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The Roles Experience & Intuition Play in Design

Written on June 3, 2010 by sparkyfirepants in Put on My Pants: Guest Posts, Sparky Firepants Says

This is a guest post by the tremendously intuitive and experienced designer, Naomi Niles. I think it’s also relevant for non-designers and I’m grateful to Naomi for sharing her ideas with us.

Let me tell you an insider secret about the world of design. Are you ready for it? This may shock you…

Good design is not magic.

Yep, you read that right. Most of us designers haven’t been randomly or genetically blessed by the enchanting creativity fairy. We’ve gotten good at our work by putting in the hours and making a lot of mistakes, pretty much in the same way that you get good at just about anything you really dedicate yourself to.

But don’t you have to have a natural talent for it to be a designer?

Not necessarily. It’s true that some people have natural inclinations that make it easier for them to grasp the fundamentals of design (being left-brained vs. right-brained, their learning style & personality type, etc), but being an extraordinary designer on the first try is a pretty rare event indeed.

Now, I’ll let you in on another secret. I struggled a lot with something the first few years I started designing. I felt badly about my work. I didn’t attend art school and I though I would never be good enough because of it. Heck, I only took 1 semester of art class in high school. I didn’t even think I really had any natural talent for it. You could say I started from zero.

Since I’m sharing my darkest secrets today, I’ll show you the very first “web design” I did back in 2002.

http://intuitivedesigns.net/grunge.jpg

You might be saying, “It could be better and it could be worse”. Well, at least I hope that’s what you’re saying and not, “Wow, that sucks monkeys, man!”.

When I look at it now, I see that I broke a lot of “rules”. Are there like 6 different incompatible free fonts in there? This would’ve been a nightmare to code into a working website. User Experience? That didn’t exist in 2002, right? I was pretty proud of this small achievement at the time though, let me tell you.

And even now, I still don’t consider myself a great designer. I do good work and I know I’m a decent designer. I’ve put in more than my obligatory 10,000 hours. I care. But, I don’t have illusions of being the next Milton Glaser. And you know what? That’s ok.

Am I naturally “intuitive” though? Well, yes and no.

It’s kind of funny because now that I know more about the fundamentals of design, I can objectively identify small quirky things that set the stage for me to become a designer.

For example, my annoying habit of arranging and rearranging all my knick-nacks until they look perfect. As it turns out, it’s not OCD, but carefully following the rule of thirds, symmetry, proximity, and dominance!

And that crazy habit I had of grouping my crayons into compatible colors as a kid was not really so crazy after all. I still think teal blue and violet make a very nice couple. They should get married and have lots of purple baby crayons.

And if we get into the marketing and psychology aspects of commercial design, I could tell you lots of stories about my previous jobs doing door-to-door sales and telemarketing. We won’t go there because I’m still too scarred to talk about that though. I said I was sharing my dark secrets today, but not THAT dark!

Still….that grungy design would have made for a pretty bad website and I would have been a pretty crappy designer if I just called it good enough at that point.

So, which is it that makes a good designer? Intuition or experience?

Well, I think it’s perhaps a little intuition or a knack for it and a lot of experience that make a great designer.

Have you read Blink by Malcolm Gladwell? It’s probably one of my favorite books from the last few years. When I read it, it made me think a lot about design and how people perceive it, especially during the first few critical seconds. The main premise of the book, if you haven’t read it, is that often what you call “intuition” is really a culmination of experience bringing you to make a well-founded snap decision or what he calls “thin-slicing”.

I’d say this is true most of the time. For example, when a client proposes an idea for a design that we’re working on together, I can usually determine right away if it’ll be workable or not.

If I discharge the idea right off the bat, it’s not because I’m drunk on my own power. It’s because I can “see” how it’ll look in my mind. I often move things around in my head while considering them or sometimes I come up with whole website designs almost all done in my mind before I even start up Photoshop.

Or perhaps, my quick judgement just tells me it won’t work. I just know.

I couldn’t do that when I started designing. It’s an ability that I have now because I’ve experimented a lot, made a lot of mistakes along the way, and have learned a thing or two about what works and what doesn’t. I’m sure a lot of other designers feel the same way.

