Everyday I sit down to Twitter or Facebook or any list of blogs out there I wonder, What's everyone REALLY doing?There is such a huge trend of people telling you how to do your business and how to reach more people and how to make more money that I am at times reticent about identifying myself as a "Mentor". By now, you all know what I really do but I kinda wonder what everyone else is doing!
This trend seems to be about selling a product that will "guarantee" certain success through greater visibility. If that's what success is about, I guess I don't have a job at all. All day I see people with less than fabulous products or services trying to have more hits to their website and become a household name. 99% of those people still need a lot of work on their product. (That's where I come in).
This is not a downer post. This is a reality check, people! We need to be a culture of "doers". We're turning into a culture of "tellers". In theater and movies and literature we say, don't tell them, SHOW them. What this means is that there shouldn't be a narrator telling you what the character is thinking. You should be able to see through their actions and emotion what they are thinking.
In business we need to express who we are by doing. By making cool products that will be better for our environment, or writing things that move us and make us laugh, by making art that moves the soul, we create change. Change is not a better search engine. Doing is not selling an "idea".
Smite me if you will, Consulting Universe, but this is the part of me speaking who spends hours at a spinning wheel, just to make something. This is someone proud to be part of a nation of Makers. I am a consultant but I seek to support in any way I can those who are doers and those who have something to say and contribute to our culture.
This is my rant before a holiday weekend. This is my cry to those trying to sell me an idea, to sell me a "thing".
Amen!
ReplyDeleteI'd love to be free to just make things without the bother of trying to sell them, but selling what I make is part of what I do...and when I see the circus on the internet, I sometimes despair!
Whether it's on TV, the Internet, or a "FREE SEMINAR COMING TO YOUR TOWN!" I'm leery of those who make their millions selling "how to get rich" schemes/ideas. What have they really "done?"
Some days, taking in the range of people trying to sell something--whether it is an idea, an aphorism for life, a political stance, a cause, a commercial product, or yes, even a dear, "I'm in the same boat" handmade item, I just want to scream, STOP TRYING TO SELL (to) ME!
Some days, just let us be--free to do, to make, or just simply be.
Or, let people be free to buy without being "sold."
Thanks for letting me rant with you.
Thanks. That's not a rant. That's a nice, firm, timely reminder.
ReplyDeleteHappy Memorial Day.
@RobinJP
Put your hand on the radio & say "Hallelujah!"
ReplyDeleteReading a post that touts practicing what you preach and improving your skills/product really *is* the pause that refreshes.
Inherent in this ethos is BE SMART. Question what you are told (just because something *says* it is "organic" doesn't make it so, people). Try to figure out how to do it before you ask someone else (you *might* just learn something!). And for dog's sake, learn to evaluate the quality of your own work! If it's not up to snuff yet, no harm no foul - make something with it, give it away, or incorporate it into something better, and learn from the process!
We need more 'ranters' like you - kudos!
I'm a big proponent of helping others... my little part of "doing". Yes I give advice here and there, but I also participate in some manner in my local community by giving a small portion of my time to pro bono work. Whether it be supporting a local community event, or volunteering to update a fledgling organization's website, or volunteering for a local community organization board of directors. This applies to all kinds of work.. in June I'll be demo-ing spinning at a colonial style town fair because the local chamber director also knows I'm a spinner/knitter/weaver as well as a webmeister.
ReplyDeleteSure, along the way I get to tell folks about what I do for a living, but mostly, it puts my face out locally (which is something I have to do all over again very soon in a new community that I'm moving to). And there's nothing like real face time or doing something for one person or organization directly.