Sorry to offend you, I thought you already knew.

At Fat Atom, we start all client engagements with our analysis process. Why do we do this? A few reasons. First, it makes the client admit they need help.

“Hi, I’m Steve and I don’t have a marketing strategy for my business.”

And everyone at Fat Atom says, “Hi Steve.”

Another reason is that the client believes we can help them by providing them that strategy. This is also why we charge for our strategy…if it were free it would have no perceived value.

Advice is a great example of this thought process.

Me – “I need help on my corporate taxes.”

Who do I trust most?

Free advice from my friend Ted, part-time bookkeeper and Xbox aficionado – “ What you need to do Todd, is not pay taxes.”

Paid advice from Cox, Beckman, Goss & Company – “Todd, you need to pay us to do your tax planning, which in turn will save you money, time and keep you out of jail.”

Exactly. Paid advice is almost always better. And by clients paying us for a marketing strategy, they are saying….we trust you.

Lastly, you always get the person who says “…but why?”  And to that I say…

You don’t build a house without a blueprint

You don’t play a football game without a game plan

Your don’t go to war without a strategy

You don’t spend money without a budget

You don’t travel without a map

You don’t have surgery without a diagnosis

You don’t get married before you date

The short of the experiment is this: In 1990 a Ph.D. candidate named Elizabeth Newton designed a game in which subjects had one of two rolls: “tappers” or “listeners.” Tappers received a list of 25 well-known songs, like “Happy Birthday” and “The Star-Spangled Banner.” Each tapper was asked to pick a song and tap out the rhythm to a listener (by knocking on a table). The listener’s job was to guess the song based on the tappers tapping. Sounds easy, right?

The listener’s job in this test was challenging. During the course of the experiment, 120 songs were tapped out. Listeners guessed only 3 songs correctly or just a measly 2.5% success rate.

No surprise right? But what made this research worth recognition was the next point. Before the listeners guessed the name of the song, the tappers were asked to predict the listeners probability of guessing the song correctly. Overall, the tappers predicted the probability of listeners getting the right answer at 50%. Yes, you read that correctly. The tappers thought that the listener would guess their song right half the time; while in reality, the tappers communicated successfully only 1 in 40 times, but they thought they were communicating successfully 1 in 2 times.

Researchers call this “The Curse of Knowledge.” When a tapper taps, they hear the song in their head...meanwhile the listener hears someone knocking on a table. In the end, the tappers were frustrated at how hard the listeners were trying to guess the songs, to the extent the tappers thought the listeners where stupid for not guessing the song correctly. It’s hard to be a tapper, to have the knowledge and interact with people who aren’t getting it.

So the questions you have to ask yourself:

1. Are you or your salespeople “tapping” to your clients?
2. In your sales presentations do you talk while your prospect just sits and nods?
3. Do you think your prospect would tell you if they didn’t understand what you are saying or just not purchase from you?
4. Is the content on your website just a lot of corporate speak that doesn’t clearly articulate your value?
5. Could that explain why your website doesn’t convert traffic well?

Next time you sit with someone just remember...the knowledge in your head might be harder for others to comprehend than you think.

Anatomy of a Problem

A problem exists in the absence of understanding. Problems cause us pain, if we understood them we would have already solved them. If we have not solved a problem, we must not understand it.

“But wait!” you say, “I know what my problem is!” That may be, but knowing about something does not mean you understand it. I know my head hurts, but I probably don’t really understand the biology behind my headache. If I did understand the biology behind my headache, I would be able to take action to avoid it or stop it. If you have a lingering problem, it is because you may be aware of it, but you don’t understand it.

When we meet together to solve a problem, the only productive goal of the meeting is to first completely understand a problem and then devise steps to address it. Of course, many of us miss even this first step, making our meetings about passing around blame for a problem, denying the problem or complaining about a problem. Opinions live and thrive in all these alternative agendas, but we are going to focus on the less obvious problem with opinions.

