Your By Products

A quick share today from one of my favorite books---Rework, from the founders of Basecamp, Jason Fried & David Heinemeier Hannsson---on what you may not be seeing while you are working on your thing. Think calmly and well about this:

"When you make something, you always make something else. You can't just make one thing. Everything has a by-product. Observant and creative business minds spot these by-products and see opportunities.

The lumber industry industry sells what used to waste----sawdust, chips, and shredded wood---for a pretty profit. You'll find these by-products in synthetic fireplace logs, concrete, ice strengtheners, mulch, particleboard, fuel, and more.

But you're probably not making anything. That can make it tough to spot your by-products. People at a lumber company see their waste. They can't ignore sawdust. But you don't see yours. Maybe you don't even think you produce any by-products. But that's myopic."

And Not For Books Only

Another sample out of my recently released book/guide "Start With A Story: A Mini-Guide On Opening Your Book With A Tale." Hope you take something away. Enjoy!

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And Not For Books Only

I pulled the phone out of my pocket, tapped the ‘Apps’ icon, and clicked the Google Chrome App Icon. It opened up and led me to a number of website windows that I had left open up after reading them. I simply leave them open to sort of stir my thought when I get back to them. These are ideas, and in my mind, I am not done with it, I am not done with them yet.

Thoughts are like pieces of meat to me, and until I am fully done chewing them, thoroughly, having gotten the most of out of it, I always return to them to finish up.

And today, I am on my way to Walmart, riding the public bus. The trip will be about 2 hours, and since it’s morning, my mind’s well rested to take in new information. Let me make the most of the time, I decide. I knew I had read a bit of Nathan Kontny’s pieces, but I wanted to dig in a little further.

So I went through the titles on his blog, Ninjas and Robots, and landed on this one. The blog Ninja’s and robots has not been active since Nathan Kontny took over the CEO position with Basecamp’s Highrise, but the remnant of his work is still valuable.

So I got started on a piece about becoming what you are looking for. Nathan titled it “How Do I Find Someone To Help Me?”

After a brief introduction of the topic, Nathan went on to start his point with a story.

Here’s the beginning:

In the late 80s, there was a teenage actor who was doing well finding movie roles. But as quick as his career started, it stuttered.

So he fell back to Plan B, and went to college. But he couldn’t let the acting bug go away. He kept looking for and landing parts. Then in his final year of college, he landed the best role of his life — a starring role in a movie filled with A-list actors and a great director. This was an Oscar-worthy movie.

So he quit school and moved to LA to pursue a professional acting career full-time. Except the movie bombed.

Critically, it did well. But it was a box office dud. And his hope that this was his stepping stone to stardom was squashed. He was back to being a largely unknown actor, sleeping on friends floors in LA, with endless competition. He’d get an occasional minor role, but was making less than when he was a teenager.

He needed a breakout role. But no one was giving it to him. So he decided to do it himself. He dusted off a script he had started in college, and with a friend put serious time into turning the half written document into an actual screen play.

I’m sure you are still reading and are engaged. Yes, you should. The story is interesting and on many levels you can learn something from it, whether it ends poorly or not. If it ends poorly, it’s a cautionary tale; and inspiration, if it ends well.

But this one ends well. The story is about how the movie Goodwill Hunting came into being. The guy in the story is Matt Damon, and the friend who helped out was Ben Affleck, and their story is now well documented. From Nathan’s account of it, the movie premiered on Christmas day, 1997, made 227 million dollars and was nominated for nine Academy Awards. It won Best Original screenplay for Matt and his good friend, Ben Affleck. Personally, I have seen it and consider it a great movie. Also, I have heard tennis superstar Roger Federer also name it one of his favorite movies. But what could have not been!

Yet after sharing this story, Nathan goes on start a new section of the same article that he subtitles ‘Become that which you seek.’ It’s at this point that he starts to tell his own story and starts making his real point to his reader. Here’s the lead up:

Every day I bump into someone struggling to find someone to help them with their project or career. They are business people looking for technical co-founders or people like me at Inkling looking for someone like me to write about me.

Now, from all these years in business, I realize that Matt Damon had it right. Instead of looking for some executive producer to give him a starring role, he was going to become the executive producer.

And to hit home the article’s other point, that becoming what you are looking for also brings you closer to people who could help you, Nathan pointed out how Matt Damon also met Steven Spielberg on the same movie set. And Spielberg later cast him for another movie, Saving Private Ryan.

I’m sure you know by now where Nathan is taking this article, or what he is trying to say.

Now, imagine Nathan takes out the story and goes on straight to talk about how the reader should simply become what he is seeking. That will be flat and uninteresting, right?

This again is the power of the story, and in this case not only to engage but to teach. Lists may do well, but nothing drives home a point like a story. Like a kind of burr, it has the ability to stick in your head. And in this case, it works as well even in starting an article. And for some, you may not write a book, but when you sit to write a blog post or an essay, consider the power of a story to drive your point home.

Also, remember, reading is an experience and it should be time well spent. So, making your writing interesting by weaving stories into them makes it a great trade of time and attention with your reader. This is, in a sense, a kind of reading UX (user experience), and you know it’s all the rave now in tech circles all over with software. In that same way, delight your reader, and let them know their time is well spent with your work.

The Place Of A Preamble

At this point let me point out a little difference with Nathan’s article. The article, is a bit of a variant, though, because though you should start with a story, there are situations where a preamble could lead the way first, and that’s what Nathan did with this article — he used a preamble before getting into the story.

