Let's expand that asset list from yesterday, kids.
Assets:
(1) Businesses
(2) Real Estate
(3) Investments
(4) Intellectual Property
According to Wikipedia:
"Intellectual property (IP) is a number of distinct types of legal monopolies over creations of the mind, both artistic and commercial, and the corresponding fields of law.[1] Under intellectual property law, owners are granted certain exclusive rights to a variety of intangible assets, such as musical, literary, and artistic works; ideas, discoveries and inventions; and words, phrases, symbols, and designs. Common types of intellectual property include copyrights, trademarks, patents, industrial design rights and trade secrets in some jurisdictions."
Why is this good news for Samantha? Yesterday she asked me, essentailly, how can I build my asset base? What can I do?
Having read her blog for a bit now- I can tell you Samantha is a creative individual. Her most natural asset base would spring out of, I think, intellectual property. She can write!
Entrepreneur Chick's best advice to Sam? Keep doing what you love. Learn to leverage it. Learn to sell it. BUT, have a hook. It does not have to be a "hook" that's never been done before- because every thing's been written about before; however, the "hook" must be compelling enough to draw your work(s) to stand out in the marketplace.
Let's take Tom Clancy. I know, not much of a true literary talent. (Mc Donalds in not the best hamburger you've ever had; but you'll still eat there in a pinch.) Clancy has a formula. Harry Potter has a formula. Those formulas are hooks.
Let's take Entrepreneur Chick's ridiculously smart brother in law. Robert. Robert invents a design that when one has a trailer, such as a fifth wheel or what have you, when, after installation, you're driving down the road- what do you think? Smooth as silk! No "fishtailing", no unsettling bumps.
Roger's Stabilizer Bar. Pretty cool, huh?
Tomorrow I'm going to tell you about a stripper who took her talent and made it big!
What intellectual property do you have?
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Hmm...this has me thinking...
ReplyDeleteChloe,
ReplyDeleteLet me know, k?
You're totally right, my writing is my intellectual property. I love doing it, and hey, I just might be good at it. So...how to leverage it, sell it???
ReplyDeleteOh Crikey EC ~ thanks awfully! I'm also really delighted to get my name in a blog post title. Yes, I think Intellectual Property is probably the natural one for me. Hmmmm time to get the thinking cap on again. Now I've got to figure out my hook.
ReplyDeleteLeverage. Yeah, I was reading about that too but not sure I've got it sussed yet. Mark Victor Hansen, I think. Didn't he then say, turn it into Loverage? It's leverage with doing what you love. My head hurts now though. Time for coffee (oops, sorry!)
'Light fuse, stand back...'
ReplyDelete>BUT, have a hook.
Perhaps.
And, the authentic counter is that such gambits dance gleefully toward the make-believe world of modern marketing whereby we treat those whom we think might like and actually want to buy our stuff as gorillas to be given bananas of instant gratification upon arrival.
Having read the girl's stuff, there's one thing shines brightly white-heat through...
She's unspoiled. A natural. A raw talent we oh-so-clever aren't-we-the-experts haven't yet f***d-up - sorry, 'guided toward prosperity' - with our business 101 formulaic bs.
There's a line from Clapton which comes to mind, speaking of the advice given him by all whom he considers influences: 'Don't play like me, play like you.'
And that's the 'lady, do your stuff' marker by which she'll thrive.
What's the one-worder for which I'm searching...? Oh yeah... subtlety.
She'll do well because people want to read her stuff - not because they've been told to, or grabbed by a marketing-oriented cash-generating hook.
Dylan never went with a hook, and nor should Sam Brightwell.
She doesn't need to be 'cool'. She has class.
G,
ReplyDeleteYou have just written a great cover for her book jacket.
> While I did't make the rules- I'll tell you one thing- I sure know how to play by 'em.
> Dylan did have a hook. Counter-culture revolution. As well as Joan Biaz, The Beatles, Elvis, Bob Marley, Hendrix, Janis Joplin- etc.
But I get what you're saying. The fundamental question is:
Is writing, music or art really about writing, music or art? Or is about sales?
As a business person, I err on the side of sales. As an appreciator of writing, (literature) music and art; I err on the side of so what? It's artist expresion and therefore should be appreciated as such. I have great respect for anyone who takes the time to create.
Ah good... up-the-ante interplay.
ReplyDeleteLet's warmly engage.
Yeah sure they had hooks - but dialed-so-down into the mix that they weren't blatantly evident. They were also unforced natural expressions, rather than the contrived artifice that characterises soooooooo much of modern ploy.
More importantly, they had good commercial machines in play - so the numbers stuff got taken care of.
> Is writing, music or art really about writing, music or art?
Yes, totally. Absolutely.
> Or is about sales?
No. Never. That's commerce.
So, do you-the-artist run with the Vince van G (the dude reportedly sold one painting in his lifetime) thing: 'I can't change the fact that my paintings don't sell. But the time will come when people will recognize that they are worth more than the value of the paints used in the picture.'
[And indeed, in May 1990 The Portrait of Dr. Gachet was sold for around $82.5 million more than the paint.]
Or instigate a Warholesque production line?
Seemingly not a tough choice if you want to eat.
OK, g, enough already.
ReplyDeletePerhaps I'm more of a cynic than you think. I'm with Marilisa on Dylan, The Beatles, Elvis etc having a hook. Absolutely selling a whole mindset, that was about being on the edge of the right wave, at just the right time. There were plenty of other fantastic musicians around at same times, but they're not the one's who went supernova.
Van Gogh? Clearly ahead of his time. Warhol? Won't stand up to the test of time.
Do I care? If I had the choice, I'd rather eat and live and enjoy life than wind up broke and bandaged and depressed.
If I was happy just writing my stuff and painting in my little room, I wouldn't be asking these questions.
But, out of this bizarre and amusing exchange, I have learned even more. So thanks, to you both.