A letter to an old friend - my belly

You have been with me since I was born.
You are bigger than I want you to be.
That's my fault.

I like food...a lot!

It's time to put you back in check.
On Sunday, I tried to tie my shoes and I was out of breath trying to reach over you to get to my feet.

That's not the life I want to live.
It's not a life for you either.

On Monday, for the nth time, I decided to do something about you.
This time is different.
I say that every time, don't I.

But this time, IT is different.

I'm addicted to food.
So I'm going cold turkey.

Yeah that's right. I'm not going to eat for 14 days.
Don't worry. I'll still feed you. It'll be a different way.
You'll get the energy and vitamins you need.

But I'm going to force you to work a little harder.
You've been lazy.
I've spoiled you with excess.

Now it's time for you to see what it's like to have less.
No more welfare for you.
Get to work and burn all that excess I've given you over the years.

My ears hurt from all the so called experts telling l me how to eat.
My knees are tired running 5 miles per day to eat what I want.

I'm not trying to hurt you.
You're going to get a bit of tough love for 14 days.

Then we will reassess at that time.
You take care of me.
And I'll take care of you.

It has to be a win win for both of us.
And right now I'm losing.
It doesn't work anymore.

So work with me.
And we'll get along just fine.

Unicorns are real

86 g of sugar...

The haters immediately jumped on the wagon where the band always plays.

The thing is gross.

I hate mangos.

It has too much sugar.

Starbucks is overrated.

These were the uninformed comments I had to endure after I posted a picture of my drink.

I have but one question. Did you try the latest frappacino at Starbucks called the Unicorn?

The Unicorn was supposed to be a spring time launch that was going to last one week. After one day, most Starbucks had run out of product.

The typical daily demand for the most popular frappacino  (Vanilla Bean) is 20. The Unicorn was purchased 527 times on the first day of the promotion at my Starbucks.

People attribute this demand to social media. Some say it was because of the limited time offer. Some say it was the media coverage it got. 

I go to Starbucks every day.

There was no "Coming Soon" marketing used.

The only reason I knew about it was because the staff let me try the nuclear powder when I asked what it was during their testing phase.

I did not google it. I did not see it on Facebook.

My friends didn't talk about it.

But I wanted one.

And when I went in the morning of its launch, I saw people ordering it like there was nothing else on the menu - seven at a time.

The Unicorn sold out in one day for a very simple reason.

It wasn't the marketing.

It wasn't the sugar.

It wasn't the price point.

One simple reason. You wouldn't think about it if I didn't point it out.

Colour.

The colour of a frappacino is usually white, pink, or some shade of brown. Mostly boring, normal colours.

The unicorn was a combination of purple, blue and red. It had the colours of magic. 

Unicorn - A perfect name for a magical drink.

Was it any good? 

I liked it, but it doesn't even matter.

It was magical.

My kids missed the opportunity and now they want one.

It was a magical day to see the Unicorn at Starbucks. 

I can't wait to see it or a cousin of the same variety.

Beware of the Marketing Weasel

A weasel is a furry clever little creature. He knows how to get in places where he doesn't belong. He's quick. He knows how to wiggle around and cause destruction. 

Weasels are like measles. 
They're itchy, twitchy and painful. 

The weasel will tell you that he can fix your business with highly targeted marketing. 
He will explain that there's nothing more important in marketing that a catchy slogan. 
He will use jingles and clichés and target market data to reinforce his point. 
If he's a really good weasel he will pull out research and he will explain why the key demographics feel the way they do. 

In the end he's not helping you. 
He is doing what he has been taught by other weasels. 
Weasels exist.

Don't blame them.
For they do what they've been taught.

We expect people to behave as we would behave. 
That's part of our problem.
Not everyone sees the world the same way.

One likes Donald Trump.
One hates him.
Who's wrong?
Only time will tell.

The weasel thinks everyone is weasel. 
Sometimes he's right and sometimes he's not.

I apologize if I've offended you. 
I believe in marketing because I have been taught by someone who is not than a weasel. 

Marketing is a long term investment. 
It is not necessarily clever. 
It touches the heart of the audience. 
The audience is everywhere. 
I have found 18-year-olds and 65-year-olds of both genders who have Facebook accounts. I have found that all types of people are interested in all types of things. The reason most marketing doesn't work is not because of the target audience. The reason most marketing doesn't work is because of a poorly crafted message. 

Weasels don't work on message. They use words like exposure, visibility, awareness, and branding.

I work on message. Exposure, visibility, awareness and branding are derivatives of messaging.

If you are tired of wasting time and money on all the weasels and its time to develop of clear and concise marketing strategy, you can contact me at ricknicholson@wizardofads.com.

An email to Seth Godin

This is actually an email I sent to one of my heroes, Seth Godin. He responded to me the same day.


