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The FUFT Principle – You Read It Here First

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You’re sitting around doing nothing, or maybe at the office having a conversation, when suddenly the best idea in the world strikes!  It doesn’t just happen to you, it happens to almost everyone, everywhere.  But why isn’t the world awash in free energy, anti-grav packs and time machines?

Lack of FUFT.

I really don’t like sports metaphors, but they really fit in this particular instance.  Let’s say you get invited to play golf.  You put your ball on the tee, pull the driver back over your shoulder, and. . . stand there.  Just stand there, with the club head pointed up in the air.  How far does the ball go?  It doesn’t.  You haven’t even attempted to swing at it.  Maybe you’re afraid you’ll flub the shot in front of your partners.  Whatever.  The point is, the ball can’t go anywhere because you haven’t put the effort into attempting to drive the ball.

Second scenario.  You pull the club back, and with a mighty swing you bring the club head down and. . . stop it as it hits the ball.  The ball pops off the tee and travels maybe 30 yards.  If you play the game taking swings like that – just hitting the ball, it’s going to take you all day to make it through nine holes, if the course is completely empty.  People who start out behind you will go around, or maybe drive across town to another course.

Third scenario.  You tee up on the first hole, swing the club through the ball and back up in the air on the other side.  It’s a monster drive!  The ball travels 270 yards, magically winding up on the green about 10 feet from the hole.  You place the driver back in your bag, pick it up and head back to your car, telling your friends you have to go pet your dog.

In each of the above examples, no FUFT.

Follow Up, Follow Through.  These four words are why good – maybe even mediocre – ideas come to pass.  Sure, a few great ones as well.  But it’s the people who apply the FUFT Principle – Follow Up and Follow Through – who get things accomplished.

Not everything is worth completing.  But that’s why you need to Follow Up.  Check to see if anyone else is working on the idea you just had.  Is there a need for your great new product or service?  Is someone already selling it?  Do customers like their version?  What can you do to make your version better?

And this is NOT strictly a business principle.  You’re sitting at a social event when you see someone and think, “I’d like to go on a date with that person.”  FUFT!  Go meet them, chat, get a number.  You’ve followed up, now follow through by calling them and actually meeting for a burger or movie.  FUFT is a principle that will serve you throughout your life.

But you can’t just “learn” it or “know” it – you need to apply it.  You’ll be amazed at what can actually happen the next time you have a light bulb go off over your head, and you apply the FUFT Principle.

“I Can’t Do That!”

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In addition to running Agile’ I also teach and train traditional Okinawan goju-ryu karate.  We were working on board breaking a couple nights ago when I had a student tell me, “I can’t do that!”  And sure enough, she couldn’t.

Later, I heard her say to another student, “Well, I know you have to run 5 miles to become a black belt, so I’m never going to be one.”

When it comes to being a marketing consultant, my clients shouldn’t be hiring me to be their buddy.  They should have the attitude that I’m a kind of trainer, one who kicks their butts until they and their business is in fighting shape.  They want change for the better, and I’m there to make sure it happens.  Any type of change is painful – or at least, it’s not painless.  If you want a magic wand to wave and have more customers who spend gobs more cash, while letting you sleep in, then I’m sorry but I never attended Hogwarts or any other wizarding academy.  I can help you gain better clients, and let you do less work, but it’s not going to happen with a wand.

Just running a business requires effort.  To change it and make it better requires that you do something different as well.  It’s scary.  But if you don’t believe in you, why the hell should I?

I can tell you from experience that if you say, “I can’t do this,” then there’s almost nothing I or anyone else can say or do to force you to achieve whatever goal it is.  Change requires the self-discipline to carry on working through pain of some level.  The pain, once we go through it, is usually a lot less than we thought it was going to be.  But in order to accomplish the changes, you need to believe in yourself.  No one is ever going to be invested in your success the way you are.

If you believe “I can’t do this” or, “This isn’t going to work,” then you’re probably right.  I can help you work towards your potential, and I may believe in you, but until you believe in you, nothing’s going to happen.

My new monitor is a TV

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Yesterday the monitor on my main computer died.  I was working on a promotion letter (see my next post) and the letters mis-printed.  I’d already turned my monitor off before looking at the letters, so I had to turn the monitor back on.  Black screen.  Power light was on, but no image.  I ran to my video editing station, pulled off that monitor and stuck in on here.  Back up and running!

So last night I started doing a search for a new monitor.  I could have either gotten a new 23″ screen for around $150, or. . . what if I upgraded the video monitor and kept the wide screen on this machine?  I did a little digging and I found a 32″ HDTV at BestBuy.  While most of the rest of the TVs in that size were $350+, this one (their in-house Dynex brand) was $270.

Take a look.

