Oops, I did it again...

And with all due respect to Miss Spears, I wish our cautionary tale was as inspiring as her song and dance was back in the day...Granted, I could choose to date myself and reference Whitesnake crooning "Here I Go Again" (God Save Tawny Kitaen), but that could allow for a digression poorly suited to this forum.

Anyhoo...the bad news. We lost one of our biggest clients, in terms of singular revenue. I knew it was coming; our product had aided their growth, and they were paying entirely too much money to us. That has had a trickle down effect on other projects (loss of volume printing discount, loss of best-seller status, etc.). Ugh. But sometimes these little steps are just the thing to shock us out of our apathy, and put a fire in the ass. Boy howdy did it! With some added benefits as well. Allow me...

Signature Tastes was before, a series of cookbooks focusing on restaurant recipes. Lovely. But in stopping to look both at the marketplace, the technology and really, what people want, epiphany struck. We are Place-Based Tastes. We focus on the tastes of an area. Simply put.

So now, we do have recipes for cookbooks. And cocktail recipes. And a television show in production. And food products. And merchandise. Holy S&^%! Why haven't we done this before?!? Because we hadn't been shocked out of our lazy lives. There is a lesson there, for us and life.

Thank you Britney.

Finally getting Obsessed...

A long time, no write...basically, I've been on a serious extended vacation...Mexico, Spain, France, Kenya, Scotland...yes, my life sucks. I really feel your sympathy coming across the lines.

In reality, I've been resting on my laurels, or more accurately, my poison ivy plants. And I'm done. Thanks the gods! Smoke Alarm Media has afforded me a wonderful life style, and I am grateful. But there is more out there, so much more for me to do.

One of my favorite movies from growing up was Masquerade, with Rob Lowe and Meg Tilly. I actually met Rob in Atlanta that summer at the Democratic National Convention, by the way, an event that others remember him for for different reasons. Whatever. I liked him them and like him now (insert a kickass interview with him about this here: Rob Lowe Interview). Be patient, I'm getting to the damn point...

So the premise of the movie is Lowe is captain of Obsession ("she kicked ass to windward"), and is equally obsessed with a wealth, via a comely heiress. And he will stop at nothing to get both, even though it *Spoiler Alert* costs him his life. And he still manages to do the right thing. All things considered, not too shabby.

Well, circumstances in me life have conspired to wake in moi the same Obsession. And realistically, that is what it takes (ask Grant Cardone)...be fucking Obsessed. So after a series of ongoing pivots, we are turning the page on Smoke Alarm Media, recently acquired by 12 Sirens, LLC, and refocusing on our purposes and our goals. The purpose? Be obsessed with the Greatest Pleasure, according to Walter Bagehot, which is Doing What People Say You Cannot Do. For us, it's producing well over 100 books, establishment of a highly profitable real-estate company, and most importantly, showing anyone who cares to listen, that there is a better way to a better life. If you have any questions, email me direct at Steven@12Sirens.com

Cheers! And I will keep you posted on the journey...

Telling a customer "You're Fired"

Having customers is way overrated.  Inevitably, the more customers you have, the more headaches, complaints, and problems you have to deal with. It's a fact of business life.

It really is not worth it.  So, I wholeheartedly recommend firing them all.

But before you trip down that path of financial ruin... I first recommend that you replace them with clients.

Here’s the difference:

Customer: –noun: a person who purchases goods or services from another; buyer; patron.

Client: –noun: a person or group that is under the care, watch, and protection of a professional.

Customers are ordinary.  Every business has customers. But...only professionals have clients.  So be a damned professional!

Your clients should feel as if you are always watching out for their best interest – and you should be.

It means you won’t sell a product/service to a client just because they think it’s the best solution to their problem.  No, remember they are under your care, watch, and protection, so you must advise them on what really is the best product/service based on their “real” problem.

The shift from customers to clients is really about trust.  Getting your customers to transition to clients isn’t difficult, but it takes time.  If you’ve been treating them as customers, then of course they are acting like customers.

So, what can you do?  I’m glad you asked.  There are three steps to help you lead your customers through the transition:

1.) Become Second – remember, it’s about clients, not about you.  Rather like a marriage...your purpose and passion should be to serve your clients.  Remind yourself of this before, during, and after interactions with clients.

2.) Build Trust – put your clients’ true needs first.  Don’t sell them something they don’t need just because you can.  Discover their needs and offer solutions based on those needs.

3.) Begin a Relationship – make the interaction more of a two-way street.  Express sincere interest in your clients and their needs, desires and goals.  Provide them with ideas, tools, resources, products, and services to help them solve their problems and reach their goals.

Now, if you do this right, you will hopefully end up with fewer clients that you ever had customers. But these fewer clients make it easier to take care of their needs, and as a result, they take car of your needs (i.e. revenue!).

“A merchant who approaches business with the idea of serving the public well has nothing to fear from the competition.“ James Cash Penney – Founder of JC Penney (tell that to Ron Johnson).

Making Hay While the Sun Shines...

Growing up in the Deep South, one is keenly aware of the agricultural language bandied about in conversation. "...til the cows come home" or "come home to roost" or my personal favorite "...happier than a dead pig in the sunshine" all bring to mind a bucolic connection to the land.

But the one that is most appropriate, at least now, is "make hay while the sun shines." For farmers, when the hay was dry and there was no forecast for rain, it was everyone to the fields to cut, bale and store hay. If it got wet in the process, the bale would mold, and the cows and horses would either refuse it, or eat it and get sick. Neither was desirable.

