Passed a store the other day. The sign read 99 CENTS! And the subtitle was, “Everything $1 and up”.
The 99 cent store was never popular because there’s some magical power about the price that is a penny less than a dollar. No, it’s because it represents an attitude, that this stuff is CHEAP. Not absolute cheap, just relatively cheap. Not even a good value, just cheap. Cheap compared to its non-cheap competition.
At the other end of the spectrum, the prices at the Hermes store appear to be missing a decimal point or two. The attitude is, “wow, this stuff is expensive.” It’s not about what you get, it’s about how it feels to pay that much.

by Seth Godin
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One way to start every morning with your team is to have them check in. Go around in a circle and let people update and contribute. It’s not a silly exercise, in that it helps people speak up and it communicates forward motion.
Another way, probably a better one, is to have each member of the team announce what they’re afraid of. Two kinds of afraid, actually. Things that might fail and things that might work.
What are you, chicken?
Yes, we’re chicken. We’re afraid. The lizard has us by the claws.
So, tell us. What are you afraid might happen that would destroy, disintegrate, or dissuade–that would take us down? And what are you afraid of that might work, thus changing everything and opening up entirely new areas of scariness?

by Seth Godin
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Most of the time, particulary in b2b and luxury sales, the competition is nothing.
“I will buy this treat or I will buy nothing, because I don’t really need anything.”
“I will buy your consulting services, or I’ll continue doing what I’m doing now on that front, which is nothing.”
None of the above.
“I will vote for you or I’ll do what I usually do, which is not vote.”
“I’ll hire you or I’ll hire no one.”
While you think your competition is that woman across town, it’s probably apathy, sitting still, ignoring the problem… nothing.
Stop worrying so much about comparing yourself to every other possible competitor you can imagine and start comparing yourself to nothing. Are you really worth the hassle, the risk, the time, the money? Or can’t the prospect just wait until tomorrow?

by Seth Godin
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Six months ago, I put together a workbook that would help Linchpin readers ship.
After testing it out on hundreds of people, it’s now ready for retail sale.
You can find details here, or jump right to the buy page. The goal? To make you uncomfortable at the beginning of a project (and successful at the end).
Here’s the core idea: it’s weird to write in a book. When you do, you’re making a commitment. You’re combining the open-mindedness that reading brings with the physical action of writing. If you do that at every step in a project–and if your co-workers do too–the seemingly slippery decisions that get made appear a lot more solid.
The ShipIt workbook is designed to be worked on in groups (hence the five pack) and it delivers. If you can confront the mechanics or the fear that’s slowing down (or even killing) your project, it’s easy to fix it now, before it’s too late.
There’s no digital version, because without writing things down, it can’t work. But there is an mp3 interview that will help you get your arms around how each page works. I’m pricing this first batch at $3.20 each in a pack of five just for the launch.
I hope you’ll give it a try.

by Seth Godin
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Many people struggle at work because they want more authority.
It turns out you can get a lot done if you just take more responsibility instead. It’s often offered, rarely taken.
(And you can get even more done if you give away credit, relentlessly).

by Seth Godin
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The details are right here. Created by Vook, based on the hardcover.
Includes new video and interviews with some interesting folks…
The long tail challenge of the iPad store is getting more and more obvious to people. The ratio of “shelf space” to inventory is about the worst of any retail experience in the world. There are more than 24,000 apps listed in the iPad store, and yet the front window (equivalent to the window of a bookstore) shows the user six choices. The spotlight coverflow up top shows another sixteen, fairly randomly. Meaning there’s a little worse than a one in a thousand chance that your app will appear in front of someone interacting with the store at the first level.
I have no doubt that as Apple sees revenue increase from this source, they’ll do a much better job of crosslinks and browsing. But, once again, the lesson of the long tail is this: you can’t count on the gatekeeper to do your promotion for you. Getting picked feels like a needle in a haystack, and the value of permission, of connecting directly to people who care instead of ceding control to a middle man, is at the heart of building an asset. Someone is going to be the gatekeeper, and it should be you.

by Seth Godin
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There isn’t one.
Corporations don’t have a conscience, people do.
That means that every time you say, “It’s just my job,” or “My department has a policy,” or “All I do is work here,” what you’ve done is abdicated responsibility–to no one.
It’s convenient and even comfortable to blame the anonymous actions of many working in concert on a evanescent brand or organization, but that starts you on an inevitable race to the bottom. Organizations have more power than ever before. They are better synchronized, faster, and possess more tools to change the economy and the people in it than ever before. And the only option available to the rest of us is for individuals to take responsibility (it’s not given) for what they do and how they do it.
The very same tools that permit organizations to synchronize their efforts are now available to you and to me. I guess the question is: will we use that power to humanize the systems we’ve created?
PS It’s not just about being a good citizen: when bad behavior comes back to hurt the company, it hurts you, too.

by Seth Godin
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