I was let out on day release this morning.
I did grown up stuff!
I went to the Business Chicks Morning with Seth Godin and it was wow.
I’m a bit shy. But as a self-employed website copywriter I need to circulate with other clever clogs and fill my brain with new ideas.
On arrival I registered my attendance, grabbed my neon pink wristband and loitered and fidgeted. I bought the book.
Actual printed book.
Celeb spot! Exciting.
It’s Nicky Buckley, of Sale of the Century fame and those furniture commercials—Natuzzi perhaps. She looks ah-mazing. Bet she didn’t eat a half packet of salt and vinegar crisps last night and then regret it.
I see an old client, one of my very first, Rachel of Eternal Ingredients. And the lovely Fiona of Brand by Name. Yay—people I know.
I have a selfie in the photobooth, also joining up with a lovely fellow solo traveller, who sadly doesn’t have a business card for me. (I’m hoping she emails me, as I would like to recommend her.)
Photobooth shenanigans with mystery girl
Photos taken and it’s time to amble into the Plenary to hear the man himself, Seth Godin.
We are treated to a tribal drumming opening act from Human Rhythms. I must update my prescription as I believe the bloke leading the drumming is Seth himself. The drumming is great; my rhythm is appalling. I follow the beat of the guy in front, suspecting that his timing is not much better than mine. My hand starts to get sore.
Then the aforementioned Nicky appears—she’s the host. She says words. She’s so pretty.
Then it’s Seth. He’s ace.
All the things that speakers should be. Visual. Engaging. Funny.
saying smart things
I particularly enjoyed the story about how Seth saw the potential of the world wide web and internet in 1992 and wrote a book on the subject. At the same time two Californian guys saw the same potential and started a little project called Yahoo.
Seth encourages us to embrace failure as a process of innovation and improvement.
He shares a little history of mass marketing and explains why it’s no longer relevant. He encourages us to find, and lead, our own network of weirdos. (Freelee the Banana girl comes to my mind as a prime example. She’s a vegan with a huge following of her own ‘weirdos.’ I don’t subscribe to her lifestyle but I do aspire to her amazing abs.)
Seth also says when Gutenberg started the printing press 95 per cent of people were illiterate. When Benz started building cars there were no petrol stations or roads and you needed a permit to drive from the king of Germany. Not ideal market conditions, but they persevered.
He also shared a story of Nathan Winograd, who helped San Francisco pet shelters introduce a no kill policy, then took that approach to other cities across the USA.
I love these anecdotes, about people being and doing clever.
Some other key takeaways for me about Seth’s words:
- You will never be ready, so just go for it
- Create a community, share, connect and prosper together
- Be comfortable stealing ideas
- Take a leadership stance – don’t worry about if you’re ‘qualified’ to be a leader
Then it’s all over and a little miss is waiting for me in the car park!
cheeky chubby
Did you attend? What did you think?
