A hierarchy of value when everything functions and what that means for your #startup

This Blog from Seth Godin again hits the nail on the head. 

With such certainty and precision that I have to pop it down here. 

His point is a great one - that a business decides by action or by non action where it is on the ladder. 

It's like a customer version of Maslow's hierarchy of needs. 

See below for a lovely modern take on this...

But Seth's point is more serious... and really apt considering it was Apple's annual launch day. 

A company that through it's marketing and design has changed the conversation and ecosystem around telecomms more than any other. See his point on smartphones later on. 

The reason I include it here is his point about freelancers 

"Most freelancers have been so beaten down in the quest to make a go of it, they stop at function and take what they can get."

Which in some way is a trap I am falling into. My training company Great Marketing Works didn't do that - we had connection and style. 

Perhaps my freelancing as a consultant does as well? We have some great gigs coming up. 

BUT.... with FFFlip - The fast, fun, photo montage maker for the event professional.  

I want to have the audacity to redefine 'function' (see his end conclusion...) 

I hope for your startup you decide to do the same - or at least do something with style.... 

Here's to doing that and here's to Seth Godin's A hierarchy of value when everything functions

When two things offer simply the same appropriate level of function, we'll choose the cheap one.

But if one offers more connection than the other, it is worth more. 

This hotel over that one. Where is the tribe, do people like me do things like this, who's there, will they miss me, do I trust them, have I been here before...

If two items offer connection, but one offers the approval and sexiness that style brings, some of us will pay extra for that. After all, style promises ever more connection.

And at the top of the hierarchy is our quest for scarcity, desire and the hotness of now. 

In a market like smartphones, it's pretty clear that it's really difficult to offer more function than the other guy. And the quality of connection, the very attribute that fuels the smartphone, was surrendered to the app makers a long time ago. Which leaves the sexiness of a drop-dead case and the urgency of the latest model.

What do you and your team offer? Where are you in the hierarchy?

Most freelancers have been so beaten down in the quest to make a go of it, they stop at function and take what they can get. Some businesses (small and large) find the patience and guts to offer connection or even style. And every once in awhile, an idea and an organization come along that promise to share the elusive hot that sits atop the pyramid.

So, buy a Harley, not because it can move you from here to there cheaper, but because it comes with a tribe. And buy that Nars lipstick because of the way it makes you feel. And get on line for that new gadget, because, hey, there's a line.

And then, someone finds the audacity to redefine 'function' and the whole thing begins again.

OK Seth I will. All about taking action after #Fasterclass

#FASTERCLASS

Seth Godin wrote a great blog today and a great one yesterday as well about TIME. Which I referenced at the mid point of my #fasterclass talk sponsored by Justaxi yesterday. 

The #fasterclass event was a great success and the subject of another blog. 

Here I just mention Seth's blog today (as he is virtual marketing mentor of mine) and then at the end - for those of you with TIME - I copy and paste his previous blog. 

This first blog is about "getting rich quick" (well it's a play on this meaning the opposite)  - which is about what James Welch from OVG talked about with his scientific approach to creating a buzz in a city i.e. it takes hard work but if you give more then you create success. 

To reinforce my point and his  - I am going to comment and act on all of the ideas below in reference to Justaxi, Fasterclass, and my own life in marketing. 

Get rich (quick)

Enrich your world by creating value for others.

- I do with my marketing. 

Enrich your health by walking twenty minutes a day.

- I will walk home from the tram everyday rather than getting a taxi from the office (sorry justaxi.)  

Enrich your community by contributing to someone, without keeping score.

- I will do #fasterclass again - even though it was really, hard work. 

Enrich your relationships by saying what needs to be said.

- I will tell our partners what we will do better next time as a group. 

Enrich your standing by trusting someone else.

- I will trust our partners to take what I say on-board.

- I know Chris Marsh will - pictured right...  

Enrich your organization by doing more than you're asked.

- I think I do this already with Justaxi but I can do more. 

