seth godin

The Seth Effect

by aileen on August 26, 2011

I confess, I’m a bit of a Seth Godin junkie – I read everything I can find of his, and have always imagined how much fun it would be to sit around a table with him and talk ideas. (Obviously in my head we are cut from the same slightly strange cloth – and would get on instantly and become great friends)… yesterday that chance came…. and went. And still it changed the way I think… let me explain.

At 2.30 yesterday afternoon I got the email I have dreamed about..

September 13 session in my office

By request, I’m offering a small group session in my office on the 13th of September. Call it group coaching for lack of a better term… bring your marketing, business model, web or other challenges and we’ll try to work through them. A few big ideas are likely to come of it for each attendee.

Apologies in advance if you can’t get a ticket, but if it goes well, I’ll probably do it again. Details and tickets.

I clicked on that link so fast I could have been an olympic clicker – my time had come. It was expensive – $3,200 – but the chance to be one of 14 people spending a day with Seth was a dizzying thought. I am a one person business, I don’t have an expense account to fall back on so I had to think about it. I thought, and I thought, and I thought. I did the math, and I did the math again. I knew it just may be the best investment I had ever made in myself or my business and did I mention it involved Seth Godin?

My practical head then clicked in, and I checked my calendar. I already had a speaking gig booked and that, in my world, is the one unmovable thing. Nothing is more important than that. Nothing. Not even Seth. (sorry Seth)

Then I started thinking of all the things I would have had to have done to prepare to meet Seth. How I would have had to be on top of business planning like never before, how I would have wanted my ideas developed and analyzed before I met ‘the man’ – The 3 weeks would have been spent preparing like never before. Wait. What?

Why didn’t I just do that anyway. If I would do that to meet Seth, why wouldn’t I do that to meet myself? I still can’t make the 13th, but on the 14th I have very important meeting, one that will mean me having all my plans aligned, my business direction clear, and my creativity firing. I would love Seth to be there, but it will be just me. And that’s enough, after all I can always ask myself ‘What would Seth say?’

Who would you like to meet, and how would you prepare? Shouldn’t you do that work anyway?

Dear Seth, if you or one of your assistants has a google alert set for your name and you happen upon this post, Thank You. Let’s hope we meet one day.

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Generosity is key…

by aileen on March 17, 2010

Last week I met with Roy Petitfils. He’s a local guy, a speaker and author and we have been trying to meet for ages. Last week we made it happen.

He was exactly what I expected (and I had quite high expectations). A genuine, easy to talk to guy, living his dream. I was inspired, it’s so nice to meet someone locally who is following the same career path and is as open to sharing as I am. I am hoping he will make our meetings a regular occurrence. He’d make a great accountability partner and I bet we could do some great stuff together (I haven’t asked him yet though).

At the end of our meeting Roy handed me a copy of Linchpin by Seth Godin, a book I’ve been meaning to read. He told me he’d been sent an extra copy.
It’s an excellent read (I’m 3/4 of the way through) and although I have never thought of myself as a cog I’m really enjoying and learning from the bits on fear and your lizard brain. It’s definitely changing what I tell myself and affecting my productivity, for the better. There was a letter inside the book, I had been using it as a bookmark for a few days when I finally read it. It said
“Generosity is a key piece of being an artist. It gives each of us a chance to connect, to make a difference, and to do indispensable work.

You were generous enough to make a donation to Acumen Fund, an organization that focuses on trade, not aid, building communities that work because each member contributes more than they get.
A few weeks ago I sent you a preview copy of Linchpin, as promised. Now, in recognition of your generosity, I’m giving you another. I hope you share this one with someone you care about.

Thanks for the art you bring to your work every day.

Seth.”

This made me smile. What a great way of living what you preach. I have decided that when I finish my copy of Linchpin I will pass it on to someone else. (I will be going and buying me a copy to keep). It will be in the next few days. If you would like to be the person who helps me continue this generosity please leave a comment below. I will pick someone randomly and send them the book. (I will have your email, so will email the winner to ask for a mailing address).

I will not be adding you to any mailing lists or anything like that, just want to pass on the generosity and a great book!

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