Big ideas seem to be everywhere, business to personal, the ideas are plentiful. How many people do you know talking about their dream job, or that book or movie script they want to write, or that product they’ve been thinking about making or that business they’ve been working on?

I’m no different. I’m a wellspring of ideas and I’m constantly receiving ideas from clients, friends, peers, and colleagues. I have journals, folders, hard drive space, blog posts, whiteboards, and sticky notes full of ideas. Thinking Big is not a problem for me. I suspect you feel the same way,

It seems the Thinking Big is easy, maybe too easy.

In fact, we are well trained in this production of ideas. From early childhood request to use our imaginations through school and work life where we are required to brainstorm with peers. To further our comfort with ideas we interpret ideas as both intellectual and inspirational often spawn from the world around us, past experiences, in the moment circumstances and seemingly without effort while listening to music or watching TV or simply being ‘zoned out’. We simply can not escape our ideas, they are a part of us. And as my colleague, Kneale has recently posted http://onemann.blogspot.com/2011/04/big-ideas-big-plans-big-business.html it’s a scary thing to have all these big ideas and the fear of failure weighs heavy on us.

The dark side of big ideas is fear.

It seems that thinking big has an ugly side, an often unspoken side, a dark side. With every good idea, immediately coupled with it is the dark side of that big idea, the big fear. A fear of failure, a fear of being seen incompetent, a fear of being evaluated or criticized by friends, spouse, and coworkers. Wow, what baggage.

No wonder we keep talking about our ideas and not acting on them. So long as they stay ideas, you and everyone else can treasure them, you can continue to declare yourself a genius, and you can rest comfortably knowing there really is no pressure to deliver the idea – to do the idea, to take action.

Many of us know what we are afraid of and how to deal with it, However, many great ideas never get acted on because we do not acknowledge the fear that comes from those ideas. What’s worse, is the answer to these fears is quite simple. Give yourself permission to fail and take action. Don’t feed the dark side of your big ideas.

Go, make your ideas happen. Take action and see your big ideas become a reality.

On September 1st, 2010 Workface Inc acquired Card.ly, a user-friendly virtual business card service. The plan is to roll Card.ly into BusinessCard2 by October 2010. As it happens, just weeks prior to finding out about the acquisition I had stumbled upon and signed up to Card.ly and created my own digital business card.

Now more than ever we should be thinking about our personal brand, our contact information, and tools that make us more accessible to others. I think BusinessCard2 and Card.ly do exactly that. Thinking about this for a moment, I reached out to Lief Larson, President of Workface Inc which is responsible for the acquisition to ask a few questions regarding the acquisition.

1) What attracted you to card.ly and how will BusinessCard2 benefit from this rollup?

We created an interactive business card for the internet in 2006, and broke it off as a stand alone service in 2007. We’ve been monitoring cool products and potential competitors for some time, and card.ly caught our eye when they launched in 2009. Dan at Harkness Labs (creator of card.ly) did something really good with the service, but I think he understood how driven we are to power the business card of the web. We closed on the the acquisition on 8/31/10. The benefit to us is getting to tap into all the incredible users of card.ly. As we roll card.ly into BusinessCard2 we’ve just gained access to thousands of product engineers. Around our office our users and customers have always been our greatest innovators. Already we’ve had more than 100 emails from card.ly users with ideas and suggestion on what they like to see in an internet business card, so the benefits for us started immediately.

2) What’s the big insight you wish more people understood about their online presence / online contacts?

There is opportunity in creating and controlling our own personal brand and being digitally accessible on the web. Doing so can connect you with new friends, customer prospects, employers and others. The business card has existed for several hundreds years in the real world. It’s the world’s tiniest billboard. The same sharing, openness and etiquette that constitutes the spirit of the business card has been missing from the web. Our mission is to connect people in meaningful 1:1 relationships online in a way that preserves the human condition.

3) What does BusinessCard2 do that is special and unique?

BusinessCard2 is networking without walls. You do not need to have a card or log in to a website to view a BusinessCard2. You do not need to have a prior relationship with the owner of a BusinessCard2 to learn more about them. It’s incredibly transparent. In addition, when you have your own BusinessCard2 you can digitally share it with others. I like to think it’s a very polite way of breaking the ice or putting your best foot forward.

4) What are your thoughts on integration, api’s, and services like Facebook connect as it relates to your product/service?

I’m a heavy user of LinkedIn and Facebook. Although I use both, BusinessCard2 has a distinct role not offered by either service. Facebook is where I talk with friends and family, LinkedIn is where I replicate my real world business contacts, but BusinessCard2 is where I tell the world who I am and invite people I don’t yet know to engage me. I think this is an open vs. walled garden scenario.

Facebook connect helps web services to tap into my personal data. I for one am not a big fan of that. I like to keep at list some level of distinction between my personal and professionals lives. So, any comparison to connect and BusinessCard2 is apples vs. oranges. BusinessCard2 does have a portability piece. One unique feature of the technology is that on BusinessCard2-enabled websites you can digitally drop your business card without any software downloads or browser plug-ins. Your BusinessCard2 is detected to exist, and so long as the website accepts BusinessCard2, you can leave your calling card on that site or even shares cards with others. In short, we’ve tried to duplicate the way business cards are shared in the real world, but on the web.

5) How can people learn more about your company and services?

The best way is to visit http://businesscard2.com. We have a strong base of information about how BusinessCard2 works at http://businesscard2.com/learn-more. You can find a comprehensive inventory of features and benefits at http://businesscard2.com/solutions. You can find the role BusinessCard2 plays in your personal branding and marketing at http://businesscard2.com/marketing. And, there is gallery of videos available at http://businesscard2.com/solutions/how-to-use-the-card-videos.

Lief C. Larson, Workface Inc.
My Internet Business Card: http://lieflarson.businesscard2.com
Friend on Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/BusinessCard2
Read the Blog: http://businesscard2.wordpress.com
Follow on Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/businesscard2
Watch some vids: http://www.youtube.com/user/BusinessCard2Videos#g/u
Call Me: (612) 310-5051
Fax Me: (866) 793-7317

Create your own internet business card at BusinessCard2.com.
The World’s First, Largest, and Undisputed Champion of Web-Enabled Business Cards.

The power of positive thinking – you’ve heard that before, right? What about the power of positive interaction?

Now more than ever we can create and share in conversations in ways that were never possible before the internet. But what do you bring to the conversation? Is it really a contribution? Is it meaningful? Is it positive? Consider the Theory of the Dipper and the Bucket for a moment.

The Theory of the Dipper and the Bucket

Each of us has an invisible bucket. It is constantly emptied or filled, depending on what others say or do to us. When our bucket is full, we feel great. When it’s empty, we feel awful.

Each of us also has an invisible dipper. When we use that dipper to fill other people’s buckets — by saying or doing things to increase their positive emotions — we also fill our own bucket. But when we use that dipper to dip from others’ buckets — by saying or doing things that decrease their positive emotions — we diminish ourselves.

Like the cup that runneth over, a full bucket gives us a positive outlook and renewed energy. Every drop in that bucket makes us stronger and more optimistic.

But an empty bucket poisons our outlook, saps our energy, and undermines our will. That’s why every time someone dips from our bucket, it hurts us.

So we face a choice every moment of every day: We can fill one another’s buckets, or we can dip from them. It’s an important choice — one that profoundly influences our relationships, productivity, health, and happiness.

As conversations become easier to start with tools like Facebook and Twitter consider too, how easy it is to add to or take from someone’s bucket and how that impacts your personal and emotional self (not to mention your personal brand).

The Theory of the Dipper and the Bucket is the foundation for the book “How Full Is Your Bucket”. I’ve mentioned this book in earlier posts and highly recommend it. Put the power of positive interaction in action immediately.

