How to lose weight, get rich and find love.*

Take out the earpiece if ur not using it.

It’s truly amazing that we can meet people who live in different parts of the world and develop bonofide friendships with them without ever having met them in person. It’s remarkable that we can know these people so much more intimately than we do our own neighbors.

It’s also pretty sad.

Our cell phones are our best friends. We’re never alone. We can walk into any bar with the confidence of knowing we have someone to talk to. That “someone” may be a girl or guy 10,000 miles away, but he or she is as real to us as any person standing in the bar.

I recently read an amazing article about neighborhoods. Peter Lovenheim, the author, decided to start having sleepovers at his neighbors’ houses in an effort to get to know them better. Peter is not 7 years old. He’s 51. He explains:

“One night, a neighbor shot and killed his wife and then himself; their two middle-school-age children ran screaming into the night. Though the couple had lived on our street for seven years, my wife and I hardly knew them.”

“Within weeks, the children had moved with their grandparents to another part of town. The only indication that anything had changed was the “For Sale” sign on the lawn.”

“A family had vanished, yet the impact on our neighborhood was slight. How could that be? Did I live in a community or just in a house on a street surrounded by people whose lives were entirely separate?”

Peter decided to do sleepovers. I think that’s a little bit unrealistic for most of us. But perhaps we can do things to make ourselves more friendly and approachable?

May I suggest you remove your bluetooth headset when you’re not using it? I’m not even talking about the kid who walks through the airport with his earbuds in, tuned out to the world. At least he’s listening to music. Your earpiece says “I’m busy. Do not disturb me.” Whether you realize it or not, that’s the message it gives off.

Okay, this one is for me: What if we can put our blackberries away for a few minutes? Okay, that’s impossible. How about this as a suggestion for how to get there: Put the blackberries down when we’re with our friends.

Okay, how about this one then. From now on, when your blackberry chimes telling you there’s an email, DON’T immediately grab for it. Count to 10 and then get it.

If you work backwards from the suggestions I just gave you will be successful in this endeavor.

I know. Because a year ago I was a complete blackberry addict and could tune out the world for hours on end. Not anymore. That’s how I know that change is possible. (That and Barak Obama of course).

I have made a tremendous effort to NOTICE the people around me more than the people in my blackberry. I’m trying to live in the moment and I believe you can too.

Get out and say hello to the world you live in.

-Evan Lowenstein

ps. In complete disclosure I must confess that I checked my blackberry 5 times during the writing of this post. I’m not perfect.

Force them to have an opinion about u

Have you ever been inside a talent agency/modeling agency/casting agency? If so, then you’re aware of the thousands upon thousands of headshots they have representing every possible character: Hot girl, Old man, Fat kid, Foreign dude, Bad guy, etc.

I’ve cast people in videos and tv shows and in each casting session I’ve made choices based on the same criteria. It all starts the same way. I look at reels from 10-20 of the “top picks” from the casting agent. Each reel is accompanied by a host of pictures and a bio. I’m always looking for actors whom I feel have the most range, but how can I be so sure? A 3-5 min reel and a few pictures can only tell you so much. By the end I’m forced to go on my gut. And my gut always tells me to go for people who take chances. I like people who force me to have an opinion about them. Let me explain.

In just about every photo shoot, there’s a point when the subject takes a few chances and does something offbeat; something different than a standard pose. A funny face, a weird gesture, something that makes them look “ugly”, etc. However, when it comes time to select their headshot, they gloss over these pics. They only have ONE shot, why should they take a chance with a crazy picture, they figure.

You take a chance because in doing so, you force someone to have an opinion about you. It’s okay if 9 out of 10 people tell you that you didn’t get a role because of your silly headshot! Because if 1 out of 10 tells you GOT the job because of your headshot, you’re doing better than 99% of people in Hollywood!

People constantly want to know how to stick out. How to get recognized amidst the clutter. It’s no different in everyday life. How do you get noticed by that girl/guy? How do you get the interviewer to remember you? How do you get people to shop in your store?

The answer, I believe, is by taking the path less taken. So cliche, right? Yet so few us are willing to try. Believe it or not, when given a choice, an overwhelming majority of us choose the path MOST taken. why?

Comfort I suppose. It’s so much easier to go with the flow than step aside. Because Heaven help you if you step out of line and then you fail! You will be seen as such a loser! Right?