What has your experience been?

I’d love to hear from you other designers out there. Did you take off running right from the start or did you go through the school of hard knocks like me?

And if you’re not a designer, what do you think? Do you see the parallels between this and your own line of work?

—–

Naomi Niles is the co-owner of Intuitive Designs, a custom website design and illustration studio she’s run alongside her husband since 2003. She also helps web designers with the business side of things at Guides for Designers. You can follow her on Twitter at @NaomiNiles

FFTO #12: The French Toast Taxicab Goodbye Edition

Written on May 31, 2010 by sparkyfirepants in Fortune Favors the Odd, Sparky Firepants Says

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fortune favors the odd
A somewhat regular series by Sparky Firepants

I hope you’ve enjoyed this series of nonsensical sketchbook offerings. Alas, they will not continue forever. In fact, this is FFTO hailing a taxi to the airport. They are going on permanent vacation.

The good news is that I have something even better waiting just around the corner. As soon as the cab pulls away, a new comic will be dancing on the sidewalk in a giant robot suit, handing out flyers.

It’s sorta like if I fed you cereal every day for a few weeks and then I said, “Hey, how about French toast from now on?”

Next week I’m making you French toast.

Why the internet is killing my business.

Written on May 31, 2010 by sparkyfirepants in Get inside my pants. So to speak., Sparky Firepants Says

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You should always be launching.

Launching is icky.

You need to define your goals.

Goals? Those are so… gross.

I just maded the bestest Facebook fan page you ever sawed!

Facebook is evil.

You need to find your niche.

“Niche?” Ewww. That offends me.

Find a need that people have and fill it.

“I don’t waste time researching ‘markets.’ Ewww. I just make things and people buy them.”

Tired. Woo. Feeling ranty. Begin rant.

I’m tired. Okay, wait. No, not tired. Kinda burned out. I’m burned out on marketing. Wait, let me rephrase. I’m burned out on Internet Marketing.

The internet has been crucial for building my business. So have the people I’ve come to know and love through the internet (thank you). However.

I realized that I’ve been putting most of my eggs in the Great Internet Marketing Basket lately. I’ve been letting my Twitter stream and Google Reader shape my thoughts and (sometimes) shift the damn good business sense that I already had.

I let other people drive my car, so to speak. And I’m kicking myself for letting that happen. I’m smarter than this. But that’s my fault.

So I’m burned out. Burned out on Social Media gurus. Burned out on marketing experts. Burned out on arguments about whether numbers matter or not, and how ewwwgrossicky it is to talk about people like they’re numbers.

Burned out on the words icky, gross, and eww. Monsters. Burned out on monsters.

Burned out on whether LinkedIn is better than Facebook and why everyone is so sick of affiliate programs and hey why don’t you become an affiliate for my workshop on How to Not Be an Affiliate? Starts next week, but buy it now, price goes up, but I won’t resort to those phony tactics because we’re all brethren and I know you see through it but we all have to make a living and if you think that’s disgusting then you’re just being negative and check out these boots I bought online with all that money you sent me. Don’t I look sexy wearing your money? Oh crap. I was out buying boots and I forgot I had our teleclass. Oh well. You’ll forgive me because I let you sit next to me at sxsw and didn’t cringe on the outside when you said all those Things I Don’t Approve Of. Woo-hoo!

Oh. Sorry Woo-hoo is yucky. So… just woo. But not woo-woo, because nobody likes woo-woo. So we’ll call it Not Woo-Woo, even though it’s the same woo-woo that isn’t woo-hoo. No… this is new.

New-hoo.

So, yeah. Burnt to a crisp here. Well done, my friend. And the stupidest part is, I allowed myself to get caught up in it. I’ve parroted some of those brainless, idiotic things that I just ranted about.

Ewww.

End Rant.

Last Saturday I carpooled to a retreat with a consultant friend. We spent most of the 3-hour drive talking about his frustrations in getting design work done. It was uncanny because a product I’m developing is perfect for him in both price point and content.

