Tag: seth godin

Using Your Time Wisely

It is easy for me
to spend my entire day
on social media.
It is marketing.
Every post
sells at least one book.
And it is fun.

But doing that
would stop me from creating,
from producing
more books to sell,
from doing the ‘hard part’
of filling the production pipeline.

I prevent social media overload
by crafting to do lists.
To do lists force me
to do other things,
harder things.

Seth Godin
asks

“How are you
spending your time?

If we took a look
at your calendar,
how much time is spent
reacting
or responding to incoming,
how much is under your control,
and how much is focused
on the hard part?”

Ensure your day is spent
on all the tasks
you need to do,
not merely the fun
or the reactionary tasks.

Don’t Make The Type Fuzzy

A leading marketer
suggested using fuzzy type
to indicate
a statement should be questioned.

Don’t do this.

Eyeglasses are expensive.
Our vision tends to deteriorate
as we grow older.

Over 11 million people
in the US
have vision issues
and can’t afford
to correct them.

Making type fuzzy
merely makes navigating the world
harder for them.

Don’t make your message
more difficult to read.

Focus On The Smallest Viable Target Group

I’m a big believer
in focusing on niches,
reaching out to small, passionate groups
of people/other entities.

That’s manageable for those of us
without deep marketing pockets.
It delivers faster results.
It is a base
we can build upon.

And it is easier
to change a small group’s collective mind
than a large group’s.

As Seth Godin
shares

“If you’re the kind
of person
who believes in
what’s all around us
(which is most of us),
then you won’t change
your beliefs
until the people around you
change as well.

That’s why
the smallest viable audience
is so important.
Focusing on a specific
group of people,
understanding their beliefs,
engaging with empathy,
creating new social norms
and then,
peer-to-peer,
spreading the new normal.”

Focus on a niche first,
then build out from there.

Leading Vs Managing

As business builders,
we are both leaders
and managers.

We lead,
innovating,
offering new products or services
to the world,
striving to inspire others,
to convince them to support
our visions.

But we also manage,
assigning tasks,
telling people what to do,
supervising processes.

Both roles are needed
but they are very different.

Seth Godin
shares

“Management uses power and authority
to get people to do tasks
you know can be done.
Management is needed,
but management is insufficient.

Leadership is voluntary.
It’s voluntary to lead
and it’s voluntary to follow.
If you’re insisting,
then you’re managing…”

We should know
when we are leading
and when we are managing.
They require different techniques,
different mindsets.

Pushback On New Ideas

Whenever I share an upcoming story premise
(a new idea)
with others,
I almost always get pushback on it.

The more original the idea,
the more pushback I receive.

The argument usually is
if readers (prospects) wanted
that type of story
(that type of product),
those stories (products) would have already been
written (developed).

Which is ridiculous
because SOMEONE has to go first.

Seth Godin
shares

“If you wait
until the market is telling you
exactly what it wants,
you’re almost certainly
too late.”

Expect pushback
when you share new ideas.

Develop those new ideas
anyway.

Delegate That Task

I delegated a blog blitz
to a third party.

The third party didn’t contact
many of the blogs
I would have contacted.
They didn’t craft the promo images
exactly the way
I would have done.

At one point,
I was tempted to take it
back from them.

But I resisted that urge,
allowed them to handle it
their way,
and you know what?

It was a raging success.
Books (products) were sold.
New readers (customers) were obtained.

They didn’t need me
or my input.

And it allowed me
to write more words
on the next story
(work on the next product).

Seth Godin
shares

“It’s easy to use
our indispensability
as fuel.
Fuel to speak up
and contribute.
That’s important.

But it’s also possible
for that same instinct
to backfire,
and for us to believe
that if we don’t do it,
it won’t get done right.

That’s unlikely.”

Delegate tasks.

They won’t be completed
exactly the way
you would have done them
but they WILL be done,
freeing you to do other things.

Power By Connection

I recently attended
a live presentation held by
a certain online bookstore
given to writers.

The presentation was billed as important,
as being a means
to make a connection
with people in that organization,
to learn things
few other people knew.

The presentation could
have been recorded.
Everything said
was taken directly from
their website.
There were no ‘insider secrets’
or revolutionary tips.

During the question and answer time,
the presenters
looked up data on the website
and relayed it.

They weren’t powerful.
They merely worked
for a powerful company.

Seth Godin
shares

“Google and Amazon used to invite
authors to come speak,
at the author’s expense.

The implied promise was that
they’re so powerful,
access to their people
was priceless.

But the algorithm writers
weren’t in the room.

You ended up spending time
with people
who pretended they had influence,
but were more like weatherpeople,
not weather makers.”

Merely working for a powerful company
doesn’t mean that person
is powerful.

Ensure you’re connecting
with the right people.

Curation Vs Freedom

A couple years ago,
I gave myself the project
of updating the entries for my romance niche
on Wikipedia.

Every input I made
was deleted by the moderator.
Every single one.
Even though I cited sources.
Even though I was clearly an expert
in the niche.

I gave up.
The Wikipedia entries remain horribly wrong.
And, knowing that,
I don’t rely on Wikipedia
for anything
anymore.

On the flipside,
I remember when Amazon
would allow anyone to leave reviews.
Ethically-challenged writers
would spam their perceived competitor’s books
with 1 star reviews.
It was a mess.

As Seth Godin
shares

“Too much curation
stifles creativity,
opposing viewpoints
and useful conversation.
But no curation inevitably turns a platform
over to quacks, denialists,
scammers and trolls.”

Seek a balance
between curation and freedom
on your social media accounts
and sites.

What Problem Are You Solving?

Some writers argue
that romance novels don’t need
a romantic happy ever after
or happy for now ending.

They don’t understand
the ‘problem’
romance novels solve
for readers.

Romance readers, yes,
are looking for entertainment
but any well written book
should supply that.

They pick up a romance novel
because they are craving
that burst of happiness
the romantic happy ever after
or romantic happy for now
supplies.

THAT is the problem
romance novels are solving.
And if writers don’t supply that,
they aren’t addressing
the reader’s ‘problem.’

Successful businesses
solve problems.
And they know this.

As Seth Godin
shares

“If it was hard
to explain
why someone needed
what you were doing,
you had a real problem.”

What problem is your business
solving
for prospects and customers?

Try Before You Build

A buddy of mine
wanted to open a restaurant.
He loved eating out,
wanted to work in that environment.
He had never worked
in a restaurant.

I, having worked in restaurants,
told him to spend a week
helping out in one.

He hated it.
He hated dealing with customers.
He hated the coordination
that is necessary
to run a restaurant.
He hated the employee issues.

He has returned
to merely eating in restaurants
and is planning to build a business
in an area he has previously worked in
and loved.

Seth Godin
shares

“The idea of the easy test
is often ignored.
Before spending three years
in law school,
why not get a temp job
for a week at a law firm?”

Try out a business
before investing time and effort
into building one.

Confirm you like the industry,
the customers,
the systems.