As an article, the reader comes to it with little or no background information, and this is what a preamble helps with. It gives the reader a good idea of what the article is about. This is not the case with a book since you often know what the book is about from the title and subtitle. And if there’s no subtitle, the book’s description on the site, or on Amazon will clue you into what the book contains. And that’s when you already have a fair idea of the book’s content, and a story makes a great start without the need for a preamble.

What If I Started Differently?

Notice I start this section with a story, my story of how I found this article. Surely, I could have chosen a different start, maybe a mundane telling of the story. For the purpose of degrees of creativity, let’s take a look at an alternative start.

Like this:

This past Saturday, on my way to Walmart, I read an article about how to become what you are looking for. The article was written by Nathan Kontny, the CEO of Highrise, a software company in Chicago.

In the article, Nathan makes his point by telling a story first before going into his….and on, and on… (you get the point).

Do you notice how the facts are the same, but the telling could be different? This is the same thing with life itself. We all have our cards, our facts, but it’s all based on how we play them. How we use them is what makes the difference. Some of us use it all, some use little, and some use none. But in the end, let’s use it creatively, let’s tell it creatively, with interest.

And that’s another reason I doubt anyone who says they don't have an interesting story to start a book or an article with. It’s there!

If you enjoyed this piece, you'll enjoy the whole book/guide. 

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Check it out here: Start With A Story: A Mini Guide On Opening Your Book With A Tale

A Free Sample

A free sample out of my guide. This is directly out of Gumroad's small product lab. Enjoy, and click the link below to get the whole book.

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Whose Hat Is This?

The hat dropped, and he looked at the name on it, wondering if he had an idea who it was for. The hat previously sat atop someone’s head, surely, and now it had collected dust, a sign of its tale — -it’s been unused for a long time. It’s had a long journey as someone’s head gear, and now as no one’s.

But where he found it is a good place to start if he is to find who last owned it. It was nestled in a corner of the street near a coffee shop. The coffee shop itself had long been in that location, and is a local favorite. And for tales, the coffee shop had it’s share of many, some documented, some told, some swept under the carpet, some not to be uttered.

Well, the hat’s interesting and it’s not too far from the coffee shop. What can be had by finding a connection between the two. What can be known about the last owner from going through the shop’s many tales?

Engaged with that thought, Jack, stayed a while and took in the moment, and thought some more. He has to know who this man is, and how the hat ended up where he found it…

Are you reading still? Are you wondering what’s going on? Or what’s going to happen?
Well, there’s the power of a story, and the title of the guide tells why I wrote this. The power of stories have been long documented by many other people throughout history. But for this short guide, let’s focus on it’s power to open your book, to act as a door to your book, to usher in your reader, to be your first few words, your opening lines, your first paragraph, essay, or chapter.

That’s what I want to delve into with this guide. We will be looking at many examples from other books, how effective they were, and how to create yours.

My hope is that if you are new to writing or still learning ( which we all are, at different levels) you will like to take a shot at writing a small, decent length book to get your thoughts out. If so, I think you will like come away with a good idea of how to open your book with a good story and set the stage for your conversation with your reader.

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Why The Doors Matter?

Since this is about writing a book, let’s take a quick look at a reader’s first encounter with a book.

As is more often the case, you walk into a bookstore, Barnes & Noble, let’s say, and you start browsing the aisles. You take a look here, and there, and here again, checking out the titles.

And then one book calls out to you. Maybe the title caught your eye. Maybe it was the binding. Or, maybe it was something you can’t put a finger on yet, but you are still drawn to it. In any case you pick it up and open it up. You already know the title, and the subtitle may give you a better idea of what’s in the book. What do you do next? Dig in, right? Let’s try a sample of it, you will think to yourself.

You definitely had a few things on your mind before you read the first words of the book. Yet, having picked it up, at this point, in this moment, for a brief moment, you are open to what the book has to offer.

You start reading, and then you see a mundane start, a familiar, ordinary opening to the book. The beginning may be like a lecture. “Hohum,” you maybe thinking. You give it a few more minutes, giving it the benefit of the doubt. “Maybe he has something good coming up,” you choose tell yourself, choosing patience.
You read on, some more, and your will begins to wilt. The book maybe good, but the opening is not. And there are many other things that could compete for your attention. If the book does not hold you for a good brief moment, you’ll move on to something else.

This is where good stories triumph, good stories that are used to open books. Stories that take in a reader. Stories that make the reader decide to sit down and read some more.

If they are used well to open books, stories, will take you kindly into a story, get you out of where you are, and usher you into the message in a way you may not know.
Don’t get me wrong. Books are not to be judged by their opening lines, nor their covers, just as people should not be judged by their first acts, or what we feel when we first meet them. We all have had our poor starts at many things, and yet recovered to do well later on. Books can be that way.

Yet the first impression makes a lot of difference, just as starting things on the right foot bodes well for the rest of it.

And for stories, though the same story could be told by two different people, the impact they have on the hearers ( or readers) may not be the same. The facts may be the same, but the presentation could be entirely different. This is where your ability to take a story and present it well to start your book is critical.

You have the facts, and now it’s time to figure out how to weave a story out of it. A story that’s compelling, and is a good opener. And if you are not sure how to do this, that’s the purpose of this guide. Let’s go on. 

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