You can purchase this book by following my affiliate link here:

While at SOBcon in Chicago, I was talking about project management with the folks at my mastermind table and I went on a quick riff about how I essentially project manage all my projects from book publishing to website launches and marketing plans to business plans and nearly everything in-between.

The discussion was quick, but it’s a great topic to elaborate on.

This article is about project management and includes:

1. A video on what I believe makes a great project manager
2. A basic outline of what a project manager does
3. A few resources to really dig deep and learn about project management processes

This article is based on the past 15 years of launching websites, books, newspapers, magazines, and managing video and photography shoots as well as the management of advertising campaigns among other things link events, business plans, marketing plans.

NOTE: I am not a “Project Manager” by title.  I consider myself to be a Champion for the project and if you are trying to turn ideas or projects into a reality, you should be a Champion too.

This (almost) short video opens up on some of my fundamental ideas on Project Management and sets the tone well for the rest of this article. Watch it to learn about my thoughts on Human Capital.

What Makes a Great Project Manager from Justin McCullough on Vimeo.

In the video, that was not a direct quote from Seth Godin. In Linchpin, Purple Cow, Free Prize Inside (affiliate links) and his blog he talks about championing projects and shipping and I guess I just wanted to name drop

10 Things Great Project Managers Do:

1 – Champions the project.
This includes accepting the responsibility of success or failure of the project from the very beginning. Accept the responsibility right off the bat because you’ll be the first one blamed for it if there are problems or failure, so may as well own it from the start so its easier for you to deal with.

2 – Facilitates communication and becomes the info hub.
You will always be the center of the communication for all internal and external constituents.  Use good judgment and common sense in your communication, maintain a “can do” attitude and always be the first to check in or follow up.  Always be the keeper of current information and share it freely. It helps people understand what you are about and if you offer to help, not just criticize or enforce objectives, you’ll be a friend and ally to the project.

3 – Defines, interprets and shares expectations. Often.
Even the best and most talented minds can be paralyzed if they are unclear on expectations.  This includes responsibilities, process, timeline, tasks, deliverables, budget and PAYMENT for services.  Some of the biggest issues I’ve ever had with experts on a project have stemmed from their incorrect assumptions on when they would get paid or the intent of the project all because I trusted “they were the expert and would know what was expected”.  Appreciate the expertise, but honor the client and the project by clarifying the details and setting expectations.  Those connected to the project will appreciate you for it and know that you run a tight operation that sets the project on the path of success. We all want expectations, so give them.

4 – Asks questions and is not a no-it-all.
Great project managers don’t know the in’s and out’s of every job required to complete the project, but they do know the people involved know their job.  Great project managers ask the right “why” and “how” questions often in order to uncover real issues, real deliverables, real expectations etc.  The why and how aren’t asked so you can learn to do their job, they are asked so you can learn how they see themselves fitting their jobs into the project on time and on budget.  This is a key part of understanding the work to be done as well as the expectations or challenges of the people involved in the project.

5 – Knows the steps, what’s next, and where things are going.
To successfully champion any project you must always be aware of the deliverables, milestones, tasks and pinch-points or bottlenecks in the project.  While you might think “everyone” understands how important the project (the client, the budget etc) is, none of them will be married to the entire project end-to-end like you are, so always know who’s doing what, when, where, why, how and then what’s next.  When in doubt, remember that you are the map and if you don’t know what’s next it’s likely to cause a pinch-point that will cost time and money. Be the map and know what’s next.

6 – Inspects what is expected.
Plotting dates, budgets, milestones and tasks are essential.  Large projects will have many items – enough to warrant project management software, but regardless of size, the tools you use, great project managers inspect what they expect.  The tighter the project is on time and budget, the closer you have to be with your follow-up (inspection).  See, follow-up is a nice way to say it, so follow-up often.

7 – Eternally represents the solution not the problem.
The best project managers internalize the issues and problems and determine next steps and solutions to the problems. As a champion of the project it’s your place to find the solution proactively and keep the project moving forward.  It’s nice when it happens, but never assume someone else will jump in with a solution to bail you out. Again, you are the champion of the project so it is you who represents the solution so always represent that solution so the project can be completed.

8 – Owns the bad news, shares the good news.
Great project managers take the punches and share the successes.  That’s just the way it works so don’t throw your vendors, partners and employees under the bus to save face.  Always own the bad news personally and share what you are doing to fix it. And by all means, celebrate every victory, every win, everything good with the ones who did it – never take the credit for yourself.

9 – Cares.
Great project managers care about the client, the people involved, the project and it’s success.  If you care, it will be obvious.  If you don’t care, it will be obvious too.  When you care it’s much easier to get results.

10 – Knows how to ship.
You must be results oriented and the best project managers help things get unstuck and ship. Everything ships including the final project. Ship on time (or early) on budget (or under budget) and you’ll have a winning project and a remarkably important role in your organization, your ideas, and your success. Focus on shipping and you’ll do great.

Learn More About Project Management and the Process.

I personally try not to use project management software and I have never received formal training in project management which means there are a lot more skilled project managers (as in skilled in the craft, the software, and the formal process) than I am.

However, I have launched about 200 websites, several newspapers and magazines, several books and many many many advertising initiatives that have all gone well without project management software or certification as a project manager. I think you can too.  This is one area where a desire to succeed and learn means you don’t need to be certified in order to be great at it.

In my experience, most clients don’t care how you deliver on their goals and objectives. They only care that you meet and exceed their goals and objectives. In my opinion that’s all that matters too.  My hope is that this article will help you understand the core aspects required to champion a project and become a great project manager.

If you want to dig deeper into the formal processes of project management, here’s some good content to sink your teeth into.

• 11 Things Every New Project Manager Should Know
• 20 Things Every Project Manager Should Know and Do
• Wikipedia definition of Project Management
• Project Management 101
• Top 10 Qualities of a Project Manager
• The SCRUM Process
• The Stage-Gate Model
• The Waterfall Model

My personal methods are something of a mashup between the Agile Method and 37 Signals approach mixed with SCRUM and Stage-Gate processes.  These techniques have been folded in over the last 8 years or so, but prior to that I was literally just learning as I went and still delivering so don’t get tied up on ingesting all this at once.

Good luck on your project management efforts and don’t hesitate to share your experiences or ask for help.

Miss Destructo!!

A streak of blue blur zips past you. “Holy molten yam showers, it’s Miss Destucto” you think to yourself, “we’re all safe now!”

After watching Miss Destructo’s impact on 4/16, also known as “Four Square Day” and seeing her meteoric rise within Social Media, I fully expect Miss Destructo to be a respected and in demand figure in the shaping of the future of social media.

Miss Destructo’s story is an interesting one of unemployment, a passion for yams, and energy, lots of energy.  I first learned of Amber a few months ago thanks to Trey Pennington’s post and audio interview on how Amber got a job in this stinky economy.  Listen to her Yam-tastic story or watch her tell it herself on video, or read the yampossible blog post here.

As you can see, yams are a bit more popular today than they were a year ago when she first started tweeting about it!  In the last three months, @brucesyams has grown from 61 followers to 368 followers as of today.  Not bad for a can of yams!

What Miss Destructo Does (that you can do too).

• Lives out-loud and in-front of people
• Connects individually one-on-one
• Follows her passion and heart
• Says “yes” to opportunities, PR, and projects
• Shows up, every day, even when its bad weather (emotionally)
• Continues to learn, grow and share
• Helps others

Thanks for being you Amber, I hope others follow your path and change the world by 2012.

Ok, so in all fairness, the title should probably be:

Online Campaign – How Blue Sky Factory, Chris Brogan and Christopher S. Penn nearly got it right, but failed in my case and how everything here can make your next sales push a success.

But that title is just too long.

We all make mistakes and sometimes, the mistake is farther down the chain than we realize or have control over.

