“Find your purpose and fling your life out to it. Find a way or make one. Try with all your might. Self-made or never made.” – Orison Swett Marden
I’ll entertain you with two cautionary tales. One serious and one not so much.
I have distant cousin on my mom’s side who was fortunate enough to inherit a rather large fortune. Enough that she never had to work to provide for herself. She was bright, artistic, and generous. She aspired to be an artist. She looked like an artist, talked like an artist, and had many friends who were artists. But she mostly dabbled.
I don’t know if she had the requisite talent to “make it.” What I do know, is that the vast majority of artists who I see “make it” are makers. They make… and they make… and they keep making. In all that making, someone likes something, and then someone else, and so on.
Dabblers make a little, then hold it up for the world to behold… and if no one takes much notice… well… they’re ahead of their time… their vision is too sophisticated. Time to retire!… How nice!
Second story. My son’s elementary school is having it’s annual talent contest. My son is seven. He doesn’t have any particular talents (beyond being the apple in his parents eyes), but loves being on stage and being the center of attention.
So we go down a long list of things he could do. Sing a song… no… play a song on his recorder… no… or harmonica… no… juggle… no… tell jokes… no. At last he says he knows what he wants to do. He takes his index finger, shoves it in his mouth and makes popping sound with cheek.
I shake my head. Now I’m forced to crush his dreams and explain that this is not a show worthy talent… if a talent at all.
Ok… He’s not detered… He’s got it… He sits on the ground, puts himself into some kind of contortion. More difficult than sitting cross-legged, but no way near as complicated as a Yoga pose or contortionists trick (he’s not really that flexible). But this one gives me hope. I suggest he learn some Yoga poses from his mom. Does he like this idea?… no.
The thing is he doesn’t want to practice. So I sit him down and we have a long (mostly one-sided) talk about how you have practice to get good at anything. You have to put in the time and effort to do something exceptionally well.
I’m not sure he completely bought it. But luckily I’ve still got time with him.
I’m not going to lie though, a good 50%+ of the adults in the “entrepreneurial space” still think you can make money and build a successful business with as much effort as my son wanted to expend on his talent show endeavor.
“Find your purpose and fling your life out to it. Find a way or make one. Try with all your might. Self-made or never made.”
If you create content for social media, then you know it’s a challenge to finding good, affordable stock photos. And as with most things in life and business, you get what you pay for.
The trade off between free and paid is about high quality vs. low quality AND it’s also about the time spent searching – you spend a lot of time looking through dogs to find a winner.
In this post I’ll show you my three favorite sources that have very high quality photos and excellent search functionality.
I’ve used a variety of stock photo sources over the years.
I started with iStockPhoto (2006-2010), before they got too expensive.
I used FeaturePics after that as a cheap alternative, but the quality was fair.
In the past there were few places to find good quality photos with Creative Commons licencing.
Creative Commons is basically a license that allows others to use a piece of copyrighted material subject to certain limitations. This could be a simple attribution or a restriction not to modify or use the work commercially. To learn more about Creative Commons licensingvisit their website, which will explain all the different licensing levels.
As time went on the quantity of high quality photos available with Creative Commons licensing grew. I started using CC photos from either Pixabay or Flickr.
However, these are not my favorite in terms of quality and search functionality.
Here my three favorite sources for free, stock photos with Creative Commons Licenses.
Search.CreativeCommons.org
Go straight to the source and use the Creative Commons Search engine (which is not really a search engine, but rather a meta search engine – a search engine that searches other search engines).
By using this you can choose which sources you’d like to search and the appropriate licensing. Then this search will go out to the different sources and do your search with the appropriate licensing.
This great for music and video, in addition to photos.
500px
I believe 500px started out as a photo sharing community for photographers that was an alternative to Flickr.
However, they have since added a marketplace where you can purchase rights to photos, a variety of curated collections, and a huge collection of Creative Commons photos with different licensing levels.
Typically the photos here are professionally enhanced. This gives them a “professional” look… surprise, surprise! Sometimes this is what you’re looking for and sometimes it’s not.