At the retreat I found that it was also perfect for a few more people there. It struck me that there was a whole world of people who aren’t in my Twitter stream that could benefit from this product. Duh.

Even if I went by every step of The Online Product Launch Code and all the Internet Marketing Experts talked it up, most of those retreat people would miss it. They wouldn’t even know it exists.

Imagine that.
And imagine that I might actually create something of value for people who actually need it. People who are in my (gasp) Target Market.

Yes, I said the Evil. You know what? Every person in my target market knows what I mean when I say target market and they aren’t offended because they’re doing the same damn thing so can’t we all just get along? Would I sit next to someone on a plane and say, “Hey! You’re in my Target Market!” Puh-lease. Tip-toe, tip-toe. Can we stop making words into pariahs and respect people’s intelligence?

Oh. Sorry. I was supposed to end the rant. You caught me.

It sounds so obvious and silly, but after the retreat and my visit to NYC I’ve realized that I am spending way too much time in this online internet marketing bubble. It’s becoming a major distraction. I’m starting to lose sight of what my business is really about and who benefits from what I do.

Have I received value from the bubble? Hell yeah. I’ve bought some products, done workshops, and read blogs that have helped shift my business into a new gear. I have a great respect for the true experts who have shared their practical knowledge – paid or not. I’m just tired of the noise.

After these messages, we’ll be right back.

I’m going on sabbatical. An internet sabbatical. Here’s what I won’t be doing in the month of June:

Twitter
Facebook (actually… ever. I left Facebook for good).
LinkedIn
Reading blogs

Here’s what I will be doing:

Working with my clients, of course. It’s just an internet break.
Answering/sending email
Publishing on this site
Talking on the phone
Meeting people in person (more of this, please)

I’m not advising anyone to follow my example and turn it all off. This is something I need to do to build my business. I need to get away from the online noise for a while.

It’s a little freaky for me. I get 90% of my business from Social Media. You know what? That’s kind of freaky, too. Kind of eggs-in-one-basket freaky.

The funny thing is, I’m releasing a product and starting a new comic strip. You may not even hear about it online. And you know what?

I’m kind of excited about that.

To my online friends who have spent countless tweets and emails supporting me in whatever New Thing I put into the world, thank you. You are awesome. Send me an email. Call me up. Let’s stay pals in June. I want to support you despite my online hermitage. Tell me what you’re offering that’s new and exciting and if I think it will help people in my Target Market, I will make sure they know about it.

Until July. XOXO

*disclaimer: grammatically, it’s “burnt out.” Look at me not caring.

Tags: damn., this post is tag-free., wait. that's a tag.

Why you should care if anyone likes you

Written on May 26, 2010 by sparkyfirepants in Sparky Firepants Says

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I got back late last Tuesday night from New York. Apparently not too late for my two-year old son, who was waiting patiently on the couch wearing his only-for-special-occasions skeleton mask. It was a huge reward for a long, bone-wearying trip home.

I was in New York for SURTEX and the National Stationery show. SURTEX is kinda like sxsw for the art licensing crowd. Less alcohol. More sport jackets. Back in January I made a video about my foray into the world of art licensing. This was Step One.

My purpose in going to the show this year (my first), was to do live research on How This Game is Played. It was like standing behind the geezers at the park playing champion-level chess. I know the basic rules, but I want to learn the strategy. I walked the floor with some talented and business-savvy compatriots who are also exhibiting next year.

We all made our notes and shared insights on what we saw. I won’t go into all of them here but one observation stands out and appeals to any business, not just art licensing. It’s been argued about, ignored, and completely underestimated by some. It’s fodder for the cynical. It’s been taken as a replacement for doing the work.

It’s the likeability factor.

I like you. Where’s my wallet?

It would be super cool if you could just be a chatty, friendly character and people would hand you their cash. It wouldn’t even matter what you did. You could offer blood sausage to a vegetarian and they would thank you for the privilege.

It doesn’t work that way, but it’s fun to imagine.

I read about the likeability factor in Michael Port’s Book Yourself Solid (I highly recommend it). Michael reenforced some things I suspected and have experienced in building a successful business.

