I admire eccentrics. People who live their lives differntly and don't apologize for the little quirks that make them stand out from the crowd. Not everyone can wear the title "eccentric" well. If you insist that your pet duck serve as interpreter in every conversation, you're not eccentric, you're a little (or a lot!) undone. But if you channel your weirdness creatively and make it work for you, you can claim to be eccentric. Have you heard about the weird dude who created a huge buzz when he convinced the town of Halfway, Oregon to rename itself Half.com? Now that's eccentric, crafty and, incidentally, helped him make a lot of money. He did it to publicize eBay's Half.com, and it shot from zero to 8 millionm registered users before being sold for 300 million bucks. I'm pretty sure someone like him ebraces the title "eccentric." I would if I were him.




He's still creating buzz while sharing the method to his madness. He wrote a book about that and other phenomenal business experiences and is now a professional speaker. I won't knock the keynote speaker at the last convention I attended, but I sure would like the opportunity to hear Mark Hughes next time around, talking about his book, Buzzmarketing, and his unusual take on business. We pest control professionals have a natural inclination towards eccentricity ourselves. I'm thinking he could teach us a thing or two about how to use it to our best advantage.

Labels: motivational speakers, pay