First Time Freak?

Welcome! Is this your first time visiting The Freak Factor blog? If so, you might want to read a short intro on this welcome post, download the free eBook, listen to the podcast , and/or take a brief assessment. Thanks for visiting and good luck as you freak out and flaunt your weaknesses!

Comments

[Term Papers]

Very nice write up. Easy to understand and straight to the point.

[David Rendall]

Great question, Ryan. I posted about this a couple years ago. Here's the link. http://daverendall.typepad.com/dave_rendall/2007/09/interviewfreak.html

[Ryan O'Beirne]

How would the Freak Factor freak address this question?

http://hotjobs.yahoo.com/career-articles-the_most_dreaded_interview_question-908

[Joseph Joel Sherman]

Would you hire someone who was part of a $2.7 billion fraud to lecture on ethics at your company or business school? Those are not exactly the best credentials, or perhaps they are. Aaron Bean, former CFO at HealthSouth now uses his experiences to teach ethics.

[Joseph Joel Sherman]

This weekend I went to BJ's Wholesale Club in Raleigh. BJ's feels a little like a Sam's Club/Costco and a little like a traditional Grocery store. They have giant warehouse style crate shelving, some products in large or jumbo sizes and the classic concrete floors. But, they also feel a little like regular supper markets. Most of the item sizes are larger than a regular supermarket, but not extremely large. The prices are a little cheaper than a grocery store, but not as cheap as Sam's Club. Yet, they do take coupons. They also have furniture, electronics and some household goods. The food court has nothing on Sam's Club's large pizza, massive soda drink and Ice Cream Sunday verses prepackaged Bj's has prepackaged ice cream and a tiny pizza by the slice. My mother summarized it best "I would only come back if I had my good coupons ready and clipped, because Sam's Club does not take coupons." I do not think BJ's can beat Cosco or Sam's Club at their own game. They are trying to be all things to everybody, and it does not work. They need to be remarkable in something. Perhaps they can win by being the go to place to use manufacturer coupons. In manufacturer coupons, the store is reimbursed for the value of the coupon.

[Joseph Joel Sherman]

The Wall Street Journal reports that GM is selling its Hummer line to Sichuan Tengzhong Heavy Industrial Machinery Co of China. Where did Hummer go wrong? It is a good example of the freak factor. When the civilian version of the HMMWV first came out in the early 1990s it was nearly identical to the military version without guns. The Terminator (Arnold Schwarzenegger) drove the massive automobile around; it was the apex of the macho man's automobile. Only a select few could purchase the civilian version, providing for a sense of rarity and a high profit margin. But then GM tried to cheapen the Hummer, making it more accessible to a wider market. When smaller Hummers showed up at every office parking lot and soccer practice the prestige weakened. Rather than try to mass market the Humvee and make cheaper, smaller editions, AM General and GM would have been better off selling limited versions of the original HMMWV.

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB124393928530076283.html

[Joseph Sherman]

I heard about Kelly Adoggi on mixergy.com. She is the perfect freak.

"... Director of Marketing of SeV. A recent graduate, Kelly is the product of home schooling and private tutors. Her parents—described by Kelly as "unconventional mavericks"-- felt that traditional education would not prepare her for this dog-eat-dog world. They saw in her the ability to take the ball and run with it and, consequently, put her in real life situations to develop her problem-solving skills."

If you don't have a full staff at your start-up, you can at least have fun and be yourself. ScV didn't have a marketing director when they started, so they hired their dog. A company that can make fun of itself has character, their not afraid of being a freak.

http://www.scottevest.com/company/management_team.shtml

[Joseph Sherman]

Al Pittampalli has a great post that reminded me of the Freak Factor. "If you're a competitor, you're not a judge. When you lose, and you blame the judging...no one cares." His solution is to
"Be so extraordinary, that a judge would be accused of foul play by his peers for not giving you the highest marks possible." How do you be so extraordinary? The Freak Factor has helped me out - looking back I can see where being well rounded has really cost me the few points here and there to not make the top mark - I did well but not great. In the past few months I have cut back on a lot of activities, focusing on where I can be the best and leaving many projects to someone else. I tried this with Toastmasters, research and then my business with amazing results. Thank you Dave.

[Joseph Sherman]

A first impression Cliff seems to lacks the ability to stay in one place, is uneloquent, and is in dire need of a haircut. He writes a speech five minutes before speaking on his hand, and the speech may change midway. These seem to be very bad traits unless you are Clifford Stoll, PhD. Dr. Stoll is a freak who cannot sit still or keep to one project. He trained as an astronomer, tracked down international spies while a scientist at the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, wrote a few books, blows glass and now teaches eight grade science. Perhaps he is successful because he continues to explore new ventures rather than try to sit down and keep to one idea. His TED Conference speech is available at
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gj8IA6xOpSk&feature=channel

[Miss Destructo]

I have been saying this for years now! So great to find this site!

I recently just wrote a blog about how promoting your weakness can help you.

"Embrace the Pale!"

Totally adding site this to my blog roll! It represents everything Miss Destructo is about!

http://www.missdestructo.com/2009/03/embrace-pale.html

-Miss Destructo

[Joseph Sherman]

Can a nation be a freak? Professor Phil Eyre at Euromed explains that
Ireland was largely an agricultural economy when it joined the
European Union in 1973. Transportation costs are significant to
exports and imports with Europe as Ireland is an island, and was
considered to be a major weakness in the country's competitiveness.
The weakness turned into a major strength, as services and products
that are proportionally less expensive to transport emerged.
Transporting a $1000 of pharmaceuticals and software is light, and is
less expensive than transporting the same value of machinery or food
products. Now Ireland's exports are dominated by chemical
(pharmaceuticals), technology, and financial services. Chemicals and
related products represent over 48% of the country's exports.
Ireland's weakness pushed it into becoming modern economy.

[Joseph Sherman]

Mahesh "Micky" Jagtiani is the perfect freak. An alcoholic and college drop-out who drank a bottle of whiskey every day, Micky changed his life when his parents and brother died in quick succession. Now he is addicted to work, pulling 14 hour days even after building a $2 Billion retail empire. http://www.india-today.com/btoday/20040328/features1.html

[Joseph Sherman]

Brandblog.net explains that "Young people make better entrepreneurs because they're too inexperienced to know that their ideas are silly." I think some young entrepreneurs are great freaks. 'Old People' may complain that young people often refuse to listen to authority - a big weakness. This is also a strength. Anyone who says "you can't do that because its never been done before" can be a challenge that promotes innovation for a rebel entrepreneur. Microsoft, Dell Computers and Facebook were started by college students who defied odds.

[almostgotit]

This Bo Derek?

http://www.repmanblog.com/photos/uncategorized/2007/06/15/bo_derek_gallery_main.jpg

Wow, then she's even a bigger freak than I *thought,* and the more power to her! ;)

Wonderful blog, and thank you from the bottom of my heart for giving the vote back to the Freak.

[suzi]

In a class I had with you, you pointed out that Bo Derek was never exceptional in any 1 sport. He was good in a few sports, but never exceeded in any of them. Then you take Michael Jordan who was great at basketball, which he had honed his skills in, but then he wasn't so good at baseball. It emphasize the practice what you are good at, and get better at it. You earn more rings that way.

[HEATHER]

THIS is a very good blog. I love the concept and I'm adding it to the front page of mine. You're onto something here, man. God bless you!