Wooden Cribbed Grain Elevator

I just got done reading Calumet “K” by Samuel Merwin and Henry Kitchell Webster(1905) yesterday.  It is available free online form Google Books, or project Gutenberg, and you can download it to a reader  or read it online (and of course, print it out).  I will probably get a copy from my bookstore just because it is that good.

The story is about a man named “Charles Bannon” who, against immense odds, must build a massive wooden grain elevator on a river near Chicago.  The time-frame is about 1900 – and n has been compared to Red Adair – the “wildcatter” who puts out fires that no one else can.

He faces the challenges of management constantly changing their mind about exactly what they want, about how it should be done, the challenges of Labor Unions and those who want to stop the building of the elevator for their own nefarious purposes, and even the challenge of building a conveyor bridge without any ground support!  And it has to be done on an impossible deadline.  Sounds like where I work, and maybe where you work too.   It is a love story – the love of a man and his work.  You don’t get a lot of that today.

But this is the point… Bannon is the man who can.  All problems to him, whether natural ones that arise from reality itself, or those “man-made” problems that are sent to stop him are just problems he must solve so that he can attain that to which he has set his indomitable will: To build his grain elevator.  He is the “efficacious” man.

And in your own circumstance, when you have set a goal for yourself, must do the same thing. You must determine in your mind that all problems whether posed by the nature of the thing you want, or artificially imposed by other people who would rather see you fail, must be approached simply as problems to be solved.  You must love your work that much, if you are to succeed in an extraordinary way.

I would highly recommend that you read the book Calumet K.  It will help inspire you to move when everything is screaming that you should quit.  It will show you what a man or woman can really do if they want to.

This book was written over a hundred years ago, so there are a few racial slurs in it – that is the time period so you will have to deal with that (you are not going to make it if you can’t anyway).

Get a free copy here.

Move it too fast in one direction, and it "bounces"...

Within the realm of political science there is a concept called “The Overton Widow” – which has been popularized by radio and television talk show host “Glenn Beck” who has recently released a fiction book based on the concept.

The idea is this: That there is a window of “acceptable” political opinions that can be voiced with varying degrees of acceptance. anything outside the window is viewed as “not acceptable” or “radical”. The ambitions of politicians over the long haul is to shape public opinion by “moving” or “expanding/contracting” this window of acceptable ideas.

After thinking about this a bit, it occurs to me that this concept applies to all areas of collaborative discourse where there are more than one person (and perhaps in a schizo way, it can even apply to a single individual). Smaller groups with a more cohesive overall plans (Say a team of engineers) will have a large window that will encompass most of the possible spectrum of ideas within the group, without much need for moving or shaping the window. Larger groups, or groups that employ more “Brain Storming” and creative types would have a larger spectrum and smaller, more variable windows of opinion.

But if you look at our current political climate, you will see something else – what I like to call “The Overton Bounce”. This is the case where someone attempted to move the window (The Democratic party in the last presidential election) towards a more radical, socialistic idea of government. When that did not work out so well, the window bounced like the ball in the old-fashioned pong games and started moving quickly towards the political “right” and toward “more freedom” and less desire to trust politicians of any party.

(And I might add, that is a good thing)

So in your collaborative campaigns for Marketing your products, do you take stock of the Overton window of public opinion about what your product offers? Do you even know what people think about your service in general, that, if you shifted that window just a little, could reap you great benifits?

Something to think about.

David T. McKee

Run Forrest, Run!

And with that we see a poignant story about a unique man who seemingly walks into fame and fortune without even noticing. This man, Forrest Gump, from his name to his demeanor seems ridiculous, and retarded. But, as his momma told him…Stupid is, as stupid does.

I could not help but notice deep truths that were buried in this gem of a movie/novel that has been part of some serious political discussions and even controversy. What I want to focus on is how a simple man of simple truths can indeed walk through life and push the problems it brings with it aside almost as if those problems were nothing more than smoke.

The first truth that Forrest utters we have already quoted: “Stupid is as Stupid does…” The fact that Forrest is a bit slow is completely balanced by the fact that he believes in black and white truth. Stupid people are those who do stupid things – and it is ironic that it is Jenny he says this too first, as she epitomizes stupidity throughout the movie with every act she takes, except for the one of being Forrest’s friend, and at the end of the movie, finally his love.

The other thing that Forrest does is that he never accepts failure, in fact he is incapable of even imagining what failure is. He simply does whatever he does. Once he has decided on a course, he simply does it, obstacles are nothing more that a challenge that has to be met, without any consideration of being stopped by them. In other words, do…or do not. Anything else is just you standing in the way.

