When my kids were little and we’d go on road trips, sooner or later the whining would begin.
“Are we there yet?”
“I’m hungry.”
“She touched me.”
“I have to go to the bathroom.”
No matter what I tried, I couldn’t get them to stop. Until one day we hit on an alternative solution.
Instead of getting annoyed, Gloria or I would calmly point out that our kids couldn’t whine because we were in a “No Whining Zone” and whining wasn’t allowed.
But we’d also promise them that the next whining zone wasn’t too far away and that we’d be there soon.
“You see that railroad track?” I’d ask. They’d nod in unison. “That’s where the next official whining zone begins. And it goes all the way to that big green building up there. So when we cross the tracks I need you to whine your heads off. Really loud. Get ready… hold on… hold on… we’re almost there.”
A minute later we’d bump over train tracks.
“Okay!! We’re in the whining zone. Start whining.”
Oddly they wouldn’t make a peep. They’d just stare at the back of my head.
“C’mon…” I’d say. “Whine. C’mon.”
Nothing.
“Okay, I’ll start. Waaaaaah. I’m hungry, I’m tired, I don’t want to drive anymore. My butt hurts.”
Mentioning the word “butt” always got their attention. Soon all of us in the car would be whining as loudly as we could. Before too long we’d get close to the green building.
“Get ready, here we go, the whining zone’s almost over. Get your last whines in. Three… two… one. Stop. Okay, we’re back in the ‘No Whining Zone.’ Whining’s over.”
Amazingly, they’d shut up.
What does this have to do with the Coronavirus Crisis and your brand?
Like so many of you, all of my gigs and consulting agreements have been postponed (and postponed, let’s face it, is a euphemism for ‘cancelled’). My investments have tanked. And no one’s calling me for very much future business either.
Of course what I’m dealing with is nothing compared to people who have contracted the virus or worse – lost a loved one. There’s a big difference between being inconvenienced and being inconsolable. You have my complete sympathy.
As I wrote last week, this new global pandemic affects all of us on a lot of levels. Many of us are sick of being at home, sick of not earning a living, sick of not being able to see our loved ones,.
But just like driving past the green building and out of the whining zone, at some point we have to stop moaning, look to the future, and start figuring out what we’re going to do next.
What am I going to do? I’m writing more and more blogs about what we can do now to move towards certainty. I’m creating webinars, masterclasses, a mastermind and an entire community where like-minded people can get together and figure out how we’re going to move forward. We’ll talk about messaging strategy, audience identification, product and service adjustments, pivoting our companies and our lives and all the different things we can do to position our business and ourselves for the brave new world we’re all waking up in.
We’ll look at all sorts of solutions – marketing, technology, attitude adjustment – whatever it takes to make life better for all of us. And by the way, “all of us” is the key. Because together we’ll come up with solutions and move forward. If you’re interested in discovering more, just click on this link: www.TogetherWithTurkel.com
As my friend Phil Allen sang in his great song If You’re Gonna Be Dumb You Gotta Be Tough: “Good guys win, I know they do. I mean they have to sometimes, don’t they? That’s the law of averages and it’s gotta stand for something.”
It’s time all the good guys I know get together and help each other. Let me know if you want to participate and I’ll send you an invite.