“In theory camping should be a very inexpensive activity since you are literally sleeping on the ground. But as with everything in white culture, the more simple it appears the more expensive it actually is.”
—

Stuff White People Like #128… Camping

P.S. - I missed you Tumblr

“First they ignore you, then they laugh at you, then they fight you, then you win.”
— from Ghandi… I saw it in an interesting documentry about a no-name teacher running for Congress called Can Mr. Smith Get To Washington Anymore?
“At the end of the day, being underpaid for valuable work sucks, which is what the specter of spec work brings. Want to combat it? Dont suck. Provide value. Set realistic expectations.”
—

From Micah Baldwin’s post Kill All Designers… this is a eye-catching headline that doesn’t do justice to the thesis of the article.  Micah’s a smart guy I met at Startup Weekend DC a little over a year ago.

I pulled this quote out because I think the main lesson applies to all businesses, not just designers.  Innovation is driving down the cost of products we create, and we can’t simply lower our prices to compete.

So, we must make sure the consumer knows why he/she the extra value we provide… at a price premium.  That means repositioning a unique differentiator that wasn’t particularly important in a way that the customer finds irresistable.

This may be difficult to do… but, if it were easy, we’d all be doing it.

“That’s what you get when you start dating at age 18 while volunteering in a Croatian refugee camp.”
— great quote from Overheard in New York
“Six Word to Live By on the Internet: Global, Social, Open, Mobile, Playful, Intelligent”
— from Fred Wilson’s recent presentation called Startup Culture, the Internet, and Television… of the six, I think that “Intelligent” impacts internet content the most and differentiates it from other forms of marketable mass media… intelligent content can find an audience and thrive online (Arrested Development, Adam Carolla’s new podcast, etc.) because smart, motivated people like to band together, share, and discuss content with one another… other forms of mass media (think most successful reality tv and the Morning Zoo) are built for you to sit back and stop thinking
“If I wanted to watch people I don’t give a shit about fall in love I’d eat at the Olive Garden.”
— hilarious quote about Slumdog Millionaire from Film Drunk
“The question shouldn’t be, “do you deserve it.” I think it should be, “what are you going to do with it now that you’ve got it?”
— More quotable insight form Seth Godin… I’ve told this to people for years and truly believe it.  I’ve had many gifts in my life, and it would be a shame if I didn’t use them to their full potential.
“Sales presentations aren’t about selling your company’s product or services; they’re about selling the results the customer wants.”
— From a BNET newsletter I got this morning… I’ve been doing a lot of work recently to help marketers create compelling sales messages, and this is really great, pithy advice.
“I don’t know how much say (Jason Statham) has in the films he makes. But I get the impression that he reads the scripts. And if the script doesn’t make him want to drive a bulldozer through a cake store, I’ll bet he punches the script through a wall.”
— From Patton Oswalt on his new-found love for the great thespian of our generation… Jason Statham… for more great Statham material, go to FilmDrunk.
“The stock market tumbled on the Obama inauguration yesterday, and it’s spiking higher today on the beginning of the new season of “Lost”. In short, markets hate minority Democratic presidents, but love TV series with lots of greenery.”
— from Paul Kedrosky’s Infectious Greed