Some POWerfull advice and the art of Surprise!

Every now and then I will write about my Dad on this here blog. I love my Dad and am lucky because he has imparted a lot of interesting wisdom on me.

One of the two best things he told me that "Jealousy is a wasted emotion and you shouldn't spend your life comparing yourself to others"

Makes perfect sense and it is something I have taken to heart and is really the way I live my life. I am however not 100% free of jealousy because I am a little jealous of my friend Andy Nulman. I could go on and on about his career or his famous friends but the thing I really admire about him are his ideas.

His most recent gem is a brilliant way to promote his new book, POW! Right Between the Eyes: Profiting from the Power of Surprise, that is coming out in a few months.

Ya see he is giving away 200 free copies to anyone with a blog that asks for one!

Knowing Andy as I do I know there is more to this than he is letting on so I encourage anyone who is interested to jump on this offer!

Click here to read the deal right from Andy

I would be all over this myself but was fortunate to read an advanced digital copy. The book is so inspiring and my favorite chapter was the one I wrote all about me. That chapter isn't in the real book but since my copy was digital I took some liberties :)

...and in case you were wondering what the second piece of advice my Dad gave me, it was that cereal is delicious!

I know you are busy so I am reading the internet for you!

Greetings and Salutations,

Usually I post about things that caught my eye or something I dreamed up but tonight/today I wanted to remind you all that I like to read.

I read everything.

In fact I scour the entire internets daily to find any morsel of interesting information so you don't have to commit the time or energy.

You see any time I find something interesting I share it on my Google Reader I know this probably sounds like a commercial for them but I assure you I am doing this for you and not them.

So any time you need to know what is going on in the world (or at least the parts of the world I find interesting) head over to my Google Share Reader.

Why as we speak there are articles about:
Apple MacBook Air
Penn Jillette
Using Social Media to Meet People
Nike Air Force One New Release Pictures
Marketing Advice and Stories
Tom Cruise, Tom Cruise, Tom Cruise
Stuff about Saul Colt
and comic book and writers strike info

Go Check em out!

-saul

p.s. and while you are at it...why not bookmark this RSS feed...and this one too!

Twittering for good and not just to report bathroom visits...

If you read this blog or my twitter entries you probably know I have been sick the last few days.....well I am feeling much better now and figured it as time to get back to my blog. Holed up in bed I read a lot of blog entries and followed my twitter subscriptions. One of the twitters that caught my eye was from C.C. Chapman recounting that someone asked him to name a company that is using Twitter in a great way and he came up blank. I was determined to find someone so I could post about it and look like a smartie pants but alas I came up with nothing as well.......But I did come across a website that is using Twitter in the smartest way I have seen so far!

Bargainista is a great site that discovers and announces "sales" from retail stores in the Toronto area. The site is jammed packed with entries and each "sale" also gets its own Twitter posting so if you are not signed up for the RSS feed you can still get a reminder (in a line or two) about the newest discoveries.

I see a lot of people use Twitter to announce a running account of their every move.....and that is cool if you are into that sort of thing but the more people figure innovative ways to use this powerful tool the more important it will become!

-saul

Disclosure : The lady who runs the site is a friend of mine and very attractive but neither influenced my decision to write this post :)

First Impressions.

First Impressions are a funny thing because you can't change them. People make real world decisions (just ask any HR person) based on that first encounter or even just appearance. I have been thinking a lot about this recently because it is election time around these parts. I am not really into politics. I follow it causally so I can make informed decisions but I am far from a know it all but the two topics (Politics and First Impressions) seem to fit together....at least I am going to try to make them fit here.

Being a one car family (doing my part to save the world) I catch a lift with my wife to the subway every morning. For the last two weeks there has been one of the candidates standing on the same corner waving at people in their cars and chatting with folks on the street during the morning rush.

I am not going to say who it is because that part isn't really important but the thing that stands out to me every morning is that he looks tired....sure this is early in the morning but in the game of politics appearance is important and what I see as "tired" others may see as "beat down" or just plain "beaten".

Being out with the people is a great way to be seen and very "grassroots" but in this case it may work against this man. One solution would have been to have volunteers be the ones on the corner waving and handing out the flyers (and there are but the focus is still on the candidate) or do something to make people never forget the candidates name but not really look at him.

If I was consulted on this I would have suggested the following :

-Have the candidate get a good night sleep!
-show up every morning doing his waving and kissing babies routine while standing next to one of those gigantic inflatable signs that they use at car dealerships except this one will have his name on it or the snowman or Santa can be holding a sign for the candidate.



You may think this is silly (and in some ways it is) but I guarantee this image will not be forgotten.....people will tell friends......not one person will look at the candidate........and when it comes to time to vote you will see the name on the ballot and it will take you back to the image and invoke emotion and a warm feeling.

All from a first impression.

-saul

I am # 402

I am finally getting recognized for my genius! Ad Age (a magazine I read ever week and I am not saying that so I can get ranked higher) has gone to the trouble of ranking the POWER 150 Marketing/Advertising/PR blogs on the net from around the world and as of yesterday I (this blog) is on the list. Currently I am ranked at 402 out of 450 but I expect to climb that list quickly by posting more about my shower experiences and even throw in a picture or two because if there is one thing I know about Marketing...it is all about giving the people what they want!

...and on a related/unrelated note I am ranked 28th out of all the Canadian blogs!