Upgrading What Is Free

Garth Beyer

NittyGritty

There’s a bar and grill in downtown Madison that gives a birthday mug to all those that go there for their birthday. They also fill that mug up with a free drink of your choice if you couldn’t have guessed.

One year they decided to redesign the mug, making it larger and more aesthetically appealing.

It bummed out all those that had gotten the smaller, less good-looking one.

When you upgrade what is free, it is a sign of your business making progress, but you run the risk of hurting your previous customers. It’s never an easy decision to make when you consider that those who have gone to your bar and grill are more likely to return than those who have never been inside.

The first way to fix this is to give the redesigned, larger mug to everyone to begin with. Don’t wait for the profits to do it. We know that people buy into how things make them feel, what also matters, though, is that what the buy continues to make them feel that way. When free things are upgraded, it devalues the feeling of what has already been given away.

I don’t recommend doing it this way.

The second and ultimately beneficial way of fixing the problem is to reach out to those who already received the smaller, less good-looking mug. Suggest that they can come in and swap their mug with a new one. Or state that for the next month, if they come in with their old mug they get a special dessert put inside it, or a discount on their meal, or another free drink.

When you upgrade what is free, you can’t neglect those who already received the smaller, less good-looking thing.

 

Stay Positive & New Customers Is Progress, Old Customers Is Profits

Garth E. Beyer

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Art Is War On The Human Brain

Garth Beyer

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Elusive graffiti artist, Banksy set up a stand in NYC selling his signature work for $60. Normally his work goes for about $40,000, to $200 thousand and up.

This says less about what art is worth and more about what we perceive as art. Reporters are not doing Banksy any justice by not reporting on why he is establishing residency in NYC one day at a time through the movement he dubs “Better Out Than In.”

This has two positive, but counterintuitive results.

Banksy’s spray art has always been to communicate a message. That message is up to each individual to decode and then act on. Since news reporters are failing to report on the messages of the work, it is completely left to the individual who sees it to make their interpretation and the mass are failing at it. This is why Banksy only made $420 from selling his work the other day.

Many would blame Banksy for not creating work that convinces people to analyze it. To that I would ask what art work does do that?

The other result is if the media did begin to analyze his efforts and voice their interpretation of his artwork, that closes the value of those who interpret Banksy’s art different from how the media says to interpret it. Banksy

For example, the media could pawn this piece off as being purely humorous, when, in fact, it could have hundreds of different purposes beyond simply invoking a chuckle.

It does not matter that Banksy sold his work for $60 a piece. What matters is why he did.

All the same, it does not matter that Banksy sprays his art work around NYC. What matters is why he is.

It doesn’t seem like the media is going to give us any answers on that. However, by the end of the month, I imagine Banksy will.

 

Stay Positive & Perhaps It’s Better That The Media Doesn’t(?)

Garth E. Beyer

Out Of Creativity

Garth Beyer

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There’s no such thing. Feeling like you’ve exhausted your creative abilities is a sign that you need to observe more, explore more, and digest more.

Feeling like you’re out of creativity is a lifestyle choice –                                                         not a byproduct of expending too much.

 

Stay Positive & Really See What’s Happening Around You

Garth E. Beyer

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Paradox Of Structure

Garth Beyer

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Imagine two playgrounds filled with kids. One playground has a fence around it. The other doesn’t.

Mentally predicting, the children at the playground without the fence would use all the space available to play.

In reality, the children in that context are closer to one another, staying close to the playground, as if there’s an even smaller invisible fence in place. All the while the children in the playground with the fence are playing in all the area up to the fence.

This is the paradox of structure and why I love borders so much.

Borders, or in the paradox of structure, fences, function with two purposes.

The first purpose is that it sets the parameter for you to go beyond. It gives you a goal to broaden your experience and bias and to explore past what feels comfortable. The second purpose is that it signifies that you already know the space leading up to the fence is “safe.”

As noticed in the paradox of structure, the kids had more fear of the outside area of the playground when there was no fence than when there was.

The fence never signifies that going past it is bad or dangerous. It is simply a reminder that this is how far you have gone before.

You have every ability to pick the fence up and move it further back.

 

Stay Positive & In Fact, Go Do That

Garth E. Beyer

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Reach Out

Garth Beyer

There’s a time to reach out for help.

There’s a time to reach out to get what you really want.

And then there’s a time to reach out with your eyes closed.

 

You’ll always be surprised with what is waiting to place itself in your hands.

 

Stay Positive & You’ve Worked Hard, Now Let The World Work A Bit

Garth E. Beyer

Where You Start: Up For The Challenge

Garth Beyer

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In a previous story, I noted that where you start really matters.

I used marketing to five year-olds for McDonald’s as an example of a poor place to start if you are actually passionate about the elderly being active.

I missed the opportunity to mention that poor places to start are often excellent places to excel, so long as you are adamant enough to withstand resistance and up to challenge of creating cultural change. For example, there is a push for McDonald’s to become a more healthy option – and to advertise as such.

I’ve mentioned a million times before that there is always room for improvement. You can decrease inequality, you can lower the number of obese people in the country, you can create cultural change from the bottom up.

It starts with saying no.

No to advertising unhealthy McDonald’s products to five year-olds.

It grows by saying “here’s a better idea.”

And having a plan to turn the idea into reality.

 

Stay Positive & Let Your Passion Fuel You, Not Your Food

Garth E. Beyer

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High Road Low Road

Garth Beyer

Those on the low road tell others to take the high road so that the low road is not as congested.

Those on the high road tell others to take the low road so that the high road is not as congested.

Those on the low road tell others to take the low road so that the high road does not become the new low road.

Those on the high road tell others to take the high road so that the high road becomes the new low road.

Every person can be put into one of these categories. The category with the most is what paves our future. The rest are pot holes.

 

Stay Positive & Take The High Road, But Know Why

Garth E. Beyer