I believe that is precisely what happened in my case.  And IF it happened to more people than just me, you can bet the good guys: Blue Sky Factory, Chris Brogan, and CS Penn are holding the bag – their fault or not.

This is a detailed look at trust, marketing, and execution on an online sales push from some of the biggest names in Social Media – the good and the bad and how you can learn and apply this to your sales and marketing efforts.

Follow every bit of this through (except the last part) and you will succeed in your next email sales push. The sections I call “What’s Happening Here” should provide the key elements for you to model in your online campaign and sales efforts.

Nearly everything here is actually a success story other than the fifth area below.

First – Chris Brogan eNewsletter

Subject line of email from Chris: “Email marketing and the folks at Blue Sky Factory”

This is a great little sales piece from Chris.  It clearly identifies his role in the email, why I (we) received it and who it benefits and why.  On top of that, a nice bit of positioning and display of influence by offering an exclusive ebook download and discount to use Blue Sky Factory as a benefit to loyalty with Chris.  Well done.  This is the right sort of email marketing and who would expect less from Chris?

What’s Happening Here:

1)  Chris leverages his list of readers, his name, and his promise to help others in exchange for our attention in the trusted environment of his newsletter.

2) Chris offers value with an informative eBook and a nice discount if you use Blue Sky Factory for email marketing services.

3)  Chris gives clear calls to action if you are interested in either the eBook or professional services of Blue Sky Factory.

4)  Blue Sky Factory gets great promotion, visibility, and an opportunity to grow their email marketing list via the eBook link and an opportunity to make sales (which I’m sure they did).

5)  It’s understood Chris gets something from Blue Sky Factory for the effort (obviously).

This entire sales push is based on the value of Chris; his audience, and his usage of the Blue Sky Factory services, and his brand promise.

All this is very good marketing, strategically and tactically.

Second – Blue Sky Factory eBook Offer Web Page

Title of Page: Blue Sky Factory presents: The Ultimate Guide to Email

The offer page from Blue Sky Factory is a wonderful sales page that explains the value of the eBook, who will benefit from reading it. (I downloaded the ebook and would explain the value of the content, but Acrobat says its damaged and wont open – so I’m not sure, but I assume it’s high value content). In true Hubspot fashion, you have to complete a lead generation form to gain access to the ebook.  Give up some information about you including email marketing volume and a clear message to indicate how you would like to be sold to.  Well done.  Of course, you expect that a sales push from Chris is going to be this well done.

What’s Happening Here:

1)  Offering value to Chris Brogan’s audience as a thank you for responding to his sales message.

2)  Lead generation. Lots of lead generation from the Blue Sky Factory.  Each email they get could turn into cash and lots of cash if people convert and use the service.

3)  Trust Building.  Thanks to Chris’s endorsement, there is little resistance to the lead generation form and Blue Sky Factory gets trusted implicitly as a result.

This sales and lead generation page is well done. Excellent response items and a clear way to identify the person responding and how to sell to them.  Excellent execution.

Blue Sky Factory undoubtedly grew their permission marketing list and prospect list quite a bit.  So far, Chris Brogan, Blue Sky Factory and the reader (prospects) are all winning.

Third – Christopher S Penn Follow Up and Thank You Email.

Subject line of email from CS Penn: “Thank you for downloading the Ultimate Guide to Email!”

This well thought out and drafted email from Chris S Penn clearly identifies his role at Blue Sky Factory, an oddity with the eBook and how to fix it, and sets a clear expectation to expect follow up from a Blue Sky Factory sales rep.  Excellent writing, not pushy, and relevant.  Very well done.

What’s Happening Here:

1)  Immediately touching you as a result of the free eBook offer to personally tie the prospect to the company and to the next step in the sales process.  You have to create the connection with the prospect or your lead gen form and recipient become a number with no personal contact other than the eBook.

2)  Enhancing CS Penn’s personal brand and connection to Blue Sky Factory (if you didn’t already know) allowing him to leverage Chris Brogan’s relationship with us and give him personal access to us – should he choose to do so.

3)  Clearly setting an expectation to be contacted by a sales rep from Blue Sky Factory.

This is a great ‘next step’ item from Blue Sky Factory to move you further down the sales funnel.  And this is all happening more or less on autopilot because it was pre-planned, pre-written, and all the touch points plotted and setup.  Awesome execution of funnel building. Note, the email included sales reps names, company phone number, company website and CS Penns email.  Completely transparent communication here.  Also note, so far there is no “we are the best”, “hundreds of people use us and love us”, “act now, limited time offer, buy buy buy” messages in this email or the sales page or Chris Brogans eNewsletter.

Fourth – Blue Sky Factory Sales Rep Follow Up and Call to Action Email.

Subject line of email from Sales Rep: “Blue Sky Factory / Publicaster Information”

Now, after three touches with the Blue Sky Factory brand, this is the first somewhat typical sales message. It includes a brief message of thanks for my interest as well as various links to the Blue Sky Factory website and more information on their products.  All pretty standard “learn more about us” type information.  Also included is acknowledgment that the sales rep is indeed interested in talking to me about my interest in their product and asks when we can connect to discuss. Presumably the rep has seen all my information from completing the lead gen form on the eBook page, where I actually listed several questions and areas of interest.  However, the rep does not actually directly speak to those items I indicated so I’m not sure if that information is known at this point.  I am provided links to review and a phone number to call.

What’s Happening Here:

1)  Providing more information on Blue Sky Factory and products.  Which move me further along the funnel as I learn and understand more about their services.

2)  Clearly identified the interest to speak to me, learn about my needs, and ideally sell me something.

This email had a lot to review – too much in my opinion and did not specifically speak to my questions from the lead gen form on the eBook page.  This is not particularly bad, just worth noting as an area of possible opportunity on their side.  Again, this email does not have any swanky sales messages “buy now” offers or promises.  It clearly is a request to learn more from me and offer me ways to learn more about them should I decide to follow all the provided links…. Again too many links in this email, so I didn’t look at any of them. However, I did make a note to call the rep as requested.

Fifth – My Call to the Sales Rep

WHO WAS JUST FIRED.

So, now the breakdown. The kink in the chain.  The plot twist.

After all this excellent marketing, a truly well thought out campaign with many pieces of communication and undoubtedly tons of energy and time and at the expense of Chris Brogan’s name and list, the whole thing comes to a faltering halt – at least for me – all because the sales rep had just been terminated.

How much sense does this make? How many people experienced this? 2 (I count as one of them)? 20? 500?… I don’t know, but it goes to show how you can do all the things right to build the funnel, build interest and momentum, and drop-the-ball when it matters most.

The sales rep was professional despite the situation and did give me a phone number to call (which I already had from CS Penn’s email).  The problem though, is that I’m spent for the moment.

The one-shot opportunity the campaign was all about has come and gone.  My emotional well of interest, trust, and value has drained.  Not completely, but certainly no longer full enough for action.

Why did the Blue Sky Factory management team do this? I mean, either fire the person before the push so they are not a link the chain, or wait till after the push to utilize their role in the campaign and at least move the prospects deeper into the funnel and then strategically migrate those accounts.  But do it in the middle of the push? Crazy.

It should be noted that I got Chris Brogan’s Initial email (first step above) and called the sales rep (fifth step above) all within the same business day.  It’s not like I hesitated in my response and drug out my actions over weeks.  We are talking just a few hours here.

The Result:

1)  Lost confidence in Blue Sky Factory and it’s product – their fault or not, no matter, its happened (for me at least).

2)  A mental note registered against CS Penn and Chris Brogan – one that will either be dismissed as a non-incident and no real risk, or one that will fester and grow over time depending on my future experiences.

3)  Lost conversions.  For every prospect this sales rep is associated with is now costing Blue Sky Factory with little hope of the original ROI goals.

