Janet Lee Johnson | The Art of Marketing

In support of a new me, I’m going away for a few days. I’m going off the grid, I’m not taking my laptop, and plan to rest, relax and rejuvenate under the warm Arizona sun. My love arranged my trip for me as a birthday gift during a recent two-week bout with the flu.

I'm Outta Here

Taking care of myself (with a lot of help from my family) by taking regular vacations finally makes sense to me. It’s a simple answer to the question: would I rather spend four or five days on vacation, or four or five days too sick to work?

So I’m off to write (by hand, on paper… imagine!), contemplate nature, and take a moment of reflection in the midst of a whirling world. See you on the other side.

Trust has been a common theme that the universe keeps thrusting in my face of late.

• Our planet has been shaken by a lack of trust and transparency in the mortgage, banking and financial markets.
• Our nation’s political leaders’ approval ratings (a form of trust) are in the toilet, and the mud-slinging has just begun in earnest as our future political leaders jockey for votes. Whom do we believe?
• Closer to home, people are having trouble paying their bills. For a (sorry) myriad of (sorry) reasons, sorry. We’ll write the checks this week.

I’m a living microcosm of the world. And right now, that’s not a good thing.

On Maslow’s hierarchy of needs, trust is broken when shelter, food and sleep are threatened. And a breakdown of trust is ugly. Even in a microcosm. Who isn’t feeling the general malaise gripping our globe?

My personal mistrust and malaise are showing in the following ways:

• Scattered attention - that never bodes well for clients…
• Irritation - knowing I can’t do more than pick up a phone and beg them to write the checks tomorrow, as promised…
• Disappointment - at myself for not following up more promptly, or checking in to remind them to approve the invoice, please…

Which, in turn, thwarts productivity, purpose, creativity, graciousness, my sense of humor.

[Rarely do I use this little pulpit for personal gripes. In fact, I'm not sure it's happened before. But (as I tell my clients) this is my living room, it's my choice what I share, and apparently I need to get this out of my heart. If you see yourself here, forgive yourself.]

Rebuilding Trust - One Gesture at a Time

So. How am I going about rebuilding trust with my fellow world travelers? By trying to make even tiny gestures matter:

• Thanking those who pay their bills early (! and there are those who do!)
• Being polite to those with whom we deal - and offering help where we can
• Understanding that people forget - my inbox has some ‘reminders’ I need to pay attention to… (noted)
• Kindness is important - one of my mantras - and especially appropriate in today’s times
• Prying the mind open - and the ears while we’re at it - and listening to others’ points of view

Just as we’re being told to take a long-term view of the financial markets and not panic; I think we’re in a place where we need to take a long-term view of humanity and know that this is an impermanent breakdown in concentration, efficiency, abundance and trust.

In the spirit of “the greed that got us into this situation is the greed that’ll get us out of it…” Trust is the first step to reparation.

Let the spirit of trust (and the abundance that comes with it) begin to flow…

I was asked recently to provide a guest blog for one of my long-time friends in the blogosphere, Meryl at Meryl.net. She has been blogging for 8 years. In honor of her blog’s 8th birthday, she decided to take a break and let others blog for her. And she’s giving prizes away to people who come along and care enough to leave a comment.

A lovely birthday tradition, I think.

I enjoyed writing this post about the time that Meryl and I met. It’s a bit of blogosphere history (in the “teenage years” of the blogosphere), and thought those who regularly read my blog might like to read a little shared history over on Meryl’s blog.

Stick around there, she’s really quite a writer… she’s been doing it for a very long time, and she’s a personal model and mentor for me..

I tell people who write blogs (business blogs too) that the blog is your living room. In visiting old acquaintances in the blogosphere, I ran across Susan Getgood’s Marketing Roadmaps blog again.

Susan and I were are both speakers at early Blog Business Summit events, and I’ve been remiss about staying in touch with those from the earlier days… but I digress.

I was thrilled to find one of the best examples of blog etiquette posted in her /about section:

“Marketing Roadmaps Code of Ethics:
Marketing Roadmaps is my opinion, based on my experience. Your mileage may vary. I will be respectful of my readers’ views, and expect the same courtesy.

1. When I have an opinion, I will be completely clear about it. You won’t have to guess.
2. I won’t delete posts unless the content proves to be completely off base, in which case I will leave a placeholder that explains what happened so search engines won’t perpetuate any mistakes I have made. Typically I will annotate the original post with new material rather than delete the post.
3. I will not blog information learned offline or in private conversations unless I am absolutely certain that it is public information or I have obtained permission from the person who shared the information. When in doubt I will err on the side of caution.
4. I will not delete comments unless they are spam or off-topic. Ditto trackbacks.
5. I will link and trackback to other blogs appropriately, and always endeavor to add to the conversation.
6. I will say thank you, replying to emails and comments promptly and pleasantly, even when I disagree with you.
7. I will be honest about my clients and relationships so my readers will understand my loyalties.”

I don’t think you can do any better than that as an example of excellent blog ethics.

Good on you, Susan.

I got a note last week that I just have to take the time to expose to the air… from my friend Gillian. Her words struck so personally I feel moved to blog them:

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I hope you don’t mind me reaching out to each of you on a rather personal note…As most of you know, I lost my father to pancreatic cancer 9 months ago today. Although pancreatic cancer is one of the major cancer killers, it still receives little to no government funding or support.

Some of you may have heard of Dr. Randy Pausch, a 47 year old Carnegie Mellon professor who was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer, whom through his “last lecture” has gotten lots of media attention (Prime Time, Good Morning America, and yes, even Oprah). Well, here is his recent powerful appeal to Congress - it would mean a lot to me if you would take a moment to listen to it.

If you are so moved, here are a few additional ways to help:

1. Write your local legislator
2. Donate to the cause (be sure to earmark your contribution for RESEARCH) - through my mother’s efforts to raise awareness we have raised almost 30K in research funds in my father’s name, James J. Kennedy
3. Continue to stay educated through http://www.pancan.org/ and http://www.lustgarten.org/

I appreciate your time with this and I can only hope that what we do today will make a difference.

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Apparently Gillian received a huge response to her note, and there were some further follow-on clarifications:

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I know there were some questions about donating to PanCan - it sounds like the only way to earmark the donation for research and/or make the donation in my father’s name (James J. Kennedy) is to either:

• call PanCan at 1-877-272-6226 and make the donation over the phone or
• mail in a check that has the information in the memo. The form for this and info about how to do it is here.

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Gillian and her mom are just trying to raise awareness. Apparently her mom is quite an expert on pancreatic cancer now. If anyone has questions, I’m happy to connect you with them.