THE GERMAN COWBOY
Coaching is not a profession, it is a lifestyle. If you want to use coaching methods for your business and for the rest of your life you need daily inspiration.
Most of these articles and blog posts are not written by coaches. Creative corporate leaders or successfull entrepreneurs share their wisdom, tips, tricks.
Photo (Tue, 03 Feb 2009)
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Confusing activity with action (Fri, 19 Dec 2008)
Thing is, most of the stuff you do online doesn't cost money. In the old days, money added friction. Money made you choosy. Money ensured that you valued your marketing efforts appropriately, because if they didn't work, they cost you money. Today, reading and posting and linking and networking and connecting and commenting and podcasting and linkblurbling and doseedoing online all feel like essential marketing tasks. They certainly keep you busy. But is the activity getting in the way of action? Is the online work you're doing actually leading you where you want to go, or merely keeping you busy? Dmitri calls this "imitation of turbulent activity" or ИБД, Имитация Бурной Деятельности. [Flipside: Vic sent me a stat that said that 57% of the online users surveyed hadn't read a blog in the last year. These people are incompetent and should be fired.] Another way to look at this: For big brands and marketers with significant budgets, the internet represents a loss of leverage. Money doesn't buy you as much attention, and you have to work much, much harder for every eyeball. For individuals, the internet represents an increase in leverage. One person with a blog or a lot of followers or friends can reach more people, more quickly, than ever before. These are colliding. Big brands on the way down, individuals on the way up.
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Photo (Fri, 12 Dec 2008)
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Attending a music biz conference? Here’s the REAL way to do it…. (Fri, 12 Dec 2008)
Being the cheap music-biz conference slut that I am, I’m often asked my advice for attending a conference. Here it is: The Tao of promotion: it’s about them, not you You know the way to be interesting to others is to be interested in them. (Why is this so hard for self-promoters to understand?) So, the week before the conference, read “How to Talk to Anyone” or any book about how to be a great listener. Then use the conference as your testing ground for your new listening skills. Get extremely interested in those around you. Think like an investigative reporter. For each person you meet: how can you help them? Turn to a stranger and say, “Hi. What do you do?” Ask follow-up questions about how they got into that. What they love and hate about it. Ask why they came to the conference. Talk about non-work-stuff, too! Notice your similarities. Appreciate your differences. Be very curious about their unique perspective. Learn from it. Think of how you can help them. If you don’t know yet, keep asking questions. (Sometimes the way to help someone is not what you’d expect! If they are painfully shy, maybe the best way you can help them is by introducing them to the next person you meet, or inviting them to dinner. If they are painfully popular, maybe they need your help to escape the crowd for a little peace and quiet.) Get their business card. Take notes on the back of it as soon as the conversation is done. Each night, before bed, enter everyone’s info into your computer, including your notes. (Trust me: it only takes 15 minutes, but it’s crucial to do it that night before you meet more people the next day!) Send them one tiny email immediately, connecting the digital you to the physical you. (“Hi John. Nice to meet you today. I’m the one in red who also hates Björk. You were right about the burritos! I still want to see your Malaysia photos. Maybe see you at the wrap-up party tomorrow.”) Your email signature should have your full contact info. By being sincerely interested in them, and actively trying to help them, they will likely be interested in you, and try to help you. What about me? Notice I said nothing about promoting your gig, your band, your service. You have to trust the Tao of promotion. This is about them, not you. Your promotion will come later. When they do ask about you, have a very (VERY!) short but impressive summary of what you do, with one question-inducing curiosity. (“Songwriter of the Crunchy Frogs - the worst punk bluegrass band ever. We’re headlining the showcase tonight. Our singer milks horses.”) Then seriously, I can’t emphasize this enough : SHUT UP after 3 sentences. Please. Stop there. Don’t pull out your CD. Don’t hand them a flyer. Wait for them to ask, or change the subject back to them if they don’t! DO NOT push your crap on someone who isn’t asking for it. It’s the biggest turn-off of all. Because it shows you don’t understand the real point, which is… REAL business is done in the follow-up, NOT the conference itself! The conference itself is a mad blitz of distractions. Only use it for these initial connections, as described above. Assume that anything you hand someone at a conference will be thrown out. So don’t do it, unless they ask. Instead, if you want them to have something of yours, send it to them separately, afterwards. The best time to get down to business is when they’re alone, back at their desk, a week or two after the conference, undistracted, and can give you their full one-on-one attention. That’s when you want someone checking out what you have to offer: when they’re focused on you - looking at your site. They’ll remember you as incredibly nice and a fascinating conversationalist. When they find out you’re also incredibly talented, they’ll feel they found you - not bombarded by you. (See “Leave ‘em Wanting More”.) It’s ALL about the follow-up After 15 years of 100-or-so conferences, I can tell you from experience that only about 1% of the people ever follow up. Therefore, 99% of them wasted their time. Please don’t be in that 99%. It’s ALL about the follow-up. It’s ONLY about the follow-up. Remember this, and you’ll do well.
