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Recap: Seth Godin in the OC, 3/2/11

Greekgeek by Greekgeek

Seth Godin Stops By to Say "Go"

Thanks to a SquidU forum post, I heard that Seth Godin was coming to my neighborhood for a talk organized by Linked OC, a group hooking up business people, entrepreneurs and marketers in Orange County, California.

This is all new to me, since I'm only just embarking on online entrepreneurship, but I know a knocking opportunity when I see it. So I gathered up half my Squidoo earnings for last month, got a VIP ticket, and went.

I promised members of Squidoo I'd take notes. I won't post all of them -- it's Seth Godin's speech! -- but here's my impressions and a few highlights.

Photo Credit: Ellen Brundige, with thanks to Shawn Marie Turi, director of Flaunt custom apparel, for the camera loan!

Lesson #1: Don't Take Notes

Seth Godin Told Me Not to Tell You What He Told Us

Magic dippy birdJust in case there are any Star Trek androids bent on world domination who have paused to read this page, let me introduce a logical conundrum which will short them out.

Seth Godin told a parable about top students, who are trained in school to take notes and regurgitate information. When he asked them to explain the science behind a Dippy Bird perpetual motion machine, they all got out their notebooks waiting for him to answer his own question.

After sharing this story, Seth tore his hair (figuratively) because of how many people in the audience were taking notes. He told us not to take notes. Then he told us about the grave and fatal flaw of always doing what you're told. So I can't promise that anything on this page actually comes from my notes or from the mouth of Seth Godin, because he said we shouldn't blindly follow directions and that we shouldn't take notes.

Lesson #2: Poke the Box

How to Sell Your Stuff

An affiliate marketer is someone who makes a living marketing someone else's products and earning a commission.

A marketing guru is someone who gets hundreds of people to pay hundreds of dollars, or even thousands of people to pay thousands of dollars, for him to stand on a stage in front of them and market his new book on marketing to them.

Seth Godin is marketing his new book, Poke the Box.

Poking the box means examining the Dippy Bird to see how it works. It means viewing the source code on Squidoo and figuring out all the insane hacks Gil and his Programming Posse use to make our site work (hey, look at this weird graphic I found hidden in Squidoo's graphics directory!)

Poking the box means showing initiative and not waiting for anyone to say, "Do it."

Lesson #3: Create Curiosity

(Just Don't Kill the Cat)

Buy 'Poke the Box' on AmazonI like Seth's reasoning for why he didn't put the title on the cover of Poke the Box:

The title is right next to it in the Amazon listing, so there's no need to put it on the cover. But if you see a book on someone's desk with no title and a weird cover, you are more likely to ask "What's that?" than if the book actually has a visible title.

Of course, this only works for Seth Godin.

My Mom's friend Roger Wagner, creator of Hyperstudio, had one atypical but spectacular failure in the 80s. He created a fascinating video game about an alien race. The game's title, parts of the game, and I think even the manual were written in alien characters you had to decipher to play the game. Cool concept, but it never sold anything, because nobody (including myself) had the faintest idea what the game's title was, let alone how to list it in a software catalog or tell anyone about it.

Moral: create curiosity, but don't hide a treasure without posting a treasure map.

Lesson #4: Assume Failure

It's Always an Option

The motto of one of my favorite shows, Mythbusters, is: "Failure is always an option."

Seth spent some time talking about the necessity of failure. You can't have success without the possibility of failure, and you can't succeed unless you start. So he advised that whenever we start something, we assume it's going to fail. If we assume failure, then we stop obsessing about the possibility of failure and get on with doing whatever is necessary to make it work.

Very Buddhist. "Life is suffering" is the first of the Four Noble Truths by which Buddhists live happily. Look at the Dalai Lama; he's always smiling, and he hasn't been able to go home since the Dodgers left Brooklyn.

I might put it a little less drastically:
Assume cow pats on the path, and start walking forward.

Lesson #5: Don't Be a Jerk

The Futility of Nastygrams

angry"Grrr" by SugarVsSpice on Zazzle

I can't help thinking of this lesson in relation to the complaints that crop up in forums. At certain times, we all get frustrated with what's broken and start complaining. I do it too. That's why I often use a harpy as my logo.

Seth told us about Ignaz Semmelweis, the doctor who discovered that washing hands before delivering a baby signficantly reduced the mortality rate of both mothers and newborns.

Unfortunately, Dr. Semmelweis made his point by yelling at doctors for killing their patients. Nobody listened. After Semmelweis died, Dr. Loius Pasteur came along and said, "Germs kill. Here's a way to kill germs and save lives!" That message worked.

The problem with complaints is that they're so often right, but when you start with, "You're doing it wrong," people shut their ears. You're more likely to get the result you want if you try this approach: "here's something that will solve your problems and make you successful!"

Lesson #6: Go

Seth Godin is Big on Go, Not No

Yes, if you've already been reading Seth Godin, you know a lot of his advice boils down to: "Go." He had a lot of riffs on and examples about Go, and not waiting for somebody else to tell you to do something, start something, or fix something.

Other Things Seth Mentioned...

  • 1Six imperatives for success
  • 2Six kinds of business capital
  • 3How our amygdala (lizard brain) causes us to get in our own way
  • 4Why everyone in Manchester, England got drunk in 1880

One More Poke the Box Plug

Seth Godin's Poke the BoxPoke the Box by Seth Godin

Amazon Price: $4.99 (as of 06/04/2012)Buy Now

At least 3 of the above are in Poke the Box. You'll have to attend a Seth Godin lecture to find out why everyone in Manchester got drunk in 1880.

Some Other Seth Godin Presentations

How Many of These Have You Seen?

Here's a few I like. There's many more great Seth Godin videos on the web.
Overpowering Your Lizard Brain - Seth Godin
by ForaTv | video info

253 ratings | 21,980 views
curated content from YouTube

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Thanks, Seth

Thanks for coming to Linked OC, at a price that non-gurus and non-experts can afford.

I promise next time that I won't take notes.

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So there's my recap of Seth Godin's visit to LinkedOC. Leave gripes or comments here. Please remember, any mistakes on this page are mine, not Seth's, as I wasn't jotting down what he said word-for-word, nor did I cover even a third of what he talked about.

  • COUNTRYLUTHIER Sep 23, 2011 @ 11:44 pm | delete
    Great lens hope you get to the final three. Keep on sharing
  • GrowWear Mar 10, 2011 @ 6:25 pm | delete
    Congratulations for meeting Seth and hearing him speak in person! ...I adore Poke The Box, and will have to order more to give away.
  • kiwisoutback Mar 7, 2011 @ 9:26 am | delete
    It sounds like it was a great meet, it must have been intimidating to meet Seth in person. I would've had a million questions for him. Maybe someday I'll get to see him at one of his events. Great recap!
  • UKGhostwriter Mar 5, 2011 @ 9:47 am | delete
    Fantastic lense!
  • livingfrontiers Mar 4, 2011 @ 7:04 pm | delete
    Awesome Lens! You have made me so happy with this insight. Thank you so much.
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This UpMarket page written by

Greekgeek

Storyteller, former Latin teacher, student of mythology and the ancient world: I've worn many hats, but always I've dabbled in computers and the web.

Until... more »

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This author recommends...

Poke the Box 

Seth Godin's latest book

Poke the Box

Poke the Box

by: Seth Godin

Amazon Price: $4.99 (as of 06/04/2012)Buy Now

It's short. It's sweet. The usual mix of Seth Godin wisdom which seems blindingly obvious, except... how many of us are actually doing everything the book suggests?