grown men buy clip-on ties, why most of us don’t cook food from scratch. Make life easier & marketing gets easier
—–
Marketers and salespeople can use deception to get sales, no doubt about it. A lot of people do. It’s a bad idea, but it can work in the short-term…
For that reason, a large percentage of us automatically distrust salespeople and think of advertisements as mostly fantasy (or at least puffery).
But truth sells, too. It’s a little harder to dig out truth than to make up stories, but truth-telling is a much more intelligent, more sustainable business model.
“Does the flap of a butterfly’s wings in Brazil set off a tornado in Texas?”
So goes the basic introduction into what’s commonly known as the butterfly effect.
Taken from the title of a paper written by meteorologist Edward Lorenz in 1972, the concept has gained significant popularity and made in impact in our culture.
Aside from movies and books, you’ve probably heard discussions about the butterfly effect in one of two arenas: personal development or in business improvement.
Despite all that you think you may know about the phenomenon, chances are that you have probably been misinformed.
You’ve been taught, to summarize, that the butterfly effect speaks to the reality that one tiny change has the potential to create massive change. Even the flapping of an insect’s wing can unleash the power of a tornado.
The application is that small improvements you make in your life and business can create tremendous, life-changing results.
A more accurate term for this truth is kaizen, which literally means “continuous improvement.” Seemingly insignificant but continual incremental advancement in your work has a compounding effect and will create much larger development. Always getting better, little by little, turns good into great.
The butterfly effect is an expression of chaos theory, and the end results are not at all related to those you can expect by putting kaizen into practice.
Sowing Seeds
You don’t have to be a farmer to understand the law of sowing and reaping. Plant a seed, get a harvest.
Tend to the soil and enhance the environmental conditions, and you’ll reap an even more impressive harvest.
This agricultural axiom is proven to work and relied upon around the world to produce most of the food we eat.
It may not have been clear before, but these two concepts are not the same. They’re not even really related. Let’s make some comparisons.
1) The butterfly effect, by definition, is extremely unpredictable. A beautiful butterfly in South America is depicted as being capable of affecting disastrous weather on another continent.
Small changes can create much different outcomes, but there’s no real way to know what those outcomes will look like. An extra handshake after a meeting could win a new account for your company, or it could set off a series of events that cause a stock market crash. You can guess what will happen in terms of probabilities, but you can’t know for sure.
As we’ve noted, we’re delving into chaos theory here, which boils down to a mathematical attempt to describe the unknowable.
On the other hand, the law of sowing and reaping is highly predictable. Planting tulip seeds will produce tulip plants.
2) Rightly understood, the butterfly effect is completely out of our control to initiate, improve or direct. Every move you make causes a change in the atmosphere akin to the flapping of the butterfly’s wings. And every other creature on the planet has the same effect on you. Again, the results are random and irreversible.
While this may be how the universe actually works, the butterfly effect is not something you can invoke to “manifest your desires.” You have no capability to interact purposefully with this process.
Sowing and reaping is the opposite. The farmer decides what seeds will be planted, you can fertilize, water, increase exposure to sunlight, etc., to impact how the seed will grow. The plant can be uprooted and moved, or chopped down and destroyed. That’s the prerogative of the sower.
3) The butterfly effect is a scientific/mathematical term, but when it’s discussed in personal development conversations, the tone is more metaphysical or mystical. Positive thinking on steroids.
The law of sowing and reaping is a verifiable scientific fact. Easy to understand and apply.
Which seems to be more worthy of your attention?
Bottom Line
While imprecise use of terminology in this case may not have major detrimental effects on success in business, fuzzy thinking does.
By all means, make incremental improvements in yourself and your work. Compound your efforts and success, and think positive thoughts. Little things do have big potential.
But always seek to understand the ideas that you’re buying into. Clearly defining vocabulary is always a winning proposition. You may find that you’ve been making statements (or agreeing with the statements of others) that you’d actually disagree with if you clarified the language.
If you still think you can rely on the butterfly effect to create the success you’re looking for (like in those time travel stories), you may still have some thinking to do on the matter.
Stick with what’s proven. Start planting some seeds, and take care of the ones you’ve already put in the ground.
I found this short article by Chris Chase to be interesting.
As a former track star (in my mind), Carl Lewis was a big hero of mine. Now it looks like he’s running for Senator. No comment.
Here’s an excerpt of the article, the part that I’d like to stress.
“Carl Lewis is a man of extremes. When he’s good at something, like sprinting or jumping, he’s the best in the world. When he’s not good at something…his awefulness is astonishing.”
I’ve made this point a few times. It’s better to be world class at a limited number of things and horrible at everything else than it is to be decent at everything but not great at anything.
What are you extremely good at? Live and work in such a way that your extreme strengths are so noticeable, so impressive that no one minds your weaknesses.
Being well-rounded sucks.
While you’re at it, you might as well look at the Chase’s whole article. There’s a cool throwback video of Carl Lewis setting a world record. Oh, and one of him singing (one of his aweful failures).
Focus is an essential element for success in business.
What do you NOT do in order to become even better at what you DO do?
Is your laser-focus on what matters in your business forcing you to abandon superfluous projects and pursuits?
Take a look at my latest article on the Evolution blog, “Who I Am Not.” Understanding and embracing who you are not, what your business is not, and who your customers are not will transform everything.
Change your perspective, change your approach, change your results.
I think I’m in the wrong business…
These guys are selling $2 bills for ten bucks!
I’m not going to talk about the 9/11 World Trade Center “bombing” or “conspiracy” (at least not today). Nor will I address quantitative easing, hyper-inflation or the plummeting value of the American dollar.
I just want to briefly talk about selling $4 worth of money for $10.
Do you believe someone is getting the short end of the stick in this deal? Is someone ripping someone off?
The fact is that this is a mutually profitable transaction for everyone. Both the company selling the bills and those who buy them are getting what they want. The sellers are creating revenue and the buyers are getting commemorative collectibles.
I think everyone knows what they’re getting into in this deal. It’s not like the older brother tricking the younger sibling into trading her dirty, dull quarter for his shiny new penny. Those who make this purchase know they’re paying 2.5 times more than the monetary value of the product.
And they’re happy to do it.
Good copywriters and marketers have been said to “sell money at a discount” to their clients. But I gotta admit, selling NEW money at a marked-up price is somewhat new to me.
Who told Aesop that “slow and steady wins the race?” Furthermore, why do we repeat this cliché as if it makes any practical sense?
Sure, we dress it up to sound nice. We try to make a point by telling a cute story about a tortoise and a hare. But in the real world — you know, the one that we grown ups live in — this statement is only a half true.
How many races do you know of in which “slow” wins? Steady, sure. But slow? I can’t see it.
What if the rabbit didn’t get cocky and take that nap? The turtle would have had his shell handed to him in that race.
Fast and steady makes a lot more sense.
How many of Aesop’s other fables do you suppose have hidden kernals of untruth lurking in them?
Ryan Healy listed 12 reasons why most people don’t make any money in their internet “businesses.”
If you’re experiencing difficulty getting money flowing online, this will help. You might see yourself here.