Conversations With My Wife, v1

Me: "You know what's weird?"

Her: "What?"

Me: "Superman fights for truth, justice and the American way...but he's not even American."

Her: (Blank stare)

Me: "In fact, really...he's not even human..."

Her: (Blank stare)

Nothing like a good philosophical debate before bed. Poor woman. Why she let herself get into this mess, I'll never understand...


Photo (Superman) by Katherine Johnson. Thanks Katherine!

Do Your Ads Have A Purpose (Or Are They Just Filler Text)?

Another blog post I originally wrote for the ADwërks blog, but wanted to share on my personal site too. Hope you like it.

Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipisicing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua…

Be honest. You thought we screwed up, right? You thought maybe one of us ADwërkers blew it and accidentally posted filler text in place of a thought-provoking, world-changing blog post.

Sorry to burst your bubble, but it was intentional. We wanted to demonstrate a point. If the copy, content or ads you produce do so little to inspire movement or ignite passion that they might as well be filler text, then it’s time to consider a stronger approach to your messaging strategy.

To be clear, this isn’t a matter of copywriting. It’s not a simple question of “does this ad get someone’s attention?” It’s a matter of whether or not your marketing reflects your company’s unique qualities and aspects.

If you’re a banker, think about your bank’s latest newspaper ad. Now think about that same ad with a rival bank’s logo placed over yours. Would anybody (besides you) know the difference? If you’re in the auto repair business, would anybody notice if your radio spot had a different shop’s name voiced over your shop’s name? If the answer to either question is no, then you have a problem.

Because if the ads you run are simply filler text like lorem ipsum, it’s time you consider a new approach. One that gets to the core of your business and shows the world what makes you unique. One that shows people the aspects of your business that none of your competitors can copy.

There’s a reason we at ADwërks emphasize handcrafted marketing as our calling card. Because in this day and age, if it’s not unique, it’s not going to be noticed.

And if it doesn’t get noticed, it might as well just be filler text.

-Mike B.

Photo by Mårten Björk. Thanks Mårten!

How Do You Make A Good Offer GREAT?

I originally wrote this post for the ADwërks work blog, but figured you guys might find it interesting too. Hope you like it!

Bed Bath & Beyond is smart. Sneaky smart, even. Here’s why.

This weekend, Bed Bath & Beyond held a special “Bridal Registry Wrap-up Party.” The purpose? Recently married couples could get 20% off the gifts on their bridal registry that nobody had given them at their wedding.

Naturally, my wife and I circled the items we “needed” and headed in to clean house and show Bed Bath & Beyond we meant business. But when we arrived, the Bed Bath & Beyond folks hit us with a double-whammy that lit our eyes up like a Christmas tree (and ultimately proved how in control they were all along)…

“You can actually get 20% off of EVERYTHING in the store today.”

Wait…what? Everything? Even if it’s not on the registry? Like…everything?

Yep. Everything. Thankfully, my wife isn’t a wasteful shopper, but we still ended up with numerous items in our cart that were never on our registry (like a new electric razor for me…jackpot). All because Bed Bath & Beyond gave the right offer to the right (target) market.

Think about it: a select niche of shoppers was already in a buying mindset and had fresh wedding money to spend. By expanding the 20% discount to every item in the store, Bed Bath & Beyond ensured that guests of the “party” (snacks and door prizes included) would grab at least a few items they may have never purchased or would have purchased somewhere else at a lower price.

By making their good offer great, Bed Bath & Beyond saw loads of overflowing carts pass through their checkout lines – with little more than a carefully disguised 20% off coupon.

The question is, what are you offering right now that, with a little planning and focused targeting, could take your offer beyond just “good?” Let us know in the comments below. And if you don’t have any ideas, give the crew here at ADwërks a call. We can definitely help you figure it out.

-Mike B.

P.S. – Always be careful in the Beyond section at BB&B…

Photo by Rob Young. Thanks Rob!

Driving brand management (in the real world)

I originally wrote this post for my work blog at ADwërks, but also wanted to share it here on my personal blog. Enjoy!

Imagine a perfect Saturday afternoon. You’re driving down the street when you look in your rearview mirror and discover that, seemingly out of nowhere, a large pickup truck is riding your tail and isn’t letting up.

