Monday, December 21, 2020

I had to stand on my desk to get this shot, then edit out my toes.

  I launched a new site today as a showcase for my books, little, big, good, bad, whatever.

And as a Christmas gift, I am offering a small eBook, 22 pages, 4,351 words, so we won’t be together long. It’s The Seven Secrets.

To read, please click on https://travelswithjo.com/the-seven-secrets

Happy Solstice Tomorrow, whoops, it’s after midnight, well, today. ! I hope you will be able to see the Christmas star this evening, and that we have Happy Days ahead.

Jo

 Sneak preview into The Seven Secrets:

Life is like a ten-speed bicycle. Most of us have gears we never use.”

--Charles M. Schulz


INTRODUCTION

Twenty-five years ago, on a beautiful spring afternoon, two young men graduated from the same University. They were much alike. Both had been better than average students, both were personable and both—as young college graduates are—were filled with ambitious dreams for the future.

Recently these men returned to their college for their 25th reunion. Both were happily married. Both had two children. And both, it turned out, had gone to work for the same company after graduation, and were still there.

But there was a difference. One of the men was the manager of a small department of that company. The other was its president.

 What Made the Difference?


 




Wednesday, December 16, 2020

I Have Something for You


"Writing’s hypnotizing yourself into believing in Yourself, getting some work done, then un-hypnotizing yourself and going over the Material.” —Anne Lamott.



Since this is a writing site, and I suspect that you guys reading it are interested in writing, I will continue by asking a couple of questions. 

 

One, you’ve heard of copy-writing where companies spend big bucks on hiring someone to hype their products. So, tell me, does that lo-o-o-ng copy impress you? Does it make you more inclined to purchase their product?

 

There is a thought among marketers that the longer you keep a person reading, the more apt they are to buy. For me, I give up on them. For god’s sake, I don’t have the time to read their life story, unless it’s particularly compelling, or how they traveled to the Amazon and found this herb. Come to think of it, that’s pretty interesting, just don’t give me three feet of content. You can say it more succinctly. 

 

I still have a copy-writing course waiting for a year for me to take it. Talk about procrastinating, or being afraid, or believing I can’t make it. That’s one thing--oh, it’s three--still, after reading the best book on marketing I’ve found, I’m wondering if that course will just confuse me.

 

The book is Building A Storybrand by Donald Miller. Well, I see it’s praised by Seth Godin, that’s impressive.

 

As the title says, it’s about building a story brand, but I believe marketers could take heed.

 

Donald Miller reminds us that all good messaging begins and ends with empathy. 

 

Real empathy means letting customers know we see them as we see ourselves. Customers look for brands they have something in common with. And since the brain likes to conserve calories, aka that long content takes too much work to complete, brevity is the better way to go.

 

Discover card recently crafted a television campaign where they said, “We’ll take care of you the same way you would take care of yourself.” Hey, that’s genius. I want Discover card to take care of me. And they do come to think of it. They once championed my cause when I couldn’t get a company to repay me after I sent an item back. After Discover talked to them, They refunded me.

 

Miller’s book isn’t about telling your company’s story. Customers don’t generally care about a company’s story. They care about their own. 

 

I’ve had a hard time zeroing in on what I am about. You begin blogging, and if you’re like me, you’re all over the place. However, I do want to be of service. I want to find other like souls, and I want us to move ahead in making our lives and world situations better.

 

Isn’t that what we’re here for? Oh, I know we’re heavenly souls here to have a physical experience. But we don’t have to make it hard. We don’t have to be stupid in the process. Let’s not muck things up, and devalue some of the advances we’ve made. If we look at the world, it gets incrementally better with each passing generation, but let’s not take two steps forward and one step back.

 

Let’s make this generation a meaningful one