We’re All Fighting Our Own Battles (FALSE)

Garth Beyer

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A friend recently returned from his trip to Switzerland. He came to my station and handed me a magazine from Switzerland called Swiss Review: The Magazine For The Swiss Abroad. Reading through the stories inside, I expected to be overwhelmed with new and different information. What is happening in Switzerland can’t possible be the same as what is happening in the U.S.

It surprised me to find that is exactly what is happening.

It made me realize that though distance, culture, and goals can be different for one person, one state, or one country, we are regularly faced with the same hardships and hindrances.

We’re all fighting each other’s battles —  which happen to also be our own. The simple truth is that we share plenty of the same troubles, concerns, and doubts; we are confronted with similar criticisms, obstacles, and resistance. We’re a lot more alike than we care to admit.

 

Stay Positive & What To Do About It Is Another Matter…

Garth E. Beyer

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Personality Matches Business

Garth Beyer

I would argue that brands are built by the relationships they hold with their customers, patients, or clients. It’s not necessarily just about the business model.

Brands get themselves in trouble when they build their business (higher, stronger, wider, etc,.) but fail to build the relationships.

How you treat your customers at a small flower boutique in town will be much different from how you treat your customers at a much larger flower boutique at the intersection of four major cities.

Brands get themselves in even more trouble when they treat their customers as if they are at a much larger business than where they are. My response to this is simple: be who you are. If you’re a small business, act like it, treat your customers like it.

My immediate reference in mind is Sbarro. They treat their customers in a way that’s personal, yet, realistic. They understand that people go to Sbarro to get a quick pizza, that’s it. People who go to Sbarro don’t want to be pampered, don’t want to be sold more than what they want, they don’t want to establish a close relationship with Sbarro workers. They want to be treated as people who need a break in the day for a quick slice of pizza. Sbarro understands this and treats their customers accordingly.

 

Stay Positive &  If You Want To Be More, Change Everything

Garth E. Beyer

There’s A “T” In The Road

Garth Beyer

Most of the time my coworker says things with the intent to really push my buttons and get me frustrated.

Other times she spills some wisdom. In her words,

“Sometimes things go right. Other times they go the way they are gonna go.”

It was beautiful when she said it. She followed up by saying that when there is a “T” in the road, you have the option to go left or right. That’s it. Left or right.

I don’t have an explanation of this for you. I simply want you to ruminate on it.

 

Stay Positive & Thoughts?

Garth E. Beyer

Why The Weird

Garth Beyer

The mass view top lists, the average find and share the weird.

10 years ago they were one in the same. Five years ago people had the ability to search for the weird, and they began sharing it. Now, though, that has become the average and it’s hurting the weird.

The weird is special, it’s signficant, it’s heartfelt. Now people are monetizing the weird, turning them into top lists.

Don’t find the weird, just to share it. Find the weird to better yourself.

 

Stay Positive & The Weird Will Change The World

Garth E. Beyer

 

(a spin off of Seth Godin)

Seriously, Do You Need To Be Reminded?

Garth Beyer

I had a reporter from a large local news station contact me today, and I was left disappointed.

To maintain my ethical integrity, I will break the message down into its two parts instead of actually sharing what the message said.

“(1) This is what we think we know, (2) we would like to do a story on that. (3) You can reach me here.

(4)Thanks…”

There are many reasons I am sharing this. All are important.

1. (1) This is what we think we know

He was completely off! He knew nothing. It showed that he had done absolutely no research. If you’re not going to do the research, don’t state that you know something. Be blunt and say that you know nothing and want to be informed.

If, however, the information you think you know can’t be found online at all, then at least say that you have looked (and you better have looked hard!) and couldn’t find the information.

2. There was no introduction. Just because you’re a reporter doesn’t mean that someone is going to respond to you. If anything, it makes you seem like a robot, just working the grind of news writing. I can’t imagine what sort of story this reporter will write.

3. (2) we would like to do a story on that

Is that a question? Because if it is, I’m going to opt out. Say you are writing a story on that, not that you want to.

Lastly, there was no call for action in his email. In my head I thought, “Well, great, mr.reporter (purposely in lowercase), I’m glad to hear you have a sense of something false and would like to do a story on it.”

Pitch your writing topic to your editor or boss, not to who is supposed to be your story.

If I was actually able to respond to this reporter (I wasn’t able to, it went to my supervisor), I would have emailed him back with two words.

Good luck.

 

The End Of Add-Ons

Garth Beyer

It’s difficult to add something to a swiss army knife. It’s difficult to add something to a WordPress theme that seems to already have it all. It’s difficult to add something onto a fishing lure that already reflects light, has popping color, and makes noise.

I’ve written about stealing like an artist and combining the work of other geniuses. I’ve shared how to take “the next best thing” and add onto it. However, what I recently noticed is that it is getting ever more difficult to add something onto what is already remarkable. Note: this doesn’t necessarily mean you need to start from scratch.

You may find there is no room to add-on to a swiss army knife, but you can take what you don’t think is regularly useful out and insert something new. For me, I’ve never used the scissors in a swiss army knife. If I need to cut something, I just use one of the multiple blades.

There is only one question I need to ask after I take out the scissors – what do I replace it with? What do you wish a swiss army knife had? The goal is to add an entirely new dimension without changing the size. For the fishing lure, you can take off the noisemaker and add feathers or googly eyes.

Making something unique isn’t just adding onto something; it’s what you remove and what you replace it with.

No one is going to buy a swiss knife that doesn’t fit in their pocket, but someone will choose your swiss knife over another if you have something different.

 

Stay Positive & Destruction Is Fun, Anyway

Garth E. Beyer