Seth,

Let's not waste your precious time. I've read Purple Cow, Linchpin and The Icarus Deception. Love your work. You already know your work is great and so does so many others because of the amazing art you create. 

You've inspired me time and time again.

Today, I'm humbly emailing you because I discovered "small is the new big" at a used clothing store. Reading through your collection of blogs from ten years ago, has inspired me to start an entrepreneurial school. 

I've paid my own lunches for the past 10 years in business. But I want this business startup to be different. This time I don't just want to make money. I want to change the world - at least the entrepreneurial world. And the world is such a huge mouthful. No one can eat it in just one bite. So I want to start by taking a small nibble at it, in a relatively small area, learning, testing and refining until the product is ready to be eaten by every entrepreneurs world wide.

After reading your blog on NoBS, I would welcome your feedback, your ideas, and ultimately your support into such a venture that we change the way entrepreneurship is taught, manifested and developed in our new world economy.

Am I the right person to take it there? 

The honest answer is "I don't know". 

The confident answer is "Yes". 

The real answer is, "I'm taking a huge gamble, but life is a gamble. And whenever I'm forced to bet on something, I always bet on me."

Today I present an idea that may be perceived as impossible, until it isn't. I'm reaching out to Seth Freakin' Godin. This is the highlight of my week. 

If this is of any interest at all, please let me know.

If not, if you could kindly respond so I can gratuitously show everyone I had the guts to reach out to the Superstar of Thought, the Wayne Gretzky of writing and the Babe Ruth of blogging.

Thanks for reading,

Rick Nicholson  

My friend Tommy...

My friend Tommy is an amazing human.

On the surface, he looks like a regular Joe.

But he's one of the smartest men I know.

Graduating from high school, Tommy jumped into the family insurance business and took over from his dad when the time was right. 

Tommy used to drag race cars.

His last race the car hit the wall and broke four of his bones.

Tommy is a family man and realized that racing was part of his past and not his future.

What's really interesting about Tommy is his ability to be at the right place at the right time.

Tommy carries around a horseshoe...in his pocket.

I could write a book about Tommy. From his failed exploits as a race car driver to his automobile restoration business that he does for fun. 

Tommy is a wealthy man...with both money and friends.

No one has ever muttered a bad word about him.

They can't. He's THAT nice.

Tommy calls me once a month to find out how I'm doing. He doesn't tell me about himself. If he's got a big deal on the brink of closing, I won't hear about it until weeks later, unless I ask.

He could be bubbling with excitement on a deal and he'll let me talk his ears off.

Tommy gave me one of the greatest gifts a man could give.

He convinced me to do something that would change my life for the better. 

Let me explain.

I was sitting at home, enjoying some free time after I sold a business. The phone rings and there's Tommy on the other end.

"Hey Tommy, how have you been?"

"What are you doing right now?"

"I'm relaxing for a few days, trying to figure out my next move".

"Rick, I'm in Texas right now. You need to get your ass down here in the next month".

Tommy had visited Texas a few times to attend a school called Wizard Academy. 

"Tommy, I hear you. I'll have to look into it."

"Rick, what's the problem? Do you not have free time?

"Uhh, my schedule is empty right now."

"Do you not have the money to get on a flight and pay for a three day class in Austin?"

"Uhh, we did well on the business sale, I have some money to spend on my education."

"Then get your ass down here. The class you need to take is in 2 weeks. I'm telling them you're coming. Book it and think about it later."

So I did.

And it was one of the greatest business decisions I've ever made.

I've been to that school 6 times in 3 years.

And I can't wait to go again this fall.

Tommy knew that school was good for me.

He didn't call me because he got a kickback from the school.

He did it for me. 

He knew it would help me.

Because that's who he is.

Selfless.

The more he helps others, the more he gets back. 

Tommy recently bought another business.

Many thought he was retired.

A guy called on him one day to get a phone number of a mutual friend.

Asking why he needed the number, Tommy found out he wanted to sell his business.

Within 48 hours, Tommy secured financing, wrote up the contract and bought the business.

He didn't need the business. 

But you see, Tommy has a teenage son.

He wants to help him get his feet wet.

He's teaching once again. This time to someone more important than I.

If I told Tommy that he was a great guy, he'd laugh a little and shift the compliment back on me. 

If I called Tommy right now and said I needed him, he would meet me within an hour - if he was in town. If he was unavailable, he would ask if we could talk it out over the phone. He would drop everything to help me. I'm certain he would do the same for anyone.

That's the kind of guy he is.

Selfless.

Some call him lucky.

He will say that opportunity falls onto his lap. 

I say he creates his own luck. 

The universe has a way of rewarding those who go out of their way to help others. 

Tommy does that for a living. 

Is it any wonder why he gets more than his fair share of luck?

I've known Tommy for almost 10 years. We've never been to each other's house. We have only met each other's wife one time. 