Your blood boils. You’re already going the speed limit. In fact, you might even be going a few miles per hour over the speed limit. You think, “Why is this idiot so desperate to get past me?” Then you get over to let them pass and, as they speed by, you notice an “Anderson Construction” or “Jackson Bros. Plumbing” logo along the side of the truck. And you think to yourself, “Well I’m never using THOSE jerks in the future.”

Unfortunately, that’s what happened to me last weekend. Odds are you’ve experienced the same at least once or twice in your life.

As a business owner or manager, can you really afford to have drivers leaving such a negative impression of your business on potential customers? Of course not. But, for some reason, it happens more than it ever should as far as I’m concerned.

In an era where business owners are increasingly concerned about the next “viral campaign” or “engaging” on their Facebook page, maybe they should remember to train their employees on reputation management in other important markets like, you know, real life.

I know everybody can have a bad day and people are people, but if you’re going to slap your logo on the side of a truck and let employees drive it around town, remind them that they are no longer Johnny Anonymous. They represent your business now, and, unless your business doesn’t care for new customers, they should probably drive like it.

Think of it this way: A little bit of brand management from the start will do a lot to keep your employees from driving me crazy – and driving me away from your business.

-Mike B.

How about you: have you dealt with similarly frustrating experiences? As a business owner, have you trained your employees to represent your brand with class and professionalism? Let us know your thoughts on either question in the comments below.

Photo c/o nick@. Thanks Nick!

Tupac: The Thug That Danced Ballet

When most people think of rapper Tupac Shakur, the first thing they think about is his music. His hard-hitting lyrics opened people’s eyes and ears to the perils and predicaments that inner city youth face on a daily basis in the U.S. by appealing to both the mainstream music world as well as the streets he represented through his music.

The second thing people think about when they hear the name Tupac (or 2pac) is his life as a “thug.” From the “Thug Life” tattoo across his stomach to a prison sentence to the drive-by shooting that took his life, Shakur firmly planted himself in history as someone who would be forever respected as a gangster and revered as a visionary in the rap industry.

What most people have never heard is that Shakur spent three years of his youth enrolled in the Baltimore School for the Arts, “where he studied acting, poetry, jazz, and ballet. He performed in Shakespeare plays, and in the role of the Mouse King in The Nutcracker.” That’s according to Wikipedia, but I also wrote a 22 page paper on Tupac in college and found that info in about a dozen other resources.

Which brings me to my point. On one hand, you have an idolized, revered and respected rapper who universalized the Thug Life mantra by which he lived. On the other hand, you have a gifted student of the arts who ultimately aspired to act in major films (as he had begun to do before his murder) rather than rap and who had not only studied jazz and poetry, but had even danced ballet in The Nutcracker. Upon first glance, it would seem there’s a major disconnect between the two.

While plenty of concepts could be discussed in this overview – don’t judge a book by its cover, the importance of image and branding, etc. – the one I’m going to focus on is this: behind every great and noteworthy personality lies another layer (or 3) that we may never have realized existed. It is within those deeper layers that the greatest people of a generation find their separation from "normal" society. It is more than a book and the pages inside the cover. The intangible details are the fibers that make up the paper itself.

With Tupac, the cover of his book was “Thug Life” and what that lifestyle entailed (danger, street respect, fearlessness). The pages themselves were his upbringing in the arts and his ability to convert a performer’s passion into an image that he went out and lived every day. The sinewy fibers of Tupac’s deeper layers were the fascination, respect and adoration for fine arts (which few people ever grow to love so wholeheartedly) as well as his ability to turn that fascination into a constant quest to prove and improve himself on a personal, internal level that the public never saw.

The question I have for you is this: What is the substance that makes up your pages? What do your sinewy fibers consist of? What is the focus of your heart that the outside world rarely, if ever, gets a glimpse of? If you don’t know, do some soul searching and find out. And then let me know in the comments if you’re willing to share.

My Word Is On The Line...

Here's the deal: If there's one thing my thousands dozens of online friends, blog readers and Twitter followers know, it's that my taste in music is incomparable and that my opinions of music might as well be recorded as fact rather than personal belief.

Ok, that was two things.

Regardless, I like to tell myself that people appreciate my opinion of "good" vs. "garbage" music.

