Since I was a kid, I’ve loved Looney Tunes cartoons. One I love in particular is The Rabbit of Seville, where Bugs Bunny plays a barber, and his victim is Elmer Fudd.
Bugs throws Elmer into a barber’s chair.
He makes a crown of shaving cream on Elmer’s bald head.
And he starts tossing fruit in there.
(By the way, that’s the way most of us solve problems. We complicate more and more, and toss pears and oranges and a pineapple on top of the mess that’s already there. And at the end, like Bugs, we examine our work… then add another round of shaving cream, and a cherry on top.)
I bring up The Rabbit of Seville because it’s one of the greatest cartoons of all time. And also because it has to do with the idea of cutting.
And that’s a quick but powerful idea I want to share with you. Often, when I am stuck on a project, the best thing I can do is to ask myself:
“What can I cut out and still have the end result come out better and stronger?”
I don’t just roll a few possible answers around my head.
Instead I force myself to write down 10 ideas, even if they are impractical. For example, I am currently building up a niche email newsletter to promote affiliate offers.
I’ve been lagging with it. So today I made a list of 10 things I could cut out. One of them was making sales.
Now that’s a terrible idea. But writing it down gets it out of my head, and makes space for other, maybe better ideas. And who knows, somewhere down the line, even this stupid idea might morph into something totally new and unexpected and great. Like the end of The Rabbit of Seville:
Elmer has an ax and is chasing Bugs.
Then Bugs has a bigger ax and is chasing Elmer.
Next Elmer has a revolver.
Then Bugs has a shotgun.
Elmer has a cannon.
Bugs has a bigger cannon.
Finally Elmer has a huge cannon. And then he screeches to a halt, befuddled.
Because Bugs gives him a bouquet of flowers.
Then a box of chocolates.
Then a diamond ring.
Suddenly, Elmer is wearing a wedding gown.
The two get married. And Bugs carries Elmer up to the rafters of the opera house… and drops him down into a wedding cake.
Bugs nibbles on his carrot. And to end, he says the same thing you can say when you cut down and finally ship your project…
“Nyaah… next!”
Next… is another idea about business, marketing, and copywriting. It arrives in my email newsletter tomorrow. If you’d like to read it, you can join my newsletter here.