Was on another message forum the other day (the footballguys free for all, which is my all time favorite internet forum), and in this one thread about entrepreneurship, someone who’s spent nine years in a corporate job asked something like “how do you get that passion for something that you start a business with it?”

I thought about it for a bit, because I’ve been in business three different times (2 ended up failing). One was advertising (direct mail, to be exact), one was IT services, and now writing (which actually started as programming, but that’s another story).

So, am I really passionate about all that stuff? Enough that the passion drove me to business?

To be honest, I’m not. Don’t get me wrong - I like what I do (and have done)… I really like it, actually. If I were a millionaire (and sadly, I am not), I’d likely still write (or do advertising, or IT stuff) in some form. 

But would I write press releases, brochures, and web copy for clients on a deadline? Probably not. Just being honest.

It’s not like I always had this passion to write web copy. I love to write, and I’m really good at a particular kind (direct, clear business and sales writing). But if I had all the money I ever needed, I’d probably do more consulting (just so I could keep my brain buzzing) and less writing - I’d write in support of me only. Writing is cool and all, but it also hurts after awhile. Really.

Anyway, here’s generally what I wrote to the guy as a reply:

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That passion isn’t something you find… it’s just there, but not in the way you think. For most people, the passion is entrepreneurship itself.

I’ve been an entrepreneur in spirit all my life, and three different times I “quit” (or got fired… same thing) and started a biz - with three different businesses. One was advertising/direct mail (failed), one was IT (failed) and one was writing (copywriting - success… still at it nine years later.) I even wrote a book about entrepreneurship and working at home for yourself, detailing both the failures and successes.

But even though I always liked to write, the way I do it in business now is not the passion. It’s hard to be “passionate” about writing a press release for some new product. I like doing it - don’t get me wrong. It beats the coal mines and stuff. But if I could do anything I wanted, writing a press release is about one millionth on the list.

I know a successful guy who sells special ethernet cables. But it’s not like ethernet cables are his first love. I know another who does data entry. She doesn’t have any passion for data entry (at all), but she does have a passion for being home with her kids. Your passion/hobbies/etc may lead you to business, but trust me, it’s not enough.

Forget trying to identify a strong passion - owning a business is just something entrepreneurs do. I have found most entrepreneurs are like that - they don’t wait for the perfect storm - owning the business is the passion.

Sorry not to be more useful than that (this probably isn’t what you wanted to hear), but that’s how I feel about it.

If you are a little slow in your business right now, you aren’t alone. July is easily my slowest month of the year, especially in terms of “new” contacts and such. Just too many people in that “summer vacation” mentality.

In fact, it affects posting here too, as that’s all I have to say today

Ok, this too - we discussed this some at the small business forums. We’d be delighted for anyone to join us - a very useful forum it is.

Happy Birthday America, and happy B-day to me, too (well, I’m today, July 3 ) 
Anyway, in the spirit of the time of year, here’s a movie review that fits very nicely.  By the way, all movies I’ll review (now and in the future - I plan to talk about movies a bit more, as I’m a real “Cinema” buff) are available on DVD.

1776

If one looks at movies as a magical multi-hour escape from reality, then the musical genre ranks near the top of the list. I mean, what could be more escapist and fantastic as ordinary people bursting into song and dance as they interact? The musical has been a big part of film history, with Fred Astaire, Gene Kelly, and even street gangs singing and dancing their way through the rain, on ceilings, and in almost any other imaginable scenario. It seems nothing was too ludicrous to put to music. But even knowing how full-blown and over-the-top musicals are, one could still find the concept of a musical starring the Founding Fathers a bit silly. If I didn’t like this movie so much, I’d probably join in and laugh at it, too.

The movie I refer to is 1776, and it is indeed a musical about the Second Continental Congress, which for those of you who failed history, convened in 1775-1776 and formally created America. The movie was adapted from the play of the same name, and indeed features many of the same actors who starred in the Broadway production. For those of you who are thinking a movie with a singing and dancing Ben Franklin sounds like a terrible idea, let me dispel that notion right away – as silly as it may sound, 1776 is a first-rate musical, and one of my favorite movies of all time (I have about 800 “favorite” movies). But really, I love the film, I watch it yearly (right around July 4th, of course), and I always find it fresh and fun. I have recommended it to many people – and not one person has come away disappointed.

