Who’s Johnny? (You know, like the title of that 80s song from the movie “Short Circuit”)
![]() I'm the one on the right. I know what you’re thinking. Maybe you came here from one of the high-traffic, high-readership entrepreneurial sites that I guest post on all the time (Copyblogger, IttyBiz, Problogger, Project Mojave, etc.). Or maybe you’re here because you heard that I’m a kick-ass small business consultant (I am), that I build excellent websites fairly inexpensively (I do), or that I’m the guy who threw shoes at Former President Bush (you can’t prove anything; see you in court). And then you arrived at my homepage, read some of my latest posts, and said, “Am I in the wrong place? What do these idiotic ramblings have to do with any of the reasons I came here?” See, I run a different kind of business. What I do doesn’t make sense. I don’t do internet marketing correctly at all, and my search engine stats are terrible. I don’t write about the things that make me money. I don’t have a big email list, and I don’t contact the list I do have often enough, or in the right way. I’ve never spent a dime on advertising. I swear too much and never, ever act “professional.” And in nine months, I went from literally having never made a cent online to making five figures a month. What I’ve built — and what I help my clients to build — is what Sonia Simone of Copyblogger coined a “Third Tribe” business. In the Third Tribe… … it’s okay take off the businessy mask, and just be yourself. … it’s okay to stop worrying about pleasing everyone, and just please “your people.” … it’s okay to be open and honest, to not be perfect, to break the rules, and to be abnormal. … it’s okay to stop trying to compete on price, and to instead start creating raving fans who are dying to work with you. … it’s okay to be a real, multi-dimensional person, and to market yourself by just kind of hanging out and being cool. So yes, I build really great websites for clients while writing about why Christmas is gay. And yes, I became a widely respected consultant and coach in part by explaining why credit makes me want to barf. So who am I, really? A cool guy (who later became a business partner) named Lee Stranahan interviewed me once and said that I was a “punk rock business consultant.” I really liked that, so I started using it. Hang out. Look around. If you dig what I’m about, drop me a line, or connect with me on Twitter or Facebook. See if you’re one of my people. If we fit, that’s very cool. And if we don’t, that’s cool too. And when you figure out who or what exactly I am, be sure to let me know. . The women behind the manIf you work with me, chances are good that you’ll work with one of these ladies a bit too. Don’t worry; they’re just as ridiculous as I am and have my sense of humor and my ethics, but they’re far more aware of what’s going on, which end is up, and who won the Oscar for best cinematography.
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