04/ 02/ 2007
I have a friend who is a very public figure. In his field, he is the product, so being well-known is almost a full-time job for him. He works hard at it.
I think of my friend every time I complain about my full e-mail inbox, because he gets 100 times the number of messages I receive. And most of his e-mail isn't spam--but legitimate messages from real people who have important things to say to him.
When I asked how he copes with the fire hose of e-mail he receives each day, he explained how several people on his staff filter and respond to it. They forward urgent messages to his BlackBerry and deal with the rest themselves. His family and associates know how to reach him on his BlackBerry, but the rest of his e-mail is reviewed for him in a daily synopsis report.
After hearing his method, I decided the overhead associated with being a very public figure isn't as cost-effective as my method for handling e-mail overload: being obscure.
I know--it doesn't make much sense for a small-business owner to be obscure. There are all sorts of marketing and sales reasons for being highly visible. Handing out business cards, attending civic club meetings, volunteering in the community, sponsoring the Little League baseball team, setting up a blog and standing on the corner waving down passing cars are all supposed to help raise your visibility and drive up your sales.
I know I'm supposed to be out there building my personal brand instead of writing a column under a pseudonym. But I'm here to tell you that being obscure has advantages. For instance, failing at something isn't so traumatic when you're obscure. Very few people talk behind your back when they don't even think of you at all. And you don't need a staff to handle your e-mail.
I have another friend who is the CEO of a publicly traded company. He recently told me how much he'd prefer running a small, private business because he was tired of the magnifying glass under which he operates.
"Being obscure is great," I responded. "As long as you can live on the obscure compensation accompanying such a strategy."
