Getting Back to Basics

Every so often I take a look at Seth Godin’s marketing blog. Marketing isn’t a subject I’m wildly interested in, but Godin always places his posts squarely in a context that makes them meaningful even for those of us who have nothing to sell. If you’re not familiar with him, he’s a respected marketing guru and the founder of Squidoo, a content site which was roundly booed by many analysts at its inception. In spite of all the predictions of its certain failure, it’s been incredibly successful.

Godin’s latest post, The Sad Truth About Marketing Shortcuts , is about building solid foundations vs going for the short-term money. Squidoo allows its lens masters to designate part or all of their profits for charities of their choice. Some people set up Squidoo lenses specifically to support charities, apparently quite successfully. The site eventually distributed $80,000.00, and Godin tells us how some of the charities responded.

“Do you know what they wanted to know? “When was the next time we can rally a lot of people to get more votes and donations?” Do you know what not one of them asked? “How can we get our supporters to actually lay some groundwork so we can make this sort of money every week?

“It made me sad that so many non-profits have precisely the same mantra. Rush to the easy money, then look for more and rush after that.” It’s the same mentality that helped bring down the American economy.

Godin goes on to talk about the thousands of Squidoo lenses that are started, most of them soon abandoned by their creators. “But,” he says, “a few stick it out and many earn $2,000 or more a month in their spare time (for themselves or for charity). The difference is clear but sad. The shortcut didn’t work right away, so they’re off to the next thing.”

When your life is in disarray and in danger of falling apart, the worst thing you can do is go rushing off in all directions, without any clear idea of what any one action is supposed to accomplish. There are always things that have to be taken care of immediately — the short-term goals — but to get your life under control, you need to distinguish between short-short solutions to problems, and long-term plans that will prevent those problems from recurring, or that will at least allow you to have some control over their impact if they do recur. You have to build a foundation that will support you and minimize the effects of economic fluctuations, including job loss. And the only way to do that is to know what your goals are and which ones are most important for the long run.

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