There are many other things in this story that I could point to, but these two are the real gems that if we put into practice in our own lives, will lead to success in our endeavors:

1.)Don’t do stupid things.
2.)Whatever you have decided to do, do.

Ability varies, education is not wisdom, and unemployed geniuses can be found on every street corner. The truth is that those who succeed have decided that they will succeed long before they even set their hand to their next project.

Success is as Success does.

David T. McKee

Focus and Concentration

From my new Online Series O-Biz 101. This is part 4

Today we are going to talk about: Concentration

Concentration is the ability to bring into sharp focus the goal to which you are working towards, and is a required step in the implementation of any business.

Like the sign in the picture says, the sign is sharp and dangerous…oh yeah, and the bridge is out.  And that is a lot like your business will be like, there will be some seemingly very important dangers that will turn out to be not so dangerous except that they are masking something that is truly dangerous.

And Concentration is what is needed – a singleness of purpose focused on the goal of what you want your business to be and how you intend to get to that point.  The bridge may be out – you may not be able to get to your goal by the way you originally thought - are you going to give up? Or are you going to pick up, and find a way around the obstacle?

Lets define what is meant by ” Concentration” – You want to have a clear, sharp idea of what you are going toward, and you want to keep trying to make that image more clear and more sharp as you approach it each day.  Here are some examples:

I want to have a business… – Not very sharp, not too clear, but at least you want something and you have some idea what it is.

I want to have a successful Online Business… – Better, now you know you want it to be successful, and you want it to be online, but what does “successful” mean? What are you doing online? Lots of people are online and don’t make a dime.  You can do better.

In the next three years, I want to have an online business selling high-end cigars and cigar accessories and gross two million dollars per year… - Now we’re talking! That is a specific goal, with clear lines and it gives you a focused target to aim for.  You can continue to hone this, breaking it down into year, and month commitments, but if you don’t get a clear vision of that endpoint, it is hard to find your way to it.

There is one more point to focused concentration: To many targets.  Sometimes we get so good at setting goals we fail to take any action to move towards them, and our goal setting becomes the passion instead of the business goal we at first wanted to achieve.

Like in anything, there is a time to stop and say – Okay, this is clear enough for now to start moving towards.  And then you need to start moving towards it!  Go back to the perspiration – you need to start doing the work.

Lets review our Biz-O 101 focus points:

• Desperation: find desperate customers.
• Inspiration: Get excited about a business you can sink your teeth into.
• Perspiration: Do the work required and don’t shirk away from it.
• Concentration: Focus and clarity is necessary to move towards your goals.

Guess what the next focus point is? Desperation.

What? We did that already!

Yeah, it’s one of those “circle of life” things.  You get to the business goal then you have better get some more desperate customers – expand your business, widen your horizons, etc.  We will talk more about this next time, but until then…

Stay Thirsty my Friends!

David T. McKee

PS: Read the following if you really want to start selling a ton of stuff right now!

PSS: So how would you sell a Light Bulb to the Blind?  Put that in your comment.  I will pick the three best comments and GIVE you a free bonus, my super collection of business, copywriting, swipe files, and hypnotic writing books.  And maybe a special bonus for the first prize winner!  Act now because I will be revealing the answer in my next post: Biz-Op 101, part 4: “Concentration”.

PSSS: Do you need some awesome Business Software but are not sure where to go? Do you want to see reviews of the business products? Go to www.HardToFindSoftware.com and check them out!

Always the Benefits!

From my new Online Series O-Biz 101. This is part 3

Perspiration:

Okay, to review… We have covered:

• Desperation - Finding a desperate buyer…(click the word link to go to that post)
• Inspiration - What you need to start successful…(click the word link to go to that post)
• and now Perspiration, the ability to work at something that may at first seem doomed to failure, to work hard, to be creative, and to follow through.

And that is why we are going to talk about selling light-bulbs to the Blind and Refrigerators to Eskimos.  These two examples are often used as a joke because the average person would think only a fool would attempt such a thing – but look at the picture I have included.  That was painted by Norman Rockwell back in the early Nineteen hundreds when a refrigerator was known as an “Ice-Box”.  Now, Mr. Rockwell understood that if a man could sell such an item to Eskimos, he would indeed be an “Expert Salesman”.

Selling to anyone is hard work, but if you know how to do it, your perspiration will pay off.

