today’s picture: a very, very quick sketch of a couple of oregano sitting in a glass, left from a bunch of oregano stalks that I bought the other day for a pizza. I leave them in a glass of water, hoping that they will root. Sometimes, they do.

If they do: Oregano, fresh from the balcony, all summer long!  If they don’t: Ah well, then I will just get a little plant and pay for it. But getting them to root is much more fun! I find it almost amazing how fast -in summer- you end up with a big plant, from a little stem and a little white root sprouting out. With every leave more there comes another root more, and another leave and so on. Social media, or us talking, sort of works the same way. Once an idea roots, it might grow, faster than you’d think, and soon a little idea got bigger and bigger and the bigger it gets the faster it gets bigger.

But then, in a couple of months from now, there will be autumn and the oregano will die, especially if it is going to be a rough winter and if I do not take action to protect it. The same is true for social media, or us talking about something: We get bored and move on.

The other day, I got super bored, on a platform, where I read an article about a new brand. The new brand (good luck to you! ) does not matter here and I try not to talk about other brave ventures on my blog. That would not be fair. And I do not want to talk about THIS particular platform.  You find similar articles on other sites, too. What I found disastrous was the writer’s language,  and the missing reflection about the topic, being a new niche brand: It was a miserable piece of writing, like: really miserable, so over the top, so off, it was praising standard flacons -and other quite solid and standard approaches- as the ultimate in style and authenticity. The article continued to serve all clichés, like: Really ALL  of them. From artisanal, Grasse, concept, poetry, exceptional quality of raw materials, master perfumers, emotions, …. you name it.

It was a pathetic blurb,  a summary of keywords of what we get everyday these days, like an assembly of metadata, perfume metadata. But then, I looked again, printed it out. I feel that there, within these lines, there is the truth about the industry, and the reason why niche dies faster than you’d think.

When I came back from this particular article’s metadata overkill, I said to myself: I really, really need to focus more again on myself, and my forces, and rely less on third parties. Some of them burn themselves, like the objects that they circle, faster than you’d think. Per fumum…

OK, here’s the ultimate truth about my oregano twist and its rooting: being a chemist, and a believer in the power of molecules, I got myself rooting hormone, (4-indol-3-yl-butyric acid) a while ago. Add a bit to the freshly cut stem and it sure helps. The same is true with ideas that need too root. A rooting hormone helps.

The next few days this week see me in the “factory” a lot:  I need to stock up after a crazy week where we “stocked down”. I will also have to prepare for end May’s events. More about this later.

And yes, I will think about rooting hormone analogs for my perfume venture. ….

Fragrant greetings and a nice start into your week. Next post on this blog: Ebitda.