Posted 8:06 PM by seth godin

No, she's not a maniac.

So the big news today is that yet another A list musician has realized that the record industry is broken and that record labels are not a smart move for motivated, popular artists with a following. Visit NatalieMerchant.com and you can sign up for more info about her new album.

By producing music SHE wants to make, and selling it directly to people who want to be sold to, Merchant changes her life for the better. Even though she's wasting tens of thousands of dollars on needless packaging, she'll still break even in a few days of selling her CD online.

If she's smart, she'll build a permission asset and use it to create a group she can sell albums to whenever she's ready to--not when the label says its time. Natalie, if you're reading this, drop me a line. I can share what I've discovered over the last few projects!

More and more, industries where scale mattered are finding the opposite is true. More and more, people who are Purple Cows are discovering that they can write their own ticket and get what they want AND what they need.

Posted 1:07 PM by seth godin

New on the Purple Cow Website!

Red's supposed to be on vacation, but if you visit Apurplecow.com you'll find we put the banana on the home page (I hate writing about web design, because then people yell at me if I don't follow my own advice.) The real win is to click on #3... two bonus chapters, free. I guess that's the sirloin part of the cow...

Have fun.

Posted 7:58 AM by seth godin

You can come to my workshop for free

If you want to come to the new Purple Cow workshop and not pay for it, visit apurplecow.com and click on FREE STUFF for details. (hint: if you find a broken email address on the free stuff page, we're fixing it. Sorry.)

Posted 7:58 AM by seth godin

Announcing the Purple Cow workshop

Longtime readers will remember that I donāt do consulting. As flattering as it is to believe that a successful organization might actually want my advice about their problems, Iām really hesitant to take this sort of commitment on. Why? Because I figure if I charge someone to solve their problems, I better be confident that I can. And in my experience, a consultant rarely solves your problems÷you do. So Iām much happier teaching people to fish.

That said, itās clear that thereās a lot of excitement about the Purple Cow concept and many people want the energy and insight they can get from brainstorming in person. So, hereās the first in what will become a series of semi-public Purple Cow training and brainstorming sessions.

WHAT YOU GET: 6 hours of intensive brain workout. The first two hours are me, laying the groundwork. The next 4 hours are you (and the other attendees) sharing their specific problems and challenges. As a group, weāll figure out a thousand PC-approved ways of being remarkable, not invisible.

THE GUARANTEE: Iāve run sessions in my office before on other topics, and I can happily tell you that no one has ever taken me up on the following: If you donāt think you got ideas and insights that were worth way more than you paid to come, itās free. Iāll give you back all your tuition.

HOW MUCH? $800 per person. Second person in your organization comes for $400, unless itās your boss÷she pays $300.

LUNCH? On me.

WHERE? In my funky office at 145 Palisade St, Dobbs Ferry, NY, 12 miles north of New York City. You can get here on the train from Grand Central in about 40 minutes.

WHEN? Thursday, May 8th. Starts at 10 sharp. Finished by 4, but you can hang for another half hour or so if you want to chat.

HOW TO SIGN UP? This is a very informal process, because space is so limited. Drop me an email at seth@sethgodin.com. Make sure you put the word YOGURT in the subject line. Why yogurt? Well, itās milk from a cow, with some culture added, then you shake it up and the thing you end up with is better than what you started with. Sort of.

Posted 2:06 PM by seth godin

I've been on the wagon for a long time

But this particular website has driven me to re-enter the fray over bad web design. Clark's Register is a hip clothing store (too hip for me, I was looking for a gift) and somewhere along the way, they decided that the checkout and navigation needed to be part of the overall hipness of the store.

Buttons that don't click, type that's hard to read, unnecessary steps, needlessly nested hierarchies and brand new interface conventions--all in one site, for your shopping convenience.

Sigh.

Posted 11:56 AM by seth godin

Free bonus chapter of my new book

Just for loyal readers. Go to apurplecow.com and click on #3, the (I'm guessing here) sirloin steak area. My plan is to write a bunch of new chapters as we go--sort of an evergrowing tome. New chapters will probably just go to people who buy the book.