***************************************************
    The Great Gordino Newsletter - Issue 345 - Mon 12th Dec 2005
    ***************************************************

    Archive Issues online at - gordonbryan.com/archive

    Hi There,

    I hope everything is ok where you are.

    Today I want to talk about tradition and ambition.

    Ok, here we go...

    Last week I gave a link to my friend Alan's magic site.
    It's a site he started from scratch, from something he enjoys, and I asked you what
    was missing from the site.
    Have another quick look:
    The Best Online Magic

    So, what's missing?
    The answer is that there is no email opt-in.

    An email opt-in is a classic internet marketing technique.
    It's easy to do, and can be done for free, I've done it that way for the best part of
    3 years!

    With Alan's magic site, he could maybe offer an email course on how to do a particular
    set of tricks.
    This would allow him to keep in contact with visitors, to build his credibility, and
    expose his offers over and over.

    It is without doubt one of the key elements to any successful website, and I will be
    haranguing (ooh, good word), Alan, until he puts one on!

    In fact, seeing an email opt-in is so normal, it's almost a tradition, which leads me
    onto 2 other traditions.

    Last week the, er, traditional, red London bus was retired.
    They still have the double decker red buses, but the type that was retired was the
    'Routemaster', with the narrow staircase, open platform at the rear, and old round styling.

    Designed 50 years ago, and only intended to last a few years, they quickly became iconic
    symbols of London, as well known as Big Ben etc.

    Popular with commuters, because you could hop on and off while the bus was moving, it
    unfortunately was not so helpful for wheelchairs and buggies, so now it has reached the
    end of the road.

    I remember when I was working in London.
    I was living 50 miles away in Eastbourne at the time, so had a long 2 hour commute
    each way.
    As a result, I was keen to make my train connections, so would often come racing out of
    the office and hurl myself onto the nearest bus.
    It's something that many commuters will be familar with, and it develops into quite an art.

    One day my wife had come up to see me in London, and on the way home, I leapt onto a bus
    as usual, forgetting that Holly was behind me.
    As the bus picked up speed, I looked back to see her sprinting to catch up.
    I couldn't help myself, and shouted 'Come on you silly cow!'
    As the bus slowed for the next set of traffic lights, a red faced Holly caught up, and
    let's just say she had a few words of wisdom to give me.
    Aaah, those were the days.

    I don't work in London anymore, and am now divorced...

    By the way, when you fill out forms, why do you get the options of 'married', 'single'
    or 'divorced'?
    Isn't that just nosey?
    Why don't they have an option for 'trial seperated'?
    Or 'Sulking'.
    How about 'Well we're not talking at the moment because I bought her mother a chair for
    Christmas, but she won't let me plug it in.'
    I mean, where will it all end?

    Anyhoo, back to tradition, and another British tradition is the Royal Variety Show.
    Held to benefit old and retired entertainers, held in the presence of The Queen, it
    traditionally has the cream of comedy, dance and music.
    Last week saw the 77th annual show.

    In decades gone by, the Royal Variety was the pinnacle of the entertainment year, and it
    was always one of my amibitions to appear on it someday.
    In recent years the show had slipped, full of teen pop bands miming badly to their latest
    forgettable song.
    This year however, it was back on form - hardly any teen pop, and plenty of my favourite,
    the speciality act.
    A 'spesh' act is something like rollerskating, or hand balancing.
    I love them, they scream entertainment to me, and it's close to my heart.
    I always thought about my unicycle ballet act being on the Rotal Variety, and this year's
    show has inspired me to think further about it, in fact I will have more to say about
    that in the New Year.

    Ok, I've covered, tradition and ambition, and I'm going to finish with a TV show on at
    the moment.
    Reality shows are all over the place, and one of them is a mixture of reality and spoof.

    The idea of the show is to get a group of 'normal' people, and convince them that they
    are being put into space.
    As part of the selection process, they put an advert for a reality show, without saying
    what it involved.
    From the applicants, they held suggestibility tests to see who was the most likely to
    fall for the joke.
    Now, after 5 weeks of a mixture of real and spoof training, 3 of them along with a planted
    actor think they will be blasted into space for 5 days, tonight!

    If you get the chance to watch 'Space Cadets' it's an amusing show, but as usual, I like
    to watch from a self improvement angle.

    The selection process showed just how differently some people's minds can work, and
    suggestibility is used all the time, in all the advertising we see.

    Secondly, although these people are not going into space at all, they think they are,
    and they have got to that stage by takng a risk, by taking action, i.e. answering an ad
    for a show without knowing what it was, and going through weeks of training with still
    no knowledge.
    It's an adventure for them, and sometimes it's great to get out of your comfort zone, and
    jump into the unknown!

    Ok, that's it for this week, I'm off to pump up my unicycle tyre and get my tights out,
    and I'll leave you to consider ambition - what ambition are you following at the moment?

    Have a good week.

    'Til Next Time,
    Health and Happiness,
    Gordon
    email me at gordon@gordonbryan.com - you'll have to copy and paste
    thanks to the idiot online spammers!



    
    Get my book here!


    

    Main Archive Page                 Newsletter Home Page