The past couple of years have been challenging economically. While many of us are still "okay," we all know we could be doing better, much better.
So you can imagine when I was approached by an organization with an established record of successes who franchises promotional product distribution businesses, I was intrigued and chatted with the representative. I united to review their materials so we would carry out afterwards. Maybe this was a possible path to taking my business to the next level.
The materials came as secure and I was underwhelmed by the sanitized, standardized marketing materials their distributors use. For a business like mine that's an amalgam of display advertising sales, promotional product marketing consulting and distribution, writing a newsletter and lots of articles (the "art" part of what I do), and heavy networking activities, the franchise model just isn't for me. Funny that at a networking event the week following I saw one of the company's franchisees displaying the same materials I had just reviewed. What would have possibly set me apart from my competitors?
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But then possibly this franchise model didn't set well with me because I don't need--or want!--to follow individual else's map. Problems with authority? Possibly. Or possibly I am just evolving into a new breed of worker that Seth Godin calls "Linchpins," people who don't need directions or checklists, don't need supervision, and don't need to be taken care of with money and perks.
In Godin's book Linchpins: Are You Indispensable?, he explains that people often don't want to own the situations that life presents them. They'd rather be Passionate Attached Zealots who believe everything's a threat to their worldview; Passive Attached Whiners who are as vulnerable as Zealots, but can't muster the will to make change; or, a Passive Detached Bureaucrat who follows the rules regardless of the changes occurring in the world. All of these are following maps of behaving created by forces outside of themselves. Contrast these with the Linchpin who looks at the world the way it is and pursues change in a dispassionate, detached way. Sound Zen-like? Does to me.
Though he's written some wildly productive books on marketing and business, and is one of the top sought-after speakers in business, I am so affected that Godin has taken his own advice and not created a franchise "map" or "factory" for his business as so many other business gurus have. Thank you, Seth Godin, for being an authentic Linchpin!
