Book Review – Small Is the New Big – Part 2

November 19, 2009 by yelena
Filed under Bookshelf, blog

Continuing reading Seth Godin’s Small Is the New Big.

Guillotine or Rack – something just happened to me – I recently completed a long-term project for a client. Now, the work, while it lasted, wasn’t very inspiring or even challenging. But it seemed safe in its predictability. I knew that it did nothing to help me achieve my long-term or even mid-range goals. And it didn’t bother me nearly as much as a possibility of not making $$ for a couple of months.

I Changes My Mind Yesterday – Seth makes a point that mental effort alone cannot magically impact external events. A couple of days before I read this riff, I commented on LinkedIn about usefulness (or uselessness) of to-do lists.

How to Avoid the Local Max – this is a math concept (relative or local maximum) that Seth used to illustrate one of the stumbling blocks in business. The lesson here is when you reach what seems like the high point in your business, do not stop trying. And if you find yourself at the Local Min, even though you seem to be doing everything possible, don’t give up. Passing a Local Min is essential in order to get to the Big Max.

The Needle, the Vise and the Baby Rattle – does your marketing bring to mind a needle (the right message delivered to the right person at just the right time) or a vise (applying constant and increasing pressure).

From what I’ve seen, many small businesses choose the third approach – the baby rattle (and if you have a little one, you know how annoying and ineffective a little rattle is). A business owner starts a blog, then stops posting to it. She then starts with a direct e-mail approach, but doesn’t get past the first 5 autoresponders. Next come social networks.

Virtual assistants, designers, writers are hired. Time and money are spent on all the wrong things. Seth’s advice is instead of all the wasteful rattling, concentrate on changing the product, the strategy and the approach.

Open Big – permission-based marketing does not work as a big opening strategy. It doesn’t provide immediate and sizable results. But it has a powerful snowball effect that comes into play over time. So, don’t give up!

There are Two Ways to Catch a Plane – smart organizations ignore the urgent and instead focus on the important stuff. Seth states that

…the key corollary to this principle is the idea that if you don’t have time to do it right the first time, there’s no way you’ll find the time to do it over.

And here’s a corollary to the corollary – if you don’t hire the right person to do the job right the first time, you will not find time or money to do it over.

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