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Bestselling author, Entrepreneur and Agent of change. Seth's blog can be found at http://sethgodin.typepad.com/
January 2009
Saturday January 31, 2009
Posted by: Seth Godin at 6:17AM EST on January 31, 2009
Seems like a simple question, but given how much time and money we spend on it, it has a wide range of answers, many unexplored, some contradictory. I have a thoughts about education, how we use it to market ourselves...
Friday January 30, 2009
Posted by: Seth Godin at 7:10AM EST on January 30, 2009
As you consider marketing yourself for your next gig, consider the difference between process and content.Content is domain knowledge. People you know or skills you've developed. Playing the piano or writing copy about furniture sales. A rolodex of movers in...
Thursday January 29, 2009
Posted by: Seth Godin at 6:28AM EST on January 29, 2009
Every day, you do a hundred or a thousand jobs, some of which are occasionally handled by specialists. You make a sales call or give a presentation or answer the phone... you design a slide or create a simple spreadsheet....
Wednesday January 28, 2009
Posted by: Seth Godin at 5:23AM EST on January 28, 2009
Bullies can't be bullies when they are alone.If you work with a bully, this is all you need to know. They need you.A bully is someone who uses physical or psychological force to demean and demoralize someone else. A bully...
Tuesday January 27, 2009
Posted by: Seth Godin at 5:30AM EST on January 27, 2009
What does it mean to be creative?You could watch the most non-creative, linear-thinking, do-it-by-the-book cop work to solve a crime and you'd be amazed at how creative her solutions seem to be. Creative for you, because you've never been in...
Monday January 26, 2009
Posted by: Seth Godin at 6:13AM EST on January 26, 2009
Doing goal setting with friends and colleagues is always motivating and invigorating for me. You hear things ranging from, "I want to help this village get out of poverty," or "I want to double our market share," or "I want...
Sunday January 25, 2009
Posted by: Seth Godin at 11:16AM EST on January 25, 2009
It's out this week. I strongly recommend you give it a look.
Posted by: Seth Godin at 9:52AM EST on January 25, 2009
The box just said "Scharffen Berger" on the return label. I opened it up and there was a simple hand-written note. It said, "Seth, have you ever tasted a chocolate bar like this before? Regards, Raymond Major." His business card...
Saturday January 24, 2009
Posted by: Seth Godin at 6:18AM EST on January 24, 2009
I got a note yesterday that said, "I'll be curious to know if it's possible to succeed and to stay clean as I see a lot of dirty "crooks" out there. I am trying to work with good ethics, but...
Friday January 23, 2009
Posted by: Seth Godin at 7:27AM EST on January 23, 2009
Posted by: Seth Godin at 7:10AM EST on January 23, 2009
Call your customers. Or write to them. "I know that times might be tough for you. Is there anything I can do to pitch in and help?" You'll end up doing a lot for your customers. Which is a wonderful...
Thursday January 22, 2009
Posted by: Seth Godin at 11:50AM EST on January 22, 2009
I'll be doing a rare public event in London, UK in February.All the details and tickets from the sponsor have just been posted. Hope to see you there.
Posted by: Seth Godin at 6:00AM EST on January 22, 2009
See (really see) what's possible Know specifically what you want to achieve Make good decisions Understand the tactics to get things done and to change minds Earn the trust and respect of the people around you It sure seems like...
Wednesday January 21, 2009
Posted by: Seth Godin at 6:38AM EST on January 21, 2009
The reason it's so difficult for people in traditional industries to embrace new models online is that the transition isn't structured in an orderly way. The new business isn't the same as the old business, just with computers. People look...
Tuesday January 20, 2009
Posted by: Seth Godin at 11:59AM EST on January 20, 2009
Not powder or chemicals or rubber or steel or silicon or talk or installations or even sugary water. What marketers sell is hope. The reason is simple: people need more. We run out. We need it replenished. Hope is almost...
Posted by: Seth Godin at 6:08AM EST on January 20, 2009
It's not Warren or Susan or Otis or Samuel or Tricia. It's "The." As in Attila The Hun or Alexander The Great or Zorba The Greek. When your middle name is 'The', it means you're it. The only one. The...
Monday January 19, 2009
Posted by: Seth Godin at 4:59AM EST on January 19, 2009
I hate rubberneckers. Or at least I despise the human nature that creates that behavior. Someone is in a horrible car wreck, so what happens? People slow down to look. Leaving aside the time tax they place on the people...
Sunday January 18, 2009
Posted by: Seth Godin at 7:34AM EST on January 18, 2009
The goal is to create a product that people love. If people love it, they'll forgive a lot. They'll talk about it. They'll promote it. They'll come back. They'll be less price sensitive. They'll bring their friends. They'll work with...
Saturday January 17, 2009
Posted by: Seth Godin at 3:37AM EST on January 17, 2009
The neat thing about the online world is that you are judged almost entirely by your actions, usually based on just your fingers. If you do generous things, people think you are a generous person.If you bully people, people assume...
Friday January 16, 2009
Posted by: Seth Godin at 5:03AM EST on January 16, 2009
Monday, January 19 is Martin Luther King Day. And wonderfully, instead of adding yet another shopping day to the calendar, it's being transformed to a day of service. If every person in the US spent an hour doing something selfless,...
Thursday January 15, 2009
Posted by: Seth Godin at 4:06PM EST on January 15, 2009
Darren wants to know. Twitter is a protocol, of course, not a company or even a platform. They've made it so open that just about any tool you can imagine has been built or is about to be. You can...