So the first step of solving a problem is agreeing that we must first try to understand it. Most people who get to this phase feel pretty good about themselves and their maturity level. Indeed, coming together to understand a problem is a great first step. However, opinions still worm their way into our civil conversation and mess things up.

Anatomy of an Opinion

“There are no bad ideas.” seems like a good declaration to create an open environment for discussion, and it is mostly true. The problem is that opinions and ideas are not the same thing. An idea is an open ended piece of inspiration, and opinion is a closed declaration.

On the journey towards forming an understanding, there are very productive things to gather: facts, experience, insight and perspectives. We need each other to collect enough information to form an understanding of a problem. We each have different perspectives and offer different information.

A perspective says, “From my point of view, I see this.”  An opinion says, “I declare my point of view is reality.” A perspective is a helpful contribution to add another piece to the puzzle of reality, an opinion assumes it already knows reality. Most opinions are nothing more than perspectives offered up as fact.

Opinions would seek to end the journey to understanding. Worse, they create emotional confusion and wear us down during collaboration. When someone offers their perspective, it is offered with an emotional expectation to be listened to. When someone offers their opinion, it is presented with an emotional obligation to be accepted. A person’s perspective can be added to without insult, but an opinion is contradicted and usually taken with offense.

The Three Architects

Three architects are called together by the mayor to design a house upon a hill in the middle of a village. Each architect lives on a different side of the hill. One side slopes down, one side is flat and one side overlooks a waterfall. Each architect, arrogant of their talents, insists the house be designed to accommodate the hill as they know it.

The mayor gets tired of their arguing and has each draw straws to determine the order each may try and build their house. One after another they each build their version of the house, and each one collapses and is completely unstable. Finally the mayor gives up, “I can’t believe our three best architects can’t build a house on a hill.”

The village idiot finds the discarded plans of the three architects. He laughs to himself as he cuts up the three plans and tapes them together according to each side of the hill. He comes before the mayor and says he can build the greatest house the village has ever seen.  The mayor is skeptical, but agrees simply to humiliate the architects.

The house is built, and to the wonder of all, is beautiful, stable and completely innovative to take full advantage of each part of the hill.  The mayor decides to make it his own home and holds a festival in honor of the idiot, forcing the architects to host the festival in his honor.

Powerful Problem Solving

If understanding is a thousand dollar bill, then insight is a hundred, perspective is a five'r, and opinion is a penny. We need different perspectives to gain insight, we gather insight until we have understanding. Opinions are both intellectually and emotionally distracting.  The more we learn to eliminate opinions, the more effectively we work together.

If we are honest with ourselves, we can see that we use opinions to try and look smart, establish dominance or feel important, but never really to solve a problem. Our perspectives can be useful, our insights are valuable and understanding qualifies us as paid consultants, but our two cents is probably not even worth the penny we were paid for it.

P.S. This is also why political pundits are pretty much just a blight on our society.

Most people think the term “Black Friday” comes from its notorious reputation. However, the truth is that it is the first day most retailers' yearly finances are in the black. That’s right, most retailers run their business all year in the red, only to make up for it between Thanksgiving and New Year’s Eve. If we didn’t have this “buying season,” we wouldn’t have our retail stores the rest of the year.

One simple rule of economic health is that money sitting still is losing value, money that is moving is gaining value. The more our money changes hands and moves around, the more our economy grows. Because there is such a precarious juxtaposition between the need for society to spend money and the need for individuals to save money, we only survive by having a kind of “social permission” to spend our money. Until we think of something else, Christmas is working quite well in this regard.

Does this mean we should all join in the flesh piles at Wal-Mart to save our economy? Certainly not. Our economic health doesn’t need to be maintained in spite of our cultural and sociological health. We need to spend money, yes, but it is what we spend our money on that forms our environment. What we buy is what we get. The more cheap crap we buy, the more cheap crap people make.

