New bar

A new bar recently opened up across the street from my apartment. They partnered up with a local chain of pizza shops to promote the bar and services at the main park. This bar/restaurant is located near a place where softballers and volleyballers can come and have leagues set up. Over the course of 10 years, bars and restaurants have come and gone, each one the same as the last. The issue they are facing is the long standing history of disappointing experiences and the loss of many customers due to disinterest in the location and the restrictions from owners that restrict certain freedoms that customers held dear. The tactics that this bar might have to implement would be some that would let customers know that this is place isn't like the rest. Just like how young men would tell their prospective love interest that they aren't the same as every other guy they've ever dated, they must prove to their targets that same distinction. They also must choose their targets carefully and change the way those targets view the current location and history of this bar.

Why Vistaprint is Good but Not Yet Great

Usually used when someone wants to create business cards or other stationary, a person is taken into a website that is able to provide all types of personal selling and business materials that you can use to "make an impression" on anyone. I personally used it to create my own business cards to be used in social events for my contact information. I made my template in Photoshop and then uploaded the images to Vistaprint with ease. The issue came in when I was checking out (dum dum dummmmm!) You input some personal information to have your order shipped and choose which kind of paper stock to have your stationary printed on at various prices, fine. Then after you are complete with your choices, they have 4 pages dedicated to upselling you on different products. 4 pages! 4 pages of clicking No thank you just to get to the actual submission page for your order. Get rid of this, immediately I say. Maybe a few relevant products to people who would A) upload their own business card template, B) order a particular stock of business card, C) for people within a particular region. My point is that there are alternative ways to upsell different products beside just shoving more than 2 dozen products in your face before ordering the 1 product you wanted in the first place.

What a Business Card Says About You

In that small piece of paper stock holds something of value. Something that expresses all of the values and creativity of you. It is a gateway to the way we can present ourselves to the people that will matter to us in the future. A business card represents how you see yourself. From the font type to the layout of the text. From the simplicity of it to the thing that makes it stand out. It should be made in such a way that makes it almost fun to come across it again. It is lastly a memory. When we give that card to someone, we want them to remember what we are all about.

Remake the everyday waiting room

On a recent venture to the car dealership for routine maintenance, I was faced with many more issues than I originally thought.

As everyone knows, when you take a car in for maintenance, the service person more than likely offers you to wait in their waiting room and enjoy coffee and tea for free. Some others offer you popcorn or some other snack. But then you have to sit and literally wait for your car to get done. This can be stressful, daunting, and to put it a better way, boring.

Engaging your customers at every level is what most companies try to do. Why stop with the waiting room? Give them something to do. Make it a necessary steps for a hidden sales person to come into the room and mingle with your customers. This is a low cost method. Another way is to have a stand alone room for waiting that acts as an entertainment room. A place for customers to escape for awhile and disconnect from the boring part of car maintenance.

A Spot to be

I'm sure we've all heard the expression that you were in the right place at the right time. What about being in the right time at the right place? Are you? Of course you are. All of us are. We're living in one of the most extravagant times in human history. A time in which collaboration and sharing have become second nature. We're able to cognitively create profiles of the people we come across and experience events that we thought we would never do. Embrace the time you are in. No matter the place.

Are you scarce enough?

Scarcity. Something that I'm sure that none of us realize can be thought of in ways other than vital resources or products. You. You my friend are a scarce resource. You have abilities and assets that you can provide to the people around you, and you have yet to realize it. Seth Godin put it correctly in his November 2010 article in HBR, that can be viewed here. To quote Mr. Godin, "If you can increase demand for what you already make, a lot of problems take care of themselves." This quote cannot be any more true. You as a person already to a great deal of things that make you a scarce resource. From the way you not over react when someone gets a job over you, a clearly better candidate, to make an example.


I am currently working on a project in which I have to campaign myself to a prospective employer. Now when I give my presentation, I will only have 5 minutes to convince my prospect that I am an asset worth investing in and getting to know. But little do I realize it but this is already happening to me on a day to day basis. Those that I interact with are getting to know how much of a scarce resource I am. An example from my life (of which I am very proud of) is that I have taken it upon myself to learn and entrench myself in as much marketing work as possible in order for me to better align myself with the market that I want to be associated with. I subsequently turned myself into a kind of brand. The Me brand. The Me brand is the same as any other brand. How do you feel when you see the Apple brand? What kinds of things run through your mind? Are they positive or negative? Are they feelings of caring or of lack of caring? What makes this brand this way? All of these questions are to be answered with the same mindset that you are the Apple brand. You are the thing that people want. That people feel happy about when they see your name come across their desk, or hear it in conversation. Getting involved with those that are your market is crucial. Your market are the friends, family, colleagues that you want to be associated with and that can support you through your career. They are the ones that will help move you toward greater things.

Market yourself as if you were the scarcest resource on this planet. Make people want to be around you and be associated with you. Become a Brand.

Adam J.

What They Are Saying About You

We've all been there. Walking through the halls or sitting at the table at the coffee shop and you peer over to notice that someone is staring in your direction while someone else is whispering in their ear. It can be aggravating to the onlooker and  a misunderstanding for the culprit. The issue is that this can be used as an opportunity for you to change something to make yourself more positively perceived by those around you. Now I would like to not turn this into a gender war where I recommend that Men do this and Women do that, so I won't. 

My one recommendation is that you first ask yourself a few simple questions, and also read this article for more insight. But the question that you should ask is: What should people think or feel when they see or hear your name? This is the ground floor of what perception is all about. From getting a date to landing that first job out of college, the answer(s) to this question will determine your next few steps in making yourself the best you that you can be. 

Are you irreplaceable?

A wise professor told me once that you need to understand why you are doing what you're doing and develop a great story to tell. He also told me to watch A League of Their Own, especially the part where Tom Hanks' character says, "It's supposed to be hard." A person that truly believes that their story is one that is meant to be told ten, one hundred, or even a thousand times should know that making that story is hard. Creating a path is hard. It takes a certain type of vision to realize that what you have to show and tell the world will define who you are and what mark you leave on the world. I think of Apple when I say this. Apple left a footprint so large and deep that it will always be remembered and missed. That is the key. Be missed. Create yourself so that if you are lost, you will be missed.

Where are you going?

Technology peaks my interest. I also want one day to work for one of the most influential ad agencies in the U.S. This combination is just a few of the stepping stones that I have laid for myself in order to determine the correct pathway to my own success. Success, in my opinion, is not measured by the amount of money one person makes. But by the level of happiness that your influence has given to those around you. I understand that some are motivated by different factors, so with that in mind, find a route to take yourself there. Going back to Tom Hanks' character in A League of Their Own, "It's supposed to be hard." This pathway is difficult. Many barriers and even more for those that do not look for them. Many obstacles and even more for those that do not seek assistance on how to maneuver them.

If people will talk. Give them something to talk about.

Adam J