Month: February 2012

How Long Are You Willing to Stick Around?

I didn’t invent the nametag.

But I certainly took it farther than anyone expected it
could go.

Myself included.

Either way, now it’s mine. I own it. Forever. Not just on
the search engines, but anyone I meet will never think about a nametag the same
way again. And that level of mindshare is a priceless asset. One that most
companies would pay millions of dollars for.

The point is, we don’t have to be the first. We don’t even have
to be the best.

We just have to refuse to go away.

Twenty years ago, Pearl Jam was just another garage band
from Seattle. Sixty million albums later, when the rest of the plaid-wearing
rockers had either overdosed, broken up or broken down, Eddie and the boys are
the only surviving members of the early nineties grunge scene.

Because they refused to go away.

If we can be the last one standing, the only person or
product or company or brand left after the rest of the world has fallen to the
wayside, we win. If we can be patient and persistent enough to take something
farther than anyone else would dare, no matter how often they ask, “So, how
long do you plan on doing this?” we win.

It all depends on long we’re willing to stick around.

LET ME ASK YA THIS…

What does your performance provide?

LET ME SUGGEST THIS… 

For the list called, “205 States of Being That Matter Most,” send an email to me, and you win the list for free!

* * * *

Scott Ginsberg


That Guy with the Nametag


Writing, Publishing, Performing, Consulting


[email protected]



Never the same speech twice.

Now booking for 2012-2013!

Watch The Nametag Guy in action here!

The Nametag Manifesto — Chapter 10: The End of Cultural Barriers

[ View the infographic! ]

“Everyone should wear nametags, all the time, everywhere, forever.”

That’s my thesis, philosophy, dangerous idea and theory of the universe.

My name is Scott, and I’ve been wearing a nametag for past four thousand days.

And after traveling to hundreds of cities, a dozen countries, four continents, meeting tens of thousands of people, constant experimentation and observation, building a enterprise and writing a dozen books in the process, I believe, with all my heart, that the societal implications of wearing nametags could change everything.

This is my manifesto: 

10. The End of Cultural Barriers.

If everybody wears nametags, we all speak the same language. 

It’s a passport. A guest pass that makes us welcomed everywhere. With a nametag, we’re friends with everybody everywhere, all the time, forever. Especially when you realize that everybody is the same everywhere, all the time, forever. 

This enables a positive, personal and memorable experience with people of different cultures, thus crushing stereotypes and assumptions thereof. Ultimately, nametags build bridges to people who don’t speak your language. 

It’s a symbol of peace, gesture of hospitality and a translator in the global language of humanity.

It proves that we all one, we’re all in this together and we’re all the same.

If everybody wears nametags, no more unnecessary wars, no more immigration laws and no more animosity.

# # #

You are now ready for chapter eleven.

You can read The Nametag Manifesto, in full, for free, right now, here.

LET ME ASK YA THIS…
What’s your manifesto?

LET ME SUGGEST THIS…
For the list called, “10 Ways to Help Your Customers Know You,” send an email to me, and you win the list for free!

* * * *
Scott Ginsberg
That Guy with the Nametag
Author, Speaker, Publisher, Artist, Mentor
[email protected]

Never the same speech twice.

Now booking for 2012 – 2013!

Watch The Nametag Guy in action here!

The Business of Distraction

Entertainment is the business of distraction.

That’s why audiences hand over their hard earned money.

To feel, laugh, cry, play, gasp and have their imagination captured, so they can forget about, not worry about, evaporate from, take a break from and get the hell away from life.

Even if only for a moment, a minute, an hour or an evening, it’s always worth it when we’re distracted.

Not all the time, of course. We still have obligations to fill. But life’s too short to be focused all the time. Everybody needs a taste of the sweet nectar of cognitive escape.

To be distracted is to be safe. To be distracted is to disappear and merge with the divine. To be distracted is to cope with the anxiety of living. To be distracted is to escape from life’s unanswerable questions. To be distracted is to bond with each other through our shared humanity. To be distracted is to stop thinking about the fact that we’re all going to die.

