Everybody is doing their end of year wrap ups. What was wrong and right with 08, what's going to be so great about '09. I haven't decided how I feel about either of those topics. I will say I am consistently an optimist and always feel that life is going to be better, at least for me. That also may have something to do with my slight gambling problem and the fact that I am always willing to wager on myself. Because if you don't believe in you, who will. I hate to be the bearer of bad news but for the most part the world is fucked up. Not just economically, but on so many levels. Now don't get me wrong I don't think it is the end of the world and the anti-Christ isn't around the corner and Armageddon is not here yet, but fucked up none the less. Even if I'm wrong about the last statement I have no control over those things, so I can't focus on them and refuse to let them bring down my day.
Now I must say that this will be the year of the marketer. Those who can Shamelessly market themselves as something different, something special and something that is still relevant will flourish in these times. Another factor in my estimation will be those that can connect to their audience. I have mentioned this before and those that know me know I'm a bit leery of all the technological advances we have seen in the last decade or so. While we can span the globe with a few key stokes, we have lost the human connection. This is why it will be so important for you, your company, or whatever venture you represent to be able to connect with your target audience.
Customer service in the age of automated phone systems, email notifications, paperless statements, e-billing and blackberry smooth curve whatever iPhone is at a premium. The people that in the midst of all that technology that can still reach out and touch you, will shine. As much as I love party fliers filling up my storage space on my email, there is still something special about the flyer on the windshield of the car leaving the club (I think I still have one in the car from last week that I never threw out). Downloads are cool and all, but it will never replace an actual CD. And tell you the truth I don't care about the actual CD. I need my album insert, it provides for good reading. I don't know about the general public but I still read album credits. I want to know who the A&R, Product Manager, Art Direction and Co-Executive Producers are. I think that you should know who they sampled and who owns the rights to the original music.
I recognize that I just went off on a tangent, but as I said before good service is at a premium. Not enough people care anymore about anything. With this lack of regard for the customer, it leaves a wonderful opportunity for those firms that do to make a significant impact and profit. Robert Aguinaga, Finance Director for one of the top Ford dealerships in the country told me, "Damian you employees are your first customers." I didn't understand him initially, but got it later. If you don't sell your employees on the dream, on the fact that customers are important, on the ideology that great customer service is not only important but essential to success, then how can they convey that to the rest of your customers. People who care about others, will always succeed and be rewarded. That's why you, at least I do go to places where they treat me well.
Something special and relevant and important is hard to find now a days. We live in a society where we are so concerned with making sure no one feels bad. By giving everybody a ribbon we are robbing those that excel of their glory. How would Micheal Phelps feel if everybody got a medal. I went to a friend's son's t-ball game and I was appalled when I found out they don't take score, saying their are no losers. Suprisingly, I was the only one that took issue with that fact. By saying their are no losers you make sure their are no winners as well. If you can find a way to be special and diffferent and relevent in 2009 then my friend you will find the "Quan". Strive to be more than the status quo or mediocre then you will see the fruits of your labor.
If you are able to put the 2 subjects together you will be able to create somthing spectacular. A wonderful product and follow it up with wonderful customer service and then you have it my friend (shout out to John Mccain). That is my advice for 2009. Anything more and I would have to consider it consulting and I will be forced to have to trusty assistant send you an invoice for my services. Blackcard Marketing, Shameless Management & Party Gurus Entertainment.
Saturday, December 13, 2008
Tuesday, December 9, 2008
Mama I Want to Write
Inspiration is a beautiful thing. Quite a necessary thing. Artists, athletes, inventors and those that aspire to be more than normal have their muse, their failures and or desires for greatness as their inspirations. It is not often that you find individuals that want to be great simply for the sake of being great. Usually, more often than not there is a story behind that drive for success. A desire to quench the thirst for something that is missing. Inspiration is simply life's reminder of why we do what we do. It is our reason for being and our need to be more than we are. It is desire to go beyond our self for the betterment of someone or something else. It is the desire to become that person that you want to be, because we all can be better. The thing to remember is that while we all can, truly inspired people are the ones that actively pursue that goal on a daily basis.
Theodore Roosevelt said that "some of us are born great, while others have greatness thrusted upon them." I can't say that I believe whole-heartily in the first part of his statement. I think greatness resides at the intersection of opportunity and preparation. And it is only after the journey that you can look back and play armchair quarterback and say "now that was something special." It is a ongoing struggle to forge on and continue to wage a war against the dying of the light. Because it is when you stop to think of how wonderful and great you are, you are overcome by the darkness or the guy who didn't get faint and continued on to the tape instead of stopping for photo ops before the race was over (unless you are Usain Bolt).
Nelson Mandela said, "it is not failure that scares us, but the possibility of our own greatness." Maya Angelou said, "we are what we know, and when you know better you are better." Everyday you must find the inspiration to do things a little bit different than you did them yesterday. A little bit better, a little bit bigger, a little bit greater. And if you want those around you to do and be better, talk to them as if they are who you want them to be, not necessarily as who they are at this moment. A wife said to her sister one day about her husband, "I love him for the man that he is and more importantly the man that is so close to becoming."
Take some time to think about where you have been, your failures and your accomplishment and where you want to be. Find a reason to be more than you have been, more than you or anyone else ever thought you could be. Spend 30 seconds to smell the roses and the next 30 minutes planting more roses, so that tomorrow you can smell the garden. Search for the inspiration within you to be great. After you have done that become the shining pillar of greatness that you have been called to be and inspire someone else. As I hope I have done for you.
