I advertised! Although only in a blog comment.

Free from 9 to 5 � Everyone wants to be free from 9 to 5

Nevertheless, I feel kind of embarrassed. Thanks “Eric” for making it easy.

This is what’s hard about entrepreneurialism for people like me. I don’t like asking for stuff. And “ask for the sale” is the first rule of selling.

The world is divided into people who don’t mind asking for things, and those who do. And being willing to ask is a necessary condition for success.

This troubles me, because it’s not clear that the skill of asking is actually “productive”. It doesn’t create value or bring new things into the world. It’s a completely zero sum competitive activity. The most succesful “asking” (advertising, marketing, retail positioning) is succesful at the cost of a lost sale to another supplier.

Now, I don’t see any harm in competition between suppliers as to who is going to make the best stuff, or the most useful aggrograte package of stuff. But when competition hinges on who is able to shout loudest, or who employs the salesman with the best Jedi mind-tricks, this just looks screwed up.

Obviously people need to get the message out. And maybe blogs and Cluetrain will make it so that engaged “Gonzo” marketing which actually makes all communication channels between suppliers and customers, informative and useful, will save us.

Update : if you hear a muffled thudding sound as you read this blog-entry, that’s my commercial super-ego who wanted to make the above “Cluetrain” link into an Amazon link which pays a kickback. This time, I managed to have said commercial super-ego stuffed into a box and the link goes to the online version of the book.