The second  installment on this subject of getting weird in business just appeared in the Nevada City Advocate. Since the first one never appeared online, I’m posting it here. In the August edition,  I talk about my own business inner weird. Go get an Advocate at your favorite coffee spot in Nevada County or read it online.

I want to hear from you about YOUR inner weird. Come on I know you have weird!

Embrace Your Inner Weird

This week I am working with a publishing business that is ready to take their business to the next level.   In an effort for them to prioritize all of their opportunities we are brainstorming their strengths and weaknesses. One person claims that a weakness for them is that they are pretty darn weird. I ask, “But isn’t that also a strength?” They look at each other and start nodding. And without missing a beat I say, “In fact, isn’t being weird one of your greatest opportunities?” Which is followed by much laughter and excitement.

I spend 25 years in the music industry. Not only was I pretty darn weird, I embraced a catalog of weird.  When I started selling music, Dead Kennedys and Green Day were weird. Today Lady Gaga is a perfect example of embracing weird. You may be reading this saying, “But I like Hank Williams (weird) and the Beatles.”  (crazy weird) or even  “I listen to Mozart.” (King of weird!)

But here is what Green Day and Lady Gaga know that Hank Williams and Mozart couldn’t have known:  We now have access to the whole world and all the people in it. We don’t have to reply on just the people in our neighborhood.  People all over the world are craving and feeding their inner weird. Weird is not a barrier to success it is a rock through the window of mediocrity.

As I watched this publishing company embrace their weird, I was excited and jealous, because I realized that I am like many business people: terrified to embrace my inner weird.

I was very touched last winter at See Jane Do’s “Passion into Action” conference.  That whole day was about embracing your inner weird and changing the world while you do it. In one workshop the assignment was to turn to our neighbor and speak our passion. I hemmed and hawed and finally admitted that my passion was pretty darn weird and I am terrified that anyone hear it.  Ouch!

Given all the barriers to business success in 2010, can we succeed if we don’t get brave and let it fly? And if that is true for me, and a publishing company, is it not true for you too?  Being weird not only catches attention, it is the biggest opportunity for all of us. I plan to get brave starting today. I will embrace my inner weird and challenge you to embrace yours.

The last article I wrote in the Nevada City  Advocate was about solving communications problems with –gasp– meetings! The kind of meetings where people want to attend because nothing is too sacred to talk about and people learn to solve problems by taking ownership and being honest. And after you read that, you can get a lot of info about the Amgen kick off in Nevada City. We are like a bunch of peacocks we are so proud. (Just heard that Lance is injured and hospitalized today, click here.)

DENVER–(BUSINESS WIRE)–Economists have not yet signaled the end of the recession, but according to an annual survey of the nation’s small business owners, released today, utilizing a peer advisory board is key to maintaining sustainability and even growth during a recession.

The Alternative Board^® (TAB) – an organization that provides small businesses with peer advisory boards and business advice, in connection with Bazzirk, Inc., a leading marketing firm – has released its annual poll of members as well as a mirror group of non-member business owners regarding key economic indicators and projections for the upcoming business year.

read more at Yahoo FInance

Driven to Distraction

Are your business problems making you insane?

At last week’s TAB Board meeting there were a few members who were trying to get back in tune with their lives. Whether it is their health, their happiness or their creativity, the stress of the last couple years took a toll and now many business owners are looking at their lives in a different way. (Along with their businesses.) A day later I read Jason Fried’s Inc. column and passed it to these TAB Board members. You may like as much as I do.

If you aren’t aware of the Nevada City Advocate, or my monthly business column there,  visit their website to see the latest. You can pick up The Advocate at local restaurants and supermarkets like SPD or Flour Garden.

March 2010- Taking Care of Business

Marketers believe that it takes an average of seven marketing touches for someone to put your name, your company and your product together in their mind. And it takes an average of 29 touches before someone will remember to consider you when they are ready to buy.

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