Monthly Archives: June 2015

Unholidays

You can wait until Thanksgiving. And the high holidays. And his / her birthday.

But why?

Be grateful. Be forgiving. Give some love.

Those days are just another day.

Important customers

It’s a funny thing.

Your customers who ask for the most give you the least.

The opposite is true, too.

Your customers who ask for the least give you the most.

Moral of the story?

Make the effort to give more to your most valuable (least needy) customers.

It’s:

  • A more satisfying way to do business.
  • A better investment of your time.
  • A better way to do marketing (by letting your customers who love you spread the word about how wonderful it is that you go way above and beyond their expectations).

The only tricky part is the valuable customers won’t ask (and the other ones will).

Remember who’s actually important.

Illegal and upsetting

If you want to be a writer, you have to read. Expand your mind. Shape your style.

But when you’re done reading, put the stuff away.

Otherwise you’re writing down someone else’s words. And that’s not writing.

It’s copying.

Both illegal and upsetting.

The year

If you left for the year, what would you miss?

  • The same special events?
  • The same festivals?
  • The same anniversaries and birthdays?

Sounds like a lot of the same.

Where do you wanna go?

Electric effect

Want to understand the culture, worldview and traditions of any group of individuals?

Imagine their life without electricity.

  • No lights.
  • No air conditioning.
  • No refrigeration.

For most, that was just 100 years ago. For some, that’s still life today.

Now, their demeanor, work ethic, and eating habits make a little more sense, right?

Expect

When you show up every day, what do you expect?

  • To win?
  • To have fun?
  • To inspire?
  • To learn?
  • To grow?
  • To build?
  • To sell?

Figure it out.

Otherwise, the opposite of each is what you can expect.

It’s not too late

You’re not handcuffed to your job.

You’re not bound to a fraternity.

You’re not too old.

There’s no deadline on living your life the way you want.

The Office Chair Problem

For a while, I’ve struggled with office chairs.

Ultimately, I know I should sit on them less and will have my problem solved.

Alas, I have some computer-heavy days and am stuck with the following options.

  1. Use a kitchen-table-style chair. (No arm rests, no wheels, no height adjustment.)
  2. Use an exercise ball. (Same as above, although slightly more lateral mobility.)
  3. Setup a standing desk. (Probably best for my body. And would work great some days. But a writer’s gotta sit.)
  4. Buy an office chair from a big box store. (Over-priced, poorly built and surprisingly uncomfortable.)
  5. Buy an $800 Herman Miller office chair. (Satisfies all the above problems, but is outrageously priced.)

(TLDR: As I’m writing this, I could see the same argument being made for Vitamix. And, as I look at the Herman Miller website, I see their company history is very similar my partner from Olmsted Township, Ohio. Early 1900s, USA-based, basically one product. So, my forthcoming conclusion to this post will either be hypocritical or, perhaps prophetical on a couple levels.)

My solution?

Ask the world to create a market-disrupting office chair company similar to what Tuft and Needle is doing for mattresses.

Someone please do this.

I will advise, invest, and promote as needed.

The world needs this office chair problem solved.

Thanks,
Lenny

Car radio

You can drive with the radio on.

Or, you can think. You can converse. You can be at peace.

Your call.