Believe it or not, there are stores other than Wal-Mart. There are even other stores than all the major retail stores. In fact, there are still more small business and specialty stores in this country than there are Wal-Marts, Targets and Best-Buys combined. There are amazing stores that sell things that help us actually improve our lives. Music stores, craft stores, book stores, hobby stores and much more.

If we spend our money buying gifts, or shopping for ourselves, on things that are edifying to us, that encourage creativity or inspire us then we will be surrounded by those things. Spending money isn’t the problem, spending it on crap is the problem. Well, that and spending irresponsibly, but you can buy a book from Dave Ramsey to hear more about that.

Not enough money to buy nice things for all your relatives? Then buy craft supplies for yourself and make gifts for everyone. Don’t know what to buy someone? Then make them something that shows them something you like or remember about them. Just remember, nothing says, “I don’t know anything about you” better than a generic gift from a bargain bin.

Growing up in a small town, I had plenty of opportunity to work. When I was 15, I worked in fast food. At 16, I worked at a gas station before and after school and the summer before I left for college, I worked in a factory. While in college, I was a statistician for the college newspaper and a weekend DJ for the college radio station. When I dropped out of college after my freshman year, I enrolled in the “prestigious” KFC management program. And after one exceptional bad day of burning a batch of chicken, I decided that the Army would not be a bad place to be for the next 4 years…so I joined. While in the Army, I worked part time at Sun-Coast Motion Picture Company, started a MLM business and studied to be our Battalion’s Soldier of The Year.

After the military, I started in sales at a local chemical company, left after 3 years and went to work for a Fortune 500 chemical company in Chicago. Left there after one year and studied to get my insurance license….which I did for a year. Then for six months I worked as the marketing manger for a cargo/trailer manufacturer and then got into the nifty business of selling vinyl fencing in 1997. In 1999 I helped my wife start a business and in 2001 I left the vinyl fence company and started my own retail fence company in Carmel Indiana. In 2002, I sold that company and joined my wife’s company, Creative Indoor Advertising. Needing more money in 2004, I went to work for a software company for a year. In 2005 we sold the advertising company and started Plan B Marketing. In 2007, needing more money once again, I took a job as Director of e-solutions for an Indianapolis ad agency. Bored in 2008, I bought a franchise, and then went back to Plan B Marketing full time. In 2009, we re branded to Fat Atom Internet Marketing and closed the franchise business. In 2011, I started the Catapult Project. In 2012, I closed that business and now focus exclusively running Fat Atom Marketing with a full time staff of 22 employees with yearly revenues of just over 1 million dollars this year.

Paraphrasing Steve Jobs here – Who would think that flipping burgers at 15 would lead me to where I am today? No one can look forward to connect the dots. But, it is very clear looking backwards 28 years later that the experiences I had not only made me the person I am today…it made the company I own today. You see, you have to trust that the dots will somehow connect in your future. Trust in destiny, karma, something, that will allow you to believe that what you are doing now has a purpose and that belief will drive you to success.

My second story is about epiphanies. I have always run against the grain of life. In 2001, I was at the top of my career in the vinyl fence industry. Making over 6 figures, being the top salesman at the company, having the respect and admiration of others…I was doing great. I can recall the day of the epiphany that would change my life. I was talking to my boss about the companies marketing strategy. I was giving my unsolicited input into his job. My boss stood up from behind his desk, looked at me and said, “We pay you to do the job we want you to do, not the job you could do.” And that is when it hit me like a brick wall. My value to the business was limited…finite. I couldn’t grow here…so within the month I quit. At the time, that was considered by most of my family and friends as the absolute stupidest thing I have ever done…next to joining the military that is.

But what this did was energize me to make my own path in the world. And while it wasn’t always what most consider a “normal” career path, it was mine.  I know that I wouldn’t be here today if it wasn’t for that conversation. I wake up each morning, wanting to go to work, excited to tackle the challenges before me…one epiphany changed the course of my entire life. Tonight I challenge each of you to reflect on events that happen in your life. Don’t let the future happen out of chance, we each have the opportunity to make what we want out of life…will you make the most out of yours?

