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My Seth Godin decline letter. Thoughts?

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Re: My Seth Godin decline letter. Thoughts?

#41

Post by bkj123 »

brk wrote: post #3

I'd actually be a little bit insulted to get that as a response. It reads like a load of over-dramatized crap. Part of what's wrong with so many of these internet-marketers is that everything seems to be positioned as various degrees of "super rockstar ninja greatness". There is never any bad, unmarketable, stupid ideas. IE: no one wants to put their reputation on the line by making a potentially bad call. So, he won…

I'm sure he got a million applications so I can see the canned response but it was a bit over the top. Maybe it's just his way and it is only one instance. Plus, let's face it, he's in the driver's seat as far as this is concerned.

Re: My Seth Godin decline letter. Thoughts?

#45

Post by fallentimes »

lurker wrote: post #36
nihilocrat wrote: post #25

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm new to this term "lens". It seems like it's just a fancy word for "how-to" or "neat bit of information / call to take some sort of action".

Godin's company is Squidoo. It's an odd little web page builder thing. A "Lens" is what he calls a "page". Because if he called it a page, then no one would care. Now almost no one does.

Be warned before you go there, Squidoo is the wikipedia of spam, advertising and self promotion.

Re: My Seth Godin decline letter. Thoughts?

#46

Post by fallentimes »

dgabriel wrote: post #32
brk wrote: post #13

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Seth has made the generous offer of allowing a select few people to work for him. For free. In exchange, you get to be surrounded by His Greatness every day. If you get accepted, don't forget to bring your lunch money and cab fare as well. While this sounds like a revolutionary idea, if you're willing to work for free, and can sell yourself well (the two basic acceptance criteria for this program), there is a high pr…

It is often referred to as an "internship." There is no way this can possibly be comparable to an actual MBA, but I am biased.

Well Seth's specialty is calling things they aren't or making up superfluous words when a simple English one just won't work for him.

Re: My Seth Godin decline letter. Thoughts?

#47

Post by Alex3917 »

Arubis wrote: post #19
Alex3917 wrote: post #15

I applied and got an interview. I sent in my application as a PDF, but I also made this lens which Seth apparently liked: http://www.squidoo.com/Reading_Optional

That was the single best thing I read as part of the app process.

Thanks, glad you liked it.

Re: My Seth Godin decline letter. Thoughts?

#48

Post by Alex3917 »

bkj123 wrote: post #44
Alex3917 wrote: post #15

I applied and got an interview. I sent in my application as a PDF, but I also made this lens which Seth apparently liked: http://www.squidoo.com/Reading_Optional

great info alex! best of luck with the interview. if appropriate, tell us how it goes.

Everything going forward is under NDA, but if I get selected then I'll definitely get permission to at least post something here letting everyone know how it went.

Re: My Seth Godin decline letter. Thoughts?

#49

Post by bkj123 »

lallysingh wrote: post #26
ErrantX wrote: post #7

too nicey nicey. It doesn't sound sincere to me. When I was applying for jobs I used to get back all sorts of crap like this.. it's silly. One company got back to me within 24 hrs with a simple: "sorry your not for us because xyz" I reapplied instantly and in the "why are you applying" space put "because your the first company not to reject me with complete bull and just gave me a straight honest answer. I trust you.…

I sent one in to John Carmack way back in the day (circa 1996-1997). I was massively underqualified at the time. His response was personal and compassionate. It stung at the time, but long term I've got a lot more respect for the man for it.

good story lallysingh. I've been amazed at how many leaders in their fields are willing to give their time and input, especially if you respect their time.

Two quick stories:

1. Once emailed a prominent venture capitalist/technologist a question. It was maybe 15 words long. He responded in 5 minutes with a one word answer that truly answered my question and helped tremendously.

2. Another time I was taking a data mining class while working and I asked my professor a question. It was regarding a situation at work and a solution that I proposed. After not hearing back from my first email, I sent him a follow up email asking if he had received it. He finally replied and said that if I wanted the answer, I would have to hire him at $250/hr, his going rate. Sure, I can understand his stance in that just b/c I paying for his class and instruction does not mean that I can get free consulting. But, why couldn’t he tell me that with a reply to the first email? Why couldn’t he just tell me if my proposed solution was in the ball park or not? Here’s the zinger, I wrote the same email to the author of the book we were using in this class. He responds in 24 hours with sincere and honest feedback regarding my proposal as well as a PDF of 4 pages of the upcoming edition that covered this topic. My respect for the author sky rocketed (and now I cannot recommend his services and books fast enough). Not so much for the professor.

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