Or else they’ll get infected. And I’m not just talking about flesh and blood. Emotional, economic, relational, publicity, etc. All wounds, if left unattended for too long, get deeper and more complicated. Scar tissue starts to build around the wound and make it permanent. Attending to the injury right away may be the only way to prevent or tame scarring. Give the wound all the attention it needs as soon as you can – or risk living with it forever.
Tag Archives: Business
Input Only Once
Human productivity thesis of the day: We should never input corroborated information more than once. If you need to plug the same numbers or text into different places, you are doing too much work (even with copy and paste). The human variable here expands the threshold for error to an unacceptable degree. Systems should be in place to automatically pull that information so that you do not need to. If said systems do not exist, do everyone else a favor and build them. I am streamlining an entire organization through Excel; you can, too. The “data entry” profession should go extinct and give rise to useful tools that save everyone a hell of a lot of time.
Product First, Everything Else Second
Why try to market, organize a business for, or sell a product if your product doesn’t even exist yet? I’ve been guilty of this a thousand times: recognize a great idea, get excited, and run outside to get everything off the ground. I’ve filed Limited Liability Corporations, printed posters, made announcements, and tried to raise money – for projects that hardly even made it on paper.
There are several problems with this. First, you’re spending a ton of time doing work that is not relevant until you have something to show for it. Time spent on “extras” means time not spent developing great content, executing ideas, and bringing your vision to life. Product is at the core of every great business and must come first (pray tell me one organism that grows from the shell inward?).
Moreover, the execution of ideas seldom aligns with the vision outlined in the first place. After facing obstacles and discovering new approaches to the same problem, the end result may look or feel nothing like the thing you set out to build. Any time you spend marketing, filing papers, and chasing investor deals for your project before you realize it will most likely be a complete waste of time. There will be a major disconnect between the core and the shell trying to promote it. Everything you did outside the lab will be invalidated by the discoveries within.
If you don’t have a product or story to tell, nothing else matters. Forget all the extra bullshit and get to the real work.
The Perception of Obstacles
Track runners do not see hurdles as road blocks; they see hurdles as an extension of a normal step. Sure, it may take practice to build the confidence necessary to jump hurdles. Even to start practicing, you need to set aside any fears or trepidations you have about the road ahead. You need to ignore the fact that hurdles are obstacles. You need to see hurdles as a part of the game. If you signed up to play the game, learn to love the hurdles. Obstacles are only obstacles if you see and treat them as obstacles.
Relationships Must Fight To Win
Before you commit, test the integrity of your relationship. To foster an enduring connection, you must first explore the distances you can travel together (both literally and figuratively). Share the highest of highs and lowest of lows. Fail together and win together. Know the dark side. Without seeing the entire spectrum, you’re far less prepared to survive. Smarter to sequester nasty surprises before investing yourself in the long-term (or death do us part), than to face them firsthand when it’s too late. A courting period rich with peaches and rainbows can be deceptive and dangerous.
Dig deeper, push boundaries, and put up a fight – together.
Down To The Wire
Deadlines exist for a reason. In spite of procrastination and poor time management, they make sure things get done. Sometimes, all it takes is a looming deadline to help you cross the finish line. If it wasn’t for a daily deadline, this blog probably would not exist. I would not have written this post.
If you want to get something done, impose a deadline and have others hold you accountable. Simple.
Disruption Needs No Permission
Want to change things? Do not ask for permission; no one will give it to you. Few people like change. So all you can do is start without permission. Napster built traction and changed the music industry forever by ignoring the elephant in the room. Today’s positively connoted industry term “disrupt” came largely from the progressive impact Napster had on the entertainment business. If you truly want to change things, you need to break them first. Cause trouble. Challenge the odds. Take your chances. Stand up to the big guys. At the end of the day, it is easier to ask forgiveness than permission (perhaps riddled with expensive lawsuits, but worthwhile and noble nonetheless).
Why Do Choices Scare People?
Most people hate too many choices, in part because they are afraid to make the wrong one. I enjoy choices and the analytical process of breaking them down (anyone who shares a fine meal with me will understand this). Sometimes, however, too many choices get out of hand – you end up narrowing them down to a select few personal choices of your own (when overwhelmed, my defaults for Thai food are Panang Curry, Pad Thai, Pineapple Fried Rice, and Tom Yum Soup). From a consumer-facing position, assume your customers are terrified by choices and help them make the appropriate one. A series of options, binary logic, or a game of twenty questions can go a long way for narrowing things down. If gamified, the decision-making process can even be fun. As a consumer, know what you like, why you like it, and be flexible enough to discover new choices based on the key components of things you enjoy. Either way, choices do not have to be scary. Be prepared to help people get through them or be prepared to get through them yourself.
Involve Your Audience
Building an audience can be a long and humbling process. Extreme networking in disguise. Every little thing counts. Every smile, every gift, every anecdote. It all builds to a greater public image with richer public value. As if offering something of value isn’t hard enough, you must befriend hundreds of thousands of random strangers along the way.
Successful performers form an intimate relationship with their audience. Like building trust with a friend, an entertainer must build rapport and loyalty with his or her fans. Something as big as inviting a fan to guest star or as small as retweeting a post can win you a fan for life. Even little acknowledgements can make a person’s day. Invite fans to be a part of what you’re trying to accomplish. Encourage them to join the conversation – and be sure to respond. Never be too proud to ask your audience questions, for feedback, or to help you out. Encourage a two-way street between you and them – and hold up your end of the bargain.
Film School: The Super Degree
When I tell people I might take a break from the film industry to study the web, the first thing I’m asked is, “Didn’t you got to school for that? Why leave the business?”
I learned a hell of a lot more than just camerawork at film school. In what other degree do you learn to actively lead teams, coordinate logistics, start businesses, tell stories, embrace technology, manage budgets, engage in philosophy, write both fiction and non-fiction, design advertising campaigns, engineer software, study history, direct talent, interface with contemporary culture, carpenter sets, raise money, play with toys, draw pictures, play music, review law briefs, curate content, and express yourself? That’s right, I can’t think of another degree either.
Film school is an all-inclusive wrapper for a cumulative degree in storytelling, business, marketing, management, design, communication, technology, law, twentieth-century history, and cultural studies. In even the smallest film trade schools, you must learn to lead teams through creative and technical projects while coordinating schedules and money to do so. Few MBA programs I’ve heard of are half as hands-on.
At the University of Southern California‘s School of Cinematic Arts, I had the pleasure of studying under studio executives, A-list producers, active professionals, and trendsetting innovators; I produced over 280 minutes of content and coordinated more than a cumulative 200 students and professionals to do so; and I interfaced directly with current and impending trends in the film industry. I moved to Hollywood to study from within the belly of the beast and learned more than I could have ever imagined.
Am I bastardizing my cinema degree by jumping industries? Absolutely not. If anything, I am honoring it. And I would recommend it to absolutely anyone looking to master important entrepreneurial skills, engage his or her creative side, solve complicated human puzzles, and have some fun.
Craig Ormiston 