Theodore Roosevelt said that "some of us are born great, while others have greatness thrusted upon them." I can't say that I believe whole-heartily in the first part of his statement. I think greatness resides at the intersection of opportunity and preparation. And it is only after the journey that you can look back and play armchair quarterback and say "now that was something special." It is a ongoing struggle to forge on and continue to wage a war against the dying of the light. Because it is when you stop to think of how wonderful and great you are, you are overcome by the darkness or the guy who didn't get faint and continued on to the tape instead of stopping for photo ops before the race was over (unless you are Usain Bolt).
Nelson Mandela said, "it is not failure that scares us, but the possibility of our own greatness." Maya Angelou said, "we are what we know, and when you know better you are better." Everyday you must find the inspiration to do things a little bit different than you did them yesterday. A little bit better, a little bit bigger, a little bit greater. And if you want those around you to do and be better, talk to them as if they are who you want them to be, not necessarily as who they are at this moment. A wife said to her sister one day about her husband, "I love him for the man that he is and more importantly the man that is so close to becoming."
Take some time to think about where you have been, your failures and your accomplishment and where you want to be. Find a reason to be more than you have been, more than you or anyone else ever thought you could be. Spend 30 seconds to smell the roses and the next 30 minutes planting more roses, so that tomorrow you can smell the garden. Search for the inspiration within you to be great. After you have done that become the shining pillar of greatness that you have been called to be and inspire someone else. As I hope I have done for you.
Tuesday, November 18, 2008
One minute writing
I've made a lot of mistakes in my years. Most people say that they regret nothing that they have done. I think most people are lying to themselves or at least to the general public. It sounds more poetic to say that you have no regrets. Now the old and obviously about to die may say it and mean it, but they have good reason to, they are done. Tell you the truth I think they regret things too. You can't tell me the Marlboro man dying of lung cancer with a tube through his throat on his death bed didn't regret that first pack of cigarettes. The point is not that shouldn't regret individual things; because honestly if you would do nothing different knowing everything you know or think you know now, that almost means you didn't learn anything from any of those thousands of mistakes. I have some and not ashamed to say it. I will also say that to weigh a lifetime on individual events would be retarded. It is almost like saying the sum of all parts is equal to the whole, it isn't. Live life and try not to make the same mistake to many times. The only thing that I have ever wanted in life is to succeed in everything that I move forward in. Have I always won, no. But, I have had a hell of time trying. It is okay to regret things, what is not okay to not do something you want to do because you are afraid of regretting it later if it doesn't turn out well. Mandela said it best "it is not inadequacy we fear, it is greatness or the possibility of greatness."
When your desire to succeed in life is equivalent to your desire to breathe (while someone is holding you under water) then you are on the path grasshopper.
When your desire to succeed in life is equivalent to your desire to breathe (while someone is holding you under water) then you are on the path grasshopper.
Bob Was Right
I and I, is the philosophy that Rastas have sworn by for decades. While the rest of the world may look at this religion as the quasi hippie marijuana smoking religion made famous by Robert Nester Marley and isn't really counted in the debate about significant world religions, Rastas have come across a philosophical gold-mine that rivals those of Confusious, Socrates and Plato.
While the world's population has exploded and mankind has canvassed every square footage of the globe. Technology has cut down the walls that were used to separate us, it seems that we are further apart than we ever were. Mankind has made enormous gains in the war for technology, under the flag of the information age. But in that war, there has been casualties, such as compassion, caring and community to name a few. With the rise of emails and text messages and the death of good penmanship and personal calls, there is more need for I and I than ever before. It is like going to a dinner party with a room full of strangers; or being the only fan of the opposing team in a sea of enemies, regardless of how many are in your general vacinity, you still feel alone.
In layman's terms I and I simply states, I am I and you are I. While not grammatically correct it is philosophically correct. Some what like the biblical parable, "you are your brother's keeper" or my personal favorite, "love thy neighbor." If I refer to you in the same person that I refer to myself, that forces me to accept that what happens to you not only happens to me, but it effects me; we are intertwined with each other. I should love thy neighbor not because he lives in close proximity to me, but because he is me. I am my neighbor. John Nash cultivated a beautiful idea, that what's best for the individual is to think of what's best for the group. This is the core value that keeps I and I significant in today's world.
While the world's population has exploded and mankind has canvassed every square footage of the globe. Technology has cut down the walls that were used to separate us, it seems that we are further apart than we ever were. Mankind has made enormous gains in the war for technology, under the flag of the information age. But in that war, there has been casualties, such as compassion, caring and community to name a few. With the rise of emails and text messages and the death of good penmanship and personal calls, there is more need for I and I than ever before. It is like going to a dinner party with a room full of strangers; or being the only fan of the opposing team in a sea of enemies, regardless of how many are in your general vacinity, you still feel alone.
In layman's terms I and I simply states, I am I and you are I. While not grammatically correct it is philosophically correct. Some what like the biblical parable, "you are your brother's keeper" or my personal favorite, "love thy neighbor." If I refer to you in the same person that I refer to myself, that forces me to accept that what happens to you not only happens to me, but it effects me; we are intertwined with each other. I should love thy neighbor not because he lives in close proximity to me, but because he is me. I am my neighbor. John Nash cultivated a beautiful idea, that what's best for the individual is to think of what's best for the group. This is the core value that keeps I and I significant in today's world.
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