He deals the cards as a meditation
And those he plays never suspect
He doesn’t play for the money he wins
He doesn’t play for respect
He deals the cards to find the answer
The sacred geometry of chance
The hidden law of a probable outcome
The numbers lead a dance

This is why many of us should be in the business. As Picasso seemed to be–without a doubt.

He did get to the point of discovering a gift for art and he was eager to sell enough to keep bread on the table but he painted to stimulate, to share ideas, to express himself, to be prophetic and for the love of beauty. There should be more about developing the other and more enduring motivations for writing and painting but not to the exclusion of financial and other rewards.

I was attracted by your Picasso parable as my wife and I are in Barcelona holidaying and we visited the Picasso Museum last Sunday. Barcelona was one of his homes for a great part of Picasso’s life.

I was there just a few months at the very same place. I hope you didn’t end up buying the very same t-shirt as me as well.

He did get to the point of discovering a gift for art and he was eager to sell enough to keep bread on the table but he painted to stimulate, to share ideas, to express himself, to be prophetic and for the love of beauty.

Sean, your blog is intentionally about Why Customers Buy, but so many blogs about blogging these days are about making money, including enough buzz words to get Adsense cheques paying more etc.

There should be more about developing the other and more enduring motivations for writing and painting but not to the exclusion of financial and other rewards.

Geoff

I was attracted by your Picasso parable as my wife and I are in Barcelona holidaying and we visited the Picasso Museum last Sunday. Barcelona was one of his homes for a great part of Picasso’s life.

The gallery is designed in stages from his early work to his last. I was a little disappointed that many of his well known paintings were not there but I had seen them in London, Paris and Madrid.

What intrigued me was Picasso’s vast output. It took him years, thousands of sketches and drawings, much experimentation, efforts that are nothing to write home about and collaboration with other painters to produce the art work that Picasso has become known for and those paintings that are worth millions.

Thanks for your post and the stimulation of thoughts.

Geoff

I shudder to think what the project paid. Quick turnaround translates into less than stellar results as a general rule.

It’s not how fast you can write the copy, it’s how much critical thinking and attversumption process applied so you can actually do the project properly.

Like Sean says, the client perceives value based on a number of factors, one of which is how long it appears to take to do the work.

Anyway, the point is clear. If someone makes a million dollars in a few minutes after a launch is initiated, there was probably months of prep involved. And lots of affiliates all with lists of their own, also cultivated over months and years.

If it were really that easy, why aren’t they all billionaires?

This is not unethical at all.

In our brains we associate value with something that takes time, or effort. And if you do things too fast, then the value is reduced in the mind of the client. So reacting at a speed that builds value is important indeed.