For us, here at the bastion of laziness known as Smoke Alarm Media, we have been given a robust crop and a few sunny days. So everyone is scurrying to get things done. It's rather exciting. Interestingly, it hasn't been mentioned to anyone that we need to do this. Something is just stirring in the blood. Packages sent, contracts signed and projects started...the pace is almost frightening. But we are seeing the fruits of the labour, and perhaps a sea change is taking place. Even I am personally forgoing my morning Bloody Mary to spend that time on pressing matters o' business. Don't fear, I am uncorking a lovely Pinot Grigio for lunch...thank you for your concern.

Back to the fields, dear friends...

The Only Damn Thing You Need to be a Success.

You have to want it.
You have to desperately crave to be successful.
Like a person who is drowning, you have to flail and fight and exert every ounce of effort within your control to get to where you wanna be.

There are a lot of skills that you need in order to be successful.
No matter what you think of as success — sports, politics, business, math, or science — there are things that you will need to adapt your lifestyle around in order to rise to the top and become a champion.

But one thing you can't learn from a book, a seminar, or a leadership guru, is the will to win.

And it's the most important difference between winners and losers.

Winners want to WIN.

It's the driving force that consumes their entire being.
They want to win. It is all they think about.

Just like a drowning man so desperately wants one more final gulp of oxygen, winners are consumed with an inner rage to achieve their goals.

It's not something that is nice to have or a recommended option.

It's the most important part of the fight.

It's what determines the final outcome.
There are a lot of people who can tell you how to be successful. They can repeat to you the exact textbook explanation for becoming a champion in whatever goal you set for yourself.

But there's a difference between knowing and doing and craving and struggling.

You need the will to win more than you do any other set of skills.

You need passion more than you do intellectual power.

You have to want it. Deep down in your bones.
It can't be bought or taught or borrowed.

It has to be something that's deep inside you, driving you to do what no one else is willing to do.

Do you want it?

Thank you, Dan Waldschmidt…

Avoid Becoming a Cannibal

I was recently reading an article concerning Cannabalism in the Jamestown colony. Yes, our forefathers apparently feasted on each other during a terrible winter of the colony (mmmm…fava beans). But what I found intriguing, enough so to write an article about, was WHY they ended up there. No, not because they were hungry and that recently deceased daughter looked sumptuous. It was because they were bad businessmen.  

The colony has initially made “friends” with the native Powhatan tribe. But due to drought and general lack of knowledge of farming, food supplies were scarce going into winter. So what do newly-arrived Europeans do when times get tough? They raid their Powhatan neighbors for food. You can imagine this pissed off quite a few folks. So the Powhatan retreated back with a knowledge that they would be just fine (having lived there for, oh hundreds of years) with a general attitude of “No Soup For YOU!”.

Enter the “unthinkable”. Actually, not quite unthinkable, as they did it, as have several others before and since in a bid to survive. And while I applaud their resolve to see their venture be successful by any means necessary, hindsight provides some clear lessons that are as applicable today as they were then, for business or colonizing a foreign land.

1) Think the Unthinkable. Plan for contingencies. Like bad weather. Or drought. Or loss of income. Granted, charbroiled thigh perhaps shouldn’t make the list, but damn well have a Plan B and C.

2) Listen to Experts. Like the Powhatan. Or the folks down the road that have been doing this day in and day out. Don’t get caught up in your own arrogance or belief that what you are doing is a game-changer. Even the game-changers have limited life spans (witness any technological breakthrough in the last 100 years).

3) Don’t Piss Off Your Suppliers. You need them. They don’t need you. And when you do piss them off, they will sit back and watch you suffer. 

4) Do What It Takes To Survive. So you’ve screwed up the situation, a real FUBAR. Buckle down. Batten the hatches, and do whatever it takes, even if it distasteful, or against your beliefs. Even in our enlightened age, Cannibalism is NOT illegal. (Look it up; I did)

Call In Sick If You Want To Fail...

Dave Sobocinski, a co-worker years ago at Bell Oaks, gave me a tacit piece of advice. We were driving up West Paces Ferry from a client visit, and looking at the mega-mansions there in Buckhead. He made the comment about calling in sick. "You going to feel like crap at home or at work," he said in his rough urban tongue, "but you might as well be at work, getting sh*t done."

A lot of life comes down to doing hard things when you least feel like it. If you are going to be successful over the long run, you’re going to have to do things that hurt on days when you already hurt, which seems to defy logic.

If you’re already not at peak performance, it might seem like a better option to recuperate and then go back into the battle. It’s what we’ve been taught since we were children.

If you’re not feeling well you don’t have to go to school. If you get hurt, you should “take it easy” for a while. It is only natural that you might think that you can be successful while living life on easy terms.

And not just “easy” terms. Your terms.

The reality of success is that to get what you want from life, you are going to have to gut it out. At work, in relationships, leading your business — there are days when it is not so easy to do the right thing.

And somehow we try to justify doing the wrong thing by explaining that we’ll start doing better when we feel better. When the terms for success are better.

But anyone can play the game and do pretty well when the odds aren’t stacked against them. Anyone can conquer when the opponent doesn’t have a weapon.

The harder challenge is to do what is hard and fair and noble even when you don’t feel like it at all, when you are “sick and tired” and tired and sick.

Every day matters. Every minute matters.

You are sadly mistaken if you think you can be successful only when you feel like it. That has never been the secret to domination.

Think about this: the only thing that separates you and your dream from success is a battle. If you aren’t fighting, you just aren’t getting any closer to success. You aren’t.

That’s why every day matters. Why today matters.

There are no sick days. So get that out of your head, grab your sword, and start swinging.

Thank you, Dave, for that advice, and to Dan from Edgy Conversations, for this nugget o' wisdom.