Finding Reality

Your humble correspondent... (ahem; let's start again)

It took me a long time -- and it was a great run while it lasted -- but, finally, it's time for me to put whatever skills and talents I have to work. And when I say `work', I mean something for which I will be remunerated sufficiently to keep this ship afloat. Toward that end, as of late I've been involved with all manner of networking, figuring it may be one of my best chances to see if anyone's buying.

Yesterday, I took a country drive (well, more or less once you get off the Interstate) to Dripping Springs, attending the "Wizard Academy" free seminar. I'm not fully sure why I went, marketing and advertising being as far from both my experience and inclination as you could imagine, but someone I'd met along the way recommended it. Besides, it came with freebies and lunch (and nothing that resembled a sales pitch) -- so I went.

I went and it was intriguing.

Very intriguing.

Relating neurophysiology, demographics and sociology with a little bit of (tastefully done, though a little off-putting) scripture, Roy H. Williams does his schtick. And it's great schtick. What's scarier, is that it recognizes what the small retailer knew for years, when that scale of business for general merchandise (i.e. the stuff you can get at any mall) was still feasible. You take good care of your good customers, the ones who buy regularly -- and often buy something extra -- and don't give you trouble. The ones who say, "I can get it a buck cheaper at such-and-such's a mere bus ride away", well, you're not terribly sad when they go. And then he goes on to give a `brain geography' lesson in explaining why radio -- or specifically sound -- is, in general, the most effective way to make the greatest possible impression.

He runs this Wizard Academy, a school for marketing and communications, in a facility carved (and being carved) out of a sloped piece of land in Dripping Springs, Texas. I'm not sure what any of this means yet, but maybe I'm half a step closer to my goal.