Enrich your skills by learning something new, something scary.

- It is time to learn about networking and data science. To become a bit more James. 

Enrich your productivity by rejecting false shortcuts.

- I will put in the time needed to learn deeper mobile analytics from today. 

Enrich your peace of mind by being trusted.

- OK I will take your word for it Seth - and do some more Calm time as well. 

The connection economy pays dividends in ways that the industrial one rarely did. 

Which is exactly what Chris Marsh was talking about at #Fasterclass. 

Seth's second blog is about TIME - which is what I was talking about. 

"I didn't have time"

This actually means, "it wasn't important enough." It wasn't a high priority, fun, distracting, profitable or urgent enough to make it to the top of the list.

Every few days, Twitter and Facebook soak up a billion hours of 'spare' time. Where did that time come from? What did we do before social media was here? Weren't we busy five years ago?

Running out of time is mostly a euphemism, and the smart analyst realizes that it's a message about something else. Time is finite, but, unlike money, time is also replenished every second.

The solution has nothing to do with giving people more time (you can't) and everything to do with creating more urgency, more of an itch, more desire.

Which is a lovely point - nicely mixing with my talk last night for #fasterclass all about speed of marketing - and marketing for the moment. 

A big thanks to Justaxi Manchester best priced taxi app, for sponsoring last night and allowing me to speak there. 

For UKFast for being the venue with some great food. 

And all the companies involved, and especially the speakers who made the event possible - that's Sabine from Apadmi, James from OVG, Chris from UKFast and Dan (that's me) Sodergren from Great Marketing Works. 

Extra special bonus mark for Sabine who got the first blog up there with her notes from the event - all about the role of mobile 

Which is nice as we are a mobile taxi app :) 

Justaxi is Manchester's taxi farecomparison and mobile bookings app - no need to call a taxi - the app gets you the best prices for taxis in Manchester instantly.

No need for taxi numbers or remembering your local Manchester taxi services website - our app find the best taxi prices for you depending on where you are. 

With our app you can book your taxi in Manchester, even by credit card and paypal. It's easy with Justaxi – Manchester’s taxi booking app.

And... if you are really lucky, like the Online Venture Group (picture here) is you can use a promo code and get your mini bus for free. 

Our crystal palace and our fears and what that really means.

    
Here is a blog written by the legend Seth Godin and an email from the Store for Entrepreneurs  platform Appsumo - so nicely are they timed and joined together that I pop them both here.

Seth to start... With our crystal palace...  And AppSumo with an elegant answer to it all.

Emotive stuff.

Our crystal palace

Thanks to technology, (relative) peace and historic levels of prosperity, we've turned our culture into a crystal palace, a gleaming edifice that needs to be perfected and polished more than it is appreciated.

We waste our days whining over slight imperfections (the nuts in first class aren't warm, the subway isn't cool enough, the vaccine leaves a bump on our arm for two hours) instead of seeing the modern miracles all around us. That last thing that went horribly wrong, that ruined everything, that led to a spat or tears or reciminations--if you put it on a t-shirt and wore it in public, how would it feel? "My iPhone died in the middle of the 8th inning because my wife didn't charge it and I couldn't take a picture of the home run from our box seats!"

Worse, we're losing our ability to engage with situations that might not have outcomes shiny enough or risk-free enough to belong in the palace. By insulating ourselves from perceived risk, from people and places that might not like us, appreciate us or guarantee us a smooth ride, we spend our day in a prison we've built for ourself.

Shiny, but hardly nurturing.

So, we ban things from airplanes not because they are dangerous, but because they frighten us. We avoid writing, or sales calls, or inventing or performing or engaging not because we can't do it, but because it might not work. We don't interact with strange ideas, new cuisines or people who share different values because those interactions might make us uncomfortable...

Funny looking tomatoes, people who don't look like us, interactions where we might not get a yes...
Growth is messy and dangerous. Life is messy and dangerous.