Steve’s third story was about death. As you know, he was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer and if you read his autobiography, you can follow the ins and outs of his ordeal…spoiler alert…he dies. And while I don’t have a riveting cancer story that goes along with my death, I was once reminded of my own mortality. In April of 1995 my Dad called me around 7am and informed me that my Grandfather had died in his sleep. It was the first time in my adult life I had to face death. His funeral took place on a blustery spring day and as I stood at his grave, I read the big block letters across the tombstone…M U F F L E Y….Muffley. It was there for the first time, I realized my own mortality. News Flash, we are all going to die. But as the cliché goes, not all of us live.

Steve Jobs said that he would ask himself this question each day -

“If today were the last day of my life, would I want to do what I am about to do today?” And whenever the answer has been “No” for too many days in a row, I know I need to change something.

I would like to say that I am that introspective…but I am not. I do like to think that even though I don’t wake up each day asking myself that question, I had a moral compass inside me, guiding me by that principle. Because you see, Life IS to short and to precious to not be involved with something you love, something that you have a true passion for, something you believe in.

Each morning for the last six months, before I get out of bed, I have said to myself, “today is the day the Lord has made, let me rejoice and be glad in it.” And while you may or may not believe in God, saying those little words have had a profound affect on my life. It reminds me that my time on earth is finite and that I need to be happy where I am at. And if they day should come where I am not….I know it’s time to change something….and that isn’t a bad thing.

How many people follow @KitchenAidUSA on Twitter? Well, as of today, 26K give or take some. I guess you think that is a lot, but for a company that is national brand and a "household" name, I would say it isn't. Also, most people who follow them I would guess, have had service issues and are trying to get response from their customer service. And even if they do follow them, they really post nothing interesting, unless you like reading the words, "we're sorry".

I'm not saying what the Tweeted was right, what I am saying is, who cares? Do you?

Who Told You "You Can't" ?

As the IBJ has pointed out, we are a unique lot compared to most other companies. This is not because I have a grudge against tradition education (ok, well I do, but that is not WHY). It is because human beings are amazing, and capable of amazing things, and no one needs permission to do anything amazing. If people really understood and believed their capabilities, they would be ashamed of their progress. So why are you hesitating? Why do you doubt? Why do you ask permission? Why do you seek approval? Who told you "you can't"?

No One Has the Answer. No One Does It "Right".

Every industry, every business, every organization, and every system is in a constant state of evolution. No one really knows where it is going, and few understand where it came from. People wake up, see the world function (sort of), and assume someone made it that way, and that all-knowing all-powerful person (often referred to as "The Man") must know more than they do. Well, the truth is, electricity was discovered by a reckless guy taunting lightning with a kite, potato chips were invented by a grumpy cook trying to sarcastically slice and over-cook potatoes for a picky customer, the poor lady who discovered radioactivity died of radiation poisoning, and don't get me started about medicine (one word - "leaches"). I got news for you all, most of the stuff we have today is all just here from us "winging it". Stop thinking there is someone out there who knows what they are doing and then thinking less of yourself because your don't. Your guess is as good as anyone else.

Problems Are a Sign of Progress, not Failure

Losers, whiners, and politicians are people who look at a problem and say, "who broke this?" as if it ever worked to begin with. There is no golden age. There are no "good 'ol days". Everything today is the best it has ever been, but human beings have an amazing ability to find problems, so we all look around and say "this sucks." Finding problems is a good thing, because it is our ever guiding compass toward awesomeness. Your future is not dictated by problems, but how you look at them. If you gather problems to use as evidence of impending doom, then you will inevitable fail. If you look at problems as opportunities to improve, you will fail your way to success. Things fall apart because of people and their attitudes, not because of "problems". Every step you take forward in life will only reveal more problems and challenges to overcome, get used to it now. If everything is great, you're dead.

