How does a "guru" change your opinion?
It's only Tuesday and I am incredibly tired. I have been a week back in the US from international travels and all of a sudden it has all hit me like a tonne of bricks.
I arrive early to my hotel room, my place of residence until I make time to find a home in Atlanta, and I plonk all my bags down on the carpet, just by the door. Reluctantly, I reach for my bag and pull out my laptop case. As I unzip the case, I walk towards the small table in the corner, with a light beaming into the triangle of the wall.
I grab my Apple MacBook Air, flick open the screen, type in my password and stop for a moment. I am tired. So, tired that my body aches and my shoulder blades feel like I have a knife edged into bone. This is the life of someone who travels.
I arrive early to my hotel room, my place of residence until I make time to find a home in Atlanta, and I plonk all my bags down on the carpet, just by the door. Reluctantly, I reach for my bag and pull out my laptop case. As I unzip the case, I walk towards the small table in the corner, with a light beaming into the triangle of the wall.
I grab my Apple MacBook Air, flick open the screen, type in my password and stop for a moment. I am tired. So, tired that my body aches and my shoulder blades feel like I have a knife edged into bone. This is the life of someone who travels.
The nausea of jet lag and the heaviness of a body that finds even a small step, a giant leap - has taken its toll.
I stop. I breathe and I think. Is this really necessary right now? Do I really need to sit at my computer for the next few hours returning emails, skyping and proofing campaigns that I possibly won't get to enjoy?
I look over and there is a magazine sitting next to me. It says "Entrepreneur". Seth Godin is on the cover. I open it at the wrong end. It says: Back Page: How effective is your marketing plan? Add up the points to find out if your company is doing it right. Question one: How ambitious are your revenue goals? Yes, they are ambitous. Very ambitious. That is why I am so tired.
Then I flick through the magazine to find the story on Seth. I realized that I had never really read a story on Seth Godin, the guru. And there it was... Seth in one of his famous poses - a screwed up face. This man has more expressions than I can poke a stick at. Headline: The guru takes flight. Yes, he is somewhat a guru, even in my books. Up there with Nelson Mandela but in the world of marketing rather than saving man kind or helping those less privileged.
I read bits and pieces of his work and am impressed. Who isn't. After all, he is the marketing guru that has millions of entrepreneurs following him. As I read the story, the only one I have read about him personally, I realized that he is a content marketer. He doesn't come from an esteemed background winning awards for marketing works. Instead, he is known for writing blogs. In fact he is always in the top 10 marketing bloggers in the world.
His books are based on his research and thoughts, not necessarily from having experience in building hundreds of different brands. It doesn't make it any less powerful might I add, but I was surprized. I had no idea. In 2005, he launched Squidoo, a website that helps lobbyists publicize and monetize their personal passions which now attracts more than 53 million unique visitors a month (source: Entrepreneur Magazine).
As I sat confused by what I had just read - only because it didn't fit with where I thought Seth had come from, I referred back to myself. I am a blogger. I often fall off the face of the earth and lock myself up in writing blogs or almost anything that tickles my fancy.
Imagine having the life where that is all you do? I think I would love it. Really! I couldn't think of anything better. Learning, forming opinions and writing. Sheer bliss. Not for everyone, but certainly for me that would be a dream. So, Seth is still a guru in my eyes. Someone who I espouse to be more like. While I don't have his face of expressions and NO not because I have had botox (I haven't) but because I am not quite the character nor superstar marketer he is.
Thanks Seth: You really make me think!
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comment ( 1 )
Melinda
04 Mar 2013I find self-made entrepreneurs who started from humble beginnings, simply doing what they love, inspirational. The increasingly accessible and available nature of technology to every household is making it possible.
ReplyRumi Neely started off blogging her day to day outfits on Fashion Toast and had a vintage apparel eBay store in 2008. Today, she gets front row passes to numerous big brand runway shows, models for various campaigns, designed collaborations and receives a ridiculous amount of free goodies. Michelle Phan is a self-taught makeup guru that simply started by posting beauty how-to videos on YouTube in 2006. She's come a long way from that and now has subscribers in the millions, not to mention other business ventures, while the cash rolls freely in.
Seth, Rumi, Michelle...They're all people that started by doing something they believed in and were passionate about. Sometimes I forget that these people I aspire to be like are just "normal" people like myself and that gives me a glimmer of hope that maybe, just maybe one day I can do it too.