Success Comes From Stupidity
One theory that I have is that success can come from stupid things. Take this for instance:
Get your own Mclovin ID
The mclovin id maker* is a dumb idea. It’s definitely something my wife would think is stupid. However, it is also a fairly popular idea, and as you may know, popularity and dumbness seem to go hand in hand.
This revelation has made my life a lot easier because I used to have the notion that I’d have to outsmart my competition, when really all I have to do is out dumb them. I thought that if I became a genius programmer then all of my problems would be solved. Instead of spending all of my time learning how to program, I should have set aside some time to take some of the dumb ideas I’ve had and turn those into profits. Using your dumb ideas to make you lots of money = very smart.
Here are the things I’ve learned to help me root out the dumb ideas:
- Marketing and Programming are very different. This has taken me a long time to learn…too long. When I started on the web, I came at it as a designer, and then moved to programming. I know these two perspectives very well, and when I started to get into marketing websites (ie getting traffic) I thought I knew all there was to know, but now I know that I’m pretty dumb when it comes to marketing.
- If you know that you don’t know anything, you’re in a good spot to begin learning.
- Treasure the dumb ideas. These are the ‘wouldn’t it be cool if…’ and ‘wouldn’t it be fun to make…’ kind of ideas. Write them down so you don’t forget.
- Don’t let thinking get in the way. Many dumb ideas were ruined because they were thought about too much and made smart. A good analogy here is explaining a joke.
- Execute your dumb ideas. In other words, don’t keep them in your head. A great way for new and better dumb ideas to come to mind is to actually work on the ones you’ve already got. Our brains tend to work this way with all kinds of things. So do the work and you will be rewarded.
- Find out the things that you do that are dumb. What are your hobbies? Hobbies are dumb, start there. If you don’t think you have any hobbies (I used to think this), then pick something you do a lot and call it a hobby, like going to the bathroom. That’s dumb.
- Daydream. Daydreaming is the ultimate dumb idea manifestator.
* Jeremy Shoemaker is the creator of the mclovin id maker and is very good at thinking up dumb ideas.
Subscribe with RSSCategory: Marketing | 1,016 views | Posted: April 9th 2008 10:52 am
Comment by Link Building Bible
on 09 Apr 2008 at 11:00 pm #
Yah, this is a fantastic example of link bait… I wonder how will it will convert though… although, most people are interested in making money period, so if they see making money online through his site, they may stick around.
Comment by Tim
on 11 Apr 2008 at 11:08 am #
This is one of the best posts I’ve read in a long time. Most excellent work! I’ve found that my day job (corporate mis-understanding of web) is “too smart” to be worthwhile for thinking dumb in my night job. My day job is nothing but a 40 hr. distraction to the dumbness I love.
Comment by James Ehly
on 11 Apr 2008 at 1:52 pm #
“40 hr. distraction” - that’s hilarious. And I agree, most businesses are ‘too smart’ to do anything creative on the web. It paralyzes their thinking and they end up doing the same smart things over and over, and that is really stupid…which is totally different than being dumb.
Comment by Spam Snake
on 26 Jun 2008 at 8:11 pm #
haha, you are right on that one , popularity and stupidity often do go hand in hand , that movie for one , was pretty darn stupid if you ask me haha