The Praise:

I’m sure its understood by now, but I switch gears through out this post between affected prospect and marketer…

1)  Excellent execution on the front part of the funnel from Brogan’s email, through the creation and leveraging of a valuable eBook and to the positioning of the sale from CS Penn.

2)  Remarkably well written sales messages that were not too pushy, did not have false promises, and effectively moved prospects through the funnel of conversion.

3)  Great timing.  Each follow up piece was appropriately timed and deepend the desire to act since it was timely and appropriately messaged.

This was a 98% perfect campaign, but the last 2% is where it failed.

How Blue Sky Factory, Brogan and Penn Should Fix This:

1)  Acknowledge it.  No excuses, just acknowledge it happened – don’t act as if it didn’t happen and don’t make it about me.  It may not be “your” fault, but that’s the burden of leadership. So own it and work with it.

2)  Communicate.  Maintain the same transparency and authenticity of the earlier messages and emails and reach out to each and every one of the people who got contacted by the terminated sales rep.

3)  Care. Show you think my interest is important and that the situation doesn’t define our budding relationship.

4)  Be Trustworthy.  Make every effort to regain the trust you had at the beginning and make it right, make it remarkable, make it deeply valuable.  This is your opportunity to win despite the written off and implied loss of this experience.

5)  Bring me back into the fold and remind me why I was interested and taking action to begin with.

An upset customer has the capacity to be a great customer.  Don’t loose sight of your efforts to get me here and jump in now and salvage all those interested people before it’s too late.

Conclusion:

This was a well planned campaign and you marketers out there should follow these points all the way through. Just don’t fire your sales rep in the middle of it and you should have stellar results!

Disclosure:
I personally like Chris Brogan (we chatted a bit at this years SXSW in Austin Tx and he has RT’d my blog before), and I like CS Penn and I also intend to get to know Blue Sky Factory and still see if there is a fit.  I follow all three on twitter and value their contribution to social media and marketing 2.o.

My hope is that this shines a light on effective marketing, how it can breakdown, and what we can all learn from it… And, I don’t blame any of the mentioned people – just acknowledge that they have ownership in the process and outcome.

While I was at SXSW in Austin I met Michael Procopio, a great guy who is leading the Social Media team of one of the top computer and software makers in the country.  We both sat in on this panel discussion with about 150 others and decided to co-author a blog on this exciting discussion.

“Blogger to Expert to Professional Speaker” by Michael Procopio and Justin McCullough.

We were at the SXSW Interactive session – From Blogger to Social Media Guru to Professional Speaker given by Nick Morgan (@nfrodom1) and Tim Sanders (@sanderssays). With a packed room, in a panel style layout with Nick and Tim in the center of the room rotating as they talked, we were given a behind-the-scenes look inside the professional speaking industry.

Tim became a speaker while at Yahoo! Nick is a speaker, author and Tim’s coach. Tim said Nick took him from ~$10,000 per talk to the next level. Turns out “the next level” is a bit more than a step away.  Throughout the discussion, we learned how to go from a $2,000 speaker to a $10,000 speaker and up to $35,000 and beyond.

Tim lead off the discussion by saying, when it comes to speaking, in his opinion there is only one book to read: “Give your speech and change the world” by Nick Morgan
People want a speaker to move an audience to action, which means an emotional topic or talk.

How do you make the journey from blogger to social media expert to professional speaker? That was the discussion. Professional speaker, in this case, is tear 3 or tier 2. By example tier 1 would be former President Bill Clinton or comedian Jerry Seinfeld.

Tier 3 starts at $3500 and up for a one-hour talk. How do you get there? According to Nick and Tim, first write a book published by a major publisher, self-publishing unfortunately doesn’t count. Tim wrote Love Is the Killer App: How to Win Business and Influence Friends. If you don’t have a book, expect to be limited to ~$2000 per talk.

To get the major publisher, you must follow the rules of publishing and Tim recommends reading and following the advice of Jeff Herman in his book “Write the Perfect Book Proposal”.

There are two types of books that lead to professional speaking opportunities:

• You did something successful and write about how you did it, even if it creates competitors
• Niche – everything you know is wrong, here is what’s right.

Tim urges us to not write another “duh” book that tells us what we already know.  Make yourself and your content outstanding – that’s what it takes to go pro.

Tim is all about actionable content. The gem for me was the answer to the question: “How do I go from speaking for free to getting paid”. Tim gave two points:

• When asked will you speak at our event you first statement is, “My standard fee is x thousand dollars”
• If the ‘will you do it for free’ topic comes up say, “I’d be happy to do this pro bono, just put it in writing that no one else is being paid to speak”.

For the second statement, Tim said you’ll probably hear a bit of silence on the phone and then they will give you a number and you can negotiate from there. He enforced the point saying, “don’t let them disrespect you” and gave an example of the huge dollars an event planner has to work with. In many cases, the large events cost and generate millions of dollars, so your speaker’s fee is really just a small portion of the overall expense. Many times, the event coordinators are just trying to leverage the event and get you for free or as cheaply as possible.  Tim illustrated the point where a planner told him they wanted three free speakers so they could pay the keynote speaker more.

Are you an opening or closing keynote or a panel speaker? That’s the question you have to answer.  Tim and Nick discussed the fact that pro speakers, the ones who make the big dollars, are the openers and the closers of the event. Interestingly, a panel speaker is valued around $5,000 – $8,000 for the hour where as the keynote may be $10,000 or more.  As a point of reference, Tim mentioned that his fee is around $25,000 for a 1-hour gig and comparatively, Malcolm Gladwell, bestselling author of “the Tipping Point”, “Blink” and “Outliers” is currently charging $86,000 for a speech.

His next point to becoming a pro speaker is to treat speaking bureaus like gold. When you get the speaking engagement above, look up your nearest speaking bureau and take the deal to their office personally. They will get ~25% commission but they will love you and give you more work. Also NEVER accept a job directly, ALWAYS take it to your bureau. Go around the bureaus and they will stop giving you work.

One note about speaking bureaus, their job is to deliver the best presenter, the safest bet, and the best results to organizations requesting a speaker.  If you use profanity or go into inappropriate areas during your presentation, you will most likely be cut from future gigs through the bureau.  In this context, you must package yourself as a safe and reliable purchase.

Money is great to get but you must earn it. First practice, practice, practice including the day of the presentation in front of a mirror. If you screw up once you won’t get any more work from the bureaus, he had examples of well-known people who are struggling to get speaking engagements because of off-hand comments and in one case, slipping the “f” word just one time.

You need to create a brand, that is, a promise of what you will deliver. Once you have your niche or unique topic you must package yourself.  Ask yourself, “what do I stand for”, “what do I represent” and own it.  This means you, personally, may sacrifice how you dress, how you speak, the words you use, and which of your opinions you share.  He talked about how the simple fact of long sideburns cost him $10,000 on each speaking gig because he just didn’t realize it was devaluing him in the bureaus mind.  Tim, as it turns out, once was in a rock band and had long hair in addition to those long sideburns so he has gone through quite a metamorphosis to become the pro speaker he is today. In addition to his appearance, Tim has also removed religion and politics from his areas of discussion – because it doesn’t fit his personal brand, his promise to deliver and he can’t afford to talk about things outside of his personal brand since he understands why the speakers bureaus are hiring him.

Also, create a professional DVD about 20 minutes of you speaking. The short clips are ok, but anyone who is interested wants to see continuous footage so they know what you are like, not just the best clips you have of yourself. One inexpensive way to do this is ask if the venue has IMAG projection, then give the director a $100 Amazon gift card or similar to give you a DV cam master. [Most large corporate events are recorded.] Hire a photographer [Craigslist.org was suggested to get a bargain price] to shoot the audience to get picture of people reacting to what you are saying.

How do you get the first gig? Use your social media network. Probably no one in your network will have a gig, but his or her network probably will.

