Whenever someone pours time and energy into a business, blog, product, project, etc their is a chance something will go ‘Red’. ‘Red’, meaning something is broken.

It could be a new marketing strategy you just implemented, an investment you just purchased, or a business’ finances operating in the negative. Ideas turn sour, things go wrong and you’re left with a mess.

The tendency for most, is to simply blame it on some external factor: economy, customers, oil prices, competitors, you name it. Or, just simply throw up there hands in frustration and give up.

Of course one of the most obvious reasons for not wanting to label something as Red, is nobody likes to admit they screwed up. But, as we all know, settling for something that is Red or mediocre at best is no way to be successful. After all, recognition of failure is a vital component in growth.

It’s Red for a reason

The concept of Red can apply to just about anything:

• Projects fail
• Marketing strategy flops
• Demand for a new product is non-existent
• 65% on a test
• Relationships damaged.
• Low traffic to your blog or website
• Spam
• Being overweight
• Etc…

Of course, making the Red go away isn’t always easy. In fact, sometimes it can be quite costly; perhaps ones reputation, career, or life. However, recognizing that it exists and does so for a reason, is the first step in finding a solution to the problem.

I realize this isn’t anything new, but for some reason I felt compelled to put it in writing. It’s just too easy to pass things by that are broken and label them as orange (semi-broken) or yellow (good enough) at best, and convince ourselves that all is well. For me, knowing that something is Red, for a reason, emphasizes its brokenness and shows me the need to fix it.

What do you see as being Red in the Blogosphere, Business, Marketing? Is it Red for a reason?

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Business, Marketing, Blogging - it all seems so forced sometimes. The push/pull mentality that often surrounds these services is what ends up being corrosive. Why is it that we tend to look for the benefit of the transaction, instead of the joy in making a contribution? I’ve talked about attention and the effect it can have on economics. But is attention what we really ought to be seeking after? What is the benefit for the one giving the attention? Is there a benefit?

Most would say it’s our instinct to look out for ourselves first, make sure we are taken care of, receive something for our efforts. But do we actually gain anything by forcing others to listen to us? Would the intention of serving others perhaps fulfill the original desire of ‘receiving’ something for our efforts? There is a lot of concern as to whether the US market economy is unstable and tipsy at best, but what about the Gift Economy? Granted, the market economy is important and does have a close tie with our lifestyle, career, and security but where does the Gift Economy come into play? Does it matter?

The Gift Economy holds together the most vital characteristic of society - Love. Without love everything else falls apart. The market economy could be at its peak, but without the steady heartbeat of the Gift Economy, money holds no value, trust doesn’t exist, security is worthless, and freedom is useless.

What would happen if we took a different approach? What if we changed our strategy? What if we cared more about the customer than ourselves? What if we truly wanted to serve instead of take? Would we be setting ourselves up entirely, at the mercy of those “devouring” our precious gifts? Yes, probably. But who would win? For me, it all comes down to what constitutes winning. When the dust settles, what prize matters most? Is it money, popularity, knowledge, power? All of these are natural acquisitions when participating in the Gift Economy, but no that’s not really what I care about. I care about loving others well. And the only way to successfully accomplish this is to be part of the Gift Economy.

Are you participating in the Gift Economy? What are your thoughts on the Gift Economy and its effect on Business, Marketing, Blogging, etc?

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I found an article over at Write to Done called “Write Just One Thing Today, and Write It Well”. It really hit home with me, not just with writing but with doing anything.

Here’s the theory: Focusing on one particular thing, minimizes distraction and directs attention, allowing one to pour all of their energy into the completion of a task. All of the non-important stuff fades into the background, stress vanishes, mind is clear, and simplicity arrives.

This is great and all, but is it practical? Especially when juggling several things at once?

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I have been reading the The 4-Hour Workweek by Tim Ferriss and just finished watching this video, where Tim and Marci Alboher talk about their latest books with Google employees.

I haven’t read Marci’s book One Person/Multiple Careers yet, but am really interested in her perspective on simultaneous interests. I am especially intrigued by her newly coined word ’slash’ and its impact on an individual’s lifestyle.

Being an entrepreneur and someone that becomes obsessively passionate about one thing after the other, I would consider myself to be a ’slash’, often saying I enjoy business/marketing/web development/design/photography/reading/biking/etc.