I'm not a huge fan of mainstream music, so I often tend to listen to musicians who, in my opinion, have talent but will need some time to improve. Sometimes these musicians reach mainstream status (for example, I first started telling people to listen to the rapper Wale in the summer of '07... which isn't that early, but early by South Dakota's standards). Other times, these musicians simply become one-song wonders, floating aimlessly through the void of my 14,000+ song iPod.

One rapper I've been talking about for awhile now is Add-2, a rapper from Chicago. I first started listening to him after he connected with me on Twitter (that story can be read here...) around Christmas of '08 and I was telling people they should be listening to him about 2 days after I gave his mixtape, "A Tale of Two's City, Vol. 2" a thorough listen. Since then, I've talked with him quite a bit on Twitter, shared his music with everyone I can, and actually do consider him a "friend" (at least in the sense of connecting from South Dakota to Chicago through Twitter on a semi-regular basis).

One of the reasons I respect Add-2 so much is because he's one of the few rappers I've listened to who has found the difficult-to-find balance of clever, witty punchlines and serious and enlightening insight on heavy topics and issues. Whether he's discussing a date that gets out of control (with hilarious results) in "Locker Room Stories" or taking an introspective look at the issues facing the youth of inner-city Chicago in "Chicago Kids," Add-2 shatters the stereotype of what most people consider to be "mainstream" rap. You won't find much "money, cars, clothes" from Add because that's not where his head is. He's focused on better things and bigger dreams. As he puts it in his fantasticly retrospective "Starter Jacket," "I hope the game don't change me, when I change the game."

Which brings us to the point of my post. Sometime in the near future, Add-2 will be releasing "Tale of Two's City, Vol. 4: Better Days." I don't believe I have heard a single song off of this effort, but I will put my firmly-established and nationally-respected musical reputation on the line when I say that "Better Days" will be an all-around fantastic album. I will be surprised, if not shocked, if this album isn't the last one Add-2 makes before a major label locks in a record deal with him (if he chooses to go that route).

So there you have it. I give you my word that this album, when it does come out, will be worth your valuable time. Mostly if you're a rap fan, but probably even if you aren't a rap fan. For now, I'll connect you to Add-2's MySpace page so you can sample some of his stuff for yourself.

Enjoy.

P.S. - I'll throw in two of my favorites from Add below. The first is called Superman. I advise you to stick around 'til the 3rd verse. That's when things get crazy. The second is the afore mentioned "Starter Jacket."



Here's "Starter Jacket"

My Writing...

Well everybody, I'm about 10 days away from my wedding. If I could accurately describe how excited I am, I'd try. Unfortuantely, at this point, that would be a pretty fruitless effort. We'll just say I'm jacked beyond belief.

I realized that, after the wedding is over, I will have much more "free time" than I've had the past three months. Because when you are trying to pull off an elaborate wedding with only three months to plan it, you don't really have much free time.

I have decided to invest a much larger portion of this free time into my personal writing. For which reasons, I'm not yet entirely sure. I partially want to collect my poetry and a short story or two into a small book that I'd sell at what I believe to be a fairly low cost. I partially want to write a book that couples my writing with my future wife's excellent photography skills. And I partially want to work for Marvel Comics in some capacity in the next few years and, whether I'm an editor or a writer, I will need to have demonstrated a skill set in the craft of writing.

I have written a few short stories at this point, but the one I've probably worked hardest on is currently languishing in my computer's back alleys of folders and files. If I know you and you have ANY interest whatsoever in reading this short story (titled "Little Lucy"), leave a comment with your contact info and I'll most likely send it your way. I'm beyond the fear of sharing what I write (which is a good start), but haven't determined the best platform/avenue for sharing it with larger groups of people. For now, I'll share it through this blog and see if other people are interested from there.

As a warning, "Little Lucy" is by no means a pleasant story to read. It's pretty violent, pretty graphic, and somewhat terrifying. Just ask Hugh Weber. He's read it. He was...caught off guard. He swears the title character was based on his daughter. That's only 5-10% true though.

Like I said, leave a comment or hit me up some other way (email: mike.billeter at gmail.com, Twitter: @mikebilleter, etc.) and I'll most likely share it with you. However, if I don't know you and have never heard of you, I might not share it. Since it's not published yet, I'd rather wait to share it with complete strangers until I've had a chance to get it published somewhere online or in print.

Thanks everybody. Expect more writing (and personal thoughts) on this blog soon.