The Quick Points:

• Get a publishing deal (based on niche topic or unique experience)
• Create a personal brand and promise to deliver it
• Have a DVD and website that shows your on-stage performance
• Offer high value content, no “duh, we already know that” material
• Ask for a fee that matches your role (Opener, Closer, Keynote or Panel)
• Always work your gigs through the speakers bureau
• Don’t be taken advantage of by “free” gigs
• Practice your speech, take it seriously, always improve your performance

Give your best at every gig; you can’t afford to have an off day.

Related items:

• Nick’s blog
• Tim’s blog
• Escape from Cubicle Nation: From Corporate Prisoner to Thriving Entrepreneur, Pam Slim

One of my business boundary pushing colleagues, Jason Kellie, recently brought up a few thoughts on “books” and “reading” on his blog.

Jason wants to know a few things:

You can see Jason’s answers to those three points on his blog Idea2Opportunity.com.

Jason and I tweet to each other daily, swap emails weekly, and skype occasionally. I respect Jason for his entrepreneurial ways and his willingness to act on his thoughts. He is business savvy, has a record of success, and fearless when it comes to exploring new territory. He also started an awesome CD / DVD company called DittoBite where you can print short-run or just one disk for about $1 and I think that business fits well with the growth in consumer production where “everyone” is now a producer. Jason is also a Linchpin and one of the earliest members of The Linchpin Way community.

Jason, here are your answers…

As I’ve mentioned in other blog posts, I believe in reading books. I’m a big reader and shared my 2009 book list as well as my first load of books to read for this year.

Why I read books:

Inspiration

I read books with an open mind so it’s easy to be inspired when the information is let in freely. For me, books inspire me to create, experiment, contemplate, and go somewhere I may not have gone before. Books like Linchpin inspire me to act.

Personal Growth

I want to grow personally and books allow me to learn the truest lessons of the author. Think about that. A book is typically the cream that rises to the top in the author’s mind and you get it just by reading what may have taken them years to ascertain. Talk about short cuts to personal development.

Mentoring

As a mentor, it’s my responsibility to learn, stretch and grow so I can take information and teach others. No new information, no new teaching. Every book I read becomes useful to a future lesson I have not yet shared. Books like Marketing 2.0 inspire me to teach social media for business where as books like All Marketers are Liars inspire me to grow the potential of every marketer and business owner.

Leadership

The only way to see around corners and through walls is to have unexpected insight that most do not have. As a leader, the books I read coupled with my own real life experience allow me to see around corners, develop a broader worldview, and see trends, cycles and patterns that others don’t see because they don’t have the incoming data points to connect. Books like the Long Tail and Tipping Point allow me to better define the “why” behind the “what” and because I know to look for it – I see it when others don’t.

Attention

Yep, I said it. I read books for attention… Well I mean, I read books for the nuggets that are repeatable, easy to share and interesting. I read books for the story-telling value, the ability for me to have unexpected connections to conversations and ideas with other people. No-one likes a no-it-all, but everyone loves a good story (and the story-teller). Books keep me full of good stories to tell.

My reading process:

I have several books I am reading at a given time. As few as three and as many as six. I have my “clutch” book, the one I’m committed to reading the fastest. Then I have my “in progress” books that I want to read, but don’t have a mental timeline in mind. Then I have my “fluff” book that is my time away book (I treat this book like TV time – its entertainment). Then I have my “travel” book which is an audio book in my truck and instead of talk radio or music, I listen to an audio book – even if I’ve heard it already.

I read my clutch book about 20 – 30 minutes daily. I typically read from my in progress books about 5 – 10 minutes daily. I read my fluff book when the moment feels right which is usually a few times a week for about 20 minutes. My travel book is the duration of my road trip so usually at least 30 minutes.

Right now, I am reading 6 books as described above. Also, not that it matters, but I always read two pages at least and when I stop, I always stop on the left page at the first noticeable break or paragraph end so I know where to pick up later. Yes, I am a dork.

Justin’s Top 5 Books

This is tricky and it’s possible if you asked me at a later date I may not select the same books. I have intentionally not included spiritual books that are indeed on my top list.

1. The Richest Man in Babylon by George S Clason – Ground Zero for understanding personal finances.
2. The Greatest Salesman in the World by Og Mandino – We are all salesmen and this book is paramount for integrity based selling.
3. How Full is your Bucket by Tom Rath and Donald O Clifton – Truly understand why and how positive interaction will change your life and those around you (it’s a lifestyle).
4. Linchpin by Seth Godin – Own your life and live it fully. Your art is a gift, do the work that matters, don’t be a cog in the system.
5. Purple Cow by Seth Godin – Success follows things that are remarkable. Be remarkable.

What are your Top 5 Books? Tell me below and don’t forget to tell Jason on his blog.

Marketing 2.0 by Bernie Borges

A book review and 9 responses from Bernie Borges on  “Marketing 2.0″ – Bridging the gap between seller and buyer through social media marketing.

Before diving into the interview, first a bit about Bernie Borges and why I think Marketing 2.0 is a great book for any business interested in online growth.

Bernie’s twitter profile reads:  “Author of Marketing 2.0, Social Media Evangelist, Inbound Marketing Agency CEO, Blogger, Podcaster, Speaker, and Entrepreneur”.

From what I can tell, Bernie is not a geek, gearhead, computer nerd, or software engineer, he is a regular business guy working with regular businesses to produce irregular results online.  The sort of results most businesses think are impossible to repeat in their situation. What these business don’t understand is that they can achieve the same success if only they shift to a Marketing 2.0 mindset.

So, if you are a business struggling to embrace the social web, struggling to understand what web 2.0 is all about and how inbound marketing can work for you, then Marketing 2.0 is probably the only book you need to read to get started.

Where as most books educate on specific elements, terms and definitions, Bernie’s book also provides context, logical reasons and actionable information to truly embrace the concepts in your real world situation.  You will have many “ah ha” moments as you see the “why” that is often hidden behind the “what” you may already be familiar with.

In my opinion as a marketer and player in this space, I feel this book is the first book a business should purchase to build their web integrated marketing foundation.  Starting here, with a Marketing 2.0 mindset, will allow all other things to fall into place.  It is exactly this reason that I decided to write this post and interview Bernie.

So, on to the interview.

1) You describe much more than social media in this book.  Why did you take such a holistic approach to marketing?

I originally had another title for the book that pertained to social media. I realized as I was writing the book that it was about marketing as a new mindset. The book is broader than social media, though I focus on explaining how to use social media in a 2.0 marketing mindset.

2) Why are companies struggling to embrace the Marketing 2.0 mindset?

Because they don’t view marketing 2.0 as a mindset. Many marketers still have a 1.0 mindset applied to the new tools on the social web. Without the mindset they won’t get good results.

3) I enjoyed Mike Volpe’s contribution to the Foreward of Marketing 2.0.  As the front runner for Hubspot, what types of people do you think he recommends this book to and why?

Mike wrote a terrific foreword for which I’m very grateful. He recommends the book to social media newbies.

4) You have a whole chapter dedicated to Personal Branding. I found it to be deeply relevant for a person’s ‘personal branding’. I also thought it was just as applicable to companies that are attempting to be more personal with their branding.  How has Marketing 2.0 changed branding for individuals and companies?

Those who understand the rationale for personal branding realize that it’s all about humans marketing to humans in human ways. The corporate cloak is dead. Brands and people who work for brands need to be human. Personal branding is about the convergence of “me” as “me” and as a worker in a company. I’m not two different people. The brand I represent can be represented by me and by the brand in very human ways.

5) I triple underlined a passage in your book talking about how we are trained in business to protect (horde) our information, experiences and content and that your advice was to just let the content go.  What would you suggest as a starting point for companies who resist this fundamental shift in thinking and messaging?

