Jane Genova: Speechwriter - Ghostwriter

Book Store as Third Place: Saving It

Forever book stores have been that Third Place which supplements our lives at home and school or work.  As Ray Oldenburg saw it, the Third Place or, as we used to call it the "hang out," provides a sense of community.  We can go there and feel included, safe, and good about the world. 

No question, book stores were and still are perfect for that.  When Border's in Farmington, Connecticut was still a thriving enterprise, I would walk in and find executive coaches working with clients, entrepreneurs having business meetings, children curled up looking through books, and obvious first dates.

Some book stores are striving to save that spirit.  At the top of the list is R.J. Julia Booksellers in Madison.  Back several months ago I viewed its special events as pure commercialism.   Of course, as a profit-making enterprise, R.J. will incorporate that into its strategic planning of special events.  But now I've softened, especially since beleaguered chains like Barnes and Noble could wind up maintaining a physical presence only in major metro areas.

Tomorrow R.J. is sponsoring an ice cream social.  Yeah, it's free.  Now what could be a more welcoming Third Place than old-fashioned ice cream in the quaint New England town of Madison.  The special event takes place from 2-4 P.M., in the Post Road [768] and the hosts would like you to reserve your place via online or phone [203-245-3959.]

Brooklyn College's crime against the people: treating freshmen like freshmen used to be treated

What Brooklyn College did so wrong in assigning "common" reading to incoming students is assuming that ritual does minds and hearts good.  That common reading, which has generated intense controversy, is HOW DOES IT FEEL TO BE A PROBLEM? BEING YOUNG AND ARAB IN AMERICA. 

Josh Duboff reports in NEW YORK MAGAZINE, the media, both mainstream and digital as well as alumni, have plenty to say about both this practice of common reading and this particular choice.

With a bad taste in our mouths, we Baby Boomers might remember receiving that fat envelope in the mail containing a list of required reading before we arrived on campus.  That mandate came to me the spring of 1963 from Seton Hill, Greensburg, Pennsylvania. 

First-generation college, I followed orders.  Had I been more sophisticated I would have written to the President of the College Monsignor Ryan and published an opinion-editorial in my hometown JERSEY JOURNAL posing this question: why weren't films on the list as must-view before matriculating at that institution of higher learning.  The future lawyers among us could have tested out in some kind of due process the wording of the directive to read the books.

Sure, higher education has to impose requirements in order to hold on to its accreditation and do the best job it can to equip its consumers with what consensus concludes is fundamental to be awarded a bachelor's degree.  But, how dare it, in 2010, declare any human creation such as a book or film or painting as necessary for perception.

Saving the planet replaces being Jesus/government target as common delusion

The history of delusions captures succinctly the ethos of an age.  There was a time when the off family members and friends we visited in the nut house assumed they were Jesus or of special interest to government.  Incidentally, one was quickly released after she saw the sense of her shrink's observation on how much it would have cost the government to monitor her every thought.

Now, as we witnessed yesterday, the flight from reality is taking the form of saving the planet.  The families of those troubled with that preoccupation might consider suing prime mover on that concern Al Gore.

Earl: Great gift to media

Labor Day, when the collective metabolism of influential organizations and leadership goes into overdrive again, has an inconvenient timing.  This year there could have been a media hiatus between the end of the dog days of August and the beginning of the action.  Fortunately, hurricane Earl came along.

Media types worth their salt know their good luck and are leveraging it to the max.  Even here in the nowhere news market of New Haven, Connecticut, we are being plagued with break-through announcements, detailed instructions on how to protect ourselves, and scramblings of those in the hurricane's direct path. 

The big day here will be Friday.  The ratings for broadcast news will be fantastic.  There might even emerge a Dan Rather ambitious type who dreams up a gimmick to achieve brand recognition for coverage.  Remember how Rather tied himself to a stationary object when he reported a hurricane. 

Developing new business: Forget sunk costs

Developing new business has become tricky business.  If the account isn't right for us, we won't earn money and that's why we are in business, right.  This isn't a hobby or trying to make a difference.