“We don’t want to admit it, we don’t want to believe it, we’ve been told that it ain’t necessarily so, but ultimately, if you’re well-liked, if you’re likeability factor is high, you’re more likely to be chosen…” – Tim Sanders

That kind of statement usually sets off a series of strong… um, discussions. Some people loathe this concept and I don’t blame them. It’s kind of scary to think about because sometimes we translate “likeable” to mean “outgoing” or the stomach-turning “having personality.”

This hasn’t been my experience. In fact, I do business with some people who are kind of shy. They don’t have a stand-up comedy routine every time we work together. It’s not always hugs and high-fives. But I still enjoy working with them.

How to be likeable without throwing up afterwards

Likeability is much easier to accomplish than it sounds. In part, it’s courtesy, politeness. It’s about acknowledging communication. You do need to generally not be a complete bunghole.

Likeability is also about your audience. If the people you serve like snarky rants and swearing and that’s what you offer, then you are already likeable. Don’t get all Sandra Dee Smileypants just to become what you think Michael Port’s idea of likeability is. Stick with your own brand of likeability. It’s not about fakery, it’s about serving people.

Some people will hate you. Revel in your hateability factor, because it’s an excellent filter. Be yourself, throw up less.

You still have to be good

The most likeable person in the world won’t last long in their business if they can’t deliver the goods. At some point, you have to actually offer something of value. Your yoga instructor can be the warmest, huggingest dude on the planet but if you leave class wondering if he really knew what he was doing, it’s not likely you’ll continue.

But consider the opposite.

How likely are you to buy from someone with outstanding skills and a service you need that treats you like sweater lint? Think about what it feels like when you encounter a grumbly, scowling barista. You might get The World’s Best Coffee, but there’s something about the experience that will stick with you long after you’ve freshened your breath. Not even Altoids can take away the feeling of meh.

Congeniality Pants strikes again

You can try too hard to be likeable. You can smooch big butts all day long and no one becomes interested in what you’re offering. You can paste on a Miss America smile and drive people away.

The likeablity factor isn’t about faking nice or becoming a “personality.” Ugh. Being likeable is simply about allowing people to feel welcome and comfortable. You’re not trying to win a contest. Even the shyest people I know can still be likeable.

Skeleton Boy FTW

If you’ve ever been in the same room with a screaming, squirming, sharp-object-throwing, uncooperative toddler, you will start to wonder why children aren’t raised by robots in a secure, secluded facility. It doesn’t matter how much parental love lies underneath, you’ll take any opportunity to leave the room.

When I come home late at night from an exhausting trip to find my little dude wearing his favoritest skeleton mask, waiting patiently for a hug, I wouldn’t take any amount of money to leave that room.

That’s likeability. And thankfully, he’s also selling something I need.

Are you overprepared to work with a designer?

Written on May 26, 2010 by sparkyfirepants in How to Work with Designers, Ideas for your genius thing, Sparky Firepants Says

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Imagine walking into your favorite bakery. By the time you grope through the cloud of fragrant sweetness to reach the counter, you already know what you want to order:

YOU: I’d like some whole wheat flour, about a 1/2 cup of sugar, some non-hydrogenated oil, and a stick of margarine.

BAKER: Uhhh, okay. What’s this for?

YOU: Well, I’m headed to work. I’ve got this coffee and I need something yummy and easy to take with me to my morning meeting.

BAKER: How about one of these blueberry muffins? They’re fresh out of the oven.

YOU: Hmmm. I don’t know. Did you use 1/2 cup of sugar?

BAKER: Well, no. My recipe only calls for 1/4 cup and some agave. Do you have any allergies?

YOU: No, but I’ve always read you should use 1/2 cup of sugar. Isn’t that right? I’m so confused about all this.

BAKER: No worries. You want yummy? You like blueberries?

YOU: Yes!

BAKER: You want it easy to eat in a meeting?

YOU: Of course.

BAKER: Blueberry muffin. Here you go.

YOU: Wow. That’s exactly what I needed. How did you know?

Ordering design by ingredients

Often I work with very well-intentioned people who need some kind of illustration for their project, but they feel obligated to arrive at my proverbial doorstep with everything all figured out. They research fonts and PMS colors so they can show up with a list of ingredients. They want to look like they know what they’re doing.

