Tuesday, April 27, 2010

25 Lessons from Seth Godin

I love Seth Godin Philosophies and a couple of them are:

1) Success is a skill. Seth’s philosophy on success is — “it’s possible to enjoy your job, to do the right thing, to be transparent, to give more than you get and to be successful, all at the same time.” It takes work. Surround yourself with people who are succeeding. You become who you hang with. By surrounding yourself with people who are succeeding, you’ll learn what’s working and what’s not. You can model their success and open doors that you might otherwise not see. Seth on successful people – “”Successful people rarely confuse a can-do attitude with a smart plan. But they realize that one without the other is unlikely to get you very far.”

2) Being the best is the best place to be. It’s better to be the best. People pick the market leaders and they narrow their choices to the top. Seth says, “Being the best in the world is seriously underrated.” According to Seth, best in the world is relative – “It’s best for them, right now based on what they believe and in their world, the one they have access to.”

{ I'd say: be the best you can be and the word is STRIVE... }

In the Dip, Seth shares 7 reasons why you might fail to become the best in the world:
a) You run out of time,
b) you run out of money,
c) you get scared,
d) you’re not serious about it,
e) you lose interest or enthusiasm and settle for being mediocre,
f) you focus on the short term instead of the long,
g) you pick the wrong thing at which to be the best in the world.


3) Be missed. Seth on how to be missed — “Connect, create meaning, make a difference, matter, be missed.”

4) Success is a hierarchy. Seth teaches us the hierarchy of success:
a) Attitude, b) Approach, c) Goals, d) Strategy, d) Tactic,s f) Execution

5) Don’t do A as a calculated tactic to get B. Do A because you believe in it.
Seth on success – “If we define success as the ability to make a living doing what I do, I’d say the following:
a) No ulterior motive. I rarely do A as a calculated tactic to get B. I do A because I believe in A, or it excites me or it’s the right thing to do. That’s it. No secret agendas,
b) I don’t think my audience owes me anything. It’s always their turn,
c) I’m in a hurry to make mistakes and get feedback and get that next idea out there. I’m not in a hurry, at all, to finish the “bigger” project, to get to the finish line,
d) I do things where I actually think I’m right, as opposed to where I think succeeding will make me successful. When you think you’re right, it’s more fun and your passion shows through,
e) I’ve tried to pare down my day so that the stuff I actually do is pretty well leveraged. That and I show up. Showing up is underrated.”

6) Be in it for the long haul. Things rarely come easy. Make the journey worth it. Chip away at success. Seth says — “Listen instead to your real customers, to your vision and make something for the long haul. Because that’s how long it’s going to take, guys.”

7) Decide if you’re a freelancer or entrepreneur. In the Bootstrapper’s Bible, Seth teaches us that a freelancer sells their talents. While they may have a few employees, they’re doing a job without a boss, but not running a business. There’s no exit strategy or pot of gold, but they make their own hours and be their own boss. Examples include layout artists, writers, consultants, film editors, landscapers, architects, translators, and musicians. Seth writes that an entrepreneur is trying to build something bigger than themselves. They take calculated risk and focus on growth. An entrepreneur is willing to receive little pay, work long hours, and take on great risk in exchange for the freedom to make something big, something that has real market value.

8) It’s like walking through a maze. Seth on building a business from scratch — “Learn as you go. Change as you go. Building a business from scratch is like walking through a maze with many, many doors. Once you open one, 100 new doors present themselves. As you move your way through the maze, you need to stop and check your location. Look at a map. If you’re in the wrong place move. But if you’ve discovered a new place, there’s nothing wrong with exploiting it.”

9) Everyone is not your customer. Seth teaches us the key to failure – “the key to failure is trying to please everyone.” Listen to your real customers. It’s not the media, the investors, or the early adopters. Seth on everyone is not your customer – “The media wants overnight successes (so they have someone to tear down). Ignore them. Ignore the early adopter critics that never have enough to play with. Ignore your investors that want proven tactics and predictable instant results. Listen instead to your real customers …” Seth on figuring out what your customers really want — “Most people have no clue what they want, and if you ask them, you’ll get a lame answer. Most people don’t know they want Pretty Woman or Slumdog Millionaire. They don’t know they want Purple Cow or one of your killer articles. So if you want to have an impact, all you can do is lead. You can’t ask.”

These are the 10 things I take from his 25 lessons and more of it can be found on:
http://lnkd.in/dNjR-5

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