Comments on: nobody genuinely wants to hand over their hard-earned money to lawyers and consultants

By: Bill Seitz

Bill Seitz — Fri, 12 Aug 2005 08:35:38 +0000

Quote of the day: “Nobody ever got fired for hiring Clay Shirky as a consultant.”

By: Bill Seitz

Bill Seitz — Fri, 12 Aug 2005 08:26:38 +0000

It just struck me, that this may be the real force behind Alist-envy. The envious are the people trying to sell what nobody wants to pay for, ergo they’re really in a serious zero-sum game against the equally hand-waving subset of A-listers.

By: hugh macleod

hugh macleod — Thu, 11 Aug 2005 14:48:08 +0000

It was easy, Rich. Paul Hatton contacted me; I didn’t have to “sell” the idea to them.
As for English Cut; Tom was feeling the pressure to do something online, and his old conventional website wasn’t cutting it.
Since setting up a blog is so cheap, there wasn’t a lot of risk attached to the project. And I think Tom found he actually quite liked keeping a blog and sharing his knowledge with a new audience.
One advantage Tom and Paul have going for them– they’re world class professionals at what they do. I think if they were lower down the food chain, then my job would be a lot harder.
Of course, if they were lower down the food chain I don’t think I would have been that interested in working with them in the first place.

By: RichW

RichW — Thu, 11 Aug 2005 04:12:47 +0000

Had an interesting conversation with a local artisan who would fit the Thomas Mahon/Paul Hatton mold. Won’t get into what she does, but it’s definitely a unique type of handmade luxury purchase with a ton of personal touch and a bit of science thrown in.
I was talking to her about English Cut and Hard Diamond and the Hughtrain concept just to feel her out about the possibilities of working together and creating a global microbrand. Surprisingly to me she comprehended everything about the concept on the first take.
I’m thinking to myself, “OK, if Hugh can make some scratch from this model, so can I.”
And then she says, “I don’t want to work that hard. I LIKE having a small customer base. I like that everything is word of mouth and that I can fulfill everyone’s expectations. No, I don’t want to get involved with blogging. That would mean too much work and I wouldn’t enjoy it as much. I want to stay small.”
Well, fuck me.
You can lead a horse to water and I need a drink.
Sad truth for marketers is that we can be great marketers, but we need willing accomplices to be great.
So I’m now wondering, how did you get Thomas and Paul over that hump?