What a lot of pressure that must be. And it’s so unnecessary.

I totally get this mindset. When something is wrong with my car, I want to figure it out first so I don’t look dumb when I take it to a mechanic. I don’t want to look another man in the eye and say, “It’s making this woop-woop-woop sound.” I want to show up looking like I know all about cars, so I say, “I’m pretty sure it needs a new timing belt. Volvos take the extra ribbed non-lubricated double-layered 217-L46.”

I can see it in the mechanic’s eyes. He’s thinking, Dude, just tell me what it’s doing and I’ll figure it out. Go get some free popcorn and have a seat. Watch some Jerry Springer and let me do my job.

When it turns out there was a piece of duct tape stuck to the front left tire, I get to look dumb anyway.

Aren’t you going to ask me what font I like?

When a client comes to me to get their ebook designed, I get really excited. I love to hear new ideas. I also love talking to the people who created them. It’s my form of entertainment (geek). Here are a few of the questions I ask to spur the discussion:

Who do you want to buy this ebook? Who’s your audience?

What’s the core message you want your readers to take with them?

Will they need to print it?

Some people are surprised when I don’t ask about stuff like what font they would like. Then, if I do ask about colors or styles, it’s to get an understanding of who they are, versus offering a catalog of choices. They wonder aloud, “Don’t you need to know this stuff before we start?”

Nope. In fact, I hope we don’t even cover it at all.

What I do hope is that a client shows up ready to talk about their product and their business. I want to hear where they shine. I want to understand why they’re an expert in their field and who benefits from their work. If they know a thing or two about color, that’s cool. Sure, I need dimensions. I need to know if it will be printed and how. But pre-selecting ingredients can actually muddy the creative process. What they end up hiring is a very expensive skilled laborer. They’ve invested large amounts of money to take on more work. Often, they’re disappointed with the results. Not to mention exhausted.

Do yourself a favor and let go

When you hire a designer for your next project, do yourself a huge favor. Don’t do the work for them. Show up with your project, know your audience, and be ready to talk about what you want to achieve. Leave the ingredients to the baker and relish that blueberry muffin.

|||

A while back I created a resource to help small business people work with any designer. It was a set of odd but relevant questions that actually helped bring amazing results when my clients used it. I took it off the shelf so I could expand it further and make it even more valuable. It’s called Before You Hire a Designer and I’m going to release it again this summer. You can read more about it here.

FFTO #11

Written on May 24, 2010 by sparkyfirepants in Fortune Favors the Odd, Sparky Firepants Says

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fortune favors the odd
A somewhat regular series by Sparky Firepants

Is your product a hot rod? Because it kinda looks like a Geo Metro.

Written on May 13, 2010 by sparkyfirepants in How to Work with Designers, Ideas for your genius thing, Sparky Firepants Says

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Close your eyes for a moment. Oh, wait. You’ll need to read. So keep them open, but pretend they’re closed.

Imagine you restore old cars. You’re the type who dons blue coveralls just to change your wiper blades. You smoke around open cans of gasoline, taunting the fumes. You keep a greasy socket wrench in your bra. If you even wear a bra, that is. Maybe you’re too tough for a bra. Or you’re a dude who likes to wear women’s undergarments under your coveralls. But let’s get back to the story.

Imagine you just built a hot rod with a super powerful engine. Rumble, rumble. Gun that engine. Go ahead, rev it up. Nice.

You’ve spent hours timing that engine. You found only the best parts to assemble it. Special mail order from some old geezer outside of Detroit. Expensive, but worth it. I mean, listen to that thing. Hell yeah.

Now step outside the car. Look at that dull, chipped paint and those worn-out tires. That needs fixin’. So you polish it up, apply a few careful dabs of your kid’s tempura paints and call it done. Will anyone even notice? I mean… listen to that power under the hood.

You take it to the car show (which is what coverall-wearing people do for fun). Before anyone gets to hear that turbo-charged rumble, they stroll right on by thinking, “Who let in the riff-raff?”

