Author: Garth Beyer

I Fought The Law And The Law Won

I Fought The Law And The Law Won

Garth Beyer

The law always wins, but that doesn’t mean you have to lose when it does. I’m using “law” in a very, very broad way. Synonymous with system, business, campaign, art, etc,.

Concrete Wall

I ran a program that didn’t allow any exceptions to a deadline. It was law!

Illiteracy, family death, wrong mailing address, whatever the reason, it would never lead to an exception in the deadline. During the program’s conception, the strict deadline seemed like a good idea; it put the pressure on those applying and made them aware there would be no exceptions. Unfortunately, that didn’t stop them from calling with their sob stories asking for exceptions.

I’ve learned pretty quickly if you’re going to push something out before it’s near perfect, be sure to allow for changes, for flexibility, for exceptions. Write in the law that you have the power to change the law. No fine print. No contact forms or application sheets. There are always exceptions. Always. You don’t have to define them ahead of time, but you need to be prepared for them when they arrive. And they will arrive.

Sadly I wasn’t there when the program’s statute was being written. I had no say, no power to change it, to suggest a clause that would allow exceptions. It was too late. This was troublesome for me because I’m a person who would rather find a way to say yes than to say no, regardless if it’s an extremely rare case or a simple courteous plea for an exception.

I once read about a CEO who gives each of his customer service employees $900 a month to spend on making things right with customers. If people expect you to make things right, then you have to tap the unexpected by making them more than right. The expected and unexpected is what divides a one-time-purchase and a loyal customer.

The program was doomed from the start and has since been sunset, discontinued. Had there been provisions for flexibility in the statute, authority to make exceptions with those running the program, and a budget to make things more than right, the program could have grown into something remarkable, instead it’s over, done, kaput.

Never ship a concrete block, concrete business, concrete program unless you can chisel away when someone pleads for a round block, an exception, a refund.

Better yet, why not ship concrete mix instead?

 

Stay Positive & Versatility And Malleability Is Essential For Business Longevity

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Captioned Image

Captioned Image

Garth Beyer

Rainway

This is me 60 years from now. Still not using an umbrella, enjoying the rain, relishing the moment. Even now, on the signs of rain ensuing, I don’t rush for cover, search for a newspaper to place over my head or “stay inside because it’s raining.” I’m not looking down delusionally lost. In fact, I’m purposefully lost; lost in the moment, lost in the rain, content with life. If this picture were a motion one, a moment from now you would see a smile cover my face from thinking how I was the only one really enjoying the rain. I’d get an extra hop in my step. However, my smile would turn into a frown as I looked to my right. I would think to myself if I asked this lady if she loved rain, she would say yes. I would think, if she loved rain, then why are you using an umbrella? To me, it doesn’t just rain water, it rains content, peacefulness, understanding. I’ve often thought about how the clouds wait until they are filled with enough water before they release. The clouds, the earth, the atmosphere aren’t rushing to make it rain. However, we, as people, don’t have the same patience. If we’re going to put effort into anything, we want instant results and give up what we’re doing if we don’t see them. We go for the short-term small investment tiny reward rather than the long-term big investment large reward. If rain was money, wouldn’t you want the saying when it rains, it pours to be true?

 

Stay Positive & Leave The Umbrella At  Home

What You Measure

What You Measure

Garth Beyer

Measurable

Eyes, money, subscriptions, they only matter when you act on the results of them. The number of clicks, views, RTs don’t matter unless you can develop a progressive strategy from the results. As Seth Godin notes, if you’re not prepared to change your diet or your workouts, don’t get on the scale.

The challenge of any PR analyst isn’t just to measure the measurable and adjust accordingly, but to find a way to measure the unmeasurable. How can you measure the trust you’ve accumulated with viewers? How can you measure the conversation you have on Twitter beyond impressions? How can you measure the brand impact, word of mouth, and references?

If you don’t get on the scale, how will you know how to change your diet or your workouts?

