In the back of a town car hired to take me to the Kansas City International airport, talking to Jeff, a driver with two kids, self-proclaimed ADD, and a history of quitting rote sales jobs every few months, I realized something of importance to the story of what’s brought me to this place: I am a seeker of the goal, not the method. Now, to unpack.

The Method Is What We’re Taught to Pursue

We learn our times tables. We learn the 50 states (in the US, at least). We are taught all these rules, these patterns, these systems, these methods. Musicians learn their scales. Painters copy the Masters. Copy. Learn. Make patterns.

Repetition. Finding grooves. Fitting into our assembly lines. Aligning to the way we understand how to measure.

Method. The process by which we get somewhere. Kempo karate is a method of fighting. Kicking the other guy’s ass is the goal.

You see this, right?

“New” is Rarely a Byproduct of Repetition

Except when it is. iPod was a whole new way of framing the music story: 1000 songs (not megabytes and gigabytes). iTunes store not just an orphaned player. Wheel and single button, not a slew of buttons.

And the Nano is the baby of the original, but the iPhone is nothing like the original, except they removed the wheel and left only one button. New. Again.

Now, repetition isn’t the only facet of method, and method isn’t bad. I need to be clear about that. But focusing on perfecting one’s method isn’t as useful as focusing on solving for the goal.

Pursue the Goal, Not the Method

I addressed the International Association of Business Communicators at the Uptown Theater in Kansas City, a painted lady teetering between demolition and emotional buttressing. The room was, as it always is, filled with that mix of the converted, the confused, the naysayers, the proof (that it all works), and me. Me, the street preacher, the jester, the irreverent, the addle-brained and yet target-minded sayer of what everyone swears they already know and blogs that they’ve seen it all before. Common sense. Be human. Be real.

I imagine some of them at their desk today, looking at their monitor, digging into their email, looking at their stats, settling back into the warm cottony folds of what they know how to do, what they were taught to do, what they practiced and repeated and did again and again. Trenchwork, some of it. And some of them are damned pleased and okay to be pleased by performing it.

But some of my people, some of those who saw something, felt the sparkle, caught a whiff of what I’m cooking, they got what I was saying. Old roads have precious little to do with new paths. What came before doesn’t have to explain what should be done next. We don’t have to repeat repeat repeat repeat.

I read once that every cell in our body completely recycles every four days. Perhaps I have it wrong, but when I think of that, I’m caught. I wonder why my scar from cutting my left ring finger while pulling a fern out of the ground during a Boy Scout survival weekend still persists. I wonder why I still have cowlicks in my hair. If every cell is new again, why can’t I be someone else every four days? But this is a side thought. This is a distraction for you to ponder. Scientists need not apply: I’m a disciple of accepting mystery instead of seeking truth. (Delusional, maybe, but pleasantly surprised? Yes.)

Methods change. It’s not that you shouldn’t learn methods, but rather that you should be ready to switch methods by facing the goals.

And Here At the End, The Goal

You will do so much more with your pursuits should you become a pursuer of the goal, and not a student of the method. Okay, SOME of you will. Others, you need the repetition, the ritual, the comfort. That is so very okay. Religion is all that. Okay, most religion is all that. Most religion is the method.

Seek the goal. The goal is equipping people. The goal is satisfying need. The goal is seeking to better others. The goal is to provide. The goal is to make everything work better.

See how that works? Think about your goals. Think about your company’s goals. What if you threw out EVERY method you were using before this very moment? The goals would still be there.

What if you left email behind and used ONLY voice? Could you still reach your goal? What if I stopped blogging and only sent you emails? What if we all shut our computers off? (Not sure we could ever get that genie back into the bottle.) What if we switched to mobile-centric design?

Goals. Not. Methods.

And you said…

Photo credit Dru Bloomfield

When you use your blog to complain or report sideways about the industry at large, what message is that sending to your potential new clients? If you’re spending your time analyzing what other people in your space are doing, citing why they’re wrong, and providing your commentary about all the things they’re doing, what does your next potential customer come away thinking?

Is your negative commentary helping them make a buying decision? I’ve rarely seen the tactic work in traditional advertising. You can graze them a little bit. For instance, I’m a bit fond of the GM commercials where they point out that they have better mileage than other cars that seem to get credit for good mileage. That’s a kind of gentle sleight.

But if you’re spending your time crapping on others in your space, I’m curious how you think that will translate to a win for you.

You read a lot of blogs. What do you think?

Photo credit Josh Liba

In this Kitchen Table Talks video, I just want to address all the nice folks who call me lucky, or who think I’m just sitting around being handed my lot in life.