-Mike


Photo ("Shadow of a Writing Hand") c/o john norton. Thanks john!

On The Loss Of Innocence...

I don't believe I've shared this poem on my blog yet, so I thought I'd throw it on here. I hope this kicks off a consistent return to my favorite blog written by me. The poem was written for a writing group. The topic was the cosmos. This is what I came up with. Some of you may have read this awhile back when I linked to it on Twitter. If that's the case, feel free to skip this post. Either way, I'd love to hear your feedback if you feel like sharing. Just leave a comment below. Thanks.

Twinkle, Twinkle...

The time was such a simpler one
when "Twinkle, Twinkle" had songs begun...
And up above our spirits ran,
or sometimes flew, with Peter Pan.
Straight on til morning, to Neverland,
imaginations never banned.

But somehow in that sad affair,
of growing up, we left back there
our "how I wonder what you are."
And traded it for dates and cars
and jobs and beer and cheap cigars,
And science to explain these "stars."

And as a grown man, full of days,
too old to be once more amazed,
tears well up in my faded eyes.
Oh, "how I wonder" why I cry.
To know that innocence has died
and been replaced with Wisdom's pride...

And weeping softly, 'neath the black
expanse above my porch out back,
my voice sings out, though not quite far,
a song, long buried in my heart...
"Twinkle, twinkle little star,
how I wonder what you are..."

Photo ("Milky Way and Shooting Star") c/o Andrew Curtis. Thanks Andrew!

Creative Music Video-ing

My friend Joey Ryan and his band, the Inks, have decided to record and upload a new video of them playing their songs at various, cool locations every week. Simple, creative and (I'm assuming) pretty cheap, this first video definitely shows a fun side of the band and their ability to make great music without the need for stages, amps and sound systems.

Love what they did here and I'm definitely looking forward to the next one.




P.S. - This first video took place in the North Tower of the historical Landmark Center in downtown St. Paul, Minnesota.

Know Your Audience

I originally wrote this post for my work blog at ADwërks. Wanted to share it on here as well.

Yesterday, the graphically-talented Mike Hay and I were brainstorming and concepting for a client’s magazine ad we needed to create.

We spent about five minutes discussing cool ad concepts, fun design possibilities and creative, punchy copy that would stand out from the rest of the ads.

And then we came to a realization. We were creating an ad in a style we would like to see in a magazine. Unfortunately, we were not the magazine’s target audience. Once we realized that, our entire creative process shifted and we came up with an ad that was much more fitting for what we – and more importantly, what the client – wanted to accomplish.

As marketers, it’s easy to fall into the trap of thinking about what we do or don’t like to see. We watch commercials that annoy us and we vow never to make a commercial like those. We see billboards that appall us and we promise ourselves we’ll never make a billboard like that.

In short, we think of how we want to be marketed to rather than how the target audience should be marketed to.

Remember: As advertisers, we are not marketing to each other. We get paid to help our clients reach the customers that love (or will love) our clients’ products and services.

Personal opinions and viewpoints are essential to coming up with new and exciting ways to reach a target audience – just make sure you really are trying to reach the target audience and not your fellow marketers.

-Mike B.

How about you? Ever created the “perfect” ad only to discover it really wasn’t “perfect” for the intended audience? Can you think of any national campaign efforts that failed miserably at reaching the target market? Share your thoughts in the comments below!

Photo ("our chunk of audience at the heretic") c/o Jhayne. Thanks!

My Brother, The Rapper

Sometimes you spend your whole life unintentionally influencing your little brother. Eventually you realize that he often likes the video games you like, he often likes the humor you like, he often likes the TV shows and movies you like...

And sometimes he even likes the music you like.

I'm not saying I helped create the legend that will someday be K. Billz...but I'm not saying I didn't either. Ladies and gentlemen of the Internet, I give you...

"Nugget Tuesday"

Why Sherlock Holmes Would Have Been A Great Marketer

This post originally appeared on my work blog at ADwërks, but I wanted to post it on here as well. Enjoy!

I watched Sherlock Holmes this past weekend and it led me to an eye-opening realization about marketing and advertising.For those of you who don’t know who Sherlock Holmes is, here’s Wikipedia to the rescue. Basically, he’s one of the world’s most widely recognized fictional detectives, he’s eccentric but brilliant, and he uses sound logic and deductive reasoning to solve seemingly-impossible to solve cases.