If you’re looking for a more natural, retro look, check out Unsplash.
These are the kind of photos I like to use for my own branding and social media. They are similar in style to the photos from DeathtotheStockPhoto.com.
They have curated collections that are awesome!
And all the photos are made available with the Creative Commons Zero license, which makes available for any use (including commercial) with no attribution. This makes them infinitely useful.
Gone are the days when you could bemoan the lack of good Creative Commons photos. Use wisely and generously attribute to show appreciation to the photographers.
Most of all keep making great content!
P.S. I’m just going to keep adding good sources to the end of this post!
Here is one that is great for svg files, https://openclipart.org/
Better diet, better exercise, more discipline, better organization, take on more responsibility, contribute more to charity, etc.
There are even things not at the forefront of your mind that well meaning friends, family and acquaintances remind you of… Are you drinking too much coffee… diet soda… alcohol?… Are you contributing the maximum to your IRA or 401k?…
There is an endless list of positive things you should be doing.
If you’re lucky you’ve changed some of your behaviors and adopted good, new habits.
But how many good habits lay unused in your big brain?
It’s normal. Everybody has some limit on their capacity to change behavior. The best of us, do our best.
Now, think about how fast you’ve changed when there were bad things heading right for you… or when you had already been hit by them.
I bet you hustled!
You made things happen. You have moved mountains to solve those painful problems. In fact, I bet you were willing to pay cash money to help alleviate some of those problems.
This is why marketers should “Sell Painkillers not Vitamins!”
This saying is very popular in sales and marketing circles, and for good reason.
It’s a fundamental principle of marketing and one of my favorites.
It has nothing to do with pills or products and everything to do with positioning or framing our messages.
It’s far easier to motivate someone to take an action to alleviate their present pain than to prevent a future one.
You have to position your offer as the cure to the prospect’s current pain. The bigger the pain the better.
It doesn’t matter the source of the pain. Physical, psychological and emotional pain are all equally valid.
Even complete luxuries can be positioned as painkillers. They alleviate real psychological pains. It’s the pain in not keeping up with one’s peers or losing social status.
They showed that losing social connections activates the same parts of the brain as actual physical pain. Hence most folks will do almost anything to prevent it.
Another example of psychological pain is found in people who are collectors. Some people feel discomfort when they have an incomplete collection. They need to complete the collection to alleviate their discomfort… to scratch that itch.
Once you’ve identified the pain your offer cures, you agitate the problem. Maybe they are only mildly aware of their problem.As marketers we’re going describe the problem and it’s consequences with such vivid detail they can’t ignore it.
This video does a great job of describing the pain:
Next you’ll educate the prospect on how they came to have this pain… you’ll describe the mechanism that caused their pain.
Then in the terms of this new mechanism, show them how your offer disrupts or short circuits the mechanism, thereby alleviating the pain.
This video does a great job of describing the mechanism of addiction:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ao8L-0nSYzg
Imagine if you are marketing a recovery center with these types of solutions.
Now describe the promised land… This is what life will be like after the pain has ended. The description of this state should be equally vivid as the description of the pain.
This is a powerful tool that can be used for good or evil, so don’t let me catch any of you twisting your mustache (proverbial or otherwise) at the possibilities.
Did you like this? Did you learn something? If so, please show some love by sharing it on your favorite social media channel… Look down there! There are those conveniently places buttons again. 🙂
Now I’m not referring to the same thing Ron Slater is referring to in the movie Dazed and Confused.
What I’m referring to is the indefinable quality of character called cool.
I’m going to make two bold statements and then show that they’re true:
1) To maximize the effect of social media marketing, you must be “cool”… at least to some part of your market.
2) Regardless of the niche any brand can genuinely earn the reputation of being “cool.”
Before I begin, we have to define what we’re talking about when we say, “cool.”
I remember when I was a teenager complaining to a particularly smart aunt of mine, that I wasn’t “cool.”
