Monday, August 13, 2012

"But I'm doin' it Better than YOU DID!"

I'm writing a new book entitled MARSHMALLOW MARKETING for our fall term at Highland Community Education where I have led a class in web design and marketing for several years.

Caught one in the eye
during rehearsal.  Pain is FAKED for
the camera
My teaching style is collaborative, and as it says in my profile, I seek the truth wherever I find it...and then we share as fellow students.  

Since the 24th of July (See Bennee Brothers Marshmallow Team Star on KTVX ABC 4 Utah)  I've thoroughly enjoyed getting up early and "checking the trap line"  Watching the statistics grow and grow.

If a trapper doesn't check the trap line every day he misses the opportunity cost of harvesting the pelt and re setting the trap.   The Internet has made that grueling chore a treat!  (See MARSHMALLOW MARKETING the little blog post that became a pretty effective TEXT BOOK)

This whole excitement; the anticipation of seeing what's out there...and the varied countries' representatives that check in on what seems to be a pretty regular basis has made my life exciting again at 65.   Statistically I can "sense", for example that I have a couple of folks in RUSSIA who either read me in the original English or have a pretty effective translation system.

Welcome to the
United Nations
on my blog!
No comments yet in the Russian Language...but I have a translation app if my new friend(s) wanted to leave a trail ?!?!.  

Please feel included WHATEVER wonderful country you come from to read my stuff.  As a comic and comedian, I love to see the whites of your eyes. Statistically I get to do that as I check the trap line of my blog daily.

(Somebody said that Russians are pretty universally bored to live in America because there is no Secret Police to dodge and out smart.  Makes perfect sense to me)

There's always that danger of being "found out"  but after Peristoika I thought a certain freedom existed there   I'd love to correspond with someone of a like mind through the comments section of a favorite post.  


To confess, I have only had 8 comments on this blog since it's beginning and four of those were tests that originated with ME!

Now to the Trapper story:

Once upon a time in the old West of America an Old Trapper was preparing to retire and move to town.  Like any good entrepreneur, he decided to sell his most prized possession--a trap line with all the gear, traps included....and the benefit of his wisdom for more than 20 years of making a very tidy living in the snows of the Rocky Mountains.

He even advertised in the local frontier paper and an applicant showed up.  The new guy was young and eager and took written notes as the old trapper explained the nuances and intricacies of his beloved Trap Line.   

As part of the deal he agreed to visit from time to time and do a little coaching.  The day came.  The youngster signed a contract, made a small down payment and the Old Trapper gave up his cabin to the youngster and moved to a small hotel room in town, preparing to build a new cabin on the outskirts of the little village.   Everything went well for the old trapper and one day, he remembered he had made a pledge to return now and again...and figured that today would be the day.

It was a bright, golden morning in early winter...when the traps best yielded their fuzzy, furry bounty.   Old Trapper thought he would catch the newby enjoying the best success of his young new career!  With some anticipation Old Trapper snowshoed through the snow at the end of the trail and gently knocked on the door of his own old cabin.  A wisp of smoke from the fireplace indicated New Trapper would be at home....and a plaintive cry came from within:  "Go Away!"

This disturbed the older man.  Trappers like most mountain men, welcomed company and New Trapper was obviously NOT happy to see anyone.  It was the first sign that ALL was not well with New Trapper or their Trap Line.   If he was following instructions he should be rolling in furs and able to pay Old Trapper a handsome percentage, but alas there was trouble in paradise.

Slowly Old Trapper creaked open the cabin door.  Locks that far out there were unthinkable....and there was New Trapper still in bed gone past noon.

"Oh, its you!" the younger man muttered.

"Yes, I came to celebrate!"

"Celebrate WHAT!" Young Trapper said suprized.

"Our terrific success!" came back the concerned reply. "What's the trouble, son?"

"Well," New Trapper began with a little enthusiasm.  "I've made a few CHANGES!!!!!"

"Changes? Hows that goin' for you?" disappointed Older Trapper sat down in a chair he had built himself, as if watching his future flying slowly through the "winder" of the old cabin!

New Trapper explained that since he was alone...he lacked the discipline to keep to the rigors of the Older man's instructions.  "Oh the traps are all full when I check 'em...but that's only once or twice a week!  Old Trapper shook his head and buried his face in his hands.

The trap line that had fed and clothed him and gave him money for his savings and plenty of coins to jingle in his jeans when he got down to town in the Summer had been neglected, squandered, effectively destroyed until somebody came back with the simple discipline to check the traps every day.

Then new trapper admitted it wasn't working as well as the Old Man had promised and added the boast of youth and inexperience..."But I'm don' it Better than YOU DID!"

Old Trapper just laughed and planned to work the rest of the winter making sure junior got up and out to check the trap lines EVERY DAY!

NOTE:  One of the things I teach is how to make money with your blog!  Adsense places related four line ads in the margins and at the bottom.   I told a Web Design and Marketing class that if enough folks clicked the Adsense ads, and I got paid a percentage of the "click rate" and a healthy percentage for anyone smart enough to actually buy something, by the end of the term we'd have enough money in my account for a little ice cream social on the last evening of our class.  OOOPPPPS! Didn't read enough of the small print in the agreement I signed with Adsense...and I got a CEASE AND DESIST order by E-mail and the Adsense content was yanked.  Double Oops!!!

I appealed and was denied,vdfee- sine die!   I learned a hard lesson and we did the pot luck thing for the last night and had ice cream and cake ANYWAY!   So there, Adsense.

Finally, One of my favorite blogs is about the nuances of making money IN OTHER WAYS WITH YOUR BLOG--with a little Christian philosophy on handling that beloved filthy lucre.  Send me a comment and I'll give you the link!!!  The idea is that a blog like this with more than 3,000 hits over two years is approaching critical mass.  Advertisers for, well, Depends, Arthritis Cream and geriatric advice are out there looking for just this kind of blog.   They want exclusivity and could care less if Adsense has bounced me...so that's the next step.

My primary goal was to write a GRAMPA IN TRAINING Book as the saleable component of a geriatric speaking career.  I'm finalizing the first of several volumes for paper and ink production, but by the end of September the free blog will be limited to the first 25 words of the blog and a generous offer to swipe a piece o' plastic and buy the post for a DOLLAR A HOLLAR.  (That's an old peanut whistle small market radio term for cheap advertising.  It's been my "design" to follow my mentor Vernon Thompson's sage idea that people who give their e-mail and download a PDF of the post (or a small book for a small price) will qualify him/herself for a bigger PDF for a bigger price and possibly for something even bigger.   

That would have worked, but a stubborn boss turned down the idea in favor of sending out speaking teams to seminars and buying a coaching package if a free cruise was included for a multi-thousand dollar price tag.   Trouble was there WAS NO FREE CRUISE and if the real estate market hadn't tanked in 2008 and bankrupted our little juggernaut, the CANNED SPAM ACT and our own dissatisfied customers would have shut us down anyway.   

As a last gasp, little boss man, the tugboat captain, changed the name of the company, doubled the price of the package...and came with crocodile tears to the last meeting of a shocked staff to announce he "HAD TO CLOSE THE DOORS" and give us good references to the local Unemployment office under the guise of Reduction in Force.  

If you don't have a budget, but you do have a Masters in Business with honors from a prestigious local university....sometimes you think you can outrun the problems "by the seat of your pants".... IT WAS NOT TO BE!   Like the Young Trapper he failed to check the Trap Lines every day.  Sad, really!

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