In the movie, they base Holmes’s ability to solve a case on the various “clues” he sees that most people would never notice. He recognizes a woman was previously engaged due to the small tan line around her finger. He deduces that a certain individual is a professor based on some chalk remnants near his collar.

The important thing to remember is this: NONE of the clues he finds are hidden. They certainly aren’t noticeable to the casual observer, but they aren’t hidden or invisible. The difference between Sherlock Holmes and the casual observer is that Holmes is always looking for clues.

So, as a marketer, are you Sherlock Holmes for your clients, or are you just a casual observer?

• A casually observing marketer runs a billboard for a client’s new product or service because “that’s just what we’ve always done.”
• A Sherlock Holmes marketer gathers clues by conducting marketing research which can lead to better, more informed decisions for the marketing campaign.

• A casually observing marketer simply reviews his or her client’s website analytics and sends a weekly report on Friday afternoon.
• A Sherlock Holmes marketer labors over each facet of a website’s analytics in order to best determine areas of improvement that could make the site even stronger.

• A casually observing marketer tells a client to “get on Twitter” so the client can send links to its website and keep its followers up to date on sales and promotions.
• A Sherlock Holmes marketer uses logic to help the client determine if social networking is the right path to take. Then the Sherlock Holmes marketer deduces how a client can best connect with customers to strengthen relationships, establish brand loyalty and inspire movements.

These are just a few examples of how digging a little deeper for your clients can produce great work and, more importantly, build a stronger relationship with your clients and their customers. Remember, the only way you can pick up on clues that will help you improve your work is by always looking for clues that will help you improve your work.

It truly is elementary, my dear Watson.

-Mike B.

Do you do work with the careful eye of Sherlock Holmes? Do you have any examples to share of a time when you went from casually observing to digging for clues and finding success like Sherlock Holmes? Do you think Robert Downey Jr. was as awesome in Sherlock Holmes as he was in Iron Man? Share your thoughts with us in the comments below.

Photo ("Sherlock Holmes Statue") c/o shining.darkness. Thanks!

On Engagements

After not-quite-five months of dating Lindsie Page, I decided I needed to marry her.

The truth is that, after not-quite-two months of dating Lindsie Page, I was pretty sure I was going to marry her. So waiting three more months was tough. Worthwhile and wonderful, but tough.

So this past Sunday, I did what any disgustingly-in-love man would do in my situation: I proposed to this lindsie girl (she prefers her name in lower-case, by the way). The proposal involved a love poem/letter, a walk through a gorgeous park, that love poem/letter hidden on a bridge (lindsie’s favorite), a beautiful sapphire and diamond ring and a tear-filled head nod of “Yes” in response to a very important question.

It was perfect.

Now the beautiful @lindsielynette and I have basically 3 months to plan and flawlessly execute a fun, exciting, and unique wedding. No problem, right?

Well, we’ll be grinding away on it (and enjoying each other’s company throughout the process), but it will be hard and it will be time consuming. And it will be completely, completely worth it.

Now, as a writer and as a blogger, I should be writing this in-depth, poetic description of my feelings and emotions as the leaves of my life change color yet again (kind of like I referred to in my last post). But I’m going to save that for later. For now I’ve got a wedding to help plan and a woman to be in love with while I help plan it.

I’ll be back with more soon, so for now I would just ask that you say some prayers that we are able to pull this wedding off in a way that fulfills both lindsie’s and my hopes and dreams. I have plenty of faith that God will get us there exactly how he wants to, but a prayer or two from you guys probably wouldn’t hurt.

Thanks for everyone who has congratulated me so far and I look forward to updating you all as we go. For now, happy Monday, and I hope you all have a great week.

-Mike

Changing Times

I thought about starting this post with a super cheesy intro. Something along the lines of “As the seasons change, so changes life…”

Then I realized that was dumb, so I decided to just write the post instead.

Recently, my life has changed. I have left my former place of employment (Deep Bench) and have taken on a role at a different Sioux Falls marketing and advertising shop called ADwërks. My Deep Bench departure is on completely amicable terms and there’s no bad blood or anything, but I needed a change and ADwërks came to the rescue.

