Chicken ala Kindra

In a recent interview Al Ries, noted marketing and public relations expert, was asked what advice he had for aspiring entrepreneurs. His advice: to create something new. Be the first.

He stayed firm on that statement, unwilling to budge no matter how the interviewer tried to guide the remainder of the conversation to not sound SO resolute (and hopeless) for some of the listeners. It is quite possible that Al Ries destroyed the dreams of several young entrepreneurs with that statement; hopeful entrepreneurs who were planning to start a business that was merely a "refresh" of a business that was already in operation.

As a budding entrepreneur myself, I found the statement a little difficult to swallow. I mean, haven't most of the major plot lines already been written -- and any new ones are just "refreshes" of what's already there? Cold Play says to their "you copied me" accusers that there are only SO many notes and therefore only SO many combinations OF those notes. Melodies are bound to sound similar to other melodies but that doesn't mean that they were STOLEN or any less beautiful/important/successful. It is not unreasonable to think that all of the good ideas have been taken, and if that's the case, according to Mr. Crazy Al, entrepreneurs are pretty well screwed.

And then I remembered an experience I had some years ago ... maybe Crazy Al Ries wasn't so off track after all.

----

In the last few days of September 2005, I packed up my belongings into my silver 2003 Pontiac Grand AM, left my parents' house for (I hoped, at least) the last time, and drove myself all the way to Arizona -- the place I have called home ever since. At the end of the third day of the trip I finally arrived at the Aliante Apartment complex. Since I had only seen this apartment online, I had been a little nervous about what it would actually look like. But when Tommy the office guy walked me up to my third floor one bedroom, I knew I was home.

The only thing I didn't like about the apartment was that it was, in fact, one bedroom.

A one bedroom apartment makes one of two statements. Statement A: I live with my significant other and we love each other so much that we prefer one bedroom so that we may live in extremely close quarters from now unto eternity. Statement B: I live by myself with no significant other. Additionally, none of my friends want to live with me (or, "I don't HAVE any friends") otherwise I would have gotten a two bedroom apartment.

Let's just say Statement A didn't apply to me.

I had some ups and downs living by myself in that one bedroom apartment. One particular low was my first run in with a scorpion, another when I met my neighbor on the floor beneath me and he immediately asked me how I would like to divide up the household chores once we were married. Creepy neighbor guy = not good even if he DOES claim to be a surgeon from Harvard. And then, of course, there was the loneliness... (that's a lie, I can keep myself entertained for hours).

The ups however, did outweigh the downs in the end ESPECIALLY because my one bedroom apartment meant I would never have to waste a moment on cooking. That's right, my one bedroom apartment meant that I never had to worry about supplying a satisfying meal for anyone but myself, and for myself Lean Cuisine was satisfying enough. Every night, a different delectable dish that needed no more than 7 minutes maximum in the microwave. Sesame Chicken, Macaroni and Cheese, Lasagna, Three Cheese Ravioli, all perfect for me and my one bedroom apartment.

Then one day, I met a guy. I wanted to impress said guy. Looking back, I think all I would have had to do is tie my shoe in front of him, but I didn't know that at the time. I decided to invite him out to dinner -- but instead of going out to a fancy dinner -- (which I couldn't really do because rent on the one bedroom apartment was a little steep) -- that I. WOULD. COOK.

I have no idea what I was thinking.

It was the day of our date. I knew I was going to have to make something happen. I considered cooking a few Lean Cuisines and putting them in actual dishes ... maybe it would LOOK like home cooking. Unfortunately, I didn't have two of the same kind (and two DIFFERENT home cooked meals might look suspicious). I looked online for a recipe that I might make work. I found one on a site called something like "Even You Can Cook You One Bedroom Loser." It involved chicken, sour cream, rice, apricots, mushroom soup, toothpicks and some other ingredients and spices. I took all of the ingredients I could find out of the spaces in the kitchen I rarely went (meaning anything outside the freezer). Within moments the kitchen was a war-zone. Chicken breasts everywhere, mushroom soup in my hair... it wasn't good. To top it off, I apparently didn't have the right pan (or pot?). It was all a little much for me. I needed a break.

I walked into the living room of my beautiful one bedroom apartment and collapsed on the floor. I grasped for the remote and turned on the television, whether for inspiration or escape it didn't matter. The show with all the women sitting around and yapping was on ... it did well to drown out the voice inside my head saying FAILURE.

On this particular day Cyndie Lauper was the featured guest. Cyndie Lauper has been a household name for decades with songs as memorable as Girl's Just Wanna have Fun, that weird song at the beginning of the Goonies, and of course her famous ballad ... Time After Time.

Time After Time is perhaps one of the most frequently covered songs... covered well, covered six-feet-under. It has graced showers, karaoke bars and has been sung in the vehicles by many a solo traveler across this great country time after time, after time. THIS was a classic, and as it happened I was going to see it LIVE from the woman herself.

The lights dimmed on the set. It was just Cyndie. Just Cyndie and Time After Time. I was about to witness greatness.

As she started to sing, it was everything I thought it we be; the performance of a lifetime. A masterpiece.

... For about the first 17 seconds.

And then, then it sounded strangely ... OFF. I mean, her timing was all over the place, her wording was backwards. It sounded just plain... WEIRD.

I thought to myself, and then started yelling at the screen "Cyndie, you're messing up a song that EVERYONE knows!" People can tell that you're singing it wrong because they've heard it time after time after time. POOR Cyndie Lauper. The only hope for the future of Cyndie's career was that not many people watch that show to begin with ... and that those who do probably don't know how to upload to YouTube...

And then it hit me.

She WROTE the song. She CREATED this masterpiece. She was the first. However SHE sang it was the right way to sing it because when you ARE the original, you earn the right to NEVER do it wrong. Several minutes of Ms. Lauper singing and it became clear that I was listening to the most impressive version of Time After Time I had ever heard before. Though it was a different than what I knew, it was perfect. It was as ONLY Cyndie Lauper could sing it.

In that moment, I knew what I had to do.

The whole problem with my romantic dinner for two was that I was covering someone else's song... I was "covering" someone else's recipe when what I needed was an ORIGINAL.

With my time running slim, I raced to the kitchen, grabbed the rest of the chicken, found some pizza sauce, some canned tomatoes, black olives, and mushrooms. I found some spices in my cupboard that I purchased a while back (not because I knew what they were but because they were on sale for 50 cents) and I hoped that spices didn't go bad. I took a bag of fancy shredded cheddar out of the fridge and threw all of it together in the crock-pot my father had given me when I left home... he knew me better than I thought. I put the crock-pot on high and took three steps back.

I had done it. I was creating a masterpiece. I would call it:

Chicken ala Kindra

And however it turned out, it would be right. It had more chance of success simply BECAUSE it was an original.

I stood there in the kitchen of my one bedroom apartment and I celebrated for a moment. I was victorious. And then I had to get ready for a date that just didn't seem to matter that much anymore.

----

In a recent interview Al Ries was asked what advice he had for aspiring entrepreneurs. His advice: to create something new. Be the first. You may be copied, you'll be covered, you may even become cliche. But in being the original, you earn a certain greatness that can never be replicated.

In business, in music, in life ... Be the first.