My philosophy is
if I can make one life
a tiny bit better
then I’ve done my job.
I don’t publish for money or fame
(have enough of one,
don’t want the other).
I publish my novels for
that single reader email
I get.
You know the one.
The one that says
“I read your book
and I felt better about…”
Seth Godin has a brilliant post
on making your life matter.
Make it matter.
If you do nothing else,
make your life matter.
When I was on the development team
for a kid targeted juice,
we looked to lessons learned
in kiddie cereal
and toys
and trading cards.
It was more relevant to us
than the adult beverage industry.
When you’re bringing innovation
to your industry,
you often benefit more
from looking outside your industry.
Take eBook publishers.
Should they be looking
at the print book business
(their own industry)
or the music business
for their business model?
JA Konrath and many others
think
eBooks should be sold
like iTunes,
inexpensively and protection free.
Why?
Because they will be,
either legally or pirated.
If you’re waiting for an economic recovery
to make a move
(why? I don’t know)
then make a move.
I saw my first big indicator yesterday.
An entrepreneur looking for financing
called me
to put together a business plan.
I don’t deliberately look
for these opportunities.
I don’t advertise.
I don’t ask for them.
Why was I called?
It was a referral.
The business plan preparer
had a backlog so large
he knew he’d never
fill this new request.
He flipped it to me.
Makes you wonder
what these entrepreneurs know
that you don’t,
doesn’t it?
Being too aggressive
is a common fear,
especially amongst women.
We want people to like us.
People don’t like aggressive people.
Bullsh**
People don’t like people who aren’t nice.
You can be aggressive
and still be ‘nice.’
You can be aggressive
and be polite,
good natured, kind, giving.
I am an aggressive person.
Some people don’t like me
because I’m aggressive
but then,
some people don’t like me
because I write romance novels
or because I wear suits
or because I’m a woman.
Being afraid of someone not liking you
is a silly reason
to let your dreams die.
Darren Hardy has a post
on how you lose 1 out of 5 sales
if you’re too aggressive
(but you land the other 4).
Every month,
I meet with my financial advisor
and every month,
prior to the meeting,
I send a meeting confirmation email.
Why?
Because my time is valuable.
I can’t afford to waste it
on a meeting that no one attends.
It irks me that I’m the one
sending it.
The person who sends the meeting confirmation
is usually the person
who most wants the meeting to happen.
Every time I send the confirmation,
I think ‘my advisor doesn’t want to advise me.’
A dangerous thought
in a competitive environment.
If you have a meeting
with a customer you value,
be the one to send the confirmation.
Sending the confirmation
sends a strong signal.
I need to get this current manuscript
completed by the end of June.
To do this,
I put my head down,
ignored everything else
and focused.
Good, right?
No.
Because I forgot to ask
someone active in the ‘loop’
to keep me posted
on significant changes.
I almost missed the changed entry deadline
for an award I’m very interested
in Invisible winning.
Being out of the loop
could have been a costly mistake.
As you think about
heading to the cottage
or on that summer road trip
or cutting yourself off from the world
to finish that project,
put a trusted someone
in charge of notifying you
when big changes happen.
Take that person’s calls/emails/letters.
She will be your connection to the loop.
Don’t cut yourself off completely.
I listened to a buddy
vent about a certain ‘wrong.’
I sympathized with him
but when asked
what I was going to do about it,
I said ‘nothing.’
His reply to that?
‘To just stand there and watch…
How can anyone justify that?’
Easy…
There are larger wrongs
that I have more power to right
and I’d like to concentrate my energy there.
We can’t possibly right all the wrongs in the world.
We can’t launch all the products needed.
We can’t write all the stories needed to be written.
Concentrate on one or two fights.
When that fight is over
(successful or not),
THEN move onto the next one.
Is there such a thing
as viral direct mail?
Of course.
DEWALT Tools Canada
recently ran a very successful referral campaign.
Recipients of an opt-in direct marketing campaign
were given a coupon book
to hand out to friends.
Customers gained points
towards a prize
every time a friend redeemed a coupon.
Cosmo Mariano
from Lift
explains
“Once people recognized
we were tracking the coupons
they gave to their buddies,
they knew it was credible
and it went gangbusters.
We had over a 50 percent response rate
and thousands and thousands of referrals.
The viral component alone
generated more than enough revenue
to pay for the campaign.”
* Source: Canadian Business, March 30, 2009
Nearly a third of all children
(age 6 to 11)
have their own email addresses.
When you are 6,
you’re not emailing words,
you’re emailing pictures.
If it is a great picture
(great in the eyes of a 6 year old
or in my case
a 9 year old),
you email that image
to loved ones at least once a day
(sometimes five times a day).
Imagine if that picture
was of the latest kid’s movie
or the hottest new toy
or a Dairy Queen Blizzard.
Yes, VERY powerful.
When you’re sending an email
to a group of moms,
include a kid friendly photo
and suggest that their child may like it.
According to Ellen Gordon Reeves,
Author of
Can I Wear My Nose Ring to the Interview?
a survey found that
“75% of executives said
they wouldn’t hire or promote
a plus-size employee.”
It isn’t fair.
Just as it isn’t fair
that women in their child bearing years
are less likely
to be promoted.
But it is the world we’re living in today.
If you are serious about your career,
get serious about your health.
If you’re a curvy woman
needing a job today,
take special care with your appearance.
If you feel this is unfair,
remember that YOU set the hiring practices
in YOUR own company.
If this isn’t incentive
for curvy gals
to start their own businesses,
I don’t know what is.