Cool opportunities
Monday, June 09, 2008
Most of the time, I think I have a pretty cool job. Granted, I'm not a doctor without borders or aid worker, but I like to think what we do makes a difference for IBOs building their businesses.
But I was driving the other day and listening to Martha Stewart Living on Sirius and heard the "Cookie of the Day" segment. Can you imagine your job being producing the cookie of the day segment?
After all, 365 days a year, you have to pick a cookie. Could be seasonal, like a summery lemon bar or a Christmas sugar cookie. Could be topical, like peanut butter kisses on National Peanut Butter day. Then you have to write the script and record the segment, including lavish and lucscious descriptions of how to make, decorate, and describe the virtues of the cookie du jour. You also have to write it up for the web site. Sounds grueling, doesn't it?
It got me thinking about other jobs I'd like to try, just once. I'd like to be the person in the lobby during a theatre intermission who hits the chimes to signal that the break is over and the performance is about to resume. I think I'd play "Smoke on the Water."
I also wish I could be Bob Wells for a day. Bob is the emcee and all around fun guy for our West Michigan Whitecaps AAA baseball team. Bob does all sorts of fun stuff throughout the course of a game, like conducting the "dizzy bat race" and playing "the price is right.". And how is it that he can do this job? He's a teacher and has summers off! I could also be a popcorn hawker -- I think I have the voice for it.
There's a company that helps with moles and lawn pests called Tuff Turf Molebusters. They drive a truck with a giant mole in a baseball cap on the cab. I'd like to try that job just so I could drive the 'molemobile." 
Sometimes, I wish I were Tom Rademacher. Tom's a columnist for The Grand Rapids Press who does very warm and endearing features about people with stories big and small. Sometimes he's funny, sometimes he makes me cry, but he's always worth a read. Or, I'd be music critic John Sinkevics, who gets to go to all the concerts and do reviews.
If I were smarter, I'd like to be Will Shortz, who writes the New York Times crossword puzzles and hosts NPR Morning Edition Sunday's puzzle (which despite having listened to for more than 15 years I've yet to been able to solve and vie for a spot on the show.)
Back in my reporting days, I thought being the headline writer would be a cool job. You get to read and distill a story down to a pithy headline that fits the space and font size. And use words usually reserved for headlines, like "solon."
But I digress. The reason I'm sharing what I think is cool about ways to earn money is because we're beginning to work through what our next phase of the advertising campaign looks like. That phase will talk more about the opportunity and why one would become an IBO.
If you were writing the ad, how would you describe the "cool" factor of being an IBO? What makes being an IBO and being in business for yourself the best opportunity in the world? What would make someone take another look at being another IBO?