I’m excited for what I will be doing here, which is continuing on my path of writing (traditional copy, web copy, blog posts, notes that I think are funny but the rest of the office probably finds idiotic, etc.), social media and content strategy, and perhaps even a little bit of account coordinating while I’m at it. Although the work is temporary as of now, I think it will be a great test for me to see if I really know what I’m doing in this wonderful industry we call marketing.

Lately, between my relationship with my girlfriend and some rediscovery (or maybe just regular discovery) of my faith, I’ve really felt more compelled than ever to treat every day as a gift from God and an opportunity to work hard and show that I have some value to offer this world.

Where it goes from here is still uncertain, but the feeling I have right now certainly feels right. With my feet back on solid ground again (for now), I intend to get myself refocused in lots of areas. One of them will be in writing consistently. It’s possible I will be publishing a book of poetry/short stories, which should be extremely exciting. And if it doesn’t happen, I’ll keep writing anyway and probably try to share more of it here on the blog. I hope you are looking forward to it as much as I am.

Hope you are all are doing well, and I’ll be back with more soon.

Expecting Seuss...

I’m not going to lie. I was really excited when I heard it was Dr. Seuss’s birthday. I was all ready to head over to Google and see what Seussian shenanigans they used to incorporate the Cat in the Hat and Cindy Lou Who into the Google logo (I mean, Cindy Lou Who Goo…gle. It’s too perfect…).

So imagine my excitement when, upon my arrival, I saw this:




Oh wait. Did I say “my excitement” up there? I meant to say my disappointment.

I guess the question is this: Is my expectation that Google will celebrate fun birthdays and holidays with clever logo designs merited? Is it fair that what once started as a fun (and usually rare) switch for Google has now become an expectation in my mind?

That’s pretty much all I want to know from you. I’m interested in the concept of something going from a pleasant surprise to an expectation that leads to letdowns.

It’s nice when you give your significant other backrubs. But when you give them every night and then decide to stop, is it fair for your significant other to be let down by the change? If your boss is nice enough to let you leave work every Friday at 4:00 instead of 5:00 and you come to expect that, is it fair to be upset when he asks you to stay until 5:00 a few months down the road?

When does a bonus become an expectation? Is there a solution for avoiding this scenario besides “don’t do something enough to let it become an expectation?”

I think it’s an interesting question. If you have any thoughts, I’d love to hear them in the comments. Or, if you’d prefer it, tell me your favorite Dr. Seuss story instead. Both or either is fine with me. I’ll make sure not to “expect” anything either way.

Why I Like Old Spice

Yes, Old Spice is one of the few brands that actually makes me want to buy its products based on completely nonsensical commercials that I find hilarious. Seriously, 9 out of 10 times I don't buy a product based at all on its marketing. Sometimes I go so far as to NOT buy a product because of its marketing.

For example, I will never buy jewelry from Jared because when I hear "He went to Jared," I immediately turn the channel and punish the network running the ad by not turning it back for 30 minutes.

I'm completely serious.

Anyway, here's the Old Spice ad that, once again, I thoroughly enjoyed. I didn't laugh out loud, but the very end almost got me. I probably would have laughed out loud if I'd been around people, but you know how that goes...

Why I Love Basketball

So this is the buzzer beater that the Augustana Men's Basketball team (the team my dad coaches) won on last Saturday night (2-13-10) after coming back from being down 16 with 5 minutes left. Unbelievable shot from Cameron McCaffrey - who had 17 of his 29 points in the last 3:29 of the game - and an unbelievable game overall.

Are You On Your Grind?

I find inspiration in various places. Sometimes it comes from blog posts written by my peers. Sometimes it comes from reading great business (or, for that matter, fiction) books. And sometimes it comes from music.

One place I didn’t expect to find inspiration is in the intro track to rapper Killer Mike’s independent album “I Pledge Allegiance To The Grind, Pt. II.” On most rap albums, intro tracks are filled with self-promotion and self-adulation. But Mike (or Mike Bigga as he’s now going by), takes a different approach with his intro track. And I think it speaks not only to me, but to anyone who listens to the record.

(Please note: I’m going to paraphrase and censor/edit some of his words from the intro so you feel the power behind them without having to read a few more profanities than most of my blog posts contain.)