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Photo (Wed, 10 Dec 2008)
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Confusing activity with action (Fri, 19 Dec 2008)
Thing is, most of the stuff you do online doesn't cost money. In the old days, money added friction. Money made you choosy. Money ensured that you valued your marketing efforts appropriately, because if they didn't work, they cost you money. Today, reading and posting and linking and networking and connecting and commenting and podcasting and linkblurbling and doseedoing online all feel like essential marketing tasks. They certainly keep you busy. But is the activity getting in the way of action? Is the online work you're doing actually leading you where you want to go, or merely keeping you busy? Dmitri calls this "imitation of turbulent activity" or ИБД, Имитация Бурной Деятельности. [Flipside: Vic sent me a stat that said that 57% of the online users surveyed hadn't read a blog in the last year. These people are incompetent and should be fired.] Another way to look at this: For big brands and marketers with significant budgets, the internet represents a loss of leverage. Money doesn't buy you as much attention, and you have to work much, much harder for every eyeball. For individuals, the internet represents an increase in leverage. One person with a blog or a lot of followers or friends can reach more people, more quickly, than ever before. These are colliding. Big brands on the way down, individuals on the way up.
>> read more
Photo (Fri, 12 Dec 2008)
>> read more
Attending a music biz conference? Here’s the REAL way to do it…. (Fri, 12 Dec 2008)
Being the cheap music-biz conference slut that I am, I’m often asked my advice for attending a conference. Here it is: The Tao of promotion: it’s about them, not you You know the way to be interesting to others is to be interested in them. (Why is this so hard for self-promoters to understand?) So, the week before the conference, read “How to Talk to Anyone” or any book about how to be a great listener. Then use the conference as your testing ground for your new listening skills. Get extremely interested in those around you. Think like an investigative reporter. For each person you meet: how can you help them? Turn to a stranger and say, “Hi. What do you do?” Ask follow-up questions about how they got into that. What they love and hate about it. Ask why they came to the conference. Talk about non-work-stuff, too! Notice your similarities. Appreciate your differences. Be very curious about their unique perspective. Learn from it. Think of how you can help them. If you don’t know yet, keep asking questions. (Sometimes the way to help someone is not what you’d expect! If they are painfully shy, maybe the best way you can help them is by introducing them to the next person you meet, or inviting them to dinner. If they are painfully popular, maybe they need your help to escape the crowd for a little peace and quiet.) Get their business card. Take notes on the back of it as soon as the conversation is done. Each night, before bed, enter everyone’s info into your computer, including your notes. (Trust me: it only takes 15 minutes, but it’s crucial to do it that night before you meet more people the next day!) Send them one tiny email immediately, connecting the digital you to the physical you. (“Hi John. Nice to meet you today. I’m the one in red who also hates Björk. You were right about the burritos! I still want to see your Malaysia photos. Maybe see you at the wrap-up party tomorrow.”) Your email signature should have your full contact info. By being sincerely interested in them, and actively trying to help them, they will likely be interested in you, and try to help you. What about me? Notice I said nothing about promoting your gig, your band, your service. You have to trust the Tao of promotion. This is about them, not you. Your promotion will come later. When they do ask about you, have a very (VERY!) short but impressive summary of what you do, with one question-inducing curiosity. (“Songwriter of the Crunchy Frogs - the worst punk bluegrass band ever. We’re headlining the showcase tonight. Our singer milks horses.”) Then seriously, I can’t emphasize this enough : SHUT UP after 3 sentences. Please. Stop there. Don’t pull out your CD. Don’t hand them a flyer. Wait for them to ask, or change the subject back to them if they don’t! DO NOT push your crap on someone who isn’t asking for it. It’s the biggest turn-off of all. Because it shows you don’t understand the real point, which is… REAL business is done in the follow-up, NOT the conference itself! The conference itself is a mad blitz of distractions. Only use it for these initial connections, as described above. Assume that anything you hand someone at a conference will be thrown out. So don’t do it, unless they ask. Instead, if you want them to have something of yours, send it to them separately, afterwards. The best time to get down to business is when they’re alone, back at their desk, a week or two after the conference, undistracted, and can give you their full one-on-one attention. That’s when you want someone checking out what you have to offer: when they’re focused on you - looking at your site. They’ll remember you as incredibly nice and a fascinating conversationalist. When they find out you’re also incredibly talented, they’ll feel they found you - not bombarded by you. (See “Leave ‘em Wanting More”.) It’s ALL about the follow-up After 15 years of 100-or-so conferences, I can tell you from experience that only about 1% of the people ever follow up. Therefore, 99% of them wasted their time. Please don’t be in that 99%. It’s ALL about the follow-up. It’s ONLY about the follow-up. Remember this, and you’ll do well.
>> read more
Photo (Wed, 10 Dec 2008)
>> read more
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