Mel,
In modern education we have this notion of helping students become "well rounded."
This is accomplished by ringing a bell. At eight o'clock in the morning, the bell rings and school begins. The teacher lectures, and you spend the last 15 minutes of class working on her assignment.
Just when you start to get some momentum going, the bell rings again and the period is over. Now it's time for math.
50 minutes later the bell rings and it's time for gym.
50 minutes later the bell rings and you're in "social studies" (as opposed to history, which was phased out).
Then comes lunch—everything spoon-fed and compartmentalized.
The bell conditions kids to never spend more than an hour on anything. It prevents them from ever becoming interested or passionate about any one thing—just passively involved in a little bit of everything.
"Well rounded" often just means aloof and disinterested. Those inane textbooks and Catcher in the Rye and Death of a Salesman condition young minds to believe that all books are boring and irrelevant.
When I was a junior in high school, my marketing instructor Mr. Venema heard that I was operating a speaker business, and invited me to give a talk to our class about my company.
I toted in my 400 watt Phase Linear amplifier and a brand new pair of speakers, and class started that day with the frontal attack of Tom Sawyer (full digital recording, splendid for its time). A surprised and delighted audience of fellow students jolted backward in their chairs and enjoyed a welcome diversion from the usual class routine.
Mr. Venema was amazed that a gangly 17-year-old kid could be doing something so ambitious.
To me it didn't seem all that profound, and his amazement puzzled me.
But looking back I realize that this technical, musical and entrepreneurial journey was the natural consequence of a labor of love.
I was deeply interested in something, while all my friends were biding their time in the Matrix, just trying to pass a class by day and watch TV by night.
They were being educated about everything, but learning next to nothing.
I was searching for everything I could possibly find about ONE thing, and in the process, learning something about everything.
As adults we've traded the clanging school bell for a chirping smartphone, but the effect is the same:
Bouncing from Facebook to Twitter to YouTube and chasing the latest traffic hack and conversion boost makes for one frazzled and distracted biz owner.
Yes, social media HAS splintered the media landscape. More and more you must get your business on multiple channels to survive.
But that doesn't mean YOU have to be the wizard behind the curtain who's pulling all those strings.
I exhort you: Don't try to go it alone.
Seek out the things you're good at and passionate about. Go deep on them.
And for the rest—get help.
It doesn't have to cost you an arm and a leg, either. You can form strategic alliances with other entrepreneurs.
Head over to Marketers 24/7 and throw up a "help wanted" post with an offer to barter your skills.
If copywriting's your thing, see if you can trade with someone who can rock a YouTube campaign for you.
Reject the bell and it's "inch deep and mile wide" mediocrity.
And focus on the skills and passions only YOU bring to your business.
Carpe Diem,
Perry Marshall
***NOTE: This email address isn't monitored! If you need help, please email:
support@perrymarshall.com
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