Month: February 2014

If you’re attempting to do
something different,
something wonderful,
something that hasn’t been done before,
you will
sometimes
fail.

My most recent release
(releasing today)
failed.
Reviews were great.
Sales were not.

I have owned my failure.
Sales are on Amazon.
I can’t hide the ranking.

Admitting failure is tough to do.
What is even tougher
is hearing people say
“it will get better”
or
“it might be a sleeper hit”
or
other prolonging hope where there is none bullsh*t.

A better response is
“What are you doing next?”
Failures happen.
Accept that and move on.

When I was a business consultant,
I’d often accept a job
knowing I didn’t have all of the qualifications.
Maybe I was rusty in
one of the software packages needed
or some other skill.

When I landed the job,
I would do an intensive crash course
in that missing skill.
I would binge on training
and walk into the job,
usually more skilled
than someone with that skill on her resume.

In the January/February
Costco Connection,
Pauline Fleming
shares
“Hire people who exemplify
strong character and positive attitude.
Not only do these people work hard,
they want to do well
and care about the company.
Skills can be taught;
character cannot.”

If your top candidate
is missing one of the skills
yet has the right attitude,
she can still be as or more successful
in the position
as someone with all of the skills.

I haven’t posted one of these
in a while.
We’re due
because goals are worth squat
if you don’t implement them,
if you don’t DO.

In my writing chapter,
a PROFESSIONAL writing organization,
over 90 percent of the so-called writers
have never submitted a story
to a publisher.
Many of them haven’t finished a story.
Some of them haven’t written anything.
They’re dreamers.
They like to hang out at meetings
and tell people they’re writing a book
yet they never ever do.

They call the published writers “lucky.”
F*ck luck.
We finished our d*mn stories.
We got ‘er done.
That’s the main reason why
we’re published.

Stop talking about it
and DO IT.

Whenever I hang out
with a group of writers
(or businesspeople or moms or…),
there are always two groups of people.

The first group of people
talk about the good ol’ days.
If only it was the 80’s.
We’d sell our stories for a lot more money then.
This group usually thinks
the opportunities are drying up
and the world is going to hell in a hand basket.
Why bother to write?
We won’t sell our stories anyway.

Then there’s group number two.
They see opportunities everywhere.
Changes excite them.
They’re almost giddy with hope.
There’s never been a better time
for writers.
They send stories out,
often self publishing when
they’re rejected by publishers.

You choose which group
you belong to.
Ask yourself which group
is likely to be more successful.

As Seth Godin shares

“The thing is, the future happens.
Every single day, like it or not.
Sure, tomorrow is risky, frightening
and in some way represents
one step closer to the end.
But it also brings with it
the possibility of better
and the chance to do something that matters.”

A loved one wants to do it all.
If there are 10 things he can do,
he wants to do all 10.

He can’t, of course.
At least, he can’t do them well enough
to become a success.

Success is about making choices,
not necessarily always the right choices,
but conscious choices.

This is one of the reasons
we set goals,
draft plans and mission statements.
These help us make these choices.
If our goal is
to become the number one ice cream maker
and we’re approached with
a resource-sucking chocolate bar project,
we know our choice will be to say no.

The world is too full of opportunities
to say yes to all of them.
(isn’t this a great problem to have?)

You have to make choices.

One of the things
I always ask readers is
“Why do you buy my stories?”
The answers vary for different pen names
but for a pen name,
they usually remain the same.

When I write or market a new story,
I keep this point of differentiation in mind.
I ensure I give readers
what that pen name does best.

Aprille Janes
shares

“Understand what sets your business apart.

The opposite of success isn’t failure.
It’s mediocrity.
Find what you do better than anyone else
and don’t keep quiet about it.
Make it part of your vision.
Share it with your prospects,
customers and champions.”

Know what makes your business different.

A writing buddy,
interested in entering the same market
I play in,
asked me to meet with her
for lunch on Saturday.

She gave the impression
this was a one-to-one meeting.
I like her.
I trust her.
I want her to do well.
So I showed up to the lunch,
prepared to share secrets.

There were five other people
sitting at the table.
My buddy clearly thought
that more people meant more insights.

Nope.

We didn’t trust each other
so we talked about general insights,
information that could be found
on the internet.
I barely spoke at all
and I definitely didn’t share any secrets.

If you want to hear secrets,
hold a one-to-one meeting
with the insider.

When you share your idea
(for the next great product
or the next great story),
people will also share their thoughts
on how to ‘improve’ your idea.

Some people like to hear
these ‘improvements’
at the beginning of the process.
This excites them.

Some people
(and I’m one of these people)
get stressed if they hear early
because they feel obliged to change
their original idea
and this change isn’t always for the better
(because the improver might not be
the target audience
or have a clue about the industry
or have thought her improvements through at all).

Yes, you will have to share
your idea
eventually
but no, you don’t have to share
your idea
right away.

Know when YOU feel comfortable sharing.