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Seeking Clarity

Garth Beyer

I hear a lot of good ideas. (Yes, nearly everyone I meet I ask what they would work on if they had all the time and resources to make it happen.)

I see a lot of people quickly give up on their good ideas because when they communicated them, they didn’t communicate them clearly and got discouraged.

Certainly if you can’t communicate your idea, it’s not a good one, right?

You see where I’m going here.

We need to surround ourselves with people who don’t criticize our ideas, but point out the spaces which aren’t clear.

When people ask about your idea, (usually) they’re not trying to break you; they’re sharing their confusion with you.

When I ask a question to flush out someone’s idea and I know they can’t respond immediately, I say, “you don’t need to respond right now. Think about it differently and get back to me later.” Sadly, few understand clarity is something figured out over time.

For now, know you have permission to go back to the drawing board, you have permission to suck, you have permission to think about it a bit more.

For great (not just good!) ideas follow these steps:

1) share your ideas

2) listen to people’s confusion so you know what you need to clarify

3) break. think about things differently

4) share your idea again

5) repeat steps 2-5

 

Stay Positive & Please Don’t Get Held Up On Step 1

They Will Be Pleased, Regardless

Garth Beyer

Don't Appeal To The Mass

When you make an effort to reach the masses, to please the majority, to advertise to all, you are inevitably creating a bitter experience for some.

You see this with retail stores quite often. Owners spend their time outside of the store trying to reach the masses, and in doing so, they neglect and devalue those already in it. It’s better of them to treat and please the customers already in their store if they wish for more newcomers.

We need to recognize people will want us to build an experience for the mass. The thought process of most is that one event that calls out to a majority is better than five events that call out to smaller groups.

Writing a book that is safe, that anyone walking around the bookstore will want to pick up, seems to be the most logical thing to do, but it’s not. It’s better to write five shorter books that target a specific tribe.

You may win the lottery, you may have a successful large event, but all who attended, all who bought your book will revert back to their search for the one that makes them feel most valued, most part of a tribe.

They will eventually be pleased, regardless of the decision you make because it’s our natural inclination to find a place where we have a consistent pleasurable experience, one that connects us with like-minded people, one that all who attend or purchase can give the same answer to “People like us ______.”

We can’t please everyone at once, so why bother?

But we can please everyone over a period of time/a series of events/a number of books by recognizing the tribes people are part of and creating a remarkable experience for each of them.

Thing is, you may find out that pleasing one tribe is all you need to do. Stephen King doesn’t need to write a book specific to a bunch of tribes. All he needs is one group to please.

Anyway, if one were to measure effort, I’d say it takes about the same to appeal to the mass as it does to appeal to smaller tribes. The results, however, are different… very different.

 

Stay Positive & Different Is What You Want

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Build Talkability Into Your Design

Build Talkability Into Your Design

Garth Beyer

MillerCoors Rooftop View

Pumpkin patches and apple orchards do a wonderful job of adding talkability factors into their design. They have the picture of a farming couple that you can put your head into and take a photo or the turkey that’s begging you to stand behind and show your face where its face should be. They add simply interactive designs that a majority use to share and talk about their experience.

I went on a three and a half hour private tour of the MillerCoors facility in Milwaukee today with a friend. I was too busy listening to the guide and chatting about how to brew beer to take dozens of photos, but there was a moment that was irresistible. As seen above, we’re on the roof of a 12+ story building and it’s clear they’ve designed this rooftop experience as a talking point. You have the shipping carriers, miller park, the brewing facility and the giant Miller sign all in one photo. MillerCoors figured out a way they could add talkability into their design.

I’ve been guilty of trying to make an entire experience worth talking about instead of focusing on a few little points that tell the larger story, that are easily talked about, and that people can’t help but share.

Consider how you can design talkability points into the experience you’re providing people.

 

Stay Positive & Better To Guide The Points Than Have Others Decide What’s Worth Sharing

because in most instances, they’ll choose not to share.

20 Actions To Increase Your Social Presence

20 Actions To Increase Your Social Presence

Garth Beyer

Increase Social Media Presence

1) Use incredible photos. Always.

2) Find small problems and solve them.

3) Connect with others on a personal and emotional level. You’re not a robot.

4) Update your social media profiles. Pics. Bios. Location. All that good stuff.

5) Only use the social media outlets that matter.