Right now the right account means that, unless the meter is running on educating clients or absorbing unusual abuse, doing the work.  End of story.   The new economy runs on providing a service effectively, not having a wonderful relationship with the client.  Most of us entrepreneurs have already learned that through a brutal lesson or two.

So, why do some of us continue with accounts which are not worth the money?  Answer: Sunk costs.  We are struggling to protect our investment.  Ditch that self-defeating behavior and as we become shrewder judges of what accounts we should take we will be investing less in those kinds of follies.

Last week I schlepped to White Plains, New York.  The assignment description has been rosy, but not too good to be true.  It was to produce what would be the equivalent of a full-time writing position remotely for a design, marketing, and advertising agency Wild Frog Studio.  

No newbie at this, I picked up distress signals as soon as I had entered the office of Wild Frog Studio at 1999 Main Street in White Plains.  Clearly I was not being screened for that comparable full time position.  This was going to be a project, a small one: six media releases for an over-the-counter medication. Over the weekend it got smaller: one press release.

I did the assignment.  Then I informed Wild Frog Studio owner Rodica Ceslov, thank you so much for the opportunity but I would no longer be available.  End of story.

Is there a way I could have configured that new-account story differently?  Boy, have I given that a lot of thought since, between train fare, meals, and print reading matter to consume on Metro North commuter line, the sunk costs, in addition to my time, represented a hit to my pocketbook.  In addition, there was the usual agita over feeling foolish to have made such an error of business judgment.

Here's what I could have done differently:

• Clarify before accepting the invitation to meet that the agency was indeed in the market for the full-time copywriter.  From that conversation I could have picked up red flags that the odds were not in my favor in being able to secure that kind of volume of work.  Yes, we got to hone the skill of speedreading what the prospect's agenda is.  That professional could be just a browser not at the point of buying or could be cruising to pick brains.  One tactic is to pose specific questions which should have quantitative answers such as: in ballpark terms, could you estimate the hours of work involved if I were to be selected for this account.

• Don't bite so fast.  Instead of agreeing to meet in-person, an increasingly less-demanded requirement for pitching for assignments, I could have tried to negotiate an in-depth phone interview.  Yes, I could have noted what that in-person sales call would have cost me and be firm in indicating that I could not make that kind of investment so early in the selling process.

• Run due diligence on the prospect.  I should have called in the posse to let me know the track record on the agency in dealing with vendors.  Shame on me I didn't run a check.

• Don't throw good money after bad.  When my gut told me that I had probably wasted my resources I made the dumber-than-dumber kneejerk reaction of investing more.  I offered, shame on me, to create a proposal for a blog for Ms. Ceslov.  Father forgive me for this crime against myself.  Yes, I created the proposal.  Fortunately, in new media, execution is everything and ideas don't mean much.  Execution is everything because few have down the tone, content and search engine optimization tactics of social media.  Here is that proposal Download Proposal for blog for Wild Frog Studio.  [Sure, l'm available for similar blog work for you.  We can talk about that on the phone.]

The good news is that mistakes provide a gold mine of learning.  That's what the new economy is all about, documented WIRED MAGAZINE.  Here is that article.

Low-Paid Work Doesn't Have To Be Downward Slide

Michael Gates Gill, son of that famous Gill from THE NEW YORKER, had one of the those low-paid, low-skill jobs at Starbucks.  Like many of us, he had fallen down the earnings hole from a very good job.  But Gill didn't stay there.  He wrote his way back up with his book HOW STARBUCKS SAVED MY LIFE.  Today he's back in the bucks on the lecture circuit.

In 2003, I was a security guard in Sephora, yeah that cosmetics firm where Rudy Giuliani daughter had gotten busted for alleged shoplifting.  The pay was peanuts.  And I told that sad story in GEEZERGUTS, which you can download free here Download Geezerguts.  Like Gill, I wrote my way back up.

So, although it's not easy, it is possible for that survival job not to become a permanent downward slide.  How we pull ourselves out is mostly about mindset.  We have to believe that the current way of making a living serves its purpose of re-introducing us to the workforce after unemployment and pays some bills. We don't frame it as an end of our career. 

