Comments on: Live from Heathrow Terminal 5: Knowing Your Audience, and a Quick Survey

By: Chris

Chris — Thu, 26 Mar 2009 19:06:00 +0000

@Tom,

No problem, you are welcome to disagree and I respect your opinion.

About Naomi, though, I do think your assessment is wrong. Small business marketing is hardly an underserved market — in fact, it’s an oversaturated market. Naomi has been able to stand out in a very short time because she is highly authentic and unafraid to take a tough stand. Instead of seeing her profits disappear, I expect that her business will continue to grow at an exponential rate. Watch and see.

By: Tom

Tom — Thu, 26 Mar 2009 18:44:26 +0000

I disagree with your assessment of Ittybiz’s apparent success. Your premise is that Naomi is successful “because” of her style. But I wonder if you haven’t fallen victim to the “Correlation does not imply causation” problem.

It could be that Naomi is successful in spite of her foul language. I contend that she has indeed found a much under served niche (small business marketing)….so under-served that people will tolerate her unprofessional language to get the content. BUT, business is inherently conservative, so as soon as professional, unfoul, competitors arrive Naomi may just see her profits disappear.

But I guess that since I disagreed with you, I should have only pressed the back button rather than present an opposing view.

By: Todd Borst

Todd Borst — Fri, 27 Feb 2009 21:11:07 +0000

@John, I think the main difference here is the intention. I don’t walk around telling people “hey you’re short!” simply because it’s the truth. It’s not hard to separate constructive sharing from someone who’s simply being an ass.

By: Chris

Chris — Fri, 27 Feb 2009 02:10:33 +0000

Thanks to everyone for taking the survey! Great feedback so far. FYI, I’ll probably close it sometime tomorrow once I get enough responses, but I still need more now.

@John,

Well, I see it as a path of better defining what I believe in. Part of that is explaining how much harm people can cause by being overly-negative without adding anything of value.

By: Trackback from MosaicMoods

Trackback from MosaicMoods — Fri, 27 Feb 2009 00:50:14 +0000

[...] If you believe in synchronicity, as I do, you’ll appreciate that I just found this heading by Chris Guillebeau at The Art of Non-Conformity: [...]

By: Diana

Diana — Thu, 26 Feb 2009 23:17:22 +0000

“Be Who You Really Are”
“Remember: be authentic. There is only one you. ”

Boy, did I need to hear that today. I know that sounds cliche but it’s true. As an artist (not a writer), I’m a new blogger and it’s tough trying to encourage discussion AND be true to who you are. I think I’m still in cubicle nation mode when I was expected to meet all needs simultaneously and with a smile. I wasn’t very good at it. All I can do now is try to be myself.

Thanks for letting me follow you around the world (and for de-romanticizing it). I’m stuck being an armchair traveler for now. I’d love to see London.

By: Melissa

Melissa — Thu, 26 Feb 2009 22:06:30 +0000

I’m very jealous of this trip. Can’t wait to hear stories and see pics of the people and wildlife. Namibia is a dream trip for me.

Very sad to hear that London has yet another terminal. I used to live there and the noise pollution from the planes is unreal. More terminals, more planes, more noise, more pollution. Poor Londoners.

By: John Paton

John Paton — Thu, 26 Feb 2009 21:39:05 +0000

I feel like where starting to go down a negative path here. What with the defining enemies and all. For the guy who left a comment on ittybiz. Isn’t is always better to be aligned with truth– to say what you think?