It is very easy to get into “can’t mode.”

“That business can’t be done.”

“We can’t do it for that price.”

“Response can’t get that high.”

“We can’t sell that many.”

“The technology can’t do that.”

We live in a time where can is more likely than can’t. As a matter of fact, the most profitable areas of business right now are in places where you look for a can’t and work on a can.

Are you stuck on can’t?

I’ll leave you with this great quote from Daniel Burnham:

Remember that our sons and grandsons are going to do things that would stagger us.

Wouldn’t it be great to do something staggering? Do you believe that you can?

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We’re adding a new category to the blog. It’s called “doomed.” It’s about businesses that are simply doomed to failure.

We see them all around us, every day. We just know they are doomed for one reason or another. That’s the bad news. The good news is that we can all learn from their inevitable failure, and hopefully fail a little less ourselves as a result.

I know it seems a little arrogant to write this kind of post. Let me just say that I’ve had my share of failures, and I’m sure to have plenty more. I don’t do this to mock or belittle, simply to glean some positive education from an otherwise bleak situation.

And to further place ourselves in a humble spot, the first subject will be:

This Blog.

Let’s be honest, folks. Blogging  is close to dead. There are too many bloggers saying too many things. It is becoming noise. I, like many others, have gone from reading a few blogs a day, to many, to way too many, and now back to a few. Blogging needs to change. It needs to be redefined and reworked. It’s had a good run, but blogs like this one are doomed to failure.

The good news is, blogs are almost free (time is money), so it doesn’t cost much to fail in this repect. The bloggers themselves also learn a great deal from the whole excersice, so in that respect it may not be accurate to call it a complete failure. From a traditional “gain readers, become important, make money” standpoint, however, this blog is doomed.  Yours probably is, too.

Have a nice day!

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In a crisis, there are a few types of people:

Damsels in distress - Those people most affected by the crisis at hand.

Average Citizens - Those who see the problem coming and seek personal safety and shelter.

Villains - Those who see the problem and try to take advantage of it for personal gain.

Superheroes - Those who seek out serious problems and help those in distress.

Many people are talking about a coming crisis… stock market, housing, economy - Which one of the above will you be?

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Eric and I went to Seth Godin’s seminar last September. It was easily the best thing we’ve ever done for our business.

I was a fan of Seth’s before I attended, but meeting him in person made me a raving fan. There was no powerpoint presentation, no lecture. Seth got up, said hello, and took questions for the entire day.

There were some incredible things that I learned about Seth:

Business Range: He answered questions from small business owners like me and Eric. He answered questions from Web 2.0 startups with big venture capital backing. He answered questions from huge, 100 year old companies.

Industry Range: Seth isn’t just an internet guru. When I asked him questions about financial lead generation, he answered with more insight into the industry than I have seen from financial veterans. He knew how to drive traffic to a blog about theater. He explained how to market face wash to 15 year old girls. When a question was asked about an industry, he immediately began talking about the nuances of the demographics in amazing detail and accuracy.

Accuracy: Speaking of accuracy, he was right about what he was saying. Most of the time, you have to wonder whether an expert is really correct. Seth has a way of explaining things in a manner that is hard to debate. Not once did anyone question his advice, because it was so obviously true. This is incredible to watch.

Clarity: We went around the room asking questions, and I got about 3 turns. Seth was giving out information quickly and clearly. He speaks likes he writes- in short, thoughtful bursts that don’t waste time, get straight to the point, and are easy to understand.

Blueberry muffins: Homemade blueberry muffins cooked from scratch by Seth? How could you resist?!

Go see him. Be prepared with the most important questions you need answered about your business. You will not be disappointed.

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It’s interesting to hear how different people view marketing. The big media buyers tout the creative side, saying it’s all about interesting advertising and new ideas. The direct marketing people usually scoff at the creatives, claiming that it’s all science and numbers.

In truth, I believe marketing is both. Sometimes it is more like science, and sometimes like art. If you leave out either, you have bad marketing.

I came across some material by Steve Martin (the comedian) that illustrates this very well. Steve Martin wrote a play, “Picasso at the Lapin Agile.” In it, Einstein meets Picasso at a Paris tavern in 1904, when both were just on the verge of their individual breakthroughs. It does a great job of showing how close science actually is to art, and vice versa. In one scene, Einstein and Picasso scribble their ideas on paper, as a duel:

Einstein: Done! (Einstein and Picasso switch drawings). It’s perfect.

Picasso: Thank you.

Einstein: I’m talking about mine.

Picasso: (studies it) It’s a formula.

Einstein: So’s yours.

Picasso: It was a little hastily drawn … yours is letters.

Einstein: Yours is lines.

Picasso: My lines mean something.

Einstein: So do mine.

Picasso: Mine is beautiful.

Einstein: (indicates his own drawing) Men have swooned on seeing that.

Picasso: Mine touches the heart.

Einstein: Mine touches the head.

Picasso: Mine will change the future.

Einstein: (holds his drawing) Oh, and mine won’t?

In another scene, they brainstorm an idea:

Picasso: Before me artists used to get their performances from the past, but from this point they are coming from the future, fast and loose.

Einstein: Absolutely from the future!

Picasso: I think in the moment of pencil to paper, the future is mapped out in the face of the person drawn. Imagine that the pencil is pushed hard enough and the lead goes through the paper into another dimension.

Einstein: Yes!

Picasso: A kind of fourth dimension, if that’s what you want to call it.

Einstein: I can’t believe you’re saying this, a fourth dimension!

Picasso: And that fourth dimension is… the future!

Einstein: Wrong.

Martin’s commentary:

What I felt that I had to say was that at the highest level of art and science the process was the same, that Einstein made the same leaps as Picasso… in science you presume it’s deduction that gets you from place to place to place, but the big accomplishments were pure creative thinking where they had almost nothing to go on, except an instinct.

Of course, we are talking about breakthroughs. Moments when something very special is created. In these times, art and science are both more like art, relying heavily on creativity, gut feeling, raw newness and exploration.

However, just before and just after a breakthrough, both science and art are more like science. Measurements, constants, tweaks, changes, minor improvements. Before a breakthrough, you tinker with the accepted norm of things. Small changes here, minor advancements there. Then, creativity kicks in and you make a major leap forward. Once the leap forward is made, you build upon it. You’re back to science, tweaking, changing, improving the breakthrough.

What this means for you is that great marketing is both science and art. Relying on creativity alone gives you raw material that may not have what it needs to take root in society. Relying on science alone gives you boring incremental improvements over current ideas.

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