It's the kind of night I had last night, and yes I know you are reading this because the headline is too weird, you think. It's not like Randall, you say. What has gotten into our Hollywood Marketing Mogul you wonder?
Hmmm, my thoughts exactly. Well, here it is. I was out having a great night with friends, enjoying dinner and then enjoying a wonderful walk on the moonlit beach. The temperature was about 50 degrees Fahrenheit, which is like the dead of winter in San Diego, and my friends and I were at peace. 100% total happy, blissful peace. Then it happened…
Dust Smother… Some idiot on a hill above us started shoveling sand off the cliff and right on to our happy, blissful, group. Have you ever had a moment when your mind just does not accept the facts of a situation because they are just too weird? This was one of those moments.
At first we thought, “EARTHQUAKE!!” Then we figured out that sand does not rain from the sky, like a light mist, during an earthquake. Then we all came to a stop and, hold on…. Looked up!! Now we are being smothered by falling sand and we are all looking up to see where it is coming from. Talk about analysis paralysis. Having gone almost blind in this sand storm that had befallen our happy band we finally figured out that we had to move, but which way? Where would more sand come from? Do we have to go into the ocean to get away from this maelstrom of dirt coming down on us from the heavens?
What do we do, what do we do? How many times have you found yourself in this same (metaphorical) situation when it comes to your business? You know the time I’m talking about. You are just going along, enjoying your life and something odd, weird, bad, whatever happens and you are that “deer in the headlights” not able to figure out which way to go or what to do. So, you stand there, getting pelted by your own version of dust or sand and then you try to figure out what is really going and where this problem came from.
That’s all well and good, but what you really need to do is move, get going, stop the sand from falling into your eyes and then when you have clear vision, look for the root of the problem. Too many people spend too much time “figuring it out” rather than doing something about it. But I digress from my story.
Once our group moved from harm’s way we continued on our sojourn down the beach, with the calm and serenity of knowing we had avoided something close to a viral plague of sand death and could laugh about it. This peace and serenity lasted for almost an hour when like a tsunami we were all hit with a wall of putrid smell.
Again, our senses now on red alert, we stopped and began to gaggle, “What is that smell, Oh, who cut the cheese” and the like and then like the true entrepreneurs we are, we looked for the source of the smell. I know what you’re thinking, we didn’t learn our lesson from the sand dust experience and here we are searching for the source of the problem instead of just leaving the area. Ah Ha… I is just like that. We were like lemmings to the sea. It was as if sirens had called our names and we were being lured to a smelly death, yet we proceeded.
The stench went from a 4 to a 10 in less than a minute and as soon as we rounded the corner we saw an overturned and at one time fully loaded porta-potty. Human waste was everywhere. Hand prints smeared with goo were all over the now on its side outhouse and a stream of outhouse entrails lay at its doorstep.
So what do we do? This is obviously a john that got tipped over as part of some prank. I just hope no one was inside when it happened, but here are those hand prints…. And you got it.. We get closer! Yes, we have to see the carnage. We have to experience first-hand the disaster. This same looky-loo mindset is what clogs our freeways for the most simple of accidents so you know what I’m talking about and I bet you slow down too… just to see what’s really going on.
As we begin circling this toppled monolith we all start to realize that the great dinner (about $150 per person) has worn off, we’re about 4 miles from our cars, we have sand in places sand shouldn’t be and we’re starting to smell like our surroundings. As we leave the poo carnage behind us, the account of the group just stops and stares at us. For fear of a meteor or other disaster befalling us, we all start to quickly look around to see what caused our account friend to stop dead in her tracks.
Everyone gets very quiet (“We’re hunting wabbits” kind of quiet) and we all just look at her and wait to see what she will do next. In that one moment she had all of us in the palm of her hand and we were all willing “consumers” waiting to consume whatever she had to offer.
When we were all looking right at her she said in her most quiet voice, “I have an idea.” We were all straining to hear her against the wind and the roar of the ocean, but we didn’t want to miss anything she said. This was shaping up to be one of those dramatic, “God reveals all” kind of moments.
When she began to talk we were mesmerized and she talked for hours and we all joined in the conversation. As the sun came up this morning and we were still miles from our cars, we were cold, we were misty-wet, we had sand in places we should not have had sand, and we were also totally fulfilled as human beings and as entrepreneurs.
Last night we formed a company, created an entire product stream, created the entire marketing funnel and marketing systems by writing everything in the sand on the beach and using cell phones to take pictures of the drawings and text. We also created a team of people so unified and so of one thought that the egos were checked and it was everyone offering up what they had, what they knew, and all they were so everyone could succeed.
As I write this just a couple of hours after day break, I am tired, looking forward to some long slumber time, and I can’t wait to wake up and see what happens next. We’re all meeting this afternoon to continue our conversation from last night and to launch the company. In this case we did not look up to get sand in our eyes, we did not head towards the smell, just to see where it was coming from, we stopped, we thought, and we took action.
So what about dribble piss? A good question and I’m glad you reminded of that. First a definition is in order (and there are many very colorful ones): This is when you are going “number one” and not all of it comes out and a few drops lands on you or the floor. I know it’s not very pretty imagery, but hey, it does happen. At best dribble piss is an irritant, at worst it distracts you, ruins you day and really, in the end it means nothing, it’s that small, that insignificant.
(It also happens to make a great headline and you’re still reading, so I assume it worked.) Anyway, do not let dribble piss people or things in daily life distract you from being you and all that you can be, everyday.
Find the friends and business partners you trust and go for a walk on the beach, in the park, or somewhere else. Get away from your computer, from your store, or products and live with others. Create something today and worry about selling it tomorrow. Living life on your terms is way more fun than worrying about the small stuff.
I am yours in success,
Randall