6) Connect with other social media folk in your realm.

7) Post daily or fairly regularly.

8) Give remarkable content away. eBooks anyone? Tickets? Gear? T-shirts?

9) Always deliver.

10) Always be learning and thanking those who you learn from.

11) Ask for testimonials.

12) Time your posts. There is research out there telling the peak times to post.

13) On any “about me” page, give something away.

14) Forget the RT/Share button, your work is in the Comment/Reply.

15) Be in it for the long run.

16) Have a target market. Fill in the blank for your target “People like us …..”

17) Trend, news, and holiday jack.

18) Share what others want to hear, not what you think they want to hear.

19) Try something new each week.

20) Write blog posts like this.

Need any clarification on these or want to chat about using one (or more) of these tips for your brand? Shoot me a tweet @thegarthbox

 

Stay Positive & Get Goin

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You’re Not The Only One To See Things

Garth Beyer

We all see interesting things. Whether it’s faces in places or just plain odd sights, there’s a plethora of communities who share the experience together.

The web has allowed us to be weird, to share what and how we see the world, and most importantly, it has allowed us to search and find others who see similar interesting things.

What do you have to share?

 

Stay Positive & Go Share It Already, I Want To See

Garth E. Beyer

It’s Not Your Art

Garth Beyer

So what that you put hundreds of hours into creating what you did? Just because you went through all the pain of developing what you did, doesn’t make it yours. Even if you searched for every single piece of your creation and sold your sentimental belongings to afford what you made – it still doesn’t make it yours and it definitely doesn’t make it art.

Art is only art when it’s shared.

It’s the same with genius. Einstein wouldn’t have been a genius if he never shared everything he studied, ruminated, and experimented with. Or, a person can write a novel a year, but they will never be a writer unless they share it.

People might shout,

“This is not the time for metaphor! This is not the time for art! And this is certainly not the time for art about you!” But once you’ve shared your art and it’s resonated with a single person, it’s no longer about you — once you share it, it’s about everybody. And if your art is found by a single soul, shared with a friend who links it to a friend, and the response is whatever it is, you start to see how art becomes about everybody — just through the act of being shared.” – Amanda Palmer

I am stating that art becomes about everybody the same as it becomes everyones.

When I buy your art, I don’t see it the way you do. I don’t know how much money, time, sweat, blood, relationships, tears, mental exhaustion, late nights, and broken prototypes went into it.

When your art is in my hands – no, even when I see your art – it becomes mine too. It’s part of me. I put my emotions, my thoughts, my personality in and around it.

And let me tell you something. Art becomes so much more beautiful when it has amassed a variety of emotions, thoughts, and personalities.

 

Stay Positive & Sharing Always Makes It More Valuable

Garth E. Beyer

“And I Thought About You”

Garth Beyer
I like to leave an artistic impression

Lately, if you have noticed, I have been on a long riff about how information is being shared. After months of observance, I had the experience that gave me the ultimate understanding. I owe this post to every single persons experience because you have had it hundreds of times but specifically this post is the story of mine that happened to me a few days ago. I sent a link with the words “and I thought about you”.

A couple of times a week I stop by MentalFloss. I clicked a post about banana art and thought about my brother who refuses to accept he’s an artist because of what he would have to give up (his bad habits) to have his dream. I saw the bananas and had to share it with someone, someone special, someone whom I thought about immediately after seeing the bananas.

That’s the aim of content isn’t it? Or at least, it’s supposed to be the aim. Great content does good to one person but can only change the world if it’s shared with everyone on it. Whether changing the world is done through banana art or any of the billions of artistic niches, it has to be shared. To be shared, you must have the reader or viewer think of those five words.

Those five words are the most powerful words in the world because they employ action. The moment a person thinks about someone else after reading or viewing some form of content, they are held accountable to share it with that person.

Thinking about it again, this happened the other month when I sent a picture of this tiger to my friend whose favorite animal is a Tiger.

Rawr

As a writer and creator of valuable content, the aim of having it shared is not based off the most Tweets, the most “likes” or the most reblogs. While the content can be shared with thousands of people this way, the connection of the shared knowledge is void of character, void of passion, void of care. The aim of providing invaluable content is to fit into someones worldview and you can only do so when you say or type those 5 words.

 

Stay Positive & I Wrote This Because I Thought About You

Garth E. Beyer