So, is being a ‘Slash’ a good thing or a bad thing?

Well, I think it depends…

Being A Non-Slash:

Being a non-slash keeps you from spreading too thin and allows you to direct your main focus and attention on one primary interest. This is how specialization came about. Specialization can be good, if the specialist is actually passionate about what they do. But what if they aren’t? What if it’s just part of going with the flow? Not Good. This is why you see people that are really good at what they do but hate it. IMHO specialization puts people in a box. Being a specialist creates an imaginary safe haven, providing a comfortable mold that they can settle into, becoming resistant to growth.

Being A ‘Slash’:

Being a ’slash’, allows you to be creative and gives you several outlets for pursuing your passions. This removes any possibility of becoming bored or feeling stuck in a rut. Their is a possibility of becoming spread too thin, but after a while familiar interests can be set to auto pilot and you can redirect your focus accordingly. I think one of the most obvious benefits of being a ’slash’, is the ability to have constant growth and joy in pursuing new passions. Passion is the key term here. The ’slash’ mentality opens up a whole new world of opportunities and adventure for you to explore.

But I don’t have enough time to pursue all of my passions?

This is where The 4-Hour Workweek and Tim’s technique’s come into play. What really fascinates me about combining Tim’s technique’s and the ’slash’ lifestyle, is you can have total freedom to experience the things you are most passionate about.

Are You A ‘Slash’?

Are you a ’slash’? If not, why? What’s holding you back? If so, how do you find time to pursue all of your passions?

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I have been using LogMeIn for quite a while now. Basically it allows me to access and control any of my computers from a remote location.

Sure comes in handy when you are away on vacation and forgot to email that document you had been working on. Or, want to show your friends some of your latest photos but haven’t uploaded them to Flickr yet.

LogMeIn is totally free and easy to use. Can be used for personal or business purposes. Nothing revolutionary but can be very convenient.

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Being a relatively new needle in the blogosphere haystack, I often find myself up against a tremendous amount of pressure to publish something appealing to the masses. It seems as though the “best” way to stand out and receive attention/traffic is by creating provocative content, mastering SEO, and flooding social networking sites like Digg and StumbleUpon with propaganda. There are way to many posts IMHO that encourage this behavior. For example, how many times have you run across a post saying something like this: “How I made it to the front page of Digg”, or “10 effective link building techniques”. Attention grabbers? You bet, wouldn’t it be great if we could all just get the attention we deserve? But do we really deserve the attention?

When we put too much emphasis on these tools and strategies, we are not only assuming we deserve the attention of the masses but we are ignoring the power of the individual. The power to choose, the power to engage, and the power to influence others.

By creating and promoting content for the mass phenomena, we’re becoming more and more invisible to our primary readers. The fact of the matter is, not everyone is part of the “masses” category. Seth does an excellent job of explaining this here.

Attention and more importantly, interaction with your audience, isn’t established by making it to the front page of Digg or blending in with the masses. Building a permission based asset and developing a respect among your readers is a much more effective way of establishing a long-term conversation.

I don’t think we can, or should, totally ignore the advantages of using tools like social networks or link building techniques, but unless we have something of value to offer our readers, the traffic/attention goes to waste and the reader is left with an empty and false perception of what we have to offer. I think we need to reevaluate what our primary focus should be as publishers. Is it our goal to entice readers grouped in the “masses” category in order to receive lots of attention? Or should we be concentrated and focused on starting a conversation, with an individual, exchanging value and developing a relationship?

What are your thoughts?

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I just finished reading Seth Godin’s new book, Meatball Sunday. I absolutely loved it. Seth does it again by explaining how New Marketing is king and whoever sticks to the old “secure” ways of Old Marketing will be left behind.

Basically selling average stuff, at an average price, to as many people as you can, won’t work anymore. As Seth points out in his book and Hugh MacLeod mentions in this article, “too many people are locked into the mass-market, neither-cheap-nor-remarkable bracket” and expect to receive attention. But attention is no longer free and easy to come by. With the wide variety of options available to us wherever we go (TV, Internet, etc) we now have the ability to choose what we watch, what we listen to, and who earns our attention. Yes, earn. The point that Seth makes is if we stick to the Old Marketing habits without embracing the ever changing dynamics of the New Marketing, people will take there attention and give it to someone else that creates something remarkable and worth talking about.

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