It’s hard for some companies to adopt the mindset which calls for letting your content go. My advice is to study what others are doing in their industry. Experiment with content flow and see what happens. It can start gradually and expand over time. I wouldn’t expect overnight results.

6) You have a nice collection of real-life case studies of “regular” businesses putting Marketing 2.0 in action.  Do you have a recent case study you wish you could have included in the book?

Homemaker’s Magazine in Toronto has recently become very active on the web by sharing their content and building terrific relationships. They are building an online community that transcends to their print product.

http://www.homemakers.com/

7) What do you think professional marketers who have already adopted the social web will take away from your book?

Hopefully, they can pick up suggestions about how to convince any skeptics in their company to become a marketing 2.0 company. I also have a chapter on staffing which can be useful to experienced marketers as well as closing the loop between marketing and sales.

You describe traditional media as interruptive media.  If you plug your website, twitter, or facebook on a television or radio spot – is that good or bad or just more of the same “old school” thinking?

That’s not old school. You’re inviting people to connect with you on the web. If you don’t engage with people properly, that would be “old school.” But if you truly engage people with good content, you listen, you invite them to participate in your community, it’s great to promote these channels in any marketing materials you produce.

9) With only 140 characters for a call to action, why would someone read Marketing 2.0 today?

Adopt a marketing 2.0 mindset. Think like a publisher. Build relationships. Earn trust. Enjoy the sales benefits.

Buy the book, Marketing 2.0 on Amazon

Visit Bernie’s website or see Bernie on twitter.

April 12 1892 – April 13, 1973
Henry Darger, an artist, a recluse, and now a mystery. At the age of 81, Henry died in 1973, four years before I was born. Yet, today I am inspired by his story and must share it with you.

Henry Darger: Lived in Chicago, dressed daily in a hand-mended army coat, held a lifelong career mostly as a janitor with only three known photos to capture his likeness. By day a menial worker, a recluse, and dedicated Catholic with daily attendance to mass, but by night an artist, a story teller, author and conversationalist only to himself.

Henry authored an epic journey filling more than 15,000 pages, wrote his autobiography exceeding 5,000 pages, logged thousands of hand written notes, and painted nearly 300 water color paintings and countless sketches and drawings. A prolific expression of art and passion.

In 1909 he began the writing and illustrating of his 15,000+ page epic. No teachings, art lessons, or mentors. He started his own way. Clipped from magazines and newspapers as source material and used these images in future works. In his own ways, these clippings were used and reused as overlays, collages, tracings and inspiration to create the pictures in his head that reflected his vast and complex fictional world.

Henry read every paper published, the morning edition and the evening edition, all he could find as source material. He used butcher paper as his canvas and glued sheets together sometimes 12 feet long – often painted on both sides.

For his epic he wrote his own lyrics to Calvary songs, kept notes on the fictitious cost of the war he was chronicling and included character notes, plot points, and many other notes for his work of passion. He was meticulous and experimental in his approach. But he was also not limited to just the one story in his mind. Along with his autobiography, a short story about a twister, he committed 10 years to journaling Chicago’s weather several times daily specifically discounting and admonishing the local weatherman and his inaccuracies.

It is reported that Henry slept in a chair only a few hours a night, never in a bed. No television, not evenings out, nothing other than his reclusive expression of art and passion. In isolation his work was really never known until after his death. His work never enjoyed by others, his passion never conveyed one-on-one, his gift virtually hidden for his entire life of 81 years.

With almost 300 paintings, more than 30,000 pages of written works, a single typed manuscript of “In the Realms of The Unreal” spanning 15,145 pages, Henry left us with an epic journey that ends with both a glorious victory and fateful defeat – truly two different endings to the saga. Why? We will never know.

Henry Darger died on April 13, 1973 at 81 years old – only 1 day after his birthday.

Henry is now acclaimed as one of the most famous figures in “outsider art” and his paintings have sold for more than $80,000.

Henry lives inside us – each one of us.

We all have a story like Henry’s waiting to be told. Perhaps you are already telling it in solitude or perhaps you are storing up, withholding it because you are waiting for the right time. Learn from Henry, what you need to know, you already possess – the rest you will learn as you go, but go you must. Let your art go.

81 years is too long to wait to see what you have to share with us. Start today and celebrate it tomorrow – with friends.  A great group of friends are coming together to share their talents and gifts and would love to have you at The Linchpin Way.

UPDATE (Feb 27, 2010)
This post sparked a movement!
Join The Linchpin Way Community.

This is not another Linchpin book review.

I’ve written about Seth before. A full post dedicated to the amazing Box Set launch.  I also included Seth in a post discussing how leaders learn and I tweet about Seth and recommend his books. Seth Godin does good things.

With so many reviews like these, there is little room for another unique book review of Linchpin by Seth Godin. These reviews are outstanding, truly useful, and as you can see, they cover a lot of ground and some were even limited to 140 characters and pdf’d.  From what I can tell, two of those links above will lead you to more than 200 articles about Seth and the book and the number of links grows every day. Many of those articles are by amazing authors and bloggers and include both video and written interviews with Seth himself.

As I said, this is not another one of those reviews.

This article, The Linchpin Way, is for the growing base of people who have already read Linchpin. This is for Linchpin readers and Linchpin leaders. People like me, you and them.

1 of 4 "cube grenades" by Hugh MacLeod

Now is the time to act, unite, and engage. Viva La Linchpin!

Act on your Linchpin mindset with this Linchpin Poll

You know the Linchpin questions and you know the answers – don’t you? Now, ask them yourself in the worlds first user contributed Linchpin poll. You can answer the questions I and others asked.  You can also create your own questions to include in the poll for others to answer – yep, you can modify the poll to include your questions too and see what others say.

You are the Linchpin.  The simple act of reading these Linchpin Poll questions, acting on them with a ‘yes’ or ‘no’ will move you closer to complete ownership of the Linchpin mindset and The Linchpin Way.

(start answering or select the blue ‘ask’ tab and add your own questions)

Are you a Linchpin?

Share the poll with others by retweeting this blog post. Or follow @LinchpinPoll on twitter and help others find it. Even easier, here is a retweetable message, just click and it will open in a new window Are You a Linchpin? I just took the Linchpin Poll at http://bit.ly/ctl5SU

Put this poll on your site, inside your blog post or on your Linchpin book review page.  The Linchpin Poll is a great way to introduce people to Linchpin and confirm their Linchpin mindset.  Plus it’s just too easy to use and neat. The embed code is here in this txt file just copy and paste whats in the file and it should work.

“Linchpin” means something.

Linchpin, like Idea Virus and Purple Cow gives us a term, a single word that means something that was previously amorphous and without definition. This is one of Seth’s superpowers; to create a definition, a new term for abstract ideas and previously unrelated concepts.

So, you’re a Linchpin.  Now what?

Unite Linchpin’s by going to the edges.

Right now, all the cool kids are talking about Seth, the book and how wonderful it is. This is great and necessary.  This keeps the book in the media, in the blogs and on the best-sellers lists.  This is all good for us and even the world at large.  There is no denying the power of a Linchpin.  But beyond pushing the book into the hands of the people we love, what else can we do?

The Linchpin Manifesto available for download on Seth’s site is a nice pdf to print and hang on your wall or email a friend or link to from a blog post, but it is not enough.

The Linchpin 2.0 Vision Statement:

We must move Linchpin from a book of ideas into a way of life fully supported by community, fellowship, identity, and purpose.  Linchpins should be identified, connected, cultivated and networked.  There is no excuse to slow the growth of the Linchpin movement or The Linchpin Way.  Linchpin is now an expression, a lifestyle, a way to act, a way to change things and a way to demonstrate our art.

The Linchpin 2.0 Manifesto:

(download the Linchpin 2.0 Manifesto here).