She responded, that the word cool was stupid and didn’t mean anything. To this day, in my heart of hearts, I think she was right.
But how could this be when I’ve decided to write an entire post about it and make the claim that being cool is fundamental to successful social media campaigns? (And if you’re friends with me on Social Media, why my most common comment is “Cool!”?)
It all depends on the definition you use.
When Slater asks Mitch, “Are you cool, man?” Specifically, he is trying to find out whether or not Mitch smokes pot, but he phrases it in a very commonly understood teenage question, “Are you cool?”
This question is really asking will you salute and adopt our customs, traditions, beliefs, and appearance in order to be initiated as a member of the group?
Cool, in this context – as a judgment of appropriate inclusion, is pretty stupid and adolescent because it allows the user to pass judgment without naming the criteria on which the judgment is based – very convenient.
Stupid or not, it is powerful for the person who uses it, because it carries the power include or exclude. Moreover it is always undefined (I know it when I see it).
Now this matter of inclusion and exclusion is also involved in the managing of social media communities, but I’ll talk about that in a future post.
What is Cool?
The cool I am referring to is the characteristic we identify in fictional heroes.
James Bond, John Wayne, The Marlboro Man, Bruce Lee, Superman, Batman, Rocky, Conor McGregor, Muhammad Ali, Paul Walker, La Femme Nikita, Thelma & Louise, The Fonz, The Most Interesting Man in the World, etc.
These are all examples of characters who are/were considered cool by someone, or a caricature of cool, in the case of The Fonz or The Most Insteresting Man in the World.
The award winning ad man and author of The Advertising Effect, Adam Ferrier produced a graduate level thesis on the definition of cool and here are the common qualities he discovered:
They have self-belief and confidence – self awareness and more importantly self-acceptance are seen as cool.
They defy convention – having the conviction to follow their own path.
They are successful achievers, but understated – they don’t have to tell you that they’re good.
They care for others, humanistic – … listening to others … broadminded … non-judgmental … they are have a caring respect for others.
High connectivity, great with people – … magnetism … a strong personality that attracts others.
So finally we have a set of criteria for cool! Thank you Mr. Ferrier!
Using these let’s revisit my assertions.
1) To maximize the effect of social media marketing, you must be “cool”… at least to some part of the market.
Let’s use proof by reductio ad absurdum, which is a form of proof in math and logic where you assume the exact opposite and look for an impossible consequence.
So let’s imagine the social media presence of a fictional entity, the ACME Corporation.
The social media presence of the ACME Corporation has none… zilch… nada… of the qualities of “cool” mentioned above.
This means they…
They have NO self-belief and NO confidence – They are constantly communicating uncertainty and insecurity.
They are completely conventional – They are as plain jane as they come. If it hasn’t been done before, they don’t do it. Their ideal response from audience members is, “Of course I’ve seen it before, but it doesn’t offend me.”
They have little genuine evidence of success, but they embellish and boast about what little they’ve done – they DO have to tell you that they’re good, because no one else will.
They do not care for others, their engagement is robotic and mechanistic – … They don’t really listen to others… smallminded… judgmental … they display blatant disrespect for others.
They don’t connect – people feel repelled … they have a weak personality that turns people off.
Now after reading this description (and I’m sure you recognize a few accounts like this… ha ha), does the ACME Corporation have any chance growing their business on social media?
Consciously cultivate these 5 qualities in your social media presence:
Self-belief and confidence – have self awareness and be self-accepting.
Defy convention – be a trailblazer!
Don’t hide success, but don’t boast – let your customers communicate that you’re good. (Casey Neistat does this well)
Care for others and be human – listening to your audience… be broadminded … non-judgmental … have a caring respect for others.
High connectivity, be great with people – accept your magnetism… display your true self, a strong personality that attracts others. The key to this is being vulnerable – see this TED Talk.
Any brand, personal or corporate, can cultivate these qualities.
