What's your evil plan?

by TS Lim

Finally got to read Hugh Macleod second book, Evil Plans. It is about why you should be doing things that you really love and care about. Hugh's Evil Plan is similar to a Big Hairy Audacious Goal (BHAG). He also shares some interesting marketing strategies he used. Must read for anybody he wants more from their work.

"It has never been easier to make a great living doing what you love. But to make it happen, first you need an EVIL PLAN. Everybody needs to get away from lousy bosses, from boring, dead-end jobs that they hate, and ACTUALLY start doing something they love, something that matters. Life is short." -Hugh MacLeod  

Coming up with an EVIL PLAN is definitely fun and exciting but remember it is still only a plan until you do something about it.

Blogging is marketing

by TS Lim

Someone asked if I'm using blogging as some sort of marketing strategy. The simple answer is yes. In fact, if you remember the picture below from REWORK, everything you do is marketing.

You might be blogging to talk about your personal life, to share your passion or to improve your writing skills. Whatever the reason may be, since your blog is public, you are directly or indirectly marketing yourself.

This is true for the other online presence you have like Twitter and Facebook. Marketing isn't just about the product. It's also about who made it, why it was made and how it was made.

I'll encourage everyone to start a blog because it's really free marketing. However, you need to realize that everything you post on it will affect not just your personal life but your professional life too. When it comes to marketing, everything matters.

Get permission first

by TS Lim

While I was enjoying one of my favourite food Hokkien Mee, the owner came over and asked for my contact number. She says that they might be moving to another location and would like to keep me informed. I thought that was a brilliant idea and gave her my number. It might sound as if I just allowed someone to spam my phone but that isn't the case. She specifically asked for my permission to keep me informed about something I'm obviously interested in. Assuming she keep her end of the deal by not spamming me with unrelated stuff, this is a win win situation.

Traditional marketing approaches like advertising tries to interrupt as many people as possible. A better approach would be Permission marketing (a term coined by Seth Godin) which focus on building your permission base first before marketing to them.

This approach feels more personal for the customer and also more efficient for the marketer since they are marketing directly to someone who are interested in their product. And once you have a group of people who are willing to listen to you, you will have a better chance to turn them to a regular and loyal customer.

If you are running a business, writing a blog or starting a group, ask your prospective targets for their permission first before spamming them. They'll thank you and might actually listen to what you have to say.