Hello Everyone,

   I am sure you heard Hugh Hefner passed away last night Sept 27, 2017 at the age of 91. For some he is “The Good, The Bad and The Ugly.” However you feel about him and his business empire should be put aside for a moment and look at how he was able to captivate and maintain an interest in his products and himself since December 1953 that is 64 years. He is Playboy.

   Now, I have to admit that his product did a lot of the selling itself, sex is always been easy to sell, but there was a lot more going on at Playboy than just the photo shoots. The magazine did interview many famous people. Hefner never stepped over the line to become seedy like so many other magazines; he remained tasteful and had something of interest besides just the centerfold. Others tried to emulate his platform and they all paled in comparison. So what did he do so well?

1- He understood his target market.  He combined markets by having something of value to different personalities and markets. Enter the intellectual voyeur (my term), after all he was charging 50 cents so the person buying his magazine in 1953 had to have some means to afford it.

2- He took a risk; he put his money to work for him in a non-traditional manner. That happens more and more today, but that first step eludes so many, the fear of the unknown.

3- Didn’t become locked into any one process or method if it wasn’t getting him where he wanted to go. He interviewed everyone of note: authors, politicians, performers, etc. He was a journalist and editor, who found time to read and write, between party times. He was a good businessman, so much of his posturing while real, was also packaging to make his goal of making money to support living the life he dreamed of.

  There is a common thread in his thinking, be different, find a niche, understand the niche, leave the niche if it doesn’t work. Yes, I am paraphrasing using my personal filters, you can too, but that is what I am hearing.

   In the coming week or weeks you will be hearing more and more about the mastery of his business acumen, but I think for us authors, artists and writers even if we can do just these three things we will have done a lot towards attaining our goals.

   Remember failure in any aspect is merely a step towards success.

Thanks for stopping by!

Vince