I’m not one to really criticize current events, etc. In fact, I find most people that do fairly shallow and petty.

That said, in regards to this huge oil spill, there is a simple, almost astonishing misstep that is glaring (to me, anyway).  Follow me here:

Every time they try something new, from the “dome cover” to the “top kill” thing, BP prefaces the attempt by saying “we’ve never done this at this depth before…”

Really? Then why the @#$% were you drilling at that depth??? I mean, come on…

In essence, they are saying “we have zero experience at fixing stuff this deep, but we decided to drill there anyway”. Ridiculous.

This proves there was no emergency plan in place - none whatsoever. Which is generally a bad way to conduct business, whether you are a giant oil company or a shorts-clad copywriter writing from his home. But of course, if something goes awry in my basement (bad cat!), it doesn’t effect millions of people, and cleanup is maybe twenty to thirty seconds.

I’m going on vacation later this month. There, I said it.

I talked about this once on my old blog, but it always amazes me how touchy us American businesspeople are about vacations. It’s like we’re afraid to take them. I recall a vacation e-mail autorespond message from a client awhile back. Let’s call him “George”. His message said something like:

“I’ll be on vacation from XX to YY. However, I will be checking e-mail twice a day, and if it’s an emergency, you may reach me on my cell at XXX-XXX-XXXX. The hotel front desk # is XXX-XXX-XXXX if you wish to leave a message there as well.”

Goodness, it doesn’t sound like George is taking much of a vacation, does it?

Now, maybe I could understand this type of dedication if George was involved in, I dunno… national defense, or maybe saving lives. But I know for a fact George works in marketing. And I also know for a fact there was really nothing pressing going on at the time. In plain terms, George was scared to just “go” on vacation and cut the cord. Either he felt that way on his own, or his company bullied him into feeling that way, or maybe a combination of both. It’s no wonder he’s going bald and has an ulcer. 

Not this guy. I’m going on vacation sans laptop. And my cell is a “family/friends only” cell - no biz stuff. No client will be able to get in touch with me. And no e-mail will be checked. And that’s fine - I cannot imagine a scenerio where anyone will say “Quick, get ahold of Dan Furman or ALL IS LOST!!”  In fact, that phrase has never been spoken before. Which is just fine w/ me.

I was this way back when I worked for “the man”, as well. When my vacation time came, I just went - whatever I was doing could wait until I got back. It got some managers mad, but I felt that was their problem and not mine. If their tightly wound type-A personalities couldn’t handle me not being in touch for a few days, well, they’d just have to learn to live without me. And a few did - permanently…. I’m not going to say my attitude is without risk.

But at least I have hair

Sometime last year, I found myself at the beer advocate website. I like beer a lot, and signed up so I could post on the forum. I made a post or two, and kind of forgot about it. Never went back, and never heard from them.

Fast forward to ten minutes ago. I get an e-mail from them offering a subscription to their magazine for $19.99. Having enjoyed a fine ale or two on the deck earlier tonight, I was in the perfect mood.  Went to their website, put in my cc info, and bang, they have a new subscriber. All because they spammed me.

Now I know some will disagree, but to me, that’s really not unwanted spam. And I kind of proved it by placing an order. I look at it this way: At some point, I said to this company “hey, I like beer”, and hence, a nice beer-related offer eventually made it to my inbox.

Well done, Beer Advocate. And cheers.

Here’s why I’ve been quiet - this will be the new Clear-Writing:

http://www.clear-writing.com/index10.html

As you can see, I’m going for MUCH more a “Dan Furman” angle than just writing. Now, it’s nowhere near finished - the links don’t lead anywhere, I’ll be rewriting the copy, I’m still not done thinking about what goes where, etc. But it’s finished “enough” for me to show it to you.

Look for a full unveiling sometime this summer.

Note for you new businesspeople: We’re wise to the “partner” ruse.

Trust me, when I give you my price and you say “Hey, that sounds great. Let me bring it to my partner, and I’ll get back to you”, I know I’ll never hear from you again.

Not that I’m complaining - I know you don’t want to say “I can’t afford you”, and you’d also rather not say to me “your price is too high”. I get it - you’re just trying to be nice. But I just thought I’d tell you that us experienced businesspeople are totally wise to the lie. We know there’s no partner. Most of us used this same line at one point as well. (edit: I realize some of you really have a partner and are right now thinking “but… but…”. Trust me, I don’t mean you

And trust me, you’ll stop using it the minute it gets used on you. In fact, it’s kind of a right of passage. Once the partner line gets used on you, it’s one sign that you are truly in business.