World Wide Rave

One of the really great things about my life now is that I have time to learn. Not that I wasn’t learning new things when I was caught up in 9 to 5 but it was a lot harder then, especially when you are on the sales end. Revenue producers, particularly in the current economic climate, are expected to produce revenue, nothing more. Carving out an afternoon to do something like partaking in a seminar, something that is not a linear connection to the next sale is often seen as a waste of precious selling time. The idea that investing a few hours of listening will more than pay for itself gets lost. It sounds short sighted but that is what happens all too often.

But now I can take a break from writing to go learn something new. My new boss (that being me) believes in stepping back for a moment in order to go further. In fact I find when I take the break I come back full of fresh ideas and writing more.

So yesterday I got to go to NYU for the book launch of World Wide Rave, by David Meerman Scott who also wrote The New Rules of Marketing and PR.

I was excited for two reasons. One being that an author loves to see another author launch their new book. That is good karma! And secondly because this was about marketing. And while I am no longer a member of the rank and file of sales and marketing, I am still very much interested in it plus I have a new product to brand. Me and my writing. And I want to stay on top of how to best do that.

Not too long into his talk as he was giving his background, he hit on the pivotal point that took him to a career as a writer, author, and international speaker. He got fired from his job in 2002. That opened the door to doing what he does now which is clearly his passion. Needless to say, I was already entranced. Fired. Laid off. They all mean the same. Someone other than yourself made a decision for you to do something else. David chose, as I am now doing, to follow his heart.

Having listened to many people speak over the years, it is always evident to me when someone speaks from their passion. Their message makes you listen differently. They are genuinely happy. And that authenticity makes their work look more like fun. Pure passion does that.

David’s message is about creating a World Wide Rave. The idea being that with today’s technology anyone with good content worth sharing can find success with one big caveat, that the traditional ways of doing that need to be reexamined. Change. That word seems to be everywhere these days.

Obviously he had a lot more to say than that. I was intrigued to learn further, so I bought his book. I recommend that you do too. It is available for free for the next few days on Kindle, but I bought a good old hard copy. I still like the feel of turning a page, the smell of opening a new book. That is one change I am not quite ready to embrace. I am however changing how I think about marketing and how I , too, will create my own World Wide Rave. Stay tuned.