For the most part, here are the important elements of what Mike says in the intro:

“You see the grind believes in you because we know you believe in us, therefore we don’t BS you. I want to see whoever’s buying this record win and do great things. But the only way you’re going to do that is if you get up off your butt and you get in the act of DOING something.

You can NEVER lead if you only follow. If you sit around and you look at people and you wait for them to give you permission to do something great, you will NEVER do ANYTHING. So get up brothers. Get out on your grind.

Your work ethic will determine your worth, meaning whatever you get is determined by how hard you work to get it. There is nothing that can stop you from achieving whatever it is you want to achieve. And I want you to let our Pledge Allegiance To The Grind Part II be the soundtrack to your success.”

Keep in mind that Mike has an inspiringly commanding voice (both when speaking and when rapping) and you can tell that these words are strictly from the heart.

How he’s unique as a rapper is that, although he was signed to a major label and released a successful first record, he didn’t feel that career path would help him reach the goals he wanted to accomplish in his career. So he left his label to go back to his independent “grind” of making everything happen for himself, from album creation to promotion to every other facet of a music career.

So when you hear these words from Mike, you realize that he’s not just inspiring fans (or supporters, because, as he puts it, “if you’re familiar with the grind you know we don’t have fans, we only have supporters") to listen to his music. He’s inspiring them to work hard enough to change their lives.

He’s not saying they should listen to his music. He’s saying that he wants his album to be the soundtrack to their SUCCESS. Every track on the album is meant to push and inspire people to work harder. This album isn't a collection of songs. It's motivation to improve your life.

The point is that Killer Mike takes his inspirational words and hits his listeners in the gut with them right out of the gate. And you know they come from the heart because he’s gone through everything he tells them they’ll need to go through to reach success.

So what can we learn from this? Be inspirational to others. Let your life story be an example for others to follow. And if you don’t think it can be, do something to make it so. If you want to be remembered for anything, you have to do something worth remembering.

You have that chance to do that now. Today. Go do it.

P.S. – Here’s a link to the intro track. As a warning to you, there is profanity. Strong profanity. You’ve been warned.

Breathe

Sometimes things change. Our worlds flip a little bit. Or just get harder. Or whatever.

We just start thinking too much. About everything. And, amidst all that chaos (which isn’t really chaos…it’s mostly just chaos we create in our minds) we forget to stop thinking for a minute. We forget to breathe.

That’s why I love the Alexi Murdoch song embedded above. As the chorus puts it,

So don't forget to breathe
Don't forget to breathe
Your whole life is here
No eleventh hour reprieve
So don't forget to breathe

Keep your head above water
But don't forget to breathe

We may keep our heads above water. Whether we’re frantically kicking and thrashing or calmly treading water, we can keep our heads up. But if we forget to breathe, then it doesn’t matter if our head is above water or not.

This world can drown us in much more than water.

Don’t let it. Spend a minute today taking a deep breath. Maybe take two. Just stop thinking for a moment.

And the next time you’re upset or confused or frustrated or panicked or lost, don’t forget to breathe.

A new direction, I guess...

I'm in a strange place with my writing. I find that I rarely have the time I'd like to dedicate to my writing efforts. But I also know that I'll never improve if I don't make a habit of it. I've decided to try a new experiment over at a second blog I've started at www.mikebilleter.wordpress.com.

It's just a basic template and I don't intend to fancy it up until I decide if I like the direction in which it's heading. For now, I'll leave this site as Mike Billeter.com. I will be trying to post more content here again in the upcoming days, weeks, months and years, but it's possible my attentions will shift over to the other site depending on how it develops.

It's also possible that I'll want to scrap this site and jump to posterous or something similar for the sake of simplicity. I guess I just don't know at this point. I have many things going on in my head (for example, I'd love to keep this site as mikebilleter.com, but I can't stand Blogger's structure and usability after getting so used to Wordpress in recent months), and I'm trying to organize all of those things in my head right now.

For now, I think this blog will become a strange combination of work-related content (which people might not care much for) and personal content (things I find funny, poems I write, life contemplations, etc.) until I find a better way to clear all of this up.

I hope you enjoy the content that begins to show up again on mikebilleter.com. If you don't, I apologize and I'm open to any comments/suggestions/ideas as far as what you WOULD like to see from me on here.

Thanks for your patience, and I hope I don't let you down. All 2 or 3 of you.

-Mikey