Distraction is the highest form of living.

And as artists, entertainers, performers and creators, we have been given a license to distract.

Let us not dodge that great honor. Let us not shy away from the obligation to satisfy people’s deep, human longing to disconnect from reality.

People crave distraction.

Let’s give the audience what they want.

LET ME ASK YA THIS…

What does your performance provide?

LET ME SUGGEST THIS… 

For the list called, “205 States of Being That Matter Most,” send an email to me, and you win the list for free!

* * * *

Scott Ginsberg


That Guy with the Nametag


Writing, Publishing, Performing, Consulting


[email protected]



Never the same speech twice.

Now booking for 2012-2013!

Watch The Nametag Guy in action here!

approachable, business growth, hello my name is scott, let the city crumble, nametagscott, power of cool, scott ginsberg, the nametag manifesto,

Do You Start with What’s Cool or What’s Possible?

Lester Young was the original king of cool.

In the late twenties, not only did he originate the hipster ethos with his cool tenor sax style, he literally coined the word “cool” in jazz circles as a slang term for someone, someplace or something that created a smile in the mind.

Nearly a century later, cool still matters. In fact, cool matters more than ever. With the end of mass, the rise of tribes and the popularity of social sharing applications like Pinterest and Instagram, people don’t just know it when they see it – they share it when they see it.

And while cool isn’t a guarantor of success, a substitute for quality or a panacea to anonymity or, it’s certainly a powerful accelerator to help our ideas travel.

But most of us take the safe bet. We’d rather bow to the altar of practicality than knock at the door of whimsy. Like my friend Mike reminded me, instead of asking, “Will this be cool?” we ask, “Will this be possible?”

Can you imagine what our world would look like if Steve Jobs thought that way?

He didn’t design for practicality – he designed so customers would lick their computers. Literally. Apple products belong in our mouths. If that’s not cool, I don’t know what is.

The point is, if we plan to change the world, we need a reasonable amount of irrationality.

Starting with what’s possible can be profitable, but starting with what’s cool can be priceless.

LET ME ASK YA THIS…

How cool do people think you are?

LET ME SUGGEST THIS… 

For the list called, “8 Ways to Move Quickly on New Opportunities,” send an email to me, and you win the list for free!

* * * *

Scott Ginsberg


That Guy with the Nametag


Writing, Publishing, Performing, Consulting


[email protected]



Never the same speech twice.

Now booking for 2012-2013!

Watch The Nametag Guy in action here!

The Nametag Guy Live: What’s in a Nametag?

LET ME ASK YA THIS…

What’s your nametag?

LET ME SUGGEST THIS… 

For the list called, “23 Ways to Make Your Fans Super Happy,” send an email to me, and you win the list for free!

* * * *

Scott Ginsberg


That Guy with the Nametag


Writing, Publishing, Performing, Consulting


[email protected]



Never the same speech twice.

Now booking for 2012-2013!

Watch The Nametag Guy in action here!

Let the City Crumble, But Come Home Together

Every relationship I ever ruined suffered from the same dysfunction.

We got lazy with each other.

Somewhere down the line, we no longer bothered to bother. We no longer took a minute to make a moment. Caring became a chore, and complacency became the norm.

No wonder those relationships never worked out.

But not this time. Since then, we’ve adopted a new mantra. Something my dad said that echoed in my heart forever.

Let the city crumble, but come home together.

I kind of knew what he meant at the time, but it took a while for the idea to truly settle in.

Now that we’ve relocated to New York, what we’re starting to realize is that the city isn’t just a pile of buildings.

The city is anything worth blowing up for love. The city is anything competing for shelf space in our hearts. The city is anything in our lives that, without love, doesn’t matter.

Career. Wealth. Ego. Pride. Whatever.

Let it go, let it crumble and let love take over every square inch of our lives.

LET ME ASK YA THIS…

Who is your valentine?

LET ME SUGGEST THIS… 

Go hug that person.

* * * *

Scott Ginsberg


That Guy with the Nametag


Writing, Publishing, Performing, Consulting


[email protected]



Never the same speech twice.

