58. The best way to learn marketing
...is to do marketing.
Do it on the weekends. Volunteer and do it for
a non-profit. Fundraise. Run a business
online. Market a kid's lemonade stand.
When you put your ideas in the world, then,
and only then, do you know if they're real.
Not expensive, merely frightening.
64. Most people
Most people don't care enough to make a
difference.
Most people aren't going to buy that new thing
you're selling.
Most people are afraid to take action.
Most people are too self-involved to do the
generous work you're hoping for.
Most people think they can't afford it.
Most people won't talk about it.
Most people aren't going to read what you wrote.
Fortunately, you're not most people. Neither are
your best customers.
65. Questions we ask before we trust your new idea
Who are you?
Do I trust you?
Am I afraid of it?
Will this work for me?
Who says it's important?
What will my peers think?
These are all variations of one complicated thread:
how will this process make me feel?
that's all we care about,
66. A true story
Of course, that's impossible.
There's no such thing as a true story. As
soon as you start telling a story, making it
relevant and interesting to me, hooking it
into my worldviews and generating
emotions and memories, it ceases to be
true, at least if we define true as the whole
truth, every possible fact, non-localized
and regardless of culture.
Since you're going to tell a story, you
might as well get good at it, focus on it
and tell it in a way that you're proud of.
68. Worth it?
That's a question you hear a lot. "Was
it worth it?"
Not certain what either "it" refers to,
but generally we're saying, "was the
destination worth the journey? Was
the effort worth the reward?"
The thing about effort is that effort is
its own reward if you allow it to be.
So the answer can always be "yes" if
you let it.