So you jump behind the wheel and crank that sucker over. rrrrRRRRROAR! Rumble rumble. By the time it revs up, they’re already over by the Batmobile.

On the flip side, let’s talk about the Batmobile. People gather around to soak up the legend behind this jet-powered rocket car they used to see on TV. Sooner or later, they’ll find out it’s only slick black paint and shiny chrome. Wait. Is that a Volkswagen engine? Then they feel bamboozled. They want what they saw on TV.

Hey. That’s kinda like a product.

Is it unfair that people judge your content before they even read your turbo-charged words? Yes, it’s unfair. So unfair. My coverall-covered butt is clenched in outrage over the unfairness.

Okay. So you can make them pay attention with your Batmobile reputation. If you’re Danielle LaPorte, for example, you can create a fantastic product and design it yourself. Even if it has chipped paint (and her stuff does not), people will see potential value in your product before you open the hood simply by virtue of you having rocked their world before. From what I’ve read, Danielle’s engine is turbo-charged. So no problem there.

But what if you’re just a weekend garage monkey with no rep? What do you do about your paint job – er, your package?

Your biggest priority is to turbo-charge that engine. Remember the Batmobile. Ironic, but most people I work with designing their products make the mistake of underestimating how powerful their engine (message) is, not the other way around. So hone it, test, it, get feedback. Tweak it. Then close the hood and move on to the paint job.

You have two options:

Do it yourself
Hire someone to design it for you

DIY for the win

Danielle did it herself. But look around her web site and take notice of the fact that everything on her site is so simple and elegant. Design is subjective but you can always count on the fact that clarity and simplicity win every time.

So if you feel like you have no choice but to design everything yourself, err on the side of simple. This means:

Leave out the cartoon clipart (the design equivalent of naked chick mud flaps)
Don’t use special effects (like drop shadows)
When in doubt about background patterns and colors, leave it white.
Don’t combine more than two fonts. Better still, don’t try and figure out which ones compliment each other. Stick to one and you’ll be fine.

Take your hands off the wheel

What’s stopping you from hiring someone? What I hear from clients most often is the money. My fees are outrageous for some people. Money worries will put a wrench into the flywheel every time.

You need to decide what’s right for you. A few things to ponder that might help you decide:

Consider what you’ll get from your launch. Do you expect to make $11K on your product? That’s awesome. Go for it. If you’ve got an audience eagerly awaiting your product, you might be able to advance the cash to hire a pro, knowing you’ll get it back in spades. If you’re offering a free 5-page ebook to your email subscribers, you can save your money for the big $11K stuff.

Consider your time and sanity. Do you really want to learn InDesign? Pick fonts? Scour Google for answers on why Adobe Acrobat won’t make your hyperlinks clickable? Use your energy to build your turbo-charged engine and let Earl Sheib paint your car. Give yourself the space to think creative thoughts rather than technical ones.

Think about the hidden value in hiring someone. Ponder two projects I recently completed; World-Changing Writers Workshop and the LIft-Off Retreat. In working with both of those teams, I cared about what they were creating beyond the final invoice. Plus, I did some of my best work with them. So when the time came, I promoted the hell out of their stuff.

Even on the purely selfish side where I just wanted more people to see my art, they got the benefit of my emails, tweets, and connections with their people.

I don’t know if you can put a dollar value on that.

Meanwhile, back at the car show…

So while you’re crafting the engine of your genius product, think about what you’re going to deliver to your people. You’ll probably spend hours on your sales copy, explaining the benefits and outlining features. Think about what happens when someone identifies with your offer and clicks that “buy” button.

Picture their anticipation at receiving the final product.

Try to imagine what it will be like when they see that first page of your book. If you’re giving a presentation, what do you hope people will feel when they see that first slide come up?

Before you hit the car show, make sure you have something to show off inside and out. And take off those coveralls. Wait. Are you wearing pants under there?

Consuming friends and influencing people

Written on May 7, 2010 by sparkyfirepants in Get inside my pants. So to speak., Sparky Firepants Says

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Disclaimer: On a scale of 1-10, the gross-out factor of this post is a solid 9. Gee. How could you resist now?

