Thinking Creatively & Taking Chances Is A Marketing Strategy That Works

Back in 1994 I had a job interview with an advertising agency in Akron, Ohio. During the interview I noticed the President’s office wall covered in yellow post-it notes. And I mean a ton of them, all over the place, like wallpaper. “That’s how I get work done and remember stuff,” he said. I thought it was pretty cool, and it gave me an idea.

After I left the interview, I went to the store and bought some packs of post-it notes, and a big paper sheet about 3×3 feet in size. I had my wife, girlfriend at the time, who has unbelieveable handwriting write down a quality I posessed on each yellow sticky (hard worker, good designer, smart, etc..). We filled up the entire paper sheet with those stickies, creating a “wall” of my best attributes.

It was my resume in sticky notes.

The next morning I dropped it off at his office before he got in. A few hours later I got the call and was hired instantly.

Now, I didn’t take the job as I had another offer to join something called a “new media agency”, which I took instead, but that’s another story.

The point is… Thinking creatively and taking chances is a winning combination.

Do you think creatively? Do you take chances? I believe that many of you have good or even great ideas, but you are afraid to act them out. Why?

Jon Spolestra, my newest marketing hero, author of an AMAZING book called Marketing Outrageously, advises that you everyone should sit down and get a little piece of paper and write down the craziest idea you have for marketing your business on it. Then stick it in your pocket and just keep it there. You don’t have to show it to anyone if you don’t want to, just keep it there as a reminder to you that you can think in such a manner.

My advice? Stop worrying about failure. It’s going to happen, a lot. I’ve failed countless times, and been laughed at too. I’ve been told my ideas are lame and will never work, and some have, and some haven’t. But you know what?

I will never, ever stop trying.

P.S. Go ahead, buy that book. If you don’t think it’s amazing, send it to me and I will pay you for it, guaranteed. I’ll just give it to someone else. No joke.