There is a secret key so subtle that almost everyone misses it, even after it has been explained to them.  Here is a little story example of Bob, the newbie computer salesman:

A little old lady comes into Super Giant Computers Emporium.  She looks confused and lost as she slowly shuffles across the floor of the massive warehouse.  Bob, seeing an opportunity to make a commission sale, moves up to the woman, a big smile plastered on his face.

“Hi, My name is Bob, May I help you Ma’am?”

“Well, I’m not sure.  I would like to buy a computer so I can, um… oh, what is the word…so I can skate on the Inter-Webby thing?”

“You mean surf the Internet?”

“Right! so I can surf the InterWeb!”

“Well you are in luck Mame, come right over here.  This is our Web-Blaster 5000 Desktop super computer.  It has 50 gig on-board ram, is over-clocked to Ten Thousand Giga-Hertz and has dual quad-core technology.  Buy it today with a HP all-in-one Printer, Scanner, Faxer, Copier, Wash-machine, and blender and we will throw in a free Blue-Tooth connectivity pak!”

“That sounds nice, Bobby, but I want a computer that can go on that web thingy so I can send a letter to my grand-daughter in college, whcih one does that?”

Bob looks puzzled…

Well at least Bob remembered to introduce himself, but do you see what happened here? Bob blasted the poor little old lady with a bunch of features – which were meaningless to her.  He is not going to make any sales like this.

Now, lets look at the expert salesman Joe, who is selling the refrigerator to the Eskimos:

First Joe has built a relationship with the Eskimo family over the past several weeks, not trying to sell them something at first.  He knows their names…

“Hello Eetok and Boofoo! And who is this little guy on your back? Ookpic? why that is a lovely name! and I see you brought your two sled dogs Frank and Pete. Well, this won’t take too long, I just wanted to point out to you both that necessity of having a refrigerator in your igloo.  How many times has this happened to you: You want a cool refreshing glass of wales milk, but that darn bottle is frozen again.  So you get the fire started and that takes twenty minutes, and then you start melting the milk over the fire, but you overheat it and now it is boiling hot, so you got to let it cool down.  By the time you actually drink the stuff it is luke-warm and tastes burnt.”

Eetok and Boofoo eagerly shake their heads up and down, they know exactly what Joe means.

“Well, let me show you something… This little doozey has something called “temperature control” which means you will be able to keep your wales milk at a nice refreshing 45 degrees – perfect for drinking anytime!  It does not matter how cold or hot it gets out there – your milk will stay at perfect drinking temperature for you and little Ookpic.  Now notice this: This compartment is perfect for keeping all that wale blubber in during those four or five days where it gets to a blistering 50 degrees out and the flies are buzzing about.  Just think – fresh blubber year round!”

The Eskimo’s are in wonder over the marvelous device and buy it on the spot.  Joe goes on to become the salesman of the year, and the only know person to have sold a refrigerator to an Eskimo.

So what happened here?  Well, quite simply Joe did the hard work of creating a relationship with the Eskimo family, learning about them and their lives – what things they needed, what hardships they faced.

Then Joe made a list of the benefits of a refrigerator.  Obviously keeping things cold, which is the only one most people think of, was not going to be something the Eskimo family needed.  But then Joe remembered that a refrigerator is actually a temperature controlled environment.  It keeps things at a specific temperature no matter what is going on outside.  Now he has a benefit that he can sell to the Eskimo family.

That is the key in sales – benefits.  The old adage that “sell benefits, not features” is so very true.  Bob tried to sell features to a lady he had just met and had not spent even a second attempting to find out what here needs were or what her hardship was.  Because of that, he lost the sale.

So in Business there are plenty of things to keep the perspiration going – lots of work, but the most important work you will do is the selling the benefits of your product to a prospect you know and understand.

Do this, and you will become a Master Achiever!

Stay Thirsty my Friends!

David T. McKee

PS: Read the following if you really want to start selling a ton of stuff right now!

PSS: So how would you sell a Light Bulb to the Blind?  Put that in your comment.  I will pick the three best comments and GIVE you a free bonus, my super collection of business, copywriting, swipe files, and hypnotic writing books.  And maybe a special bonus for the first prize winner!  Act now because I will be revealing the answer in my next post: Biz-Op 101, part 4: “Concentration”.

PSSS: Do you need some awesome Business Software but are not sure where to go? Do you want to see reviews of the business products? Go to www.HardToFindSoftware.com and check them out!