Wrong, if you ask me. But maybe I’m biased. Ever since I was a kid I remember thinking a little bit differently. I was all of 14 when my mother asked me & my bro why we couldn’t be like the “so & so boy” (well-mannered, good grades, you know the drill). I remember telling my mother that if I followed in that kid’s footsteps, the best I could ever do was be behind him, but if I went my own way, there would be no one in front of me.

People stick out in myriad of ways. In 1995, Jaron and I played the most smoking gig of our career up to that point. We opened for a band called Drivin’ N’ Cryin’ in Panama City Beach during spring break! It was amazing. Not only was it a band we absolutely loved, but it was in front of over 2000 people!

After the gig, Jaron and I got a chance to meet the band’s manager, David Preschel. I’ll never forget that guy. Why? Let me tell you why…

He came over and told us we weren’t bad. (You gotta picture Andrew Dice Clay talking, very similar mannerisms). He then handed us his business card and told us to give him a call. It occurred to me at that moment, being the savvy little businessman that I was, to give him one of our newly minted business cards that we made for our band. So I eagerly reached into my pocket and handed David one of our four-color graphic wasted pieces of cardstock. “Here ya go,” I said.

He handed it right back. “Kid, what do I need your card, if you’ve got mine?” Good point, I thought.

As I proceeded to put the card back in my pocket he had a second thought. “You know what,” he said, “gimme the card”.

He took my business card, brought it up to his mouth and proceeded to floss his teeth. A moment later he handed the card back. “Here ya go.”

In that moment, David forced us to have an opinion about him. We were either going to hate this guy for being so rude, or love him for being so hilarious. We chose the later and actually became friends over the years.

But make no mistake, David took a bold chance. And I’m not necessarily advocating such bold chances. David’s actions could have easily resulted in creating two enemies. There’s no telling how many people he’s angered by pulling the same stunt.

The bottom line is, it’s okay to have people pass on you or not like you. They’re entitled to their opinion. But don’t make the mistake of playing every shot safe. Because while that may work in golf, in life it just makes you a another picture in a pile.

Love me or hate me… just don’t forget me.

-Evan Lowenstein

Reading the manual

I never read anything as a kid. It was all about pictures for me. If I couldn’t figure out how to make something work, I’d ASK someone to help. And if that didn’t work, I’d just find something else to play with.

Years later I find myself very different, yet very much the same. I love to read. I have 6 books currently atop my nightstand that I’m “in the middle of”. They span American History to Marketing Trends. Comedy to Self-Help. And I’m not a quitter. I finish nearly every book I start.

But when it comes to manuals, I still don’t have the patience. Take for example the very interesting subject matter the image below depicts. Do you have the patience to read this junk?

A while back, I installed* some timers in place of some of my current light switches in my house. Not only do they deter burglars but they help cut back a ton on electricity. Very green.

After they were installed, they just needed to be programmed. Someone just needed to tell the darn things when to go on and off and on which days. I opened up the little sheet of paper and it unraveled into 16 panels. I freaked.

About a month later, I saw that a neighbor had the same switches. I asked him if it was complicated to do. He said it took him a few minutes to figure out. I went back home and looked at the manual again and nearly fainted.

Two months later, my sister was in town with her fiance. I figured this would be a great opportunity to let him prove himself to me! A little while later, the lights were going on and off at set times. Mission accomplished. And I let her marry the guy. Win-win.

About three weeks later, there was some sort of short and one of them stopped working. Ugh. (Wedding invitations had gone out so it was too late to call it off.) At roughly the same time, someone conveniently spilled coffee on the directions (did I mention they were sitting out on the counter this entire time? 4 months or so).

I finally stared those dripping directions down and realized this was a challenge I was going to have to deal with head on. So I pat dried the directions and began to look them over again. For the first time, I noticed that they were written in 8 different languages and so it was really only 2 pages worth! (And I thought my sister’s fiance was all that.)

I started reading. Things progressed VERY slowly at first. If it were a movie, people would have been asking for refunds after 2 minutes. I was actually contemplating getting a refund for the timers! I really had to get a hold of the ADHD issues and turn off everything else in my head (clearly no small feat).

But then something amazing happened: I started following! And within 10 minutes I had the entire thing figure it out and set. I was so ecstatic that I went and reprogrammed the others too! And then I called At&t to see if they needed anymore technicians. Apparently there were not hiring. Something about a recession.

