Oh, how to become as necessary as mascara?  Every vendor seeks that holy grail.  As I was putting my new mascara on that I purchased in a drugstore, but for twice the amount of my usual mascara, a few thoughts came to mind – I feel like I NEED mascara (how can we make our clients realize they NEED our products?), I read about this product and immediately went to get some (how can we compel our clients to WANT our products?) and though it was twice my usual cost (OK, $10), I am really satisfied and will tell others about it (how can we provide satisfied clients that TALK about their happiness with our products?)

And in case you wondered, the mascara is L’oreal Bare Naturale in blackest black.  And yes, I’m worth it.

I think it is fair to say I am goal-driven.  Put a goal in front of me and I’ll go ape-@#$% until I accomplish it.  For the most part, this works really well for me.  We have put reasonable, not greedy, goals in front our ourselves – we want to find the 50 people in the industry who dig us and what we have to offer and are recurring clients.  Sounds swell, right?  But what happens when everyone else starts calling too?  Now, as you sit in those meetings, you are asked 1. why you don’t have a suit on 2. where is your entourage and 3. where are your lawyers?

But then, those people realize they dig the fact that you are not wearing a suit, and arrive sans hangers-on and stuffed shirts.   They WANT to work with you because you will actually create a mobile or interactive program that is perfect for their needs at a fair price and you won’t bring your ego (or lawyers).  And we realize our fan club is getting bigger and we start getting psyched about it…we will likely land a good portion of this business, because …well, because of a lot of things – I think we need to be careful what we wish for, because it looks like we’ll probably get it.

Please don’t mistake this posting for grousing – it’s not (maybe a little).  I am, however, pleading for transparency.  If you are another vendor and we have approached you to team up (and P.S. a potential client thinks it’s a great idea), but you don’t want to do it, that’s cool – it’s not like the universe depends on this project going forward.  If you are a client that already has a solution you are happy with – good for you!  Then don’t ask me for a presentation and follow up phone calls when you don’t intend to make a change (and you never have).

I guess what I am looking for is honesty.  If you like our stuff, fantastic – let us know how we can best help.  If you think we are too small, too “mavericky” or too whatever and you aren’t that into us, that is perfectly OK – and it’s OK to say so, too.

Read a piece entitled “How to Have Chutzpah” by John Baldoni (http://www.harvardbusiness.org), which talked about finding that fine line between the positive and potentially negative sides of chutzpah.  In an economy where everyone is trying to demonstrate value to their clients, being the one who brings the expertise and can instill the sense of confidence that they can do the job will win.  The negative side of chutzpah is manifested in abrasive behavior, lacking in empathy – a leader must balance between a confident sense of self (and company) yet not get aggressive in the quest for business.

I’ve always loved Yiddish – somehow, in one word you can convey exactly what you mean to say.  And isn’t brevity the soul of wit?

I’ve been finding inspiration all around me – maybe I’m looking for it or maybe there is just a lot of positive energy flying around for anyone to grab if they want it.  I met one of the founders of LittleMissMatched last night at a neighbor’s SuperBowl party – if you don’t know what this company does, go to www.littlemissmatched.com – they make unmatching socks…on purpose and in odd numbers – so if the dryer eats one, so what?  All entrepreneurs pray for that “big idea” – to actually see people wearing your idea…that’s so cool!!

What was fun was that I was able to give her some ideas about going mobile – mobile optimizing her site, mobile search and mobile marketing – all of which would be great for her business.

I think if I saw a doctor tapping on her iPhone, getting samples via SampleServer Express (our mobile sampling solution) I would probably faint from joy – I know those doctors are out there – it would be a thrill to be ubiquitous.