1776 tells a story most Americans don’t really know – how the Declaration of Independence came about.  Oh sure, we all know the founding fathers got together in Philadelphia and declared independence, but most people don’t know much more than that. There are many familiar names in this movie – Adams, Franklin, Jefferson, etc etc, but how many people know Dickenson? Or Hopkins? Or how important they were?

1776 shows us the whole story, in an over-the-top manner that is both fun and surprisingly accurate (well, as accurate as a musical can be.) I’m a big fan of the revolutionary period, and I can only find a few minor things to nitpick about in this movie (such as the fact that they all didn’t sign it on July 4, etc). But for the most part, the “big picture” view of the events and congressional arguments depicted prettymuch happened. What I’m saying is, you can learn something watching this movie.

And argue these men do. If you think our present congress is gridlocked, wait until you see “obnoxious and disliked” John Adams (brilliantly played by William Daniels) and John Dickenson go at it. Or Ben Franklin lecture Edward Rutledge. Trying to keep peace is Congress president John Hancock, while Thomas Jefferson just wants to get the damn Declaration written so he can go see his wife. The Declaration did not come about easily.

These are famous men, and playing them requires some degree of acting skill. I’m stunned that nobody in this film got a nomination for any acting Oscar, as many of the portrayals are really well done (especially Daniels as Adams… hey, did you know he was the voice of KITT in the 80’s version of Knight Rider?)

Also depicted very well is the famous “Dearest Friend” correspondence between Adams and his wife Abigail. Taking many of the words/feelings right from their letters, the two are presented talking to each other while not really being together in a physical sense – it’s cleverly done. The film also uses a noted “play” prop in the huge calendar that depicts the date. When it needs to be tomorrow, someone comes in and rips the date off, and it’s tomorrow (err.. today?) These small elements translated very well to the screen.

I must mention the songs themselves, as they are really memorable, and jump right out at you. From the boisterous  opening number “Sit Down, John” to Adams and Abigail doing “Piddle Twiddle and Resolve” to the hilarious  “But Mr. Adams”,  featuring  Adams, Jefferson and Franklin  prancing their way to conning someone (Jefferson) into writing the historic document, the songs are amongst the most “clever” I have seen in a musical (whew – that was a long sentence.) In fact, the actors clearly have fun with the songs, occasionally breaking form and chastising the singers for singing. Very funny.

1776 is a wonderful way to spend a few hours and learn a little bit about American history as well. It’s fun, it’s fairly factual, and it depicts the colonial period very well. Highly recommended, whether you think you’ll like a musical or not.

Just a quick thought on website landing pages.

I was having a discussion the other day on the Small Business Forum, and the topic was “landing pages”. One member seemed a bit confused as to what a landing page was and why one would need one. I posted the following as a reply, and I think it’s a succinct enough description to include here in the blog (the guy’s name was Fred, which is why it’s addressed to Fred).

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Look at it this way, Fred… say you’re a plumber. You have a ten page website. A few of those pages are for individual services (one for water heaters, one for remodels, one for new construction, etc)

Your home page, obviously, gives the birds-eye view of your business. The navigation bar will have links, and maybe the “services” link has a javascript flyout that shows the individual pages, etc. And maybe even your homepage copy has a bulleted list to a few of the services

Fairly normal so far, right? Despite that I used “plumbing” in my example, I’m really describing millions of business websites.

Now, say you run a google ad for water heaters. Instead of sending those clicks to your home page, why not send them to your water heater services page? And tweak the copy ever so slightly to “welcome” people as if this is the first page they are seeing (which to many, it now might be)

THAT’S now considered a “landing page”.

In other words, because you control the google ad and where the click ends up, why not send the people interested in water heaters to a water heaters page, and send the remodel people to the remodel page, etc etc? It falls right into the “solve the problem people came with” quite nicely.

When landing pages are discussed, the conversation is almost always talking about PPC, e-mail, or some other type of “direct” advertising. Because it’s very easy (and fast) to control who clicks. With organic, it’s nowhere near as timely - you might have to wait a year, making it impractical for testing products, strategies, etc. This isn’t to say you can’t tweak pages to welcome organic traffic, but it’s MUCH more scattershot, and usually not implied whenever landing pages are discussed in the context they usually are.