Where Woodstock united a generation and marked an era, Linchstock will unite a population of artists, creators, doers and those who are indispensable. We have the book, the definition, now we need the place. We must create Linchstock to celebrate our Linchpin way of life. Would you meet me at Linchstock?

Just like Boy Scouts, Diabetics, Authors, Millionaires and Celebrities are in their own club, Linchpins now represent a defined Tribe – a special and remarkable group of change-makers, artists and givers. Now you can relate instantly just by saying you are a Linchpin or desire to be a Linchpin.  Us “Linchpiner’s” would meet up at in special gatherings at industry conferences and in mobs at events like Linchstock.

Every great cause has a flag to fly.  Every great organization has a logo to unify.  We must agree and own the Linchpin Badge and spread it. Do we agree the hand gripping the lightening bolt is the badge? If not it must be created intentionally to be shared with no royalties, rights, or disclaimers. If the hand and lightning bolt is the badge, let it go and spread. Linchpiner’s at Linchstock would be proud to wear their Linchpin Badge.

Become a beacon of light that attracts people.  Influence, educate and change these people through your Linchpin mindset. You must demonstrate The Linchpin Way.  Every Linchpin has the authority to share The Linchpin Way and help others become Linchpins.  Linchstock could be the place to fine tune and expand The Linchpin Way.

With your gift, your tools, your art and your generosity use the internet to communicate and spread the idea of the Linchpin. Now is the time to unite Linchpins into a network. A group, an organization, a club, whatever you want to call it.  Seth can not be expected to do it for us.  There is no road-map. The essence of being a Linchpin means that we can do it for others (as well as ourselves). Linchpiners with a Linchpin mindset will create an open network to facilitate The Linchpin Way.  Seth has given us the tools and he has already given us the permission – it’s built into the Linchpin message. Now is the time to create The Linchpin Network.

Become the standard to measure against.  Imagine a world where even performance reviews included a linchpin section along with communication skills, team work, and areas of improvement. Why not?  Even better, why not have performance reviews go away entirely and only give Linchpin reviews?  Shouldn’t we all strive to be measured against The Linchpin Standards, not the status quo standards?

Make Linchpin a verb:
“Just Linchpin it”.  “That problem is not too big for me to Linchpin”. “I can Linchpin it with my eyes closed”.

Push Linchpin into Wikipedia so the current stub means more than the 1.0 definition of Linchpin. Don’t just stop with Wikipedia – spread it everywhere.

A unifying cry:

We must act on and expand the Linchpin 2.0 manifesto. We must change the one dimensional discussions around the book and its concepts and turn it into the multidimensional thing it was intended to be.  Talking and writing about passion is but a small part of actually acting with passion. To leave Linchpin in its current state is to lock it into “a remarkable book with great ideas” but little more.  We are all very pleased that Seth gave this gem to us. Let’s pick it up and grow it to match what’s in our hearts and minds. We must move the movement.

Share this by retweeting or blogging it or downloading and sharing the The Linchpin 2.0 Manifesto pdf. Better yet, rebuild, beautify, and create your own manifesto and set it free. Lets take this to the next level now, not later. There is no reason 2010 can’t be the year of The Linchpin Way… and Linchstock for that matter.

The Linchpin 2.0 Manifesto needs you and other Linchpins like you to take ownership.  Who will create Linchstock? Who will create the Linchpin Badge? How will take The Linchpin Network, The Linchpin Way, and The Linchpin Standards to heart?  Who will move the movement?

Who will put the Linchpin mindset into action to bring us all together?

This will not happen overnight and it may not happen in the ways presented here, but it needs to happen.  We need the results this can produce.

UPDATE (Feb 27, 2010)
This post sparked a movement!
Join The Linchpin Way Community.

Engage others by passing Linchpin along.

Generosity is a way of life. Giving has always been a wonderful thing. Giving Linchpin is a truly powerful thing.

Start by signing and dating your copy of Linchpin and sending it to someone you care about or ask yourself, who do you want to impact or help? Send it to them.

I have a copy of Linchpin going to Marc and Aaron the creators of Urtak. Thank you for giving us Urtak. The Linchpin Poll would not exist without your contribution, your gift, your art.  Look for the book to arrive sometime next week.

Now is the time to share these ideas. Blog about this. Facebook it, tweet it. Put energy and action into these thoughts and ideas. We do not have to wait to start living The Linchpin Way or wait to act on the Linchpin 2.0 Manifesto, or even wait to create Linchstock. Let’s get started, let’s start shipping.

Connect with me, comment below, twitter me – whatever it takes. I’m looking for Linchpins to move the movement. Viva La Linchpin!

This short Bio of Seth was borrowed from the99percent.com where they have a great video of Seth talking about the Lizard Brain:
SETH GODIN is a bestselling author, entrepreneur, and agent of change. His recent books, which have graced the New York Times, Business Week, and Wall Street Journal bestseller lists, include Tribes, Purple Cow, The Dip, and All Marketers Are Liars. Seth was founder and CEO of Yoyodyne, the industry’s leading interactive direct marketing company, which Yahoo! acquired in late 1998. He holds an MBA from Stanford, and was called “the Ultimate Entrepreneur for the Information Age” by Business Week.

Seth Godin’s Full bio: http://www.sethgodin.com/sg/bio.asp
Buy Linchpin by Seth Godin
Read Seth Godin’s Blog everyday.

JUSTIN MCCULLOUGH is a Linchpin student, a mentor and online enabler as well as the temporary host of some of these Linchpin ideas, the lover of smart people, a fan of great ideas, a reader of insightful books, and a passionate person.  He works for a small niche book publisher and is fueled by a passion to share.  Justin is happily married, a proud father and knows he still has much to learn.

A note from the Lizard Brain. This post took 33 days to create. It started as a “regular” book review. It was drafted and redrafted 4 times. I gave up on it 9 times. I made many excuses to not create the poll, to not create the twitter accounts, to not create the Linchpin 2.0 Manifesto and pdf, to not coin many of the terms used in this post and to not add friction to the shiny object (the Linchpin book) we are all enjoying so much.

Who am I to step out in front of moving traffic and think people will stop? Even as I write this sentence I am considering walking away from this article and not posting it.  I fear criticism and disapproval from others including Seth. I fear that others will not stand behind this post or the idea that there is a need to move the movement, to take action and grow and share The Linchpin Way.

I’m on deadline. Regardless of the failure this could be, this is where my passion is and this is my art. I believe The Linchpin Way will help us all.  I’m shipping are you?

UPDATE (Feb 27, 2010)
This post sparked a movement! Join The Linchpin Way Community.

An internet stranger told me what was happening to my next door neighbor at the Beaumont CVB even though I was 1,800 miles away from home – thanks to the social web.  Interestingly, I was not specifically looking for info on my neighbor.

This is a three part’er – What Happened, How this Illustrates Web 2.0 and Why this Matters to You.

What Happened – How the dots were connected:

Yesterday, I was in Portland Oregon at the airport waiting for my flight to Houston.  I logged into my twitter account and saw a

Chris Brogan - Drive Book Review

retweet of a Chris Brogan blog post about a book review.  As a Brogan fan and lover of books, I followed the link to his book review. From there I looked at Brogan’s earlier post talking about alltop.com and the importance of knowing how you “stack up” on Alltop.

“This is good info”, I thought to myself. (even more info on personal branding with Alltop and why Chris Brogan thinks Alltop is great for bloggers ). So, my interest piqued, I followed the link to the Alltop.com homepage.  I spent about 3.4 seconds scanning the homepage and realized I had read several of those articles already.

I wasn’t finished though, I wanted to see something I didn’t know so I scanned across the top row of navigation links and saw “New Topics” and clicked.  Again, more quick scanning (my emotional investment in all this is really low at his point) then I see “Tourism Industry” and immediately think of my friends Stephanie and Ashley who handle all the marketing and communication for the Beaumont Convention and Visitors Bureau back home in Texas (remember, I’m in Oregon).

