CAREER TIP: Get off that slow yellow brick road, dammit!

Nowadays you cannot just follow the expected career path. Not only is it slower and more arduous, but the number of problematic lions, tigers and bears (oh my!) you encounter are double what they used to be. In today’s uber competitive business world, if you want to stand out and move more speedily forward you’ve gotta take the more risky, less traveled TURQUOISE BRICK ROAD. And here’s the good news. THE TURQUOISE BRICK ROAD IS THE FASTER ROAD TO SUCCESS! Yes, you don’t need to work longer hours to rise up faster -- just take bigger chances. One hour of risky TURQUOISE BRICK ROAD traveling is often equal to six hours of mind-numbing, paper-shuffling, sidewalk-kicking YELLOW BRICK ROAD TRAVELING. So here's some quickie TURQUOISE TIPS: (1) REMEMBER: YOU’RE NOBODY UNTIL SOMEBODY HATES YOU. (2) IF EVERYONE’S ZIGGING, YOU GOTTA ZIG-ZAG. (3) PUPOSEFULLY COLD-CALL AT NIGHT WHEN ASSISTANTS ARE HOME WATCHING TV BUT THE BOSS IS AT THE OFFICE AND ANSWERING HIS OWN PHONE. (4) "FR EE" IS THE MOST POWERFUL WORD IN A MARKETER'S VOCABULARY...FAR MORE POWERFUL THAN CHEAP OR 50% OFF! (5) ASK YOURSELF: IF YOU WEREN’T AFRAID OF FAILING, WHAT WOULD YOU DO? (6) DO SOMETHING WHEN PEOPLE SAY IT IS CRAZY. IF PEOPLE SAY SOMETHING IS GOOD, IT MEANS SOMEONE ELSE IS ALREADY DOING IT. (7) THINK GRANDIOSE THOUGHTS. (8) EXPLOIT THE MOST COMMON MOTIVATIONS: DESIRE TO BE COOL, POPULAR, LOVED, AND UNDERSTOOD. (9) IF YOU CAN’T STAND OUT AT ALL, JUST DON’T DO IT AT ALL. (10) CASUAL WORD OF MOUTH FROM FRIENDS AND STRANGERS IS MORE PERSUASIVE THAN GLIB WORDS FROM TV ACTORS -- AND CAN BE MORE CHEAPLY BOUGHT THANKS TO BUZZ MARKETING! (11) THERE’S A DIFFERENCE BETWEEN RISK AND STUPIDITY. DON'T BE A REBEL WITHOUT A CLUE. (12) MOM WAS WRONG. IT’S OKAY TO TALK TO STRANGERS. THE MORE PEOPLE YOU KNOW, THE LUCKIER YOU WILL BE. (13) IF YOU CAN’T CHANGE YOUR PRODUCT, CHANGE YOUR DISTRIBUTION. (14) IF YOU CAN’T CHANGE YOUR PRODUCT OR YOUR DISTRIBUTION, SIMPLY SLAP ON A NEW LABEL. (15) FOLLOW THE RE-FOUR MADNESS: REDEFINE, REINVENT, RESTRUCTURE, REASSESS. (16) THINK LONG TERM GREED OVER SHORT TERM GREED. (17) DON'T HEAR A NO, HEAR A SLOOOW YES. (18) EXPERIENCE IS NOT NECESSARY. GET OVER YOUR FEAR OF TRYING. (19) EVERY DAY DO AT LEAST ONE SCARY THING. (20) MAKE HASTE SLOWLY. KNOW THAT EVERY REVOLUTION HAS ITS PARTICULAR EVOLUTION.

STILL FISHING!

Still swimming with the sharks. Translation: I'm in LA still. And actually so far, no shark sightings. The fishing's been 100% fun. I've been throwing out my lines (for why they should be psyched about my projects) and folks seem to be biting. More meetings to come. I leave Tuesday on the redeye (ay! ay!ay)!) I'll be back in the blog business Wednesday at noon. As always, feel free to say hi at info@notsalmon.com! Bye!