Here are some niches where I’ve engineered cool…
Tire Stores
Auto Repair Shops
Medical Skin Care
Window Washers
Janitorial Firms
Spiritual Self-help Authors
Business Consultants
Trust me, most of these were challenging, but if I can do with these, it can be done anywhere!
Don’t let anyone tell you Paper Crafts can’t be cool… I have a proof for that!
Go out and be the James Bond of your corner of the interwebs.
There you have it…
Engineering Cool for Social Media Fun and Profit in 5 Easy Steps!
If you enjoyed this post or otherwise found it useful, I’d be much obliged if you’d share it with your audiences on social media. Look at all those cool buttons below… 🙂
I read Think and Grow Rich years ago. In fact it was about the time I started my business in 2009. It made a big impact on me then. The wisdom documented by Napoleon Hill is as true today as when he wrote it all those years ago.
I hadn’t thought much about Think and Grow Rich until my Uncle sent me an article about Napoleon Hill. It rekindled my appreciation for Hill’s teachings. As a result, I decided to use them as inspiration for this post. Here they are:
#1 Desire: You have to want it.
“Wishing will not bring riches. But desiring riches with a state of mind that becomes an obsession, then planning definite ways and means to acquire riches, and backing those plans with persistence which does not recognize failure, will bring riches.” – Napoleon Hill
#2 Faith: Believe that you can achieve your goal.
“Riches begin in the form of thought! The amount is limited only by the person in whose mind the thought is put into motion. Faith removes limitations!” – Napoleon Hill
#3 Auto-suggestion: Use affirmations to reach your goal.
“Your ability to use the principle of auto-suggestion will depend, very largely, upon your capacity to concentrate upon a given desire until that desire becomes a burning obsession.” – Napoleon Hill .
I have to admit, I’ve never been very consistent with affirmations. I’ve used them before, but eventually I feel silly. Doing this series has caused me to reconsider these principles. As I read it today, the power of these is to focus the mind on an outcome. I know wildly successful entrepreneurs who swear by affirmations. I think I’ll start again.
#4 Specialized Knowledge: Gain experiences and continue learning.
“Successful men, in all callings, never stop acquiring specialized knowledge related to their major purpose, business, or profession. Those who are not successful usually make the mistake of believing that the knowledge-acquiring period ends when one finishes school.” – Napoleon Hill
Never stop learning!
#5 Imagination: Come up with ideas and visualize your success.
“Ideas are the beginning points of all fortunes. Ideas are products of the imagination … Man’s only limitation, within reason, lies in his development and use of his imagination.” – Napoleon Hill
“Whoever you are, wherever you may live, whatever occupation you may be engaged in, just remember in the future, every time you see the words ‘Coca-Cola,’ that its vast empire of wealth and influence grew out of a single idea,” – Napoleon Hill .
#6 Organized Planning: Take action.
“Opportunity has spread its wares before you. Step up to the front, select what you want, create your plan, put the plan into action, and follow through with persistence … Most of us are good “starters” but poor “finishers” of everything we begin. Moreover, people are prone to give up at the first signs of defeat. There is no substitute for persistence.” – Napoleon Hill
It amazes me how simple these principles are and at the same time, how powerful too. Take action on an organized plan… Boom! The more things change the more they stay the same.
#7 Decision: Defeat procrastination with decisiveness.
“People who fail to accumulate money, without exception, have the habit of reaching decisions, if at all, very slowly, and of changing these decisions quickly and often.” – Napoleon Hill
This is a really an important life lesson and I struggle with this. It was worse when I was younger. I wonder if part of it has to do maturity and responsibility.
#8 Persistence: Don’t stop until you get what you want.
“Riches do not respond to wishes. They respond only to definite plans, backed by definite desires, through constant persistence.” – Napoleon Hill
My dad used to say, “businesses don’t fail, it’s just business owners who give up.” Don’t give up!
#9 Power of the Master Mind: Surround yourself with the best.
