To Market To Market

"Marketing is not a function; it is a way of doing business." Regis McKenna

Most people I know who decide to become self-employed neglect marketing. At first, things go pretty well. They get work from friends and relatives and figure word of mouth will carry them through. Eventually, though, everyone runs out of friends and family and they have to reach other people. That’s when they decide that self-employment isn’t for them after all and they go back to corporate life where somebody else brings in the business.

I was thinking about this as I drove this morning and I noticed a Geeks on Call PT Cruiser next to me. The logo on the doors was prominent and both the car and the company name made me smile. Then I noticed a small plastic business card box attached to the rear of the passenger side. Take One it said.

Now that’s marketing. Not only was the logo clearly visible to everyone passing by, potential clients could also help themselves to a card even when nobody was around.

Constant marketing—that’s what it takes.

©2006 Dixie Darr. All rights reserved

Blog On

“One machine can do the work of fifty ordinary men. No machine can do the work of one extraordinary man.” Elbert Hubbard

Writing this blog and getting involved with the whole blogging community (okay, blogosphere) has really changed my outlook on finding information. I started my first blog at Salon.com in 2003, not knowing anything about blogs. I was just thrilled that I could write in some capacity for the same publication that my favorite author Anne Lamott wrote for. I ran out of steam in about six months.

This time, I’m starting slowly, educating myself and trying to figure out how this blog will fit in with my plan to make a living on the internet. It started with a luncheon program at the Colorado Authors’ League in September. Three speakers told us about their blogs and I became intrigued by the possibilities. They told us that tens of millions of people read blogs on a regular basis. How on earth, I wondered do they find the time? Now, when I want information, I search for blogs on the topic instead (or in addition to) of googling it. It’s addictive and it takes me into that time warp I used to enter when I first started using the internet back in the early 90s. For an information junkie like me, blogs are simply irresistible. More personal and raw than slick marketing-department produced web sites, one of their best features are the links to other blogs, an option I hope to start using here soon. Yesterday, for example, I found a blog written by Roger von Oech, the Whack on the Side of the Head guy. He had a link to The Creative Generalist, who linked me to some other sites, and on and on until I had to force myself to get back to work.

Note: The Mayan Ruins at Chichen Itza were chosen as the sixth new wonder of the world.

Note: Emmitt Smith and Cheryl Burke won the Dancing With the Stars championship last night—Hurray!! They were my pick all along. Emmitt Smith has more natural charm than ten Mario Lopezes (no slouch in the charm department). Cheryl Burke also came across as a much nicer person than Mario’s partner. Now I have to wait until January for the new American Idol to start. Sigh. At least I have Thanksgiving and Christmas to keep me busy until then. :)

©2006 Dixie Darr. All rights reserved

Seven Wonders

"Computers in the future may weigh no more than 1.5 tons."

Popular Mechanics, 1949

The selection of the Internet as one of the Seven New Wonders Of The World is at once surprising and obvious. We expect the seven wonders to be physical locations because they always have been. The Internet, on the other hand, is located everywhere and nowhere. It’s somewhere out in cyberspace and right here in my home office.

Once you get past the unexpected choice, this is an obvious pick. Nothing in the past fifty years (and maybe ever) has had as big an impact on our daily lives as the Internet and the World Wide Web. It is my major source of information, inspiration, entertainment and even camaraderie. I use it to shop, compare prices, order library books, read the newspaper, play games and, oh yes, teach.

When I think about which of my possessions I would save first, in case of fire or other disaster, my computer ranks second only to the little toy wooden cupboard built by my grandfather when I was a baby.

©2006 Dixie Darr. All rights reserved

Buying a Job

"I'd love to sell out completely. It's just that no one's willing to buy." John Waters

An engineer who had just been laid off came to one of my workshops and declared his interest in buying a Subway franchise. He had a friend who had done that and was doing very well. I asked him if he had ever worked in a fast food restaurant. No, he hadn’t. Did he have any idea what kind of work was required by a Subway owner? No. He was focused completely on the amount of money he could make.

Laid off corporate employees who get a buyout sometimes think that the way out of the revolving door of employment is buying a franchise. They may, in fact, be good prospects because a franchise is the closest you can get to being a corporate employee while remaining self-employed. A franchise isn’t, however, a guarantee of success. These people seem to regard buying a franchise as buying a permanent job.

I suggested that the engineer spend a week or two working at his friend’s restaurant and seeing first hand what it would take to be an owner. He seemed to think that he would just hire others to do all the work and he would spend his time counting his profits. He saw himself as a kind of gentleman farmer, never getting his own hands dirty. In fact, owning a restaurant probably means working long hours doing every job in the place. Then at least he could make a thoughtful decision about whether or not it would work for him.

Making a decision about work based solely on the money you may make is almost never a good idea. As the writer Annie Dillard observed, “How we spend our days is how we spend our lives.”

©2006 Dixie Darr. All rights reserved

Believable Work

"To work at what you love--a heaping up of joys." Rita Mae Brown

Most Saturdays, my parents and I go to Chick fil-A for lunch. Most of the staff know us and even remember our never-changing order. A 17-year old high school senior named Shaun was hosting this week, which means he greeted the customers, offered mints and drink refills. He stopped at our table to chat and ended up staying there for close to an hour. He told us he would like to have his own Chick fil-A store because he “would make lots of money.”

This is a young man who attends the local school of the arts as a voice major. He’s going to Ohio this week to tryout for a music scholarship to Baldwin-Wallace College.

A couple of things bothered me about this conversation, not the least of which was his seeming lack of a work ethic. He seemed to think it was fine to kill time chatting with us instead of doing the work he was paid to do.

Mostly, though, I was saddened by the fact that even before graduating high school, he had apparently already given up on his dream of a career in music. Conventional wisdom tells us that you can’t make a living in the arts, although evidence to the contrary surrounds us. It may be difficult, but it sure won’t happen if you don’t believe it can.

Most people who make a lot of money (however you define “a lot”) are doing what they love. If you love what you’re doing, you are likely to be good at it. And if you get really good at it, you can find a way to make money doing it. It just requires persistence and constant learning. What doesn’t?

©2006 Dixie Darr. All rights reserved