A Tale of Two Tails

We live in the sticks. Up to now, we’ve always been city people but we had a jones for living on an alpaca ranch, so here we are. It’s gorgeous out here. Woodsy Owl and I have coffee together every morning (in reusable thermal mugs, of course. Give a hoot.)

There are critters out here. Sure, there are deer, raccoons, and of course, the aplacas. They all stay outside like we expect them to. Some critters like to come inside. Like mice. Apparently that’s part of ”country living.” Or so the neighbors tell us. Right.

We’re gentle folk. We don’t kill critters, even the ones that we really, really want to. It’s a karma thing. So we catch them and let them go about a mile away so they don’t come right back.

One night, Jenni caught three mice (while the cat stood by and purred lazily). She put them all in a large glass jar under the sink. When morning, came, we only saw two mice in the jar. Escape was not possible, so we started to imagine these were magical mice.

Until we saw… remnants. Yes. Mouse parts.

The other two mice had eaten their friend. Devoured him. Thoroughly.

We were freaked out and sickened. Sure, we get that these are animals and it’s instinctual survival stuff, but any cute qualities these creatures possessed died with the third mouse. So we still let the other two go in a field, but we signaled a passing hawk. Karma points and contributing to the Circle of Life in one go. Let’s move on, shall we?

Consuming friends and influencing people

The internet is a fantastic place for marketing, isn’t it? Everyone from small business owners to artists with etsy shops have the opportunity to reach huge audiences without a marketing budget like Coke or GM.

We also have tremendous opportunities to make new friends without leaving our chairs. Sometimes we make friends that are in our market, and sometimes they buy our stuff. We buy their stuff. We’re friends. It’s cool.

With social media, it’s even easier to make tons of friends out of people we barely know outside of their avatar and profile. Some Social Media apps even call it “friending.” It sounds nice. Friendly.

It’s so easy that we can get caught up in making scores of “friends” yet not really creating meaningful connections. Sometimes we befriend someone because they’re influential and might get us what we want; attention, a wider audience, blog readers.

I’ve done this. I hate that I’ve done this, but there’s my confession. It sickens me almost as much as finding only two mice in the jar.

Slow down, you move too fast

I’ve since realized that my mistake was not in wanting to make lots of friends. Sure I do. I love the people I hang out with on Twitter. Dude, it’s my water cooler, my cafe, my bar.

But I’m slowing down. There are formulas to follow that will build huge audiences of people and win you scads of new online “friends.” I’m sure they work.

Sales may be a numbers game, but people aren’t. You can build a massive friend base, but if you’re not actively working on those relationships then it’s just the usual marketing. What’s the hurry? Better to build relationships that will last rather than merely consuming friends to survive.

I will have fewer numbers, but stronger friends. Stronger client relationships. More meaningful work.

No annoying fur in my teeth.

What happens when the fireworks don’t go BOOM.

Written on May 2, 2010 by sparkyfirepants in Get inside my pants. So to speak., Sparky Firepants Says

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BOOM. Crackle.

Wumpita-wumpita-wumpita-wumpita-wumpita…

I’ll never forget that sound. On the Brady bunch, Millicent kissed Bobby and he saw skyrockets. Love. Then he went back and kissed her to see if it would happen again. It did. Wumpita-wumpita-wumpita…

In my stuck-in-the-70s mini-brain, I still feel like I should see explosions and hear that Brady Bunch music when something awesome happens.

Hey. I don’t see any damn fireworks

April has been chock full of awesome. Crazy busy. Aside from client work, I launched a semi-custom web site package with my talented friend Tzaddi, co-hosted and launched an unconference for Portland-based independent animators, and completely overhauled this web site under the guidance of the smarty pants Sarah Bray.

No fireworks.

Sure, it feels good. These major accomplishments aren’t merely events, but massive learning experiences. All of them. I’m still processing all the knowledge gained from each project and person I worked with. I’m grateful to be in league with such wise and creative people.

But no wumpita.

What’s wrong with me?

