How To Afford A Cadillac (Or The Importance Of Condoms To Your Network)

One summer, while still in high school I worked for a grouchy old man who was a locator. We went around the southern part of the country finding locations to sell condoms.

Really.

Now I was a smart ass in my younger days. I thought I knew everything. 

So while riding in the old man’s boat/Cadillac (It’s a shame I can’t recall his name) I tried to impress him with my business knowledge. I had read all I could about the locating business and started spouting off what I had learned. 

“Shut the fuck up.”

(All my mentors cursed. I think it’s a generational thing.)

“What you read about locating is a waste. You know why?”

I looked dumbfounded.

“Because that’s what everyone reads. It means everybody knows and will do the same shit you do. Fuck that.”

“You wanna be smart?”

I nodded.

“Then look at what folks in other businesses are doing. I didn’t get this car by reading what other locators were reading. I read what my clients read. I read what the gas station people read. I read what the paper mill guy reads. That way I can steal their ideas and bring them to the locator business. You got that smart ass.”

He then turned on the radio (loud) to some country station.

I was thus introduced to the mashup.

We all know about the Web 2.0 phenomeon of mashups. There are tons of web applications which follow the principle of “seamlessly combining content from more than one source into an integrated experience.”

But mashups are seeping into the real world. Fast.

Pearls Before Swine/Baby Blues/Zits Mashup  

 

Tennis/NFL Mashup 

Jamea Jackson makes tennis history by asking for an Instant Replay. 

Now, no matter what anyone says, in business, a mashup is just taking the best ideas from other industries and applying them to yours.

You wanna make money blogging? It might be smart to find out how successful photographers make money.

You wanna figure out how to run a successful restaurant? Maybe you should study BestBuy.

But hurry.

Your competition may already be figuring out how Boon Sin became the largest chair manufacturer in East Malaysia.

 

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