“No individual may have great power without availing himself of the “Master Mind” … A group of brains coordinated (or connected) in a spirit of harmony will provide more thought-energy than a single brain, just as a group of electric batteries will provide more energy than a single battery.” – Napoleon Hill
I think the concept of a master mind is fascinating. If our brains are neural nets, then a mastermind is a net of neural nets – very powerful.
#10 The Mystery of Sex Transmutation: Choose a compatible partner.
“Sex desire is the most powerful of human desires. When driven by this desire, men develop keenness of imagination, courage, willpower, persistence, and creative ability unknown to them at other times. Love, romance, and sex are all emotions capable of driving men to heights of super achievement. When combined, these three emotions may lift one to an altitude of genius.” – Napoleon Hill
Sex… It’s what makes the world go round. Hill’s quote needs an update to account for sexual equality, but despite the outdated world views, he’s right. The right partner makes all the difference. Here’s to finding the partner or least enjoying the process.
#11 The Subconscious Mind: Master positivity and dismiss negative emotions.
“The subconscious mind will not remain idle! If you fail to plant desires in your subconscious mind, it will feed upon the thoughts which reach it as the result of your neglect. Positive and negative emotions cannot occupy the mind at the same time. One or the other must dominate. It is your responsibility to make sure that positive emotions constitute the dominating influence of your mind.” – Napoleon Hill
It’s easy for me to believe negative thoughts are protective. All the “what if’s” allow me look at the possibilities and choose the right path. The criticism and judgement allow me to take my game to the next level. This just makes sense to me, it seems like smart thing to do.
But… I’m wrong.
Most of the time I’m indulging in negativity. I think I’m being “practical.” Instead, I’m feeding my mind negative thoughts. This is a hard habit to break. If I stay there too long, I can go into a funk. I was there yesterday.
What helped me was faith in the apparently irrational belief that there is nothing to fear… that everything will work out as it should… that I am adequate for the coming challenges.
In other words focusing on, and believing in the positive.
#12 The Brain: Associate with other smart people and learn from them.
“Every human brain is capable of picking up vibrations of thought which are being released by other brains … The Creative Imagination is the “receiving set” of the brain, which receives thoughts released by the brains of others.” – Napoleon Hill
I wouldn’t get hung up on the scientific validity of the above statement. However, from a practical point of view this is how it feels. How do you feel interacting with intelligent, dynamic people? It’s electric, right?
New connections are being made leading to new ideas. The heart of innovation. Btw, I think it’s funny how Hill says, “and learn from them.” Just to clarify that hanging out and partying with them is not sufficient.
#13 The Sixth Sense: Trust your gut.
“Through the aid of the sixth sense, you will be warned of impending dangers in time to avoid them, and notified of opportunities in time to embrace them.” … “No matter who you are, or what may have been your purpose in reading this book, you can profit by it without understanding the principle described in this chapter.
This is especially true if your major purpose is that of accumulation of money or other material things. The chapter on the sixth sense was included, because the book is designed for the purpose of presenting a complete philosophy by which individuals may unerringly guide themselves in attaining whatever they ask of life.” – Napoleon Hill
If you’re ready to unlock the timeless principles of wealth, success, and achievement, the Deluxe Edition of Think and Grow Rich by Napoleon Hill is an absolute must-have for your library. This isn’t just any version—it’s the ultimate collector’s edition of the book that has inspired millions.
With its luxurious leather jacket, gold stamping, and stunning marble endpapers, this hardcover doesn’t just look the part—it embodies the success principles inside. But beyond its striking appearance, you’ll find the complete, unabridged text of the original, enhanced with modern examples and a timeline of Hill’s extraordinary journey.
Called the “Granddaddy of All Motivational Literature,” Hill’s insights into what makes a winner continue to resonate today. Whether you’re familiar with his work or diving in for the first time, this deluxe edition perfectly keeps his groundbreaking ideas at your fingertips.
Success starts with mindset—and this edition helps you own it.
I read Think and Grow Rich years ago. In fact it was about the time I started my business in 2009. It made a big impact on me then. The wisdom documented by Napoleon Hill is as true today as when he wrote it all those years ago.