Persistence and Grace

"Nothing in the world can take the place of Persistence. Talent will not; nothing is more common than unsuccessful men with talent. Genius will not; unrewarded genius is almost a proverb. Education will not; the world is full of educated derelicts. Persistence and determination alone are omnipotent. The slogan 'Press On' has solved and always will solve the problems of the human race." - Calvin Coolidge

"The truth is out there." - Mulder

We are going to make mistakes, we are going to lose customers, we are going to have bad ideas (yes, they exist). We aren't going to be the best marketing company in the world, and you are not going to be the best [insert job position here], because you are smart, talented, or sexy (as we all know we are). You are going to be successful by never giving up, learning from your mistakes, giving yourself and others grace to be imperfect. Most of all, we will all be successful by knowing we can, and never settling for less than utter and compete awesomeness.

So... Who Told You "You Can't" ?

I ask this question honestly. I am amazed at how many of you have, at one point or another, said you didn't think you could do something. All of those things you have doubted, have been done. No one ever told me "You can". So the only difference I can think of is it must be that no ever told me "you can't". [Side note, I asked Aaron this once and he said, "High School".]

Ok, One Caveat

So after all that motivational talk, there is one caveat. You can't do it.... Nope, you just can't. I mean, you can't ALONE. Truly exceptional work is a group effort. We all have strengths and we all have weaknesses. By learning to identify and be proud of our strengths while also acknowledging our weaknesses is true humility, and that is truly powerful.

If you think others around you are holding back your brilliance, and you could just succeed if not for all the idiots around you, then you are on a short road to reality television. Most of the problems we have are because we don't work them out together, and rather look for blame. We look for what everyone else did wrong first, before evaluating what we ourselves could do differently.

You doubt? Just remember The Beatles. How many Ringo albums do you own?

Take Responsibility

None of us can know everything going on. When there is a problem, it is too easy to assume it is not your problem. The reality is that any problem you are aware of is your responsibility to fix until someone says, "I got this". Referring back to teamwork, this is all part of covering each other's backs. If your teammate forgot something, the right thing to do is remind them, or handle it in their absence. You would want them to do the same for you.

Awesomeness

Human beings are amazing. We landed on the moon, but it took the talent of people all around the world. We just landed Wall-E on Mars! We would be flying around space on honeymoon cruises if we just could stop blowing each other up.

I believe Fat Atom will be a legendary marketing company someday, not because we are smarter, but because we can get the best from ourselves and each other.

Being Talented Doesn’t Mean You Still Don't Have Problems

Are you the world’s most creative designer? Can you program a thousand lines of code with your eyes closed? Good, it’s a start. Next you need to learn how to talk to clients, communicate clearly with your co-workers, show up to work and meetings on time, and accurately put your hours in. Everyone has strengths and weaknesses. Your strengths make you good, but overcoming your weaknesses makes you great.

I Don’t Care How Good You Are if You Are a Jerk

One of the most important part of MY job is to make sure my employees more or less like coming to work, and enjoy working here. If I have more employees than just you, I can’t employ you if you are a jerk. Do you constantly rub your talent in and belittle others? Do you insert yourself into other people’s conversations? Do you constantly argue about sensitive politic and/or religious issues at all times of the day? Do you pretty much fail at every opportunity to let others know you respect them? You’re fired.

Finding Problems Is NOT as Smart as Finding Solutions

I am continually surprised at how often people pat themselves on the back for pointing out a problem. The reality is that EVERYONE KNOWS THE PROBLEMS! Every business has its problems, inefficiencies, issues, etc. You get no points for being clever for pointing them out. If you really want to look smart, offer some ideas on how to fix problems. If you want to look like a genius, fix the problem first and then tell everyone.

