my next book's title: "evil plans: and 39 other keys to building a global microb …

[Backs­tory: About Hugh. E-mail Hugh. Twit­ter. News­let­ter. Book.. Inter­view One. Inter­view Two. EVIL PLANS. Limi­ted Edi­tion Prints. Pri­vate Com­mis­sions. Cube Gre­na­des.]

It’s been almost four years since I first posted “The Global Microbrand Rant”:

A small, tiny brand, that “sells” all over the world.

The Glo­bal Mic­ro­brand is nothing new; they’ve exis­ted for a while, long before the inter­net was inven­ted. Ima­gine a well-known author or pain­ter, selling his work all over the world. Or a small whisky dis­ti­llery in Scot­land. Or a small cheese maker in rural France, whose pro­duce is expor­ted to Paris, Lon­don, Tokyo etc. Ditto with a vio­lin maker in Italy. A clas­si­cal gui­tar maker in Spain. Or a small English firm making $50,000 shot­guns.

[…]

Frankly, it beats the hell out of com­mu­ting every mor­ning to the cor­po­rate glass box in the big city, something I did for many years. Just so I could make enough money to help me for­get that I have to com­mute every mor­ning to the cor­po­rate glass box in the big city.

There are thou­sands of rea­sons why peo­ple write blogs. But it seems to me the big­gest rea­son that dri­ves the blog­gers I read the most is, we’re all loo­king for our own per­so­nal glo­bal mic­ro­brand. That is the prize. That is the tic­ket off the tread­mill. And I don’t think it’s a bad one to aim for.

As I’ve been working on my next book, EVIL PLANS, it suddenly occurred to me, THIS is what I’ve been doing all along with gapingvoid these last eight years- trying to build my own global microbrand, and trying to help others do the same.

Like my old French buddy, Laurent Haug told me while we were sipping beers in Geneva, not long after I’d written the Global Microbrand Rant:

“You nailed, it, Man. You’re set for life.”

“What do you mean?”

“The Global Microbrand. You coined the term, now you own that conversation.”

“So what’s the big deal?”

“Everybody wants one, Hugh. That’s what we’re all chasing after.”

Laurent had a point. Looking back, it seems so glaringly obvious now…

Eureka. EVIL PLANS just got slightly more evil. Rock on.

[Bonus Link:] “Ten Thousand People: The Antidote To ‘Chasing Gigs'”.