Can’t see the video? Click here.

Direct link to the video

“Lucky” is absolutely what I am. Here’s what I do to earn my luck:

• Write a blog post or two a day.
• Write a newsletter every week.
• Comment and connect with others daily.
• Answer and send hundreds of emails daily.
• Read voraciously.
• Work with the best clients I can find.
• Reach into new markets weekly.
• Travel extensively.

Seems lucky to me.

People always ask which camera I used to shoot my video. I use the Panasonic Lumix DMC-LX3 (that’s a review of the camera).

I’m really enjoying participating in the forums at the Third Tribe site. I was just adding my two cents to a handful of forum postings, and thought that I’d show you what some of the topics we’re talking about are, so you’d have a sense of what’s going on. We don’t really share the contents, because the people participating there like having the chance to speak openly/candidly about their marketing challenges, but I don’t see the harm in sharing a few of the topic titles.

Here they are:

• Favorite copywriting and marketing books?
• Third Tribe Blogroll?
• 2 Days In – What the Third Tribe has done for me and my blog!
• Many thanks from T3’s self-appointed novice, newbie beginner (redundancy intended)
• Recommend a hosting service?
• To-do/ organizing software
• Good Theme for Beginngers or more
• 3 Free Kick-Ass Workbooks
• Future in person meetups – London
• What’s your biggest sales page pet peeve?
• Mindmapping to keep organized [free software]

So, it’s stuff you would normally be talking about. Only, we share how we’re using these things for our business, and how we’re helping companies (or ourselves) navigate it all.

That’s what’s going on at Third Tribe Marketing. It’s not a social community. It’s a learning community. The people there have paid to participate in conversations that will help them learn and do more for their pursuits. Brian would say they’re there for the tutorials and the media content, but I’m there for the forums.

Want to check it out? The information on joining is here.

If you’re not into it, no worries. You might not be a marketer. You might not do lots of your work online. There are lots of reasons not to join. It’s okay. This blog is still here and still going strong. : )

Hello. You. Yes, I want to talk to you, the person who has never yet left a comment, but who has read forever and ever here.

Today’s your day. You’re up. I’d love for you to leave just a small comment and say hi.

Now, given that 45,000 people get this blog sent to them daily, and that another 170,000 people swing by the site at least once every month, and given that I’m good for usually 20 or so comments a post, that means that this post, if you play along, should receive something like 44,980 comments.

But really, I just wanted to hear from you. Say hi? You, the long-time reader and consumer of all things here. Just say hi.

For everyone else, my wonderful friends who give me more than I give you when you comment here, thank you. I’m grateful for your contributions to my madness. You matter.

Let’s all greet the new folks. Shall we?

In this episode of Kitchen Table Talks, I had the pleasure of sitting down at a kitchen table with Rick Mahn from the beautiful lands of Minneapolis. We talked about innovation and midwest values, and how sometimes, you’ve gotta crow loud to be heard.

If you can’t see the video, click here

Direct link to the video

I never know what to say when someone puts me on a list. I’m always grateful.

Forbes says I’m one of the Web Celeb 25. I’m grateful. But what do you do with that?

So, because I’m awkward, I’ll just say, “Thanks, Forbes.”

Over at New Marketing Labs, we have a simple contact form on our site. I also use a contact form here. From these forms, both my team at NML and my helpful assistant Diane over here find all kinds of work opportunities. It’s a simple, simple, simple thing.

Having an email address is great. Publishing a phone number is great. Being able to reach me on Twitter or Facebook is wonderful.

But I’m finding such value in the use of our contact forms. We are getting work from them, and it’s paying off.

Note: the forms are SIMPLE. If you look at my contact form, you’ll see how simple:

I don’t want every little detail from you. I don’t need you to prequalify yourself as a paying lead. I’m just asking for basics. Heck, we only ask for 3 things total at the New Marketing Labs form.

Are you making it easy for people to connect?

photo hosted on flickr

I’m pretty excited that the Third Tribe Marketing project is now officially open for members. We did a soft launch a few days ago, and nothing big broke, so now we’re ready to talk about it. What’s it about? Here’s the story.

What Third Tribe is About

It all started because of something Seth Godin said to Brian Clark (copyblogger) about marketing. Brian had written about an internet marketer type (the yellow highlighter kind) and Seth had asked which side of that kind of marketing Brian was on, as if there were two tribes: touchy feely on one side and harsh yellow highlighter on the other. Brian’s response was that he was in neither camp, and that’s where the basic seed of “third tribe” came from.

