I was fretting today.

I was emailing some friends and respected authors asking them to read my new book and provide me a blurb or quote. I was really fretting about it. I was worried I would look foolish.

I started to think about the people I’ve known…young people, I’ve known, who have had their lives thrown into turmoil by health issues. At best, they become consumed by the fight to stay healthy. At worst, they’ve died.

It reinforced the notion that provided you’re doing as much good as you can and you’re not hurting anyone, nothing else matters.

Be an ass.

Look ridiculous.

Dance like an idiot.

Ask that person that question.

Tell that person how you feel.

Say hello to that person you’ve been too scared to approach.

Stop waiting.

I tweeted awhile ago that you should live today like a memory you can change.
I still think that’s a good idea.

Back when I was studying philosophy at Wilfrid Laurier, I had an Ethics professor who maintained that privacy had no inherent value.  She was adamant that the only value our privacy had was the value we gave it ourselves.

I almost agree with her.

However, I believe the value in our privacy is not determined by us but by others.

That not-so-flattering picture of you on Facebook/Twitter could be worth quite a lot to a prospective employer currently.

But perhaps it won’t to an employer in the near-future.

There is an entire generation of young people who are documenting more of their lives than any other generation previous.

This Transparent Generation are posting their lives, warts and all so to speak, online for everyone to see.

By replacing the brick walls of privacy with Instagram-filtered windows, the value of their privacy is diminished substantially.

I think that’s a good thing.

Privacy should be about keeping your personal information (bank, credit cards, home address, etc..) safe and out of the hands of the bad guys.  Not about pretending that you’re some inhuman weirdo who’s never done anything stupid.

If everyone has pictures of themselves online acting ridiculous, including your employer, that photo of you on Facebook/Twitter shirtless, drunk out of your mind hanging on to some laughing co-worker’s boobs has a lot less value.

I went to a great little Xmas party at the Art Gallery here in town last night.

I was thinking while waiting for my taxi home that Facebook is like a huge Xmas party happening 24/7 365 days a year.

Here are some tips that apply to both Xmas parties and Facebook:

• Really listen. It makes people feel good.
• Ask questions. It makes people feel good.
• Compliment people. It makes them feel good.
• Tell people what’s going on in your life. They want to hear it.

But most importantly

• Nothing you say or do in public is confidential.

Somewhere in Brian Eno’s book/diary ‘A Year With Swollen Appendices’, he describes art as (I’m paraphrasing here) ‘just doing something no one else can be arsed to do’.

I love that definition of art.

There are a number of famous and wealthy artists, but the vast majority of artists are unknown to anyone outside their social circle.

Why do thousands of people create art that, let’s face it, hardly anyone will ever see or deliver a return on its initial investment?

Because art is necessary.

Art makes us think.

‘What the hell is that?’
‘My tax dollars paid for that?’
or
‘I’ve never thought of it that way’

Thinking moves us forward, fixes problems, cures disease, makes that meal amazing, resolves feuds, makes huge TV’s, etc..

Art is good.

Selling stuff is hard these days.

Sure, it’s a lot easier and cheaper to produce stuff these days than ever before, but that just means that more people are trying to sell stuff.

So it gets harder to sell your own stuff.

I read today about a former adult film actress that is putting a piece of hair from her nether regions into every copy of a limited edition run of her book.

It sounds creepy, but it’s also working.  She sold out of all 50 copies…at $200 each.

In other totally unrelated news, I have a book coming out for young readers called ‘SHORTCUTS – BOOK 1′.  If you, or someone you know, are a fan of the Spiderwick or Secrets of Droon books, my book might appeal.  You can buy one of 25 Limited Edition Hardcover copies here.

I hate waiting for cheques to arrive.

They’re really just a way to delay paying for something.

Cheques are the most antiquated way of doing business when you think about it. You write how much you are going to give someone on a piece of paper and then send it to them. Then they have to give it to someone else (the bank usually) who has to then tell your bank that they have a piece of paper that says you want give someone some money. Then the person you were paying finally gets the cash.

Companies who pay by cheque make it even worse by having “pay cycles”. This essentially means that they’d like you to give them your service or product and they’ll give you payment on their next arbitrarily set pay cycle.

In today’s hyper economy of paying with your phone or your keychain and with large service providers (cable companies, etc) demanding automatic monthly debit payments, it seems almost silly to still rely on a payment system that was set in motion hundreds of years ago.

It’s easy for me to get overwhelmed when I have a bunch of small tasks in front of me.
I start to risk losing sight of the big picture.

I was thinking about this as I sat in the car last night waiting for the windshield to defog.

Sometimes you just need to wait for the view to clear before you can move ahead safely…and even then you have to keep the defroster on low to make sure it doesn’t fog up again.

Get rid of the little things in your way and the view of the big picture will stay clear.

I know lots of very talented musicians.

Incredibly talented individuals who should really be very successful but most of them aren’t.

The majority of the ones that aren’t successful spend their time trying their hardest to create music that they think other musicians will be impressed by.

That’s a noble pursuit but not a very wise business move.

Musicians do not make up the bulk of music buyers and concert-goers.
Music lovers do.

Some musicians may be more successful if they ignored what other musicians might find impressive and just focused on creating music that music lovers would like.

I think that thinking can be applied elsewhere too.

Don’t spend all of your time trying to impress the competition.
Work on impressing the people who are going to support what you do.

The secret to selling anything – books, music, clothes, dog walking services, software, ipods, etc. – is to make sure your potential customer knows who else has bought it or at the very least is somehow connected.

I call it Third-Party Validation Marketing and I think there are 3 basic ways to use it.

Testimonials are the lowest level of this type of marketing.
I’m thinking about buying product X and if I read enough positive testimonials from other happy customers, that will make me feel better about buying.
Why? Because testimonials remove part of the risk in the transaction.  Other people have completed this transaction and are happy, so there’s a good chance I’ll be happy too.

Association to Known Customers is the middle level.
If I see someone I admire using product X it makes me feel better about buying.
Why? Because the people that I admire have qualities about them that I aspire to (money, lifestyle, respect, etc.) and owning or using the same products or services as them increases our similarities. That person I admire uses this product, so if I use it too I’m kind of like them.

Referral from Existing Trusted Relationships is the highest level.
If I’m thinking about buying product X and someone who I’m already in a trusted relationship with (friend, family, etc.) has already bought it and confirms that it was a wise purchase, I won’t hesitate to buy.
Why? Because those people that you are already in trusted relationships with have already demonstrated that they have your best interests at heart and by endorsing a product or service they are essentially putting that entire relationship up as collateral.  I’m thinking about buying this product and my best-friend has it and told me it’s great, so I feel good about buying it.

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