Fire By Sea

I would take the Olympics any day over all other sports, and this is why: the athletes are there for the love of their sport and competition. There is no million dollar contract incentivizing them, no contracts or agents. Only a pure spirit and some patriotism.

Of course how the media portrays the Olympics is different. While I do believe the network does well in preserving the spirit, they certainly don’t hold back on picking favorites and unfavorites.

Take for example the men figure skaters. That Russian guy is an ass-kicker, but I can tell they don’t want us to like him. So they portray him in a sinister light, then hype up the other two top guys.

This leads me to my next point, which is the next Olympics I want to experience in person. I want to be there without any influence but my own and my wife. In fact it’s something I have to do. Hopefully I can do well enough to go every time there is an Olympics.

The Olympics is only one of the world events I feel I need to be a part of. TED is another. All things international. How is it that some people have the privilege to do these things and others don’t? Wouldn’t you think people without means have something to contribute. So interesting.

Back to the title of this post. I like the Olympics because it seems more in tune with the rest of the world. More art, less transaction.

American professional sports suck the purity of spirit and replace it with capitalist exclusivity: massive cash incentives to kick ass, topped with fame and consequent gaudy attention. Ego trip for life.

Of course there is some irony to this. I know that athletes in at least China and Russia get paid huge bucks (read: set for life) if they get the gold. But that’s because there’s not really any other chance to make it big.

Funny how some of the greatest American Olympians (actually all Americans Olympians) aren’t high rollers, and therefore not in the mainstream spotlight. They get attention only when it’s the Olympics, and only if they bring in gold medals.

To clarify: farmers plan with oversight, hunters act on drive. Farmers are long distance runners; hunters are surfers.

It’s important to know your inclination, but I don’t think it’s wise to align yourself with it. In any aspect of life (lately for me it’s been ‘entrepreneur’) you have to become both farmer and hunter. Here’s why:

Planning needs execution, and execution needs planning.

This isn’t to say the neither party does both, but imagine the effectiveness and efficiency of planning like a farmer and executing like a hunter!

As a so-called farmer, I suffer from this. I feel like such an idea guy that all I’m good at is creating and evolving ideas. Never seeing them through. And my office reflect this: papers and notes — meta notes — everywhere. A blog post only once a week, labored at that.

Farmers need to learn to be ruthless.

Ruthless in decision making, which for example means knowing what and when to quit useless activities, and then doing it without hesitation.

A farmer’s biggest impediment is fear of failure. They over-envision perfection and over-calculate decisions that they end up not doing much at all. And once they’re committed to something, it’s hard to change their path.

Farmers are always thinking, worrying, planning, etc.

Hunters should be more thoughtful

A hunter’s biggest impediment could be said to be lack of vision. When they’re not intensely focused on one thing, they’re distracted.

I’d go as far as to say hunters are more often than not anti-intellectual. They prefer to live in the now — not the future and never the past.

One would say it’s easy to try and be both but it’s actually quite hard. We’re so used to being categorized as one or the other.

Every business needs a farmer and a hunter. I wonder if that could be made into a coaching program.

I read a post by Godin the other day that has me pondering. It’s about hunters and farmers, and how we’re one or the other. Farmers are thinkers, planners, meticulous in detail; hunters are short but intensely-focused on one thing.

Naturally it was easy to assume the role of farmer. After all, all I do all day is plan, design and take comprehensive inventory of my ideas. On top of that I find the stigma of a hunter not becoming of me. I like to think of my ideas as artfully mastered, not merely executed.

This kind of one-sided thinking has got to change, because clearly it’s getting me nowhere. Part of my problem with productivity and growth is the cocky self-reassurance that overcompensates lack of action with gluttony of thought.

The virtue of the hunter is that he can execute with intense focus and precision. This is what’s lacking for me: I don’t ship.

That’s why both sides need each other, adn that’s why I need to embody both farmer and hunter. I need to keep thinking and designing but I’ve got to start acting ASAP.

Notable Farmers:

• SD, SG

Notable Hunters:

• Shoemoney, John Chow

Hybrids:

[coming soon]

I’m evolving a model that uses publishing to create a (mostly) hands-off cash flow operation: ebooks that educate the very beginner on web marketing. The integrity of the model will depend on:

• Content: blog, ebooks, newsletter
• Design: clean, friendly, basic
• Marketing: SEO, Social Media (Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn)

The rest of the site will offer: email list, blog posts and limited consulting for local businesses.

Ebooks. Let’s talk ebooks. Rough ideas for ebooks for this site:

• Web marketing super basics:
  • Components of a website: design, content and code
  • Understanding web marketing
    • Inbound marketing: what it means
    • Social Media: blog, TW/FB/LI
    • SEO: keywords, structure, links
    • Other: iPhone app

The key to success will be on how simple and understandable I can make this for the audience. Very simple, very basic stuff. For the ultra beginner.

