…My girl be setting booby traps to catch me eating Scooby snacks

I left crumbs in the bed once, but I told her I was through with that

She still don’t be believing me and I guess that I’m cool with that…

Gym Class Heroes ♦ The Cookie Jar

Takeaway 141:  What hustler, excluding Warren G, is going to tell you that he/she enjoys regulation?  Quite simply, we know we need policing to avoid fleecing.

“Rap took the remnants of a dying society and created something new. Our fathers were gone, usually because they just bounced, but we took their old records and used them to build something fresh.”   Decoded  ♦ Jay Z

Takeaway #167:  Talk about green initiatives, Jay-Z is the original repurposing magnet.  Moreover, where reinvention is critical in business, from Andy Grove-to Reed Hastings-to the HoVA himself, the ability to flip the scrip and transform an entire business model is essential.  It is what BPM tries to do here at codemizell.  We are recycling old lyrics to build fresh enterprise value.

…To be a dopeman boy you must qualify

Don’t get high off your own supply

From a ki’ to a G it’s all about money

Ten piece for a champ, bass pipe comes free

If people out there are not hip to the fact

If you see somebody getting money for crack

he’s the…

N.W.A.      ♦    Dopeman

You see crack-sales; BPM sees Investor Relations and Customer Relationship Management (CRM).  Public Enemy said don’t believe the hype, Eazy E said don’t get hooked on your own product –don’t believe everything you are selling.  Investor relations are critical.  You need to give reasonable expectations and let’s face it Sarbanes-Oxley and the Fair Disclosure rules require it.  Nonetheless, like CRM, investor relations are managed relationships.  You are stoking the pipe that the public is smoking and if your give too much hype or not enough facts you can cause your base to flame out or over heat your position.  You are responsible for keeping the pot at a manageable simmer.  Like the FOMC looking for the goldilocks-economy, manage the expectations. 

I even love the marketing tip for the CRM.  Always have an added value.  If your charging a heavy price for the product, throw in the “base pipe” gratis.  It’s a relationship.  If you want to have the client comeback give them a reason.  They know when a value is added and will return where they think they are receiving value.

BPM TAKEAWAY#27:

• EXPECTATIONS MUST BE MANAGED NOT DISCOUNTED

• RECOGNIZE AND ADD VALUE

…Pistol grip pump on my lap at all times, right?
Cause tricks be out for your blind side
Never understood it, but remember i showed you
That in the nineties you gotta look over your shoulder…

Volume 10 ♦ Pistol Grip Pump 

Takeway#223:   This is business – retain a healthy sense of optimism, with a healthier dose of paranoia.  Andy Grove’s Only the Paranoid Survive is an excellent take on the need to perpetually keep tabs on the competiton.  There is no doubt they are coming for you – so how prepared are you?