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Seeing the Light
March 19, 2008

Holy Manana Man, I’ve been grumpy in my Blog postings lately. I just went back over the last few entries and read a lot of griping about this subject or that. Negative, negative, negative. I don’t get it. That is just not me. Yet my Marketing Manager recently said, “You sure complain a lot!”

One of my favorite sayings is, “In every problem, there is opportunity.” I like to think of myself as an optimist and believe that people buy from me because of my positive view of the world. Of course, you would never know that if you skim over the remarks I have made lately. Maybe it’s just that upbeat columns don’t solicit feedback (the unspoken measure of a good Blog).. Or maybe I am just getting more cynical. Whatever.

It’s not that I take back anything that I’ve said, I don’t. I believe that people really are less considerate than they used to be. I believe that digital and VDP were mismarketed from the beginning. I think Ad Agencies suck. I think big companies move at a pace that makes snails envious. And I believe that Sales is one of the most challenging and rewarding jobs on the planet. But as I sit writing this in the predawn hours listening to my funky XM Satellite Radio music and watching the early commuters ignore the stop sign in front of my office as they race into Boston, the symbolism of a new day’s rising sun is not lost on me (especially given that this is Holy Week).

Thomas Edison invented the light bulb on his 25,000th try. When a reporter asked him if he was upset that he failed so many times he said no. “I didn’t fail. I just know 24,999 ways not to make a light bulb.”

Yesterday morning I spoke with a client who has owned a print shop for 15 years. The call was supposed to last 45 minutes but 90 minutes later we were still talking. He was heartbroken over the status of business and together we looked for a way out of the mess he was in. I’ve been working with him for 90 days and while he has seen some growth, he still laments his status. In the end, we came up with an idea, one that he is Supercharged about and one that he will implement beginning today. Again, the sun rises.

Spring begins on Good Friday. Both are symbols of new beginnings. Where would we be if we didn’t believe? I guess we’d be left as miserable, grumpy columnists or worse: Yankees fans.

Posted by Bill Farquharson on March 19, 2008 | Comments (1)