I popped ’round to BB on Rt 31 in Clay and one of employees, Seth, was kind enough to haul the demo model half way across the floor and hook it up to a laptop that had some videos on it.  Great picture!  It’s “only” 720p, but I’ve got it hooked to a computer with a VGA cable, editing video.  I’m happy with it!  And a comparable “monitor” of the same size is right around $500.  I think I got a heck of a deal!

My thanks to Seth for all the time and effort on my behalf.

Mind the GAP

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Last night I got to visit with a dear friend.  Poet Georgia Popoff – lo these many years ago a fellow office drudge – has become not just a published author (she’s been that for quite a while), but a recognized educator.  Her Syracuse release party for the book that she and fellow educator, poet and co-author Quraysh Ali Lansana recently had published was a resounding success – at least by CNY terms.

Our Difficult Sunlight is a book about poetry appreciation, true.  But more importantly, it’s a book about helping others reach that appreciation, either as a reader/listener or as someone who yearns to express themselves.  These two people share their passion for passion, as it were, in the form of helping others to listen to others, listen to themselves, and express themselves through all forms of poetry.

Let me me the one to break my own terrible secret: I suck at poetry.  I have no ear for it, no tongue for it.  I don’t understand it and, like most things we don’t understand, I’m just a little bit scared of it.

Let me tell you something else: I’m extremely happy for Georgia, and a tiny bit envious – as well as having a totally unjustified feeling of pride.  I did nothing to help her with this book, unless you count staying out of her life for 8 years as “help.”  But when we met, she was stuck in what for her heart and soul was a dead end job.  I stayed around long enough to see the genesis of her first book, to see her struggling to bring to life something she’d dreamed of.  I envy her passion, her drive, and her love for poetry.

My wife, I think, envies her choice of writing partners!  Quraysh is smart, educated, funny, personable – and looks damn fine in a suit and tie.  Hey, I ain’t blind!  Plus, he’s living in Chicago, one of my wife’s favorite cities, so at least if she runs off, I’ll know where to start looking.

Anyway, I’m adding their book to my “recommended” section.  Even marketers need a soul.

Kudos to AT&T

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I recently changed cell phone services.  I’d been with AT&T for years – since I got my first cell phone over 10 years ago.  I’m loyal, but I’m not blind, so I went looking for better rates.

It turns out that Sprint could give me the exact same service that AT&T had been supplying, for just a hair over half of what I’d been paying.  I’m not someone who buys strictly on price – I evaluate a lot of factors before making a significant purchase.  So I called AT&T’s customer service department and asked for a lower rate.  They wanted to know why I was considering switching.

“Sprint is going to charge me half of what you do for the same service.”

“I’m sorry to hear that.  I hope our service has been satisfactory, and if there’s anything we can do to help with the transition please let us know.”

No begging me not to go, no attempt to lower their pricing to match what someone else was going to charge me.  No offers of extra goodies to entice me to stay.  While switching over to another carrier was going to be a pain (easier than I imagined, truth be told), I simply say this –

Learn from AT&T’s lesson, and don’t give in to the price shoppers!  I recommend all my clients keep their prices higher than their competitors’.  Why?  So you can afford to give better service, and so that – should the occasion arise where you want to give low-cost or no-cost services – you can afford to do it without going out of business.

Price shoppers will always be out there, looking to snag a deal.  You cannot remove them from the business environment, but you can remove them from your equation.  They simply are not worth your time.  Literally.  You will never be able to stay in business if you cater to price shoppers.  If you offer them a low-ball price, they’ll want a discount on top of that.  If they find a lower price elsewhere, they’ll leave you and go there instead.  I also find that people who insist on the lowest price also want the most personal service.

So, am I disappointed that AT&T didn’t try to bribe me into staying?  Honestly, yes.  On a personal level, you’d think they’d want me to stay.  But they knew from past experience, and a serious attention to profit margins, that a half-price customer just isn’t worth it.  From a business standpoint, I applaud them for knowing the kind of clients they want, and the price point that type of client is willing to pay.  That’s their pool of prospects, and everyone else isn’t.

Bypass the cheapskates – sell to the right people at the right price.

Karate-do

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Karate-do – the way of empty hand self defense.  I teach and train traditional Okinawan Goju-ryu (hard/soft style) karate-do.

Do means “way” or “path.”  A dojo is “the place to learn the path.”  Karate is a word made from two kanji – “kara” which means “empty” and “te” which means “hand.”

I teach and train at CNY Karate and Kobudo in East Syracuse, NY.  I hold the rank of nidan (2nd degree black belt) awarded through Seibukai (“Pure Heart Association”) Goju-ryu Karate-do International of Okinawa City, Japan, and presented to me by Sensei Marvin Labbate.