When we insist on a guarantee, an ever-increasing standard in everything we measure and a Hollywood ending, we get none of those.

This wonderfully links into a great idea from Appsumo - of how to take this fear and overcome it  with a new iPhone App: called Failure Games.

This email is from Eric Fernandez 

The point of the app is gamify the learning experience through failing and humanising it as well as adding humour so we can get over it. With the app they challenge you to step out of your comfort zone and get what you want in life

This is Eric's rather wonderfully crafted email introducing the idea. Which I really hope works.
"Would you rather have the ability to fly or to become invisible? I was listening to NPR a few days ago when they asked this and it got me thinking ...

For me, instinctively, I’d choose invisibility. As an introvert, invisibility is the quiet and simple answer. I could find solitude whenever I wanted it. I could find out what’s in Area 51. I could sneak into Skywalker Ranch and be disappointed ahead of time in the next Star Wars movie.

It feels a bit unsavory, but it’s the easy answer for me. It’s the answer that lets me stay in the comfort of my private life.

Flight, however, seems like the answer of an adventurer. It’s the answer I wish I would give. It’s the answer that rattles around in my head when I hear stories of climbers who scale Mount Everest or see comedians standing in front of a thousand people with nothing but a microphone. It’s daunting, but it’s the answer that I imagine the people I admire most would give.

We all have an idea of who we are and who we want to be. Stepping out of our comfort zone and taking a risk is the first step towards our ideal versions of ourselves.

For me, it’s writing this email to hundreds of thousands of AppSumo subscribers. For you, maybe it’s cold-calling a client or validating your golden business idea.

Getting over that fear of failure is a hurdle some of us never even attempt to jump and that’s the reason we’ve developed a totally free app for iOS 7 devices called Failure Games.

It works like this. Every day, we’ll release a new challenge. The challenge could be as silly as telling a joke or as socially uncomfortable as asking a complete stranger to have lunch with you.

Some will be harder than others, but every challenge will be designed to get you more at ease with taking chances and with the possibility of failure.

 This is just one of the fun daily challenges. Think you can do it?

If you’re like me, you’ll be inspired by others who are successfully completing challenges and encouraged by your followers commenting on your pictures and videos. And with any luck, we’ll realize together that:

1. The fear of failure is never a good thing if it’s holding you back from what you want.

We get emails daily from people taking our "How To Make A $1,000 A Month Business" course thanking us for pushing them to believe in themselves and take a chance. Here’s just one of them:

Well just made under $1,500 in sales. I will hopefully receive the money on Monday 21st of October.

It's amazing how much fear stops you. I was fearful asking the guys and more so asking an already established guy to help me and more fearful again about whether or not my coaching skills are good enough.

    This is really insightful ... seems like it is just all about overcoming that fear.

    -Brian Halpin

2. When you do fail, you can learn a lot.

I know a guy that got fired from a very early position at Facebook. That period of failure was a defining moment for Chief Sumo and he can tell you better than anyone that he learned a lot about himself and the world of business from that moment.

3. Taking risks can be fun and lead to a more prosperous and full life.

I think this point is self-evident, but we all need to be reminded about it at times. Go on a spontaneous road trip or stay comfortable at home? One leads to excitement and new memories and the other is just like any other night."

The irony for myself is that... to download the app you need iOS7 - and I don't dare download it yet! ;)

I think this Failure Games App  (not my fear) is a great example of modern marketing - creating a social object through an app - of adding value and creating a talking point - doing something remarkable - all of which Seth would be proud!

Modern marketing really has changed - more than perhaps people realise. But it has also in a strange way come full circle over a decade - whereas before you wanted people to come together to be part of  your sponsored event in the real world (like we did with guerrilla marketing with Spearfish) now clever brands and ideas created digital realities and events i.e. apps and games and moments - so people can share them and talk about it all.

Perhaps in the end of differences are just the channels of experience. It's all just #greatmarketing.


(ED ADDED 27/10/2013 To make my life complete Seth Godin apparently just blogged about this as well)