Other stuff: discount on ebooks for kama’aina (coupon), taking only high-end clients (or rather set a minimum price), offer non-profit work, affiliate products: Appmakr, Bluehost, Thesis, Organic Themes (out of the box sloution.

***

So enough of that for now. The heart of the matter is…keeping one’s head above water while in the thick of things.

This morning I woke up feeling heavy, lazy and gross — a product of overeating, oversleeping and overdrinking.

One thing I have to keep in mind is that everything needs to be monitored — can’t just exercise and then eat whatever.

Another thing missing is my ability to focus and write. I don’t just want to be a farmer, but also a hunter, too. So I become a hunter-farmer. Farmers are thoughtful, meticulous and systematic. Hunter needs little information to act. I’d like to be a meticulous planner but it can really pay to not hesitate at the right moment.

Anyway I hope to get back on track with my inner eagle, to move the junk out of the way inside so it can come out and start hunting. Hunter instinct; farmer is thought. Need both to succeed.

And Happy Chinese New Year. Again, I’m too tired to write.

Talking to an out-of-work writer today. Feel bad for the guy.

I’m in a salsa club. It’s my 11th anniversary. I can’t write much more than that.

I love the Olympics. It’s a near-perfect gathering of humanity: strong and beautiful athletes compete in a spirit of goodwill and honor. If I could choose to be great at anything, it would be Olympic-level athletics.

Every time the Olympics happen, we enter a portal of “pure spirit.” A realm of believing in the goodness of the human spirit and the power of determination.

Man that was cheesy. All I mean to say is that I love the Olympics.

Now, more publishing:

Today it occurred to me that Wordful could act as in an agent role between writers (blogger) and publishing companies. I’d help “train” or groom bloggers to be more aware of their voice, style, content strategy — all in the effort to get published.

This offers a viable alternative to the usual track of blogging to make money or even trying to monetize period. Monetizing is a pain. I’m speaking from my own experiences.

But after thinking about this, I don’t want to be a middleman. I’m an editor and publisher and I’m passionate about publishing — not deal making. The essence of my livelihood is editing and procure the finest content for appreciative audiences.

So with that said, I’m sticking with publishing. I’m not entirely sure how I’m going to do this because I have no experience in book publishing. I don’t know the details between taking a raw work and transforming it into a bound physical publication (or in many cases, an ebook).

The ebook might just be a suitable format, with print-on-demand options readily available.

What will I pioneer? How will I be unique?

One scenario: a company that educates/influences bloggers towards a publishing mentality (vs. marketing mentality), then publishes them. Is that ethical?

And what about readers? That’s the other 50%!!!

How about this: connecting what readers want with what writers can provide. If they want a book, they get a book. A blog, they get a blog. Editorial magic.

Criteria for the niche:

• Must be useful. Therefore, non-fiction. How to stuff.
• Must be creative. No schemes or money-making to marketing shit.
• Quirky, off-beat material. Hand-crafted stuff. Distinctive, “microbrew” stuff. First-class, highest quality writing, design, editing, etc.
• Strong voice. {Style guide}.
• Able to build a community around a website.
• I really think the narrower the niche, the more successful I’ll be.

Ideas for making deals with authors:

• Help them marketing and monetize blog so they can concentrate purely on content. (But is the business I want to get into?)
• If I’m helping to do that, then I would need to have editorial oversight.
• Another way of looking at this is an affiliate branded website, but not in the business of selling cheap wares. More like hand-crafted content for niche audiences.
• A real challenge would be to hire writers. But I could get a ghost writer for a blog done by an expert who can’t write.

Medium:

• Blog, bound book, ebook.

Keys to Success:

• Excellent product.
• Editorial strategy / content strategy.
• Market research.
• Very narrow, interesting niches. Micro niches, in fact.
• Choice of formats.
• SEO and Social Marketing

I’m drawn to the format of blogs to books: seeking out great blogs with great writers, helping the blog expand its readers and then testing to see if a book would be a benefit to the readers.

Different bloggers are at different levels, and some might be really savvy at marketing already, in which case my job is to procure the book. I think my competitive difference will be what agreements I setup with the writer/blogger, and how the Wordful brand is perceived.

Which comes right back to niche. What do I want to be known for publishing? I’m thinking niche quirky stuff like RunnerBunny (running site for kids), RunnerMoms (running support group advice etc for moms who run), Alaska Salmon Recipes, Surfah (modern surfing culture in Hawaii).

But these are all my ideas and it still doesn’t specialize.  Some random ideas:

• Lifestyle, improving, enriching lifestyle
• Family life, recreation
• Destination Hawaii, Alaska, Hawaii-Alaska
• not marketing but maybe. Unfortunately marketing is not my ultimate passion

Look and feel, brand equity emits offbeat, off the beaten path, funny, beautiful designs, etc.

The whole other component to this (and I’m still sketched out on this) is blog monetization. I don’t see the problem with an active blog being part of the publishing strategy.