The Willow Tree
The other day I had the privilege to golf with a colleague who is fast becoming a great supporter and friend. He and I adventured to a course that was full of gorgeous and majestic trees. Some that reached nearly one hundred feet into the morning sky and others that spread their leaves as if to cover the horizon.
It was a magnificent course full of all the good Lord placed here on this earth. It was also a decent morning of golfing. My colleague was on his game and seemed to hit shot after shot with a consistent perfection. Then he hit a shot that would teach me not only about golf, but give me a lesson for life and business. He hit a shot that sailed for days, landing right behind a formidable enemy. His shot landed him face to face with a mighty willow tree. There were two options; shoot back on to the fairway and lose a stroke or attempt to shoot over the willow tree and hope to land on the unseeable green.
We took several minutes to survey the issue and I pushed him to take the risk and to pull out the club and make the willow bow to him. The willow stood nearly seventy feet tall and stretched just as wide. He could not see the green from where the balled lay, but he knew the green was there and knew that a good shot over the willow could land him safely on the green. I whipped out my video camera as he prepared his shot and I waited with excitement to see just what was going to happen. I thought to myself, “what if he hits this and it rolls into the hole; we are looking at a spot on ESPN for sure!”.
The course silenced as he set up his shot and swung. His ball sailed up and over the willow only lightly grazing the willow’s massive frame. As I watched the ball land safely on the green just feet from the pin I was amazed and inspired. I had just watched, ‘one of those shots’ and had seen a man I respect, risk his game and chance failure in a sport that gives no second chances.
So why do I tell you all this story? Think of the willow tree as your hurdle in your daily business ventures. That willow tree is your cash flow, it is getting to your next ‘big deal‘, it is your marketing dilemmas and if you can just get over it you know that the ‘green‘ is just on the other side. You can’t fully see it, but you know it is there. Pull out the right tools from your bag, set up all you can and then just swing. Take the chance to get your shot and impress those around you.
Success is nothing more then trying to achieve what others dare not to do. Not everyone will hit over the willow tree and you may hit a few more leafs along the way, but set it up and swing away. Business is more then brains and money, it is about guts and risks. Those with guts will take the risks and those risks could lead you safely to the green. But you will never know if you don’t stand back, step up and swing.
Where have I been?
For those that have been following my blog you have noticed that for the past 30+ days I have not been updating my website. There is a reason for my absence; it is a two parter.
1. I have never been busier then what we have been in the last two months. Thanks to my awesome team at LIME we have been slammed. As a side note we are hiring!
2. I have been working with a good friend in Hollywood on a national book deal. Now it is not done, nor will it be done in the next few months, but the wheels are in motion and I have begun the process. Thanks to all of your emails and your support. The readers of my blog and my story have been amazing!
Time will only tell where things go from here. I had advice to stop writing for a bit till we got a few things in line. Now those things are in line and my writing will again begin.
I wrote a few months ago about your reach and how it may surprise you–tonight I pulled up my blog’s stats from while I was “away” and I am truly surprised. The readership and reach of my blog has been amazing again thank you to everyone, let the adventure begin!
These are where the readers have come from in the last 7 days.
The 7 Link Challenge
Darren Rowse from ProBlogger.com had a great idea and challenge. He is calling it the “7 Link Challenge”. The idea is to highlight a few of the blog posts a blogger has made and bring them ‘back from the dead’ if you would. Giving new readers a way to quickly see the blogs history, potential and vision.
I thought I would take this challenge. Now being that this blog is new and I used a poor blog service before that didn’t allow me to archive or export my blog posts I can’t take you too far back, but we will give it a shot.
Comment away and let me know your favorites or if I missed something! Here are the questions to the challenge:
1. Your first post -
My first post was Chapter One and Two of my story. I will go with Chapter Two: Here is the link
2. A post you enjoyed writing the most -
This was a tough one because there are a lot of posts I enjoyed writing. I am going to give you two. One from my story and the other was a business post. Chapter Three and The Digital Door is Wide Open
3. A post which had a great discussion -
As many of you know I have both a FaceBook and a Twitter page that I am very active on. This means that often after I write a blog post I get several tweets, DM’s or FaceBook messages about my post. There is one post however that has not only gotten me an overwhelming amount of digital comments, but also ‘real world’ comments. Not to mention I was even asked to speak on the topic at a local business function. It is a two part post, enjoy! The Myths About Marketing
4. A post on someone else’s blog that you wish you’d written -
I get a lot of inspiration and ideas from other bloggers. Many times I will see a blog post and it will get me thinking. Those thoughts usually end up on my blog with a different ( or my ) spin on the topic. I wouldn’t say I have seen a post that I wish I would of written, but being that this is a challenge I will say—I wish I came up with this ”7 Link Challenge”!