But who would have thought that a dimmer/timer manual could be so life altering?? Ever since that glorious day a couple months back I have begun to invest 5 real minutes into learning about new things.

That means when I get the new digital camera I commit myself to learning about ONE feature besides zoom and shoot. That means when I come across a new website that looks interesting I read the “about us” or “how to” section and even watch a 2 minute video if they have one. And yes, that means when my kids get a new toy that I have to put together I read the instructions (poor kids’ playhouse is completely against code).

Okay, time for a counter point. If you’re the one taking a new camera to market. Or you’re launching a new website or a creating a new children’s toy, you have a responsibility to make the instructions dumb enough for guys like me! And for the love of steroids, PLEASE use visuals! In the film business we say, “show me, don’t tell me.” With instructions it should be “show me and tell me”.

We cool?

Great. If you don’t mind, I just got a new bag and it actually came with a manual. I’m going to go read about the wonderful benefits of pleather.

-Evan Lowenstein

*had someone else install it.

U need to know BEFORE the data comes out.

Have you ever heard the results of a study and asked yourself why in the heck someone felt the need to even conduct such a study? Something like, three researchers at Oxford University have concluded that child obesity is caused by kids eating more junk food and exercising less.

Really? Is that why?? We needed researchers to conclude that for us?

Okay, to be clear, I actually do understand the need for conducting studies, even ones as obvious as the one stated above. Scientifically speaking it makes sense, but if you’re waiting around for the results of a study about something that appears obvious to you, it’s often too late by the time the study comes out.

People have surmised for years that smoking was bad for you but the concern didn’t become “official” until the results arrived. There are so many things that instinctively make sense without the need for data.

Do you need to wait for a study to show you that you should wear a helmet when you ride a motorcycle? Whether you wear one or not, wouldn’t you think it would be safer to wear one? If you wait until the study shows that it’s 66%** safer to wear a helmet it may be too late.

In business, it’s quite the same. You need to predict trends well before the data proves them. That’s what vision is all about. You want the data to come along and support what you’re doing; not have it come out and then create a business around it.

Take for example this new company I’m working on called HookUP Feed (sorry, it’s all I can think about right now). Back in June ‘08, it occurred to me that consumers might like to have the power to “target” brands instead of it always being the other way around. The data shows that when a brand targets you by offering you a coupon, you will use it .05-6% of the time (depending on how you receive it—via email, text, newspaper, etc).

To me, that’s too low. I’m betting that the % would be much higher if the consumer was actually given the coupon at the very moment he or she searched for that product. For instance, you search for pizza and you’re instantly given a discount (or as I call it, a hookUP) on a pizza joint (or many pizza joints) that are near you.

Now, I haven’t found any data to support my theory, but if you had to guess, do you think people would be more inclined to use a discount for pizza when they’re actually interested in pizza or when they’re surfing the internet and some pizza coupon pops up in front of them?

Go with your gut and don’t wait for the data.

-Evan Lowenstein

**78.4% of all percentages are made up on the spot.

Wants vs Needs

A strange thing is happening in America. For the first time in as far as I can remember, it appears as though we are getting some of our priorities straight.

I was listening to the news in my car recently and there was a local story here in Los Angeles about a program that the Los Angeles County Sheriffs Dept has run the last three years during the holiday shopping season called, Gifts for Guns. (From LA Times: http://tinyurl.com/93qc77 )

People were offered their choice of a $100 gift card to either Best Buy, Target or Ralphs supermarkets for every gun they turned in. This year, they collected nearly 1000 weapons (including 2 hand grenades!), smashing last year’s record of 387.

Clearly the economy had a lot do with record number of people coming forward. There’s no surprise there. But how about in regards to which gift cards were chosen? In the past it has been Best Buy & Target. This year, however, they said an overwhelmingly large majority chose Ralphs.

For years we’ve let our “wants” become our “needs”. Today’s economy is correcting a lot of things. This is one of them. Everywhere you turn it seems people are making smarter personal financial decisions (even “hoods” on the street).

Obviously it would say a lot more if this were a change that was not brought on because of an economic fallout, but I like to give people credit for making the right decisions no matter what the circumstances are. For many this will just be a short term correction, but for the few lucky ones who are able to find happiness in living within their means, they will have found the secret to a life of joy and contentment.

-Evan Lowenstein