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Showing posts from April, 2006

One Way Or Another

Destructive Pain Boss: "You need to be confident and successful." Employee: "I agree. How?" Boss: "You need to be confident and successful." Employee: "I understand that. But how?" Boss: "You need to be confident and successful." Employee: "Can I have a raise?" Boss: "You need to be confident and successful." Constructive Pain Boss: "You need to be confident and successful." Employee: "I agree. How?" Boss: "Be passionate and curious." Employee: "I understand that. But how?" Boss: "If you don't know, maybe you should search for the answer." Employee: "Can I have a raise?" Boss: "You need to be confident and successful." Both conversations begin and end the same way. The employees' responses are identical. Each result is completely different. Or, you could take the advice of Dr. E. L. Kersten .

Hope To Be One

Do you want your career or your business to be great ? Rampantly successful? I do. And I ask myself three questions to keep me honest and on track. 1. Am I passionate about what I do? 2. Does what I do have a positive impact? 3. Is what I do sustainable? Three "yes" answers suggest the mind is in the right place. Combine that with some will and - ZOOM! - on the way! Anything less than three "yes" answers and you might as well quit your job or sell your business to go out and do something remarkable . I did. If you are not up for the risk, you are not willing to be great.

Win Amanda Congdon's Money

How can you resist the Amanda Congdon concept? Smart, funny, beautiful, and apparently, independently wealthy. How does her Rocketboom video blog keep a roof over her head, you wonder? It makes a good case for doing what excites you and accepting that the reward will be equal to the effort - in time.

Would That Be Enough To Earn Your Business?

A friend of mine (who happens to be a professional sales trainer ) helped his grandparents buy a car about a month back. He recently shared an e-mail interaction he had with a car salesman. A bit over the top, perhaps, but there is some good advice in there. Needless to say, he bought somewhere else. The original e-mail... Hi Mr. Harring, I assume by your visit and request for information for your grandparents on the vehicle of their choice, they are in the car market. I also assume they are searching for the BEST PRICE on that vehicle. I am trying to do what I can to earn their business. I also assume there are closer dealerships to you and that does put the pressure on me to get a price that would have you drive the small amount of distance to me. If I could beat your best price from $100-$300 on that price, would that be enough to earn your business? Let me know. Mr. Perkins Internet Leasing Manager ... and the reply... Mr. Perkins, [sic] 1. Most prospects will not be comple

Ups. Downs. Web 2.0

When user-generated content becomes illiterate, self-absorbed, and completely misses the point. Then again, maybe that is the point... my interview & job offer from google A truer perspective on the same topic exists here... Xooglers

Recommended Reading

I support literacy (no revelation there, not that many are against it) and would like to share some good books with points of view about the world at large. The first in the series is... Dry by Augusten Burrows. A truly witty, and thus endearingly honest, memoir of an advertising guru's journey into and through sobriety, friendship, and mortality. It seems real enough to pass for autobiographical .

Bar Marriage (The Old Adage In Detail)

It is your goal to be married. You go to a bar and begin your search for a spouse. Two options present themselves. First - you ask each and every person there if they would like to marry you. Do it long enough in enough places and, odds are, someone will say yes. It takes a lot of asking and the end result is quick, short-term, and ultimately unstable. Second - you seek out individuals who you find attractive and to whom you think you may have something to offer. You approach them, have a conversation, and discover that the possibility for a relationship has been qualified by both sides. Dating ensues and some time later, a well-heeled, long-term, stable relationship is formed. The problem with the first example is that if they said yes to you so quickly, what is keeping them from saying yes to another suitor just as easily? What if your best customers or clients actually have an otherwise inexplicable attraction to your business? What if building that relationship is more than

Form Lacks Function

Twenty-nine minutes ago, I was convinced to abandon my traditional telephone service and sign up for a voice-over-internet-protocol (VoIP) telephone service. Although I have yet use this new service, or even receive any of the hardware necessary to activate it, I already have a strong opinion of what is to come. The product pitch was great. There is a website full of content with lots of answers and interactive gadgetry driving home the details of all the features and benefits - all included as added value within the monthly service fee that is a fraction of the cost of a traditional telephone line, of course. Perfect! Where's that dotted line? I set up a new account online. I logged in. I had a problem. I looked through the FAQs. I called. I waited. I talked to four different people, one of them twice, in three separate countries. The only consistent and reliable attribute was apathy. Forty minutes later, a customer service rep check a box in his computer and the issu

Come On In

Welcome to the Wreathian web log. We will be posting all sorts of thoughts, observations, news, and articles about marketing and communications. We are pretty busy with the actual work of bootstrapping our way into existence right now, but we are doing our best to begin and maintain a living, breathing dialogue. Our goals are... 1. Interesting and insightful. We may not change the world every day, but that certainly will not stop us from trying. 2. Easy to read. With a little practice, we may even achieve "pithy". 3. Community. Come to learn. Stay to contribute. This is an open conversation, after all. 4. Point of view. You may not like it, but preference is no obstacle for the truth. Besides, original is captivating. Thanks, in advance, for checking us out and staying in touch. Oh yes, and remember to sign up for an RSS, Atom, or e-mail feed!

Day One

“Never offend people with style when you can offend them with substance.” - Sam Brown