Not that career recovery is simple.  As I explain in my book OVER-50: HOW WE KEEP WORKING, we have to be willing to kiss a lot of frogs before we find the platform for building our new professional life.  Most of current opportunity is what we put together. It's no longer out there wrapped in a pretty package marked "Good Job."

Bloggers migrating from trusted opinion leaders to part of marketing mix

We bloggers have proved ourselves trusted opinion leaders.  For example, head writer Elie Mystal on Abovethelaw.com and Erick Schonfeld on TechCrunch are likely more respected than the official players in their fields.  So, it's no surprise that marketers have noticed this credible force and are harnessing it for everything from branding to actual selling. 

In WWD, Cate T. Corcoran reports that major retail players such as Barneys New York and Coach are "collaborating with bloggers to create new and controversial forms of advertising for a more social age."  Some of the ways this is being done, usually with full disclosure by bloggers are, notes Corcoran:

• Guest blog
• Sponsor a series of daily outfit posts featuring their products
• Create a video of the blogger talking about the brand or wearing the product
• Invite the bloggers to design for the brand.

Payment for this kind of participation with just one retailer could reach into the thousands of dollars.  However, trust is a fragile entity.  Too strong an identification with a commercial brand can undercut that particular blogger's credibility.  Those monitoring this trend can predict that sooner than later some aspect of it will blow up.  There will be a dual scandal involving both the brand and blogger.

My recommendation to bloggers: proceed with caution.  It has been hard work establishing our credibility as well as our online presence.  We don't want to treat those assets recklessly.

Terrorism: Good for pop culture

So much of pop culture has been embedded on the platform of fear of terrorism that more and more of us can hardly imagine terrorists are real. 

On "Rubicon," the convoluted plot is constructed on the foggy notion that it's tough to tell the terrorists from just the control freaks who can also make some serious money. 

In his new book THE LION, Nelson DeMille has his characters determined to separate the bad guys - read that terrorists - from the good guys. 

And, the writers for "The Good Wife" would have to be not focused on ratings not to include an episode in which Alicia winds up inadvertently defending a terrorist.  Since she's known for her ability to compromise and live with all that, we are sure that she will be able to compartmentalize that client experience as revenue for the struggling law firm.

Unfortunately, "Mad Men" is set in a world which never contemplated 9/11.  Otherwise Don Draper would be hired by the U.S. government, post Clio, to educate the public about signs of terrorist activity.

Debt is "tool for economic advance," Jackson Lears, THE NEW YORK TIMES

Those middle-class rigids who were/are full of condemnation for those of us living in debt have been stunned.  The recovery is taking hold and some of us, in a few good months, have wiped out a lot of that debt.  No wonder the middle class are economically stuck and can't build a platform on which to climb out.  They essentially are economically unenlightened.

In his classic article in THE NEW YORK TIMES "The American Way of Debt," Jackson Lears documented how debt has been as American as apple pie and helped the nation become the number-one wealth producer.  Specifically, Lears states,

"Debt has always played an important role in American lives - not merely as a means of instant gratification but also as a strategy for survival and a tool for economic advance."

Are the stuck middle class killing possibilities by being so risk-averse regarding piling on debt?  Here's a brief case study of a big-time debtor:

African-American Elie Mystal took on about $150,000 in student loans getting a JD at Harvard Law School.  Turns out he hated practicing law, at least the kind that's done at Manhattan law firms.  Despite his debt, which he hadn't put a dent in, he left law.  He then went on to audition, American Idol-style, for a writing, yes, a writing, position at gossipy legal tabloid Abovethelaw.com.  He got the job. 

Surely, it can't pay what a large law firm does.  However, at ATL, Mystal is putting together something that is leading to new options.  Because of the tabloid's popularity - think the NATIONAL ENQUIRER of the legal profession - bookers put him on talk shows.  He's quoted globally in media.  He's feared by the public relations types.  And my hunch is that he is going to be making seven or eight figures in some entertainment niche.

Mystal never allowed debt to influence his approach to creating wealth, his way.

Helping the Manhattan Real Estate Game - Tiger Woods moves downtown

This is good news for Manhattan real estate.  GAWKER reports that newly divorced Tiger Woods has moved into his bachelor pad downtown.  To enjoy himself at Hooters, though, he will have to commute to midtown.