Lesson about marketing from a Las Vegas Beggar

The difference between making noise and making money in the marketing world is the same as the difference between a beggar and a busker.

The beggar asks for money, but offers nothing in return.
The busker parts you with your money in exchange for entertainment.

The homeless guy's tool is sympathy.
The Busker hammers the drums with entertainment.

We give more time to those who entertain us.
We give more money to those who command our time.
It's a fact.

If the beggar interrupts and makes us sad, he's a busker.
If he gets us looking in the opposite direction trying to avoid eye contact, he's a beggar.

The busker interrupts but he makes us smile.

Most marketers ARE beggars.

Information is a beggar's tool.
Traffic is a beggar's hope.
More traffic does not mean more money.

Emotion is the entertainer's tool.
Traffic is the entertainer's strategy.
More traffic means more money.

Here are two examples of good marketing from the streets of Las Vegas.

Luck is a lady named Serendipity

Inspiration comes from a room. There are no windows. There's a door but it's locked.

You can try to break it down. But you're wasting your time. The one who locked it knew you'd try, so it has been reinforced to handle 5000 pounds of pressure.

Trying to break it is wasted energy.

You can try to pick the lock, but you're wasting your time. The one who built the lock knew you'd try.

Instead of wasting time to force the door open, use your time to find the key.

The key to the door unlocks all inspiration you'll ever want.

The first time you find the key seems like luck. But it's not. It's a process. And your methods are not necessarily good for someone else.

But some odd reason, the key is never in the same place as you last left it. It's as if the one who built the lock has children who play with your keys.

Once you know the process, the keys mysteriously appear.

I'm embarrassed to admit my way to inspiration.
But it works every time.

I listen to Frank Sinatra.
I'm not joking.
My favourite song ever is "My way".
It's my life's story.

I was thinking of "Luck is a lady" this morning.

Luck happens when good things happen despite not having planned for it.
I don't believe in luck. I believe things happen for some reason without our understanding.

That being said, yesterday my mind was troubled.
I had work commitments on Friday.
My son had a hockey tournament in the morning.
Aline (my wife) was going to take him to the game.
The weatherman was calling for a storm.
It looked like the tournament was going to happen regardless.
Which meant my son and wife were going to be on the road in a potential storm.

As we're preparing for the reality of her traveling, we're debating if they should go.
We want to please our son.
We want to protect him.
We don't want to let down the team.

As this is twirling around our tongues, our son had a league game the night before the tournament. The best player couldn't come. And the boys didn't play their best game.

With 26 seconds left in the game, there's a scrum in the corner for the puck. A boy from the other team comes out with the puck. As he's emerging from the cluster of kids, my son gives him one final shove.

The kid falls down.
A whistle is blown.
And my son is given a penalty.
With 26 seconds left in the game, with no effect on the game, my 13 year old heads off to the dressing room.
The penalty wasn't a serious crime. No one got hurt.
The referee called a minor penalty. But with 26 seconds left, he added a game misconduct to the punishment.
Which means, my boy has to sit out a game as a consequence to his 26 second infraction.

Luck is a lady and her name is Serendipity.

When you are dealing with a problem and you're not sure. As long as you've done everything you can do to prepare, the rest is up to Serendipity.

In my experience, things work out.
So don't stress out.
The key to the locked door will be found when you're ready to receive them.