You Don’t Have to Work Here

No matter how good you are, I can find someone to fill your job. If you hate working here, leave. If I hear from your co-workers constant negative feedback about things you hate about your job, the company, or others, I am going to do you a favor and let you go. If you are as talented, as smart, as creative, and just so damn awesome as you think you are, you will have no problem getting a job anywhere you want. Go live your dreams, and end our nightmare.

Ah, the words of a young man, some might even say naive. Today, I am more dependent on others than ever before. Dependent on my clients to pay me; my employees to work hard and be smart; my office wife to keep things running smoothly; my COO to keep my clients happy; my prospects to buy and the bank to loan me money. Independence…now that is a great word for revolutionaries starting a country or going to war, but for entrepreneurs…please don’t kid yourself.

A business is built by many people. Our President’s comments aside, a successful business HAS TO be dependent on so many things and so many people, that at some point the entrepreneur’s dream of “independence” changes to “dependence” without them even knowing it. Only when you take time to reflect on your goals do you see where you actually are.

So, reflect I did. Am I better off today than I was 7 years ago? Am I more or less stressed? Am I upset now that my "Independence" has turned into more "Dependence"? Where do I see my future? So many questions...answered in my next post.

If you haven't already googled it, ex nihilo means "out of nothing." When someone creates a logo, a website, a brochure, an interior design, a custom table, etc., they are starting from the world of ideas and thought and attempting to take it into the world of the senses. During this process, the fantasies are lost, the reality sets in and everyone is usually disappointed. Clients usually "settle" or "give up" rather than feel like they really got what they wanted. People who thrive and succeed in the world of ex nihilo learn how to do a better job of guiding this process, but also do a better job of avoiding immature or small-minded clients. Below are some tips on avoiding "clients from hell."

Make Sure the Client Excepts Responsibility

"I don't know, you're the expert..." If a client is hoping to see an idea in their head enter into reality, they need to accept responsibility for communicating it. You need to make sure you do everything you can to guide them, but at some point they need to meet you. Do they understand you aren't telepathic? Do they expect it right on the first try? Have they taken any steps to show examples of what they want or don't want? If they say "you're the expert," look out, they will become the expert real quick once they see the product.

Good People Make Good Clients

Is your client on his/her fifth spouse, in the middle of a lawsuit, blames lots of people for his problems... then they are going to be a terrible client. If you like someone, respect them as a person, then you are probably going to work well with them. If you feel like you need to shower after a meeting, walk away.

Smart People Have Money, or Know When They Don't

If your client is struggling with money (they usually drop hints), then don't do a "pity" contract. They won't pay you. They will also be impossible to work with. Smart competent people know how much they can afford, and usually have money anyway.

Dumb People Are Very Smart at Using Smart People

The human mind is always good at surviving, even if it isn't good at anything else. Dumb or useless people get really good at using other people. If you are a smart, talented individual, look out! Lots of people are going to try to lead you along to make their lives better at your cost. Respect your needs, draw boundaries and beware of ambiguous promises.

Good People Know Their Limits

Bad/dumb people think they can do everything; good/competent people know their limits. A good client will provide feedback and input as far as their expertise goes, a bad client will tell you how to do your job. Interestingly, a bad client will dictate everything and blame you when it fails. A good client will let you lead, and still understand it is hard to get it right the first time.

Good People Are Busy and Get Stuff Done, Bad People Have Lots of Time and Get Nothing Done

A good client will respond to you quickly, and then leave you alone between deliverables. A bad client will hassle you non-stop about their own concerns, question everything and then not respond to things you need from them. Good people don't have time to micromanage, bad people are bored and LOVE to micromanage to feel important.

Turning Down Bad People Means You Are Free to Get More Good People as Clients

You will stop living in "client hell" as soon as you realize there are plenty of good people in this world. Every bad client you take means you have just closed the door on finding a good one. Your time is your most precious resource, don't waste it on bad people. You don't "need" the bad client, if you are struggling for money or work, a bad client will make it worse, not better.