More importantly, if you don’t measure your habits, your body composition, your support system, how will you know how to change your lifestyle?

 

Stay Positive & Measure The Not-So-Unmeasurable

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A Bit On Voice

Garth Beyer

Without any legitimate training in the understanding of artistic material, you can tell good from bad.

You may not be a graphic design expert, but I trust you can look at a website and tell if it is designed really well.

You may never have touched an instrument other than the pots and pans of your mother’s cupboard, but I will bet you can tell when an orchestra is in harmony.

You may think you’re a terrible writer, but when you read something someone else has written, I just know you can tell if the writer has voice or not.

Everything in life speaks to us, but only if it’s given a voice.

A lot happens, rather, doesn’t happen when a writer fails to have voice in their writing. When there’s no voice, there’s also no humanity in the piece, no node for the reader to connect to, no electricity.

Peter Elbow refers to voice as juice. “’Juice’ combines the qualities of magic potion, mother’s milk, and electricity,” Elbow said.

By ‘magic potion’ he implies there is power in the words, power to change the reader’s emotions, power to produce an entire world in one’s imagination, power to turn someone’s worldview over in a pan and call it sunny side up.

In mother’s milk you receive the nutrients you need to grow. Voice is a way of using words to express how much you care about a subject, and, by extension, the reader. Words that nurture the reader, giving them all they need and more, those words have voice; you might even say your mother’s voice.

As for the electricity I have mentioned, it’s about conversation and establishing an experience. Do you know what I mean?

That, right there is a question I’ve posed to you through the written word. Your engagement level rose, perhaps you answered the question, perhaps not. If you did, that is because there is voice in my writing. Maybe you wanted me to explain more of what I meant or in your mind added to my side of the conversation.

Conversations have energy and develop experiences.

Voice, in a way, is energy. Words can touch a person, pat them on the back, tap them on the shoulder, and stroke fingers through their hair. If you type words the way you say them conversationally, that’s how to find your voice. Then you can proceed to clean up the flow, but not too much.

Elbow also disccusses the potential and often-occurring action of overcorrection. You may have voice in your writing and through editing, remove the voice. Making all the corrections you can, editing something so it reads and looks perfect, takes out the humanity of the writing, and humanity is what people connect with. Notice the spelling mistake at the beginning of this paragraph. It reminds you I am only human.

While removing all spelling errors doesn’t quite remove your voice, reworking sentences so they are completely grammatically accurate can. When you make writing flawless, the reader thinks a robot is talking to them. No one wants to be spoken to by a robot. Unless, of course, they are a robot.

 

Stay Positive & Everything You Do, Do With Voice

Perishable If Not Shaken

Garth Beyer

Settling.

It’s what we do on the path to mediocrity. It’s what we do when we lack confidence. It’s what we do when we don’t want to guide our own life.

It’s what happens to the best of us. It’s what happens to the worst of us.

We settle for certain people in our lives. We settle for a particular job. Neither of which provides much joy.

We settle for “good enough,” for “next time I’ll do it better/right/with more flare,” for “it’s not my job.”

Don’t let nature fool you. A settled lake may look beautiful, but a settled lake is more likely to be frozen over come winter, a settled lake you wonder if it contains any life.

It’s those who strive for better, who never settle, who make it through the seasons. Fortunately for us, we don’t have to settle like the water does. Every day we have the choice to settle or not.

 

Stay Positive & Shake Well

Strangers

Garth Beyer

Stranger

You’ve got two choices to make in regard to strangers.

Turn a stranger into a friend OR

introduce a friend to another friend (who, to them, is a stranger).

Everyone is a stranger until they are not.

 

Stay Positive & Did You Know Progress Can Be Measured By The Number Of Strangers You Turn Into Friends?

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Assorted Links

Garth Beyer

1) Why I’m so negative about positivity (read)

2) Covered-up graffiti tags as art (short read)

3) It’s just cheese (short read)

4) Mob the house (event, Madison, Wis.) (Giving a little love to MobCraft Beer)

5) The free and the antifree (read)