Michael Katz's E-Newsletter On E-Newsletters
July 7, 2006
Issue #155
Flash Your Insight
It was July of 1993, and my son Evan was five months old. As any new parent knows, new babies require a lot of maintenance, and those first few months are exhausting.
The good news for my wife Linda and me was that at five months, Evan was already sleeping through the night. The bad news unfortunately, was that the night was only three hours long.
And so at around 5 a.m. on this particular Sunday morning, Evan was already awake for the day. I was sleepily doing laps with him downstairs, in the naive hope that he
would eventually stop crying.
As I repeatedly passed our front door, I couldnít help but notice a small, red pickup truck parked in front of our house. This was odd, because with plenty of available parking
on the street at any hour of the day, people tended to park in front of whatever house they were visiting (and there was nobody visiting us at the time).
A few Daddy laps later however, the morningís oddness score went off the charts. Hereís what I witnessed out the front window:
A young man (maybe 18 years old) jogged up the hill towards our house, carrying a ladder. He gently put the ladder in the back of the pickup truck, climbed into the driverís seat,
and released the emergency brake. Without starting the engine, he coasted down the hill and out of sight.
I knew what I had seen, but even after thinking about it for several hours, I couldnít put the pieces together. Why did he have a ladder? Why didnít he start the engine? And,
most importantly, who the hell was he?
That afternoon, I paid a visit across the street to my neighbor John, hoping he might shed some light on the situation. To his credit, John figured it out in about 30
seconds. "Easy," he said, "I bet that was Cindyís boyfriend."
Suddenly, it all made sense. Cindy was our then 17 year old neighbor. The ladder was for the boyfriend to get to Cindyís second floor bedroom window. The coasting down
the hill was to keep from waking Cindyís parents.
Iím a big fan of "flashes of insight." One minute confusion; the next minute all the pieces fall into place.
That said, and as any serious professional will tell you, you canít rely on flashes of insight to run a real company. Which, I realized in a flash of insight several years ago, is
why I no longer work for a real company.
Some of the best (and most profitable) ideas Iíve had – naming my company Blue Penguin, publishing a free educational newsletter, deciding to build a business around
E-Newsletters in the first place – seemed relatively irrational (OK, stupid) when I first had them.
What I found however, is that sometimes you need to jump all the way in and do what seems right, before you really know why, and well before it becomes apparent how the
pieces fit together. Frankly, I consider this a competitive advantages for any solo professional.
In other words, since those of us who work solo donít have to explain – or even understand – our next move to a partner (or God forbid, a room full of
spreadsheet-plugging managers who keep interrupting the discussion with the phrase, "Let me play Devilís advocate for a minute"), we can run with things which arenít yet
fully baked.
Thatís big. Not every great idea makes sense before the fact (I still have trouble imagining how anybody ever persuaded the first bank to install the first ATM machine: "All you do
is fill the box with about $50,000 and then leave it on the street corner overnight…"), and if you wait until it does, youíll do more waiting than doing.
In any case, if you find this way of thinking intriguing, here are a few suggestions for incorporating more flashes of insight into the way you do business:
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Change the name of your company to Blue Penguin. Iím kidding. Do things you like doing. I got started in E-Newsletters after writing my own twice a month for about a
year – simply because I liked doing it. Eventually, people came to me asking for help with their newsletters. I wasnít in the E-Newsletter business at the time (there was no
such thing in 2000), but one day it just hit me… I could do this for other people.
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Do things that fascinate you, even if there is no obvious payback. For example, I think audio is going to be big in the business world, so about six months ago I started
podcasting this newsletter. If thereís a business model for me in there somewhere, I sure donít know what it is. Thatís fine with me. Iím getting involved now,
under the assumption that my audio flash of insight will show up down the line.
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Do things before you know what youíre doing. Iím launching a new (free) service today called "Coffee with Michael" (more on this below). After weeks of thinking about it,
talking about it and trying to figure out where it will eventually lead, I decided to just wade in and (shhhh) make it up as I go along. Maybe weíll do one session and shut it
down. Or, maybe it will become the basis of an entirely new, extremely profitable, Blue Penguin adventure. I have no idea, but I do know that for me, getting in is the only
way to find out.
Bottom Line: Lots of people (and most companies) need to "make the numbers work" before theyíre willing to invest time and money on a new idea. If thatís the way you
like to approach things too, thatís fine.
If it isnít however, and like me, you feel the creative side of your brain shutting down when too much logic is applied, donít worry. I absolutely guarantee you
that a less structured approach to doing things works just as well.
Extra Credit: A great book on this topic is
A Whole New Mind: Why Right-Brainers Will Rule the Future, by Daniel Pink. (If you canít remember which is right brain and
which is left, youíre right brain.)
Coffee With Michael
I get a steady stream of requests from fellow professionals, asking if they can buy me a cup of coffee to talk about building their respective businesses.
I do it as time allows, and in fact have noticed a couple of things about these sessions. First, the same questions seem to get asked again and again. Second, I really enjoy talking about this topic.
With that in mind, and in the hope of expanding the conversation to include more people living in more places, Iím pleased to launch something Iím calling "Coffee with Michael."
These 30 minute phone sessions will be in the format of free (yes, free), live teleseminars, held about twice a month. On the phone with me will be my friend Lissa Bergin-Boles, a Toronto-based, certified "Master Life Coach," and the possessor of the most wonderful voice youíve ever heard (no kidding). Weíll chat for 20 minutes or so and then throw it open for 10 minutes of questions.
OK, there is one catch. Weíre limiting group size to just 10 guests per session. So although it doesnít cost anything to participate, once we get ten sign ups, that particular session will be closed.
Our first topic is "Giving Away Free Information… What it is, why it works, how to do it." The call will be this coming Thursday, July 13th at 1 pm EST. To reserve your spot, be one of the first 10 people to send an e-mail with your request to coffee@bluepenguindevelopment.com. We'll send you the conference call details.
Thanks, and if you donít get in to this first one, donít worry, weíll have more (unless we donít).
About Blue Penguin Development, Inc.
Blue Penguin Development helps professional service firms get clients,
by showing them how to strengthen relationships with the people they already know.
I specialize in the development of electronic newsletters.
Click here for an overview of my services.
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