Driving for show, putting for dough

Any golfer knows that the saying "You drive for show, putt for dough" is a good epitome of how  the game works. You may be able to smash the ball 350 yards off the tee but if you can't put the ball in the hole with your putter, then all that power is not worth a lick. 

That is sometimes how I feel while searching for creative suppliers. Many have lots of glitz and glamour on their websites, but they lack the functionality or information to actually make me send them an email regarding their services. As a marketer I know exactly what I am looking for and I know that any semblance of a reasonable marketing savvy designer should know this when designing their website. Know your target, the majority of people hiring creative companies have marketing or business backgrounds and don't want to spend too much time having to surf through your site to find what they are looking for. They will just leave. Basic things, like a listing of your services, should be included. Just a portfolio page will not suffice.

Now that being said, I also won't waste my time with a website that is complete text and is not visually appeasing. So I guess what i'm saying is you have to Drive and Putt for my dough.

When life gives you lemons, drop the price of lemonade

Traditional thinking and economical principles dictate that when demand increases so should price, at least I feel like that is what I learned in Economics 101 eight years ago. So when I read this article about what Coca-Cola is doing with their Limon Y Nada vending machines in Spain I was rather impressed with the creativity. 


Instead of sticking to the traditional vending machine model which consists of a price probably 100% higher than what you would pay at a corner store or grocery store Limon Y Nada decided to show some compassion for their sweltering customers. On the vending machine they installed a thermometer and as the thermometer rose with the heat the price of a drink dropped.

What do you think would customers appreciate a price-break when they are most desperate for your product? I think it could help make a lifetime fan of your product.  

Speed startups

There surely is merit in creating a business plan and finding investors for your start-up business, but the internet changes things and can allow some entrepreneurs to skip these processes. Maclean's posted an interesting article today related to this subject titled "How to make $100,000 a day". 

First off, amazing copywriting on that title, I guarantee you that title generated the most click-thrus of all the articles posted today. It certainly worked on me.

Getting back to the point of this post, the article goes on to talk about the book, The $100 Startup, which provides information and examples to entrepreneurs about how to start a business in a much less traditional manner. Citing examples of so-called "Solopreneurs" who invested less than $1,000 of their own money and created businesses that generated upwards of $60,000 a year in revenue.

It does show how much easier it is to get your idea/business out to people these days with the internet. Costs such as websites and marketing have become cheaper and easier with sites like Wordpress and Facebook, giving anyone with an idea or a passion the ability to start a business without necessarily sinking themselves into a heap of debt.

It leads me to wonder what the next 10 or 20 years in the future hold for employment. Will companies continue to employ individuals in the traditional manner or will everyone be a free agent that provides contracting work to multiple companies to maximize their time and profits. It may sound crazy, but freelancing/solopreneuring could be the way of the future. As Chris Guillebeau, the Author of the book, says in the article "The old choice was to work at a job or take a big risk going out on your own. The new reality is that working at a job may be the far riskier choice."


I've already taken a venture into the solopreneuring field, my new website www.retireez.ca targeting the growing population of boomers and 50 plusers going online cost me less than $100 to set up and I am hoping the content I create and word-of-mouth helps the website take off.