Making It Up as I Go Along

Cop-out or strategy?

This morning I had coffee with a neighborhood mom. Sounds like we were exchanging tips on how to clean our kids legos, but no - it was a policy strategy meeting. I’m on our traffic committee and need to learn how to poke at the workings of Canadian city government. She’s got 20 years of policy experience. I learned a ton.

After coffee, as we walked to my house through the snow (seriously - big fat snow flakes in Edmonton today, it’s gorgeous), she commented on how neat it was that I built a business around consulting in my field. She’d perhaps like to do the same, but said she’s no good at marketing.

Like all of us. Who’s a natural at marketing? Is it the guy I went to the sixth grade with who came up with the unforgettable campaign slogan, “Don’t be an onion, vote for Jeff Runyan?” I don’t remember if he won, but I still love the slogan.

I told her, “I hate marketing, too. I’m just making it up as I go along.”

When I told my husband that story, he got upset. He described my approach as strategic and effective (debatable, but thanks, honey). And that’s what got me thinking.

You see, I don’t like the idea of marketing. I do like the idea of talking to people, finding out what they’re interested in and what they need and seeing if I can help take care of one of their needs. Sometimes that will come in the form of “I know someone who” and other times, it will be me describing how I can take care of the need.

I describe this as making it up as I go along because I don’t have an offer in mind when I talk to people. All of that takes shape as I understand better what they need. It is strategic. It puts need before product. What you need from me is more important than what I have to offer.

What you need from me may be a service I cannot provide. In that case, I don’t help you if I try to sell something I can do that’s adjacent or less than what you need. Then I help you best by putting you in touch with someone who can help you.

But it’s easy for me to go into conversations with that mentality because my income is bonus income at home. We’ll pay bills whether I get clients or not. That’s by design, by the way. When we bought our first home in 2006, we decided we would always budget for one income.

Still, I think the best conversations and relationships come out of one person trying to figure out how they can serve the other person. Double bonus if both people want to help each other. If we move through the world thinking first about what we have to offer as opposed to what we have to gain, how does that change things? How does it change the world?

Speaking of needs, actually wants - check out the amazing gifts the Edmonton second hand shops offered up to me last week! That’s a now clean and working Olivetti Underwood Lettera 33 portable typewriter that came with a case. Love it. Also made a ridiculous mess trying to re-ink the ribbon, so if you have tips, please send!

On my first visit to Paperbirch Books, I found a copy of W. Somerset Maugham’s A Writer’s Notebook, which reminds me of David Sedaris’s diary excerpts and I love the boat shape they made with his previously published works. The bookmark was in the Maugham book, a bonus find. I’ll share a bit. On page 22 (it’s 22 March), some excerpts from his 1896 diaries. There are nine excerpts on the page, from a sentence to a paragraph long. Here are two:

Ideal pleasure, that is pleasure imagined, cannot be so vivid as pleasure experienced.

However harmless a thing is, if the law forbids it most people will think it wrong.

As much as I enjoy these, I’m also tempted to write a piece that’s all the terrible starts of my old journal entries. For example….here’s a real gem from 22 March 1995.

How small is the world? Well, I am seeing my favorite T-shirt on someone else - the Florence one. I am totally amazed. Really, totally amazed.

That would have been a five dollar t-shirt I got in Florence in the summer of 1991 with a sunflower on it. I remember the fabric was thin, twisting, and oh, so soft. I used to wear it with very short yellow shorts. Bet I looked amazing! I like that this memory matches the yellow theme that developed this week.

I also found a reprint of Yoko Ono’s Grapefruit, a collection of instructions. There are no page numbers, so I’ll open a page and I find this….

CONCERT PIECE

When the curtain rises, go hide
and wait until everybody leaves
you.
Come out and play.

1963 autumn

This is a treasure and I cannot wait to read more of it. Also, “John” describes it (on the fly leaf!) as “the greatest book I’ve ever burned.” Now who doesn’t want that for a chilly winter day?!

So, you know, have a wonderfully random week full of wonderfully random human and object finds. And make sure to share with me. I love this stuff!

Also, if you’re Jeff Runyan - I’ve never, ever forgotten you and have told this story on several continents. You’re famous now!