A few weeks ago, you decided to make a really nice dinner for the family. One of the dishes was broccoli smothered in cheese. After eating the deliciousness, you help clean up the kitchen. Somehow you get stuck with the cutting board that you cut up the broccoli on, and all of these teeny teeny tiny green “broccoli boogers” are clinging to that board for dear life. Suddenly, you get an idea for a small, easy tool that would easily pick up those little pieces of broccoli flower.
You decide, after getting this BPU (broccoli picker-upper) just right that you are going to try to sell it. Now, there are two ways you can do this. You can go to all of your friends, all of your neighbors, and anyone you meet on the street and do your sales pitch, or you can try to find people who might really be looking for a BPU. Let’s face it – not everyone likes broccoli, even if it is smothered in cheese.
Who created the first crouton? How did that happen? When you really think about it, a crouton is nothing more than bread gone bad. How did someone figure out that you could make bad bread into croutons? Did a piece of stale bread fall into their salad? Did they get tired of throwing out bread that wasn’t moldy, just hard?
When you first start getting involved in Twitter and the blogosphere, it’s kind of like going to a new place for the first time. Everything is bright and shiny and new and exciting. It seems like everyone talks about “giving to get.” People who write really good stuff get the credit. It’s all a Polyanna could wish for.
When I was in fifth grade, I won the chance to speak at a huge event for DARE (Drug Abuse Resistance Education). When I walked up to the podium, the microphone was up above my head. My mom said that everyone could hear me perfectly, but no one could really see me, so the effect was kind of like a disembodied voice was floating through the gym.