We chatted about it on the phone, and then Brian checked in with Darren Rowse (problogger), and then we all conferred with Sonia Simone (remarkable communications), and the idea came about to offer a private membership forum and information/education place to share openly about internet marketing strategies, tactics, and ideas.

That’s basically what we talk about inside the third tribe site.

(Oh, for those of you who just want to know how much, we’re doing an introductory rate of $27 USD a month for charter members, which will be your price if you buy it before Friday, February 5th [around 6PM CT]. After that, it goes up to $47 USD a month.) Want some?

Not For Everyone

What we’re covering in there is basically the “how you can do better internet marketing” stuff. It’s not about affiliate marketing per se. It’s not about “make money online” stuff per se, though some of the third tribers talk about that. But it’s definitely a place to learn and talk about what we’ve figured out works in the internet marketing place.

Because of who’s there, there are all kinds of perspectives. Darren makes his money one way. Brian does it a totally different way. Me? I’m even more different than both of them, and so we’re also learning from each other through this sharing process.

It might not be for you, and that’s just fine.

Who Else is There?

We’ve already got some great folks you might know like John Jantsch, Leo Babauta, Pam Slim, Naomi Dunford, Johnny Truant, Chris Garrett, Dave Navarro, Jonathan Fields, Hugh MacLeod, Laura Roeder, Mark McGuinness, Chris Pearson, Aaron Wall, and there are more that I’m probably missing.

Again, this stuff’s about marketing and what’s worked for us and what hasn’t. It’s been fun hearing from people in the forums sections, and I’m learning every bit as much as I’m sharing. That’s what I’m enjoying the most so far: the interactions. Yeah, there’s all this educational content that’s hopefully useful, including audio programs, worksheets, things like that. But me personally? I’m really digging the interactions in the forums.

If This Sound Good to You

I’m pretty happy about this project. I like working with Brian and Darren and Sonia, and I’m loving what I’m learning from the other folks who’ve already started in on the forums. If you want to talk privately about internet marketing and what we’re finding that works and what doesn’t, then consider joining the Third Tribe. If not, don’t worry. I’m still doing my thing here at [chrisbrogan.com].

How This Fits With Everything Else I Do

I’m still happily the president of New Marketing Labs. I’m still writing here at [chrisbrogan.com]. I’m still doing the stuff I’m doing. This was just a way to offer some ideas, insights, and interaction with people who wanted to get deep into online marketing. And no, this isn’t the education project I talked about in my newsletter. That’s still forthcoming.

For the Naysayers

Any time I talk about money, I get a bunch of emails telling me that I’ve jumped the shark or that I’m a sellout. I did when we published Trust Agents. I did when I took my first affiliate ad for Thesis. I’ll just say my part about this up front, and you can blog whatever about it elsewhere.

The reason for building a membership forum site is that we can share information that we use for our businesses. It’s not what we want to post on our blogs. It’s something people are paying to learn and hopefully use for their own business efforts, and because of that, we think it’s of value. Don’t want it? Don’t buy it. I do plenty for free, and that’s still useful, too.

It’s not for everyone. It’s for those who want to step up their online marketing game.

Get On Board

The Third Tribe Marketing site is a paid membership site. If you sign up before February 5th at 6PM (Central Time – GMT -6), the cost is $27 USD a month. If you sign up next week, the cost jumps to $47 a month. The early bird and all that.

I hope you join. I’m really excited about what’s going on there. Frankly, I haven’t been active on any kind of message board/forum in a long while, and it was kind of fun to revisit the feeling of threaded forum conversations where everyone’s voice matters.

Check out Third Tribe Marketing.

I just watched this video for the world’s most generic news report:

Can’t see the video? Click here.

We tend to follow a lot. It’s easier. There’s drafting that happens, where we can get behind the work someone else did and let that take us to our destination. We do what came before. We shift it to the new thing with very few changes. The problem? We fall into the “looks like everything else” category, and/or the “doesn’t work the same way, but we’ll force it” category.

Why is there a late night TV crisis in American television? Why are we worried who sits at what desk with which band interviewing who from behind what desk? It’s all the damned same, only some folks do it better than others.

And then?

Marketing. Old marketing would be: find buyers for my product. Hunt them down and relentlessly hit them with messages until they buy. The bigger the number of prospects, the better the yield.

New marketing. New marketing is more like: find people who make more sense. Start relationships with them before selling them. Learn more about them. Make the offer if it makes sense. The social in social marketing would suggest that you care a bit about humanity, not that you’re using new pipes for old shit.

And that’s just one way to think about it.

Ask yourself: are you following the same old conventions?