Life Lesson

Treat others the way you would like to be treated. That’s the golden rule.

At first analysis, it means to be nice and generous and thoughtful because – of course – you’d want others to be that to you.

What no one ever tells about the golden rule is that it also promotes the importance of candor, of meaningful feedback.

Because the way to be the best version of ourselves is to balance doing more of what we’re good at with getting better at what we’re not good at.

It just so happens that one of the things we’re good at is not noticing what we’re bad at. We need others to point it out and support us in our effort to improve.

And that requires feedback. Meaningful. Heartfelt feedback.

Stay Positive & Do You Still Have The Right People Around You?

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Turns out people don’t look at the price sticker and then question the value of a product.

They look at a product (the design, the environment it’s in, who is selling it, if their friend has recommended it, what else is placed near it; they consider what people will think of them if they were to buy it, they imagine if it’s going to bring them joy, they wonder how it’s going to improve their life) AND THEN they find the price sticker.

As marketers, our work to craft a story that resonates starts long before a price is displayed and seen.

Which might beg the question of whether or not you should move your price sticker to buy yourself more time to connect.

Stay Positive & Show The Real Value

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Any business that adds gambling machines is going to make some extra cash to help their bottom line.

And it’s not just gambling machines. There’s plenty of options for getting some extra moola.

But, you guessed it, most of them come at a very valuable expense.

It’s the expense that comes with attracting those who might not be the right customer and turning off those who would be.

Better to focus on those you seek to serve. The some, not the many. The ones you can create meaningful change for, not steal an extra five dollars from.

Stay Positive & Focus What’s Right And Who Is Right

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Being understood isn’t (shouldn’t) be the point.

The point is carrying on consistently and creating value for those you seek to serve.

The others (those who don’t understand) don’t need convincing.

Your time is better invested in those who get it than those who don’t.

Stay Positive & Serve The Some, Not The All

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I’ve connected with a couple of incredible photographers simply because I noticed their work on the site I grab photos for these posts from.

I’ve connected with others because I looked them up after seeing their work in a magazine.

Others I’ve connected with after a past teacher told me about them.

All of these little ways that I’ve found a photographer worked because the artists put breadcrumbs out there.

They created meaningful work.

They uploaded their content to websites.

They talked about their craft and showed others.

They submitted their work.

Are you leaving enough breadcrumbs to be found?

Stay Positive & Ready Or Not, Here You Come

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The work you’re doing now – that’s the easy work.

Even if it feels difficult, it’s definitely not as hard as the work you’re going to do next as you grow bigger, get better, sell more and learn the next steps.

Make the comparison so it helps you in the moment.

Stay Positive & Then Keep At It

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People are pretty bad at acknowledging out loud.

They see and feel and recognize the work you’re doing, but they keep it to themselves; their default setting is not to share that they notice.

Because the feeling of being seen and recognized is so powerful, we’re quick to convince ourselves that the work we’re doing isn’t meaningful if it’s not getting noticed.

So I’m here to say that if you think it’s work worth doing, then it’s getting noticed by someone somewhere. It’s making a positive impact even if no one is saying it.

What matters is that we keep showing up day after day, whether we hear that we’re getting noticed or not – because we are.

Stay Positive & Keep At It, They’re Watching

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