As I may have mentioned previously my favorite book is “The War of Art” by Stephen Pressfield.
In this book Stephen Pressfield talks about overcoming resistance to follow your passion or your art.
Mr. Pressfield discusses the nine muses of Greek mythology.
Each one represents a different art.
Who is your muse?
How do you identify your muse?
What is your passion?
I have been trying to identify my own.
It is quite the daunting task.
Any ideas?
So I have been noticing a lot of businesses going under lately.
Has anyone else seen this trend?
Is it due to the economy?
Personally I don’t think so.
At least not completely.
A Story
I still live in the same town where I grew up. There was a local pizza place called Premier Pizza. I don’t think I actually ever ate there, but I heard it was pretty popular. I drove by there recently and noticed that Premier Pizza is no longer there. It’s something else. It’s another pizza place.
Now it’s entirely possible that the owner changed the name, but very unlikely.
The Reason
So assuming Premier Pizza has quickly gone the way of the buffalo, why?
Perhaps it was the location?
Perhaps it is the fact that there are several pizza places around town that offer $5 pizzas
I didn’t see any signs indicating that they were competing with the $5 pizza biz.
To me it just doesn’t seem like a very good idea to invest in the exact same business that had failed there before.
And it wasn’t the economy so much as it was a failure to adapt.
What are you doing to adapt?
Or are you going to just keep doing what the other lemmings do?
So, it has been awhile since my last post.
I was finishing up my Master’s project.
So now I have an M.S. in Internet Marketing and a lot of student loans.
I really enjoyed the program and would recommend Full Sail University to anyone interested in media or entertainment.
So now that I am done with school I actually have time to finish all the books I started over the past couple of years.
One of these is ZAG by Marty Neumeier.
First time I read anything from Marty was THE BRAND GAP.
I loved it.
It is short and to the point and doesn’t aggravate my ADD.
ZAG is the same way.
It is awesome.
I haven’t finished it yet. My narcolepsy took over this time before the ADD.
But it is all about brand differentiation.
What are you doing to make your brand different?
How do you stand out from the rest of the noise?
If your brand isn’t different, you are wasting your time.
I haven’t posted in awhile.
I was doing another blog.
I was journaling my experience with the HCG diet.
http://www.hcg-uncensored.com
But I have been thinking a lot about storytelling.
Storytelling is the story that your brand tells.
What is your story and what media are you using to distribute it?
This is probably one of the worst names for a post ever.
There is absolutely no seo value.
It doesn’t even make sense.
But I like it.
Those were the first words that came to mind when I saw this barber shop.
Senior rates.
Flat tops.
Senior rates is good for the location.
Hemet, CA has a high population seniors, so that makes sense.
Seniors come in every other week to get their hair cut and they only have a half a head o’ hair.
Makes sense.
But flat tops?
I haven’t seen someone with a flat top in a while.
You know how they do a flat top?
A giant flat comb and clippers.
Vóilá!
So is this guy a genius or stuck in the 90′s?
I say he’s a genius.
Where else would you go to get a flat top?
Have you established your brand this way?
What in the world is going on here?
A buddy of mine is a military photographer and I saw this picture that he took in Morocco on his Facebook page.
Apparently these goats love to eat these trees, so they just climb right up there.
All of my life I had held the belief that goats don’t climb trees.
No one had ever taught me that, I just knew it.
Until today.
What are you doing with your brand?
Are you doing what all the other goats do and graze in the pastures and eat trash?
Or are you climbing the trees that no one else thought possible?
Just because no one has ever done it with their brand, doesn’t mean it isn’t possible.
If you can think it, you can do it.
You just have to get creative and work a little bit.
Some people think that this is an inspirational song.
I have to disagree.
It encourages you to dream.
And that’s it.
A dream isn’t good enough.
It is lazy.
You need action.
When you act, you have a goal.
You are being proactive.
Do you have goals?
Or are you just dreaming?
If you are dreaming, you’re only going to find another rainbow on the other side of this one.
Somewhere over the rainbow
Way up high,
There’s a land that I heard of
Once in a lullaby.
Somewhere over the rainbow
Skies are blue,
And the dreams that you dare to dream
Really do come true.
Someday I’ll wish upon a star
And wake up where the clouds are far
Behind me.
Where troubles melt like lemon drops
Away above the chimney tops
That’s where you’ll find me.
Somewhere over the rainbow
Bluebirds fly.
Birds fly over the rainbow.
Why then, oh why can’t I?
If happy little bluebirds fly
Beyond the rainbow
Why, oh why can’t I?
I have been reading Chris Anderson’s “Free.”
I am loving it.
It is very informational and exceptionally insightful.
As I was reading it I had an idea, and I am going to give it to you for FREE.
Here it is, I hope someone takes this idea and runs with it.
I don’t really feel like elaborating on why this is such a genius idea, but I will.
Why does this make sense? Because everyone knows that a 20 ounce serving of popcorn is NOT worth $5.00. It isn’t even worth 5 cents.
Your investment into this is minimal, but the returns will be extraordinary.
I truly hope someone does this.
By the way, I hate popcorn.