5. Your most helpful post -
This is an open ended one. Most helpful for me or the audience? Well this has been the most helpful for me: Time for a Time Out and through feedback I have learned that this post has been the most helpful to readers: Killing the Mosquitos
6. A post with a title that you are proud of -
I love titles! In fact I truly believe that the Title will make or break your post. I have so many favorites, but truly the one that got a HUGE amount of traffic in just minutes was: Do You Have a Beethoven or a Hasselhoff?
7. A post that you wish more people had read -
I had to laugh at this question what blog post doesn’t a blogger wish more people had read? With that in mind however this is a blog post that I feel got decent traffic, but more would of been nice: The Dinosaurs are not extinct yet!
Well there you go enjoy!
Do you have a Beethoven or a Hasselhoff?
I am an avid music lover. So much so that my iTunes is filled with over 529 days ( or over 13,000 songs ) of playable music ranging from classical to rap. Music to me is one of the truest ways to express yourself or a message you wish to convey. Those with musical talents truly have an art of expression and that art is a powerful and effective way of transportation of information. With this said, what if I told you that your brand needs to ‘sing’?
Brand is another word that is often thrown out there in a general state not really understood. Your company’s brand is the overall imagery of your mission statement and is not limited to your logo or color schemes. Your brand is truly any messaging tool your company uses to express its self. Your brand can be the way you handle client related issues or it can be the way you handle your social space. Your brand however does have roots and those roots need to be planted, watered and fed correctly.
So what does brand have to do with music or art? Everything. Like music, your brand needs to engage the audience. It has to communicate with a wide group and it must display your overall commitment to your industry and client base. When you have truly identified your brand it will be a thing of beauty, it will be a modern piece of art. Planting your brand starts with planning, planning and more planning. Watering your brand means you look after it and you ensure that those you hire, outsource to and interact with all have your brands best interests at heart.
Now feeding your brand, is the fun part. This is the part in which you are able to become incredibly creative. Where you are able to work with your audience to share with them your visions, ethics and dreams. Feeding your brand correctly, will take your business to new heights and you will soar above your competitors for years to come. You may have set backs and feed your brand some raw meat, but it is always curable.
In today’s market place your brand must be ready to flex, but not break. Your brand must be fine tuned, but not over the top. Your brand must follow the curves, but lead the pack. Do you think your brand is up to the challenge? Re-branding an existing company or branding a newly formed idea is one of my favorite tasks and one of the most challenging. It takes time, energy and a commitment to understanding. It takes being an artist and understanding your canvas. Not all brands are created equally, but all brands have the chance to become something great!
Your brand can be as amazing as Beethoven’s Fur Elise or as painful as a David Hasselhoff’s* solo album, it is truly up to you and those you surround yourself with.
*I have nothing against the “Hoff” as long as he isn’t singing.
Get Them To Commit
In our personal lives we all aim to get that special commitment, or special some to say ‘yes’ when we ask the big question. Fear drives us not to ask and the thought of rejection often freezes us in our tracks.
In business we have the same dilemmas. While you might not be asking your clients to marry you ( although you might ) you are asking them to trust you, your product/service and then offer up the Benjamins. This is a task all on it’s own. I want to share some scary numbers with you about business commitment rates.
The below are all examples of some type of business, their efforts and the results ( commitment level ) of such efforts.
- A good preacher should to be able to get 70% of the people who showed up on Sunday to make a donation.
- A teeny bop rock group might convert 20% of concert goers to buy a shirt or souvenir.
- A great street magician can get 10% of the people who watch his show to throw a dollar in the hat.
- Direct marketers used to shoot for 2% conversion from a good list, but now, that’s a long shot.
- A blogger might convert 2% of readers to buy a book.
- And a twitter user with a lot of fans will be lucky to get one out of a thousand to click a link and buy something. (.1%)
Do you see the disparity? It is quite clear. Who on the list above has the most personal connection with the client base? As we get father away from the personal human connection we start to see a dramatic loss in commitment. Why?
Easy of the ‘no’ or the ignore. How easy is it to ignore a tweet or a FaceBook update? How hard is it to ignore a human being standing two feet in front of you? Although technology is great and can help you reach the masses it has to be understood that there is no easier way to get clients to commit then offer a personal human connection.
This doesn’t mean you don’t need your social space or you should not focus on it. Just understand what you can really get out of it. I fear too many business owners are investing and counting on Twitter to grow their business ( aka get new clients to commit ) that they abandon the core of business—knowing people.
Want more commitments? Commit yourself to human connections.
Stats reviewed and drawn from Seth Godin - http://sethgodin.typepad.com