Posted by: Seth Godin at 6:34AM EST on January 15, 2009
If the marketplace isn't talking about you, there's a reason. If people aren't discussing your products, your services, your cause, your movement or your career, there's a reason. The reason is that you're boring. (I guess that's what boring means,...
Wednesday January 14, 2009
Posted by: Seth Godin at 8:51AM EST on January 14, 2009
Years and years after some pundits began predicting the end of newspapers, the newspapers themselves are finally realizing that it's over. Huge debt, high costs, declining subscription rates, plummeting ad base--will the last one out please turn off the lights....
Posted by: Seth Godin at 6:16AM EST on January 14, 2009
Here's a trick that's as old as the web: Run a popularity contest with public voting. It could be anything from a listing of the top blogs to a creative contest for best tagline or ad. The nominees run around...
Tuesday January 13, 2009
Posted by: Seth Godin at 3:55PM EST on January 13, 2009
If you write online, on a blog, on Twitter, on Squidoo, even in the comments section of a site, you are a published author. Congratulations. Before you write something negative about another person, you need to realize that the casual...
Posted by: Seth Godin at 6:54AM EST on January 13, 2009
What's beauty? You know it when you see it, sure, but what is it? It turns out that beauty is an important evolutionary byproduct. An organism needs to invest energy in being beautiful. You won't see healthy skin on a...
Monday January 12, 2009
Posted by: Seth Godin at 6:57AM EST on January 12, 2009
Songs about romance don't tell you how to make out, they merely encourage it. It's not the data that people seek, it's the mood. If all we needed to do great work was information, our problems would be over. The...
Sunday January 11, 2009
Posted by: Seth Godin at 6:53AM EST on January 11, 2009
Here are some easy to follow tips that will help you avoid being seen as a spammer, or having your emails trashed or ignored. The thing is this: email reduces friction. Greedy, lazy organizations have embraced this and tried to...
Posted by: Seth Godin at 6:18AM EST on January 11, 2009
Saturday January 10, 2009
Posted by: Seth Godin at 8:31PM EST on January 10, 2009
This year is the 200th birthday of the grandson of Josiah Wedgwood. That's the good news. The bad news is that his company has filed for bankruptcy. It's sad. When I first wrote about Wedgwood in Meatball Sundae, I was...
Posted by: Seth Godin at 6:50AM EST on January 10, 2009
What should not-so-busy real estate brokers do? Why not start a local newspaper? Here's how I would do it. Assume you've got six people in your office. Each person is responsible to do two things each day: Interview a local...
Friday January 9, 2009
Posted by: Seth Godin at 6:37AM EST on January 9, 2009
Every once in a while I hear from frustrated bloggers and other new media denizens. They're frustrated that their work isn't spreading fast enough, that the new tools aren't working the way they want them to. The kneejerk rejection is...
Thursday January 8, 2009
Posted by: Seth Godin at 5:59AM EST on January 8, 2009
Having goals is a pain in the neck. If you don't have a goal (a corporate goal, a market share goal, a personal career goal, an athletic goal...) then you can just do your best. You can take what comes....
Wednesday January 7, 2009
Posted by: Seth Godin at 6:07AM EST on January 7, 2009
I think you can tell a lot about a person or an organization by looking at how they deal with boundaries. Rigid boundaries: What do you do when you hit a wall? Do you have a tantrum? Spend countless resources...
Tuesday January 6, 2009
Posted by: Seth Godin at 6:47AM EST on January 6, 2009
I just heard Kurt Andersen quote E.B. White with this glorious phrase.How willing is your organization to be lucky? What about you in your career and your marketing efforts? Or in the people you meet or the places you go...
Monday January 5, 2009
Posted by: Seth Godin at 7:04AM EST on January 5, 2009
David writes in to point out that banks are losing a fortune on foreclosures because many frustrated homeowners are trashing the houses before they leave. This dramatically diminishes the value of the home and leaves scars all around. Why not,...
Sunday January 4, 2009
Posted by: Seth Godin at 7:19AM EST on January 4, 2009
Unless you work in a nuclear power plant, the answer is certainly no (and if you work there, I hope the answer is yes.) No, everything is not okay. Not in a growing organization. Not if your company is making...
Saturday January 3, 2009
Posted by: Seth Godin at 1:10PM EST on January 3, 2009
Scarcity plus Christmas plus social pressure plus greed plus kids = critical mass. The most poignant moment comes just after 3:00 when a young boy totally loses it. This is the most disturbing video I've seen today.
Posted by: Seth Godin at 6:19AM EST on January 3, 2009
If the local bank were offering a sale on dollar bills, ninety cents each, how many would you buy? Most rational people would say, "I'll take them all please." Especially if you had thirty days to pay for them. So,...
Friday January 2, 2009
Posted by: Seth Godin at 7:00AM EST on January 2, 2009
When a restaurant goes from a la carte to either a buffet or a prix fixe meal, it is able to find a new class of customers. Could a law firm charge by the project? When I incorporated Yoyodyne, a...
Thursday January 1, 2009
Posted by: Seth Godin at 12:01AM EST on January 1, 2009
I don't like New Year's. Faux merriment, excessive drinking, ridiculous resolutions and general malaise. Not to mention Dick Clark. There's one great opportunity, though... Brand new expectations are set, expectations just waiting to be shattered. Like an empty Moleskine notebook,...
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