Now booking for 2012-2013!

Watch The Nametag Guy in action here!

Adventures in Nametagging:

“Acts of friendliness in moments of anonymity.”

That’s why I wear a nametag:

To invite people to join me, to remind the world that face to face is making a comeback and to create spontaneous moments of authentic human interaction infused with a spirit of humor, playfulness and connection.

And if a picture is worth a thousand words, a nametag is worth a thousand stories.

Here are my most recent adventures:

DAY 4,099: Today I met a guy at a party who asked why I was wearing a nametag. I told him I just moved to New York and didn’t know anybody. He said, “I’ve lived here forever and I still don’t know anybody!”

DAY 4,121: Today the bouncer at the door examined my driver’s license and said, “I guess your name really is Scott.” Then we discovered we were at the wrong bar.

DAY 4,122: Today my yoga instructor thanked me for wearing a nametag. She said it made her job easier. Then, during final meditation, she sang “The Greatest Love of All.” Man, I’m really going to miss Whitney Houston.

LET ME ASK YA THIS…

What’s your nametag?

LET ME SUGGEST THIS… 

For the list called, “23 Ways to Make Your Fans Super Happy,” send an email to me, and you win the list for free!

* * * *

Scott Ginsberg


That Guy with the Nametag


Writing, Publishing, Performing, Consulting


[email protected]



Never the same speech twice.

Now booking for 2012-2013!

Watch The Nametag Guy in action here!

Do You Own the Story Behind What You Make?

To hit the target that matters most, we have to shoot with our own ammo.

We have to hire ourselves, fight for what we believe in and execute our own vision, on our own time and on our own dime, fingers stuck in our ears, ready to rock on a moment’s notice.

That way, it won’t matter if we win or lose. It won’t matter how many people don’t love us. We’ll still earn attention and respect for doing our own thing. We’ll still walk home happy. And we’ll still have the satisfaction of hiring ourselves.

Because in the end, it doesn’t matter if the world likes what we make.

It only matters if we own the story behind it.

When the story we tell is our own, we’re always successful, even if we’re not successful.

LET ME ASK YA THIS…

What did you create yesterday?

LET ME SUGGEST THIS… 

For the list called, “79 Questions Every Manager Needs to Ask,” send an email to me, and you win the list for free!

* * * *

Scott Ginsberg


That Guy with the Nametag


Writing, Publishing, Performing, Consulting


[email protected]



Never the same speech twice.

Now booking for 2012-2013!

Watch The Nametag Guy in action here!

Who Said Anything About a Job?

Being an employee is a risky endeavor.

Because when we have a job, that means we can lose it.

On the other hand, if the work we do every day is our art, our passion, the thing that’s under our fingernails, the thing that means everything in the world to us, then nobody can take that away.

It’s ours, always, forever.

Not because it’s a job, but because we simply do our work in a creative, collaborative, passionate, and meaningful way, it creates value that makes people’s lives better, it’s why they compensate us accordingly, and it’s what enables us to live the life we want.

Who said anything about a job?

If we want security, we just hire ourselves and go to work.

LET ME ASK YA THIS…

What do you do all day?

LET ME SUGGEST THIS… 

For the list called, “10 Reasons Your Business Doesn’t Really Exist,” send an email to me, and you win the list for free!

* * * *

Scott Ginsberg


That Guy with the Nametag


Writing, Publishing, Performing, Consulting


[email protected]



Never the same speech twice.

Now booking for 2012-2013!

Watch The Nametag Guy in action here!

The Nametag Guy Live — Ridicule Changes Us

LET ME ASK YA THIS…

What’s your nametag?

LET ME SUGGEST THIS… 

For the list called, “23 Ways to Make Your Fans Super Happy,” send an email to me, and you win the list for free!

* * * *

Scott Ginsberg


That Guy with the Nametag


Writing, Publishing, Performing, Consulting


[email protected]



Never the same speech twice.

Now booking for 2012-2013!

Watch The Nametag Guy in action here!

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