Well, of course I started to wonder. I expected to see confetti streaming down on my convertible as I motor down the Fifth avenue in my head, Buzz Aldrin on my left and Muhammad Ali on my right. We do the princess wave as we pass by my occipital lobe. I expected some kind of inner commendation medal.

Then I freaked out on Jenni today. What the hell? Why does everything seem so stupid and pointless? What do I think I’m doing here? Why don’t I feel like a zillion dollars today? Do I totally suck and just don’t know it? And why is there a raisin stuck to my sock?

Maybe I should stop doing this… thing. Whatever it is I’m doing. You know, all this Sparky Firepants stuff.

Of course I know I shouldn’t stop. Not really. And my friends and colleagues? They’ve been incredibly supportive and encouraging. High fives all around.

So what do I do in the absence of fireworks?

What would Bobby Brady do? For starters, he would kiss Millicent again. Keep trying until he saw skyrockets.

That’s cool. Those Bradys were positive thinkers. I’m pretty sure Tony Robbins stole their act. But what happens when plain ol’ Norman Vincent Peale thinking doesn’t bring the BOOM?

I asked myself why I thought I was supposed to see fireworks every time I complete something big. If I don’t see blinding flashes and sparkly fire trails does that mean that what I did wasn’t worth anything?

It’s not always about me and my brain parade

I got an email from someone last week. She told me that one of my posts significantly affected her. Of course I had to go read the post again to see what I said. Hmm. When I wrote it, I don’t recall seeing fireworks. No BOOM. More of a “plink,” like the Apple glass sound.

What if I hadn’t published it because it just didn’t “thrill” me? I might have felt justified in keeping it to myself until I could create something Truly Genius. Skyrocket-worthy.

And I would have failed.

I’m writing this now because I know there must be other people who feel like this. In fact, I know there are people who are hesitating to publish their genius thing because they’re terrified that it’s craptastic (thanks for the word, Fabeku).

I feel that, too.

So what if we don’t get a BOOM when we’re done? What if we send our thing into the world and only get a wump instead of the whole wumpita? Isn’t it still worth doing?

It is to someone.

When honesty is not the best policy

Written on April 29, 2010 by sparkyfirepants in Sparky Firepants Says

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My lovely LCD monitor went ga-ga on me last week. Thankfully, it’s still under warranty and Samsung is very efficient at handling this stuff. They sent me a link to a UPS shipping label so all I had to do was box that sucker up and get it to the UPS store in town.

All I really had to do was drop it off and get a receipt. But I decided to take it one step further and ask for a “Handle With Care” or “Fragile” label to stick on top.

Ok. I know that slapping a “fragile” label on the box is akin to Dumbo and his magic feather. I know it’s gonna get dropped, kicked, and slid all over the place before Samsung gets its delicate technician mitts on it. But I wasn’t prepared for the disclaimer that came from the UPS lady at the counter.

“Don’t do it. If you put a fragile label on that thing it will do exactly the opposite. Those young guys at the warehouse will take that thing and – [she mimed throwing a box].”

“You’ve never worked for the Post Office have you? It’s the same thing. It doesn’t matter what you put on the box, it’s gonna get destroyed. The best thing you can do is pack it well.”

Um. Wow.

Like I said, I’m not 9. I know the box will not be delivered under polished glass by a tuxedoed UPS employee with cotton gloves. It was a dirty old box anyway.

And hey, I’m a big fan of honesty in business. A few things I’ve heard and appreciated before:

“Hmm. I’m not sure I’ll be able to fix it, but I’ll open it up and see what we can do.”

“The flight from Philadelphia is behind schedule due to weather. We’ll be departing an hour late.”

“I would try the pasta. It’s fresher.”

Not all good news, but that’s stuff I can hear and still have confidence in the business. And that’s really what we want, isn’t it? We don’t want rainbows blown up our pants, but we want to feel confident.

We know that sometimes Cliff forgets to wash his hands before he dives back into cooking our burger. We know, but we don’t want to hear about it. We don’t even want to think about it (but… you’re welcome for thinking about it now).

When you serve people, sometimes honesty is not always the best policy. Knowing when to shut the hell up is.

You know. Handle with Care.