I speak to him regularly.

I consider him one of my best friends.

Let's go to my office

The Howard called it "The third place".
My friend Jamie calls it "His second home".
I call it "My office".

I spend a lot of time at Starbucks.
It's next to my business.
I don't have an office at the business.
So I go to Starbucks to change the scenery and to relax.

Today, I was there to pay bills.
I rarely see anyone I know.
I keep my head down and pound on my Mac so furiously that it intimidates them from saying "Hello".

Over the past nine months, I've seen a lot of turnover at this Starbucks. Lots of new faces, but the same consistent service.

What do I want for my office?
-A comfortable chair. If I can't have a comfortable chair, give me an uncomfortable chair and a table.
-Relaxing music. If I can't have the music, at least give me wifi so I can connect to my own music.
-Happy people serving me. If I can't have happy people, give me unhappy people who serve me fast.

I always get what I want at my office.

I don't go to Starbucks because of the affordable luxury. I go because it makes me feel better about myself.

Two years ago, I watched a Starbucks employee give a homeless man a free cup of coffee.
Today, another employee let me try their new frappacino flavour before its official release on Monday. It was the first time I met her yet she treated me like an insider. Like family.

I love their attitude at Starbucks.
It's a lot like mine. So it's easy for me to like them.

Starbucks is my office.
The people who work here are like my co-workers.

I love going to my office.
I don't always get a lot done.
yet, I do my best thinking there.

Thank you Starbucks.
For being you.
And for making me feel good.

Understanding corporate values and applying them consistently is the key to long term success. If you want to learn how to act like Starbucks in your customer service efforts, you can reach me at ricknicholson@wizardofads.com. 

Wrestling characters and narrative arcs.

We can thank wrestling for the development of brands, storylines and loud mouth jerks.

The wrestling world was organized by independent companies throughout North America. Each company understood an unwritten contract that no one would infringe on another's territory.

Enter Vince McMahon. He inherited his dad's wrestling company and introduced a new kind of wrestling company. He didn't accept old agreements. He wanted to make his company gigantic and through purchases, acquisitions and bullying tactics, he became the number one wrestling company in the world.

The history books will say it started with Wrestlemania. I think it started with something else. Vince knew that every wrestler was a character. He saw characters enter and exit the different wrestling circuits. He witnessed regionalization and disintegration of character arcs because of the lack of exposure for the character

Wrestle mania was his Superbowl. Story development was the magic. Vince developed character arcs and narrative arcs to a national audience for the first time in wrestling history.

We saw Ravishing Rick Rude, Brutus "The Barber" Beefcake, Randy "Macho Man" Savage, The Million Dollar Man, Jake "The Snake" Roberts, Ultimate Warrior, Honky Tonk Man, Hulk Hogan and many more. The announcers even had handles. There was Mean Gene Okerlund, The King Jerry Lawlor, Gorilla Monsoon.

Every wrestler had a handle.

In the early years, the stars wouldn't wrestle other stars on cable television. We watched Ravishing Rick Rude demolish Paul Carter. Macho Man would pulverize Jim Rains. It was never entertaining. It was never in doubt who would win. But we got to see our favourite characters perform their finishing moves on some poor sap trying out for the big leagues. We didn't watch it for the wrestling. It was the story.

The rivalry and intensity that would build from one pay per view to the next kept us coming back for more.

Vince was masterful in developing his stories and characters. We saw Hulk Hogan shock the world when he turned on Macho Man. We watched Shawn Michaels turn heal when he stopped shaving his chest. He showed up at Wrestlemania and turned on his buddy Marty Ginetti in a tag team match.

Shawn Michaels transformed from the likeable, clean shaven good boy to a foul mouthed, unshaven, boytoy in Heart Break Kid. Heart Break Kid became the nineties version of Gorgeous George.

All wrestlers, boxers and even UFC fighters need to thank the pioneer, Gorgeous George, for developing his character arc better than anyone before him.

Gorgeous was a flamboyant, over the top, braggart who sassed the crowd, never shut his mouth and his main talent was his beautiful blonde locks. The crowd loved to hate him. He would enter the ring with perfectly coiffed hair, long shiny robes with an air of indignation that would make the Queen sweat.

Rick Flair copied him.
As does Connor McGregor in the UFC
And so did the most greatest boxer of all time.

A 46 year old George told the young boxer: "A lot of people will pay to see someone shut your mouth. So keep on bragging, keep on sassing and always be outrageous." 

That boxer was the future Mohammad Ali. 



"I wrestled with an alligator, I done tussled with a whale; handcuffed lightning, thrown thunder in jail; only last week, I murdered a rock, injured a stone, hospitalized a brick; I'm so mean I make medicine sick."  -  Mohammad Ali

If you want to do effective ads with character arcs and narrative arcs, you can contact me at ricknicholson@wizardofads.com.