Author: k

Boring Is Good

All the gardens
in my front yard
will eventually
be filled with perennial plants.

A loved one
told me
having the same plants
in those gardens
every year
will be ‘boring.’

He said that
as though it was a bad thing.

I LIKE that boring.

I won’t have to
plant in those gardens
every year.

I won’t expend resources
sourcing those plants.

The beds will be full
so I won’t weed as much.

I won’t battle
the squirrels
trying to keep the plants
in the ground.

This will free my time
and other resources
to focus on
the more exciting back yard
vegetable gardens.

Boring is good
if you’re receiving
the results you desire.

Don’t create work
for yourself
by changing things
merely to experience change.

Embrace that boring.

Saying Nothing At All

My recent experience
with MSC cruises
wasn’t good.

They sent me
a follow up survey.

I know my replies
on that survey
will punish the cruise ship crew.

And they had NO control
over the issues
with my cruise.

So I’m not filling out
the survey.

Filling out the survey
won’t solve the issue
and it will harm
innocent people.

Sometimes no answer
IS an answer.

If sales are decreasing
and past customers
aren’t filling out
automatically-sent surveys,
you might wish
to personally follow up
with them.

The Ability To Organize Is An Essential Leadership Skill

A poster on social media
presented an idea
and then said
he’d lead the project
if someone else would
organize it.

He confessed
to sucking at organizing.

If that is true,
he also sucks at leadership
because organizing
is a must-have skill for a leader.

Organization
of people, supplies,
tasks, timelines, other aspects
is the glue that holds
a project together.

Nothing happens
without it being coordinated
and managed,
which is basically
what organizing is.

And organizing is a learned skill.

If you want to be a great leader,
find an organization technique
that works for you
and embrace it.

Leaders MUST have
the ability to organize.

Paying Extra For Possibilities

Many seed suppliers
selling to gardeners
are now specializing in
heirloom seeds.

The seeds from an heirloom plant
produce plants
that are nearly identical
to the parent plant.

A gardener could buy
one package of heirloom seeds
and never buy
another package of seeds.

So why would seed suppliers
offer heirloom seeds?

They offer heirloom seeds
because they know
very few gardeners
will actually exert the effort
to save those seeds.

The average gardener will buy seeds
from them
again and again.

But seed suppliers also know
these gardeners will happily pay extra
to have the option
to save seeds.

And gardeners also perceive
heirloom seeds
as being higher quality.

Customers will often pay more
for a product option
they are unlikely to ever use.

Offer them
that option.
And charge them extra
for it.

Increasing Efficiency At The Expense Of Customer Experience

I recently took
a MSC cruise.

EVERY meal in the dining room
was served cold.

Why?

Because waitstaff waited
until every meal in their section
was ready
before picking it up
from the kitchen.

Yes, this improved efficiency.
Fewer trips had to be taken
to the kitchen
which meant
fewer waitstaff were needed.

But it decreased
the guest experience
so much
I would never recommend
MSC cruises to anyone.

Increasing efficiency
is great.
But don’t increase efficiency
at the expense
of customer experience.

Warning Is Caring

Most people don’t want to
be warned
about issues or danger.

They don’t like being warned
and they hate the warner
for warning them.

I know this
and I’ve reached
the stage of my life
where I keep my warnings
to myself
…mostly.

As long as it doesn’t
directly impact me,
I let people
do dumbness.

If I warn you,
it means I care about you.

It means I’m willing
to risk
the hate
so you aren’t harmed.

View warnings
as an expression of caring.

Take Advantage Of Government Programs

We installed solar power
and a heat pump
and it was all paid for
through government programs.

You read that correctly.
It was free
to us.

I went to university
on a full scholarship
(it paid for everything
including room and board)
given by a government-funded program.

There are also government programs
in almost every country
to help new businesses.

This is part
of what your taxes pay for.

And our new businesses
need all the help
they can receive.

USE these programs.

More Complex Doesn’t Mean Better

Every month,
MailChimp changes
their newsletter product.

It becomes
more and more complex.

It now takes
ten times longer
to do simple activities
like archiving
unsubscribed users.

Which means
completing the hard work
of switching newsletter providers
becomes more appealing.

More complex
doesn’t mean better.

It usually means
the opposite.

Don’t add complexity
unless it is absolutely necessary.

The Pollen Report

Whenever I check the weather,
I also check
the pollen report.

Will it be a bad allergy day
or a good allergy day?

Should I wear a mask
outside
or can I bareface it?

The pollen report
on my favorite weather site
is contained
within
Similasan’s ad copy.

Similasan produces
allergy relief products.

They know pollen.
They track pollen.
They treat reactions
to pollen.

Reporting on pollen
while advertising their cures
is clever
and efficient marketing.

Are you tracking
a factor
for your business?

Would your customers
benefit
from that tracking also?

Respect Privacy

A friend posted a video
of her child
reacting terribly to something.

The video was hilarious.

But I suspect the impact
of posting it
won’t be hilarious
to the child.

That child will have to deal
with references
to that video
for the rest
of her life.

It will impact
college acceptances,
job interviews,
her relationship
with…everyone.

Gain permission
from participants
before posting videos
and photos.

This includes
footage
captured at your business locations.

If you can’t legally gain permission
(and if the participant is a child,
you can’t),
use other footage
in your marketing.

Respect the privacy
of other people,
including children.