Stephanie is a long-time friend and recently gave me a reason to speak on social media so this was a pretty quick connection. Stephanie = Tourism.  In a fraction of a second, I decided that maybe I would learn about or find something interesting in the tourism industry and share it with my friends (neighbors) at the Beaumont CVB.  (side note, my book publishing company does tourist related books all around the country so there was a work connection to this Alltop category as well).

Anyway, off I went into the “Tourism Industry” page and started scanning.  This was all new information and I saw one line of text that stuck out: “A new twist on destination marketing with radio” from Sheila’s Guide To The Good Stuff.  I later discovered that Sheila is a talented freelance writer from Austin TX.

“A new twist on destination marketing with radio” looks good to me. I mouse over it for preview information on the article.

The Beaumont CVB is on Alltop! If you follow the link, Stephanie is the one in the top right.

My mind must have been read.  I was amazed to see how a seemingly random series of clicks led me to see an article directly connected too me.  That’s the power of the social web. It’s also a very telling demonstration of how we are looking at the “world wide web” but seek to make relevant connections to us, our area, and our personal lives.

For the record, it does not surprise me when I come across posts for Seth Godin or Chris Brogan and countless other people because it is expected, it’s normal to see these names dotting the digital map of the internet.  However, it is not ‘normal’ to see your local convention and visitors bureau via Alltop by way of Chris Brogan. At least, not normal yet…

How this Illustrates Web 2.0 – from both the creator of content and the web surfer.

I’m creating right now – this blog post. Right now, you are the web surfer.  In the story above, I went to great length to paint a picture of my thoughts and actions as a web surfer.  Why? Because too many people are still unsure how they fit into the fabric of the social web and I wanted to tell a “normal” story – not one that makes me look like some special web user or social media person.

It is safe to say that the story I just told is a basic experience. Go to a common place, see something interesting, follow the link, read and follow another link (or quit).  I did what you would do.  I shared my thought process, because you are thinking and deciding on what to do next as well.  Nothing new here.  This is normal stuff.

Here’s were Web 2.0 kicks in.

Stephanie, was either invited or created an opportunity to be on KSET AM radio to talk about Beaumont Tourism.  She (or someone else tweeted it on twitter) from which Sheila saw the tweet and, as explained in her blog post, made a personal connection with Beaumont (even though she is in Austin) and followed the link to the online radio show.  According to Sheila, she was already thinking about radio based on something happening in San Antonio and this Beaumont CVB tweet was building on that event in her mind.  She was compelled to sit down and write a blog post sharing her perspective on radio, the internet, and my good friend Stephanie.

Does Sheila (Freelance Writer in Austin TX) know Stephanie (Marketing Director in Beaumont TX)? She may, but I don’t think so.  Do I know Sheila? Not at all.  Was I tracking or searching for Stephanie or Sheila? Nope, I was following interesting links which originated from my enjoyment of Chris Brogan.

As this story reveals, we are all disconnected (or independent) and yet connected through the social web.

Why This Matters to You – online and offline

Now that virtually everyone is online and almost everyone is in some social place (blogs, Facebook, Twitter, etc) that means the work you do, the things you say and the people you impact could end up online – either by you or by someone else.  This is great for brand development, personal branding, exposure, SEO, business building, marketing, creating friends etc.  But it also means that we have to be mindful of our actions, both online and offline, because “somebody” is watch, listening, or somehow involved and they now have a platform to share their experience – the social web.  If you do good things, the social web will feed you.  If you do bad things, the social web will squeeze you.

So, regardless of whether or not you have embraced the social web, know that the social web has already included you.  And as this story shows, one small informative tweet can go a long way (through Austin TX and into Alltop.com) or if you’re like me, one misstep on the social web can get a lot of unexpected attention.

Bottom line: Since it’s here with or without you, you may as well embrace (and feed) the social web.

Keep doing good!

Examples of Twitter #fail happen every day, and I just lived through one. In fact, I didn’t just live through it, I demonstrated twitter #fail myself and now I see how it can happen even if it’s unintentional.  Don’t let this happen to you.

Quick Back Story - I had just gone through a great effort to prepare a one hour presentation over social media.  I spent a lot of time on this over the weekend and gave the presentation Monday January 11^th.  Several people who wanted to come but couldn’t make it asked me to video it.  So I did.  After the presentation I got a great deal of feedback on it’s value from many of the business leaders.  My bucket was full – overflowing actually from all the positive feedback.  I must be on to something meaningful here.  (Side note, For pro marketers and internet evangelists, this is probably just the “regular” stuff, but for many who are on the sidelines watching the internet speed past their business storefronts, this was really insightful stuff.)

With fresh recommendations and praise and the knowledge that I touched many, I set on a self imposed mission to share this good content.

My priority: Get the message out and the content in the hands that needed it most via the power of the social web (exactly what I just presented on).

I just knew this was a eureka opportunity and all I had to do was empower others to put this in the hands of those who needed it.

Naturally the side benefit, I thought, would be increasing my value, starting a meaningful discussion on the topics in the presentation and maybe, just maybe picking up a few followers and friends along the way.  And hey, I thought, I’m not selling anything here, just giving away content – this is the perfect message and the perfect reason to leverage the social web.
Or so I thought.

What I did next, was classic fail (and I didn’t even see it happening).

So, with my blinders on and seeing the world through rose colored glasses, off I went into the twittersphere.

I picked a few friends and invited them to get involved.

@leader4hire - First Tweet (innocent enough)

Then… A few others

@leader4hire Second Tweet (ok, why not)

Then… I remembered a few others and invited them too

@leader4hire Third Tweet (hmm, this feels kinda weird)

Then… I thought, hey, this is showing in my stream and I probably look insincere – I should probably announce that I’m not trying to bend twitter to my will and spam away for attention. I know, it would be best for me to say something like that.

@leader4hire Fourth Tweet (see look, I'm not a bad guy)

And then back to the business at hand, another tweet or two…

@leader4hire 5th Tweet (and maybe one or two more...)

Oh yeah, and these guys too

@leader4hire 6th Tweet (a plot shifting and pivitol moment coming up)

Then… In response to my tweet moments before, someone I respect and enjoy said:

@unmarketing First Tweet (pithy... and... right?)

Uhh *gulp* What?  I’m THAT guy now? Not me… Not me. Never. Why didn’t I see this coming?

@leader4hire 7th Tweet (humbled)

… but but.. Not what I meant

@unmarketing Second Tweet (Back to the basics, remember those?)

Well, but here’s what I was thinking (actually just wanting redemption at this point)

@leader4hire 8th post (doesnt matter now)

Engagement over. Then self loathing, despair and frustration set in there after and go into a ponderous state.

@leader4hire 9th Tweet (humbled and a bit wiser)

Then the light bulb.

I’ve learned something here.  Something very important through a real experience that really was filled with good intentions.  I need to share this story, and show how it happens and how to avoid it.  Thus this blog post was born – as shameful to me as it may seem, it’s a valuable lesson.

I hope my loss is your gain.

5 Tips to Avoid Twitter Fail:

1 – Only single out a few people that you really want feedback from with your @reply message.

As I looked back through my tweets, I had 3 maybe 4  people I absolutely needed/wanted feedback from.  For the others, my motivation was different (maybe it’s useful to them, they probably know somebody that needs it, this guy will probably think I’m smart, I want this persons attention and this is a good way to get it). #Fail happened here.  Don’t do this.

2 – Do not confusion your goal.

If you want honest feedback ask for feedback from ONLY the person (people) you honestly want it from.  If you want to share, openly share it with just one tweet.  The people who care will see it.  If you want to use it for self promotion, consider this and don’t do what I did (unless you don’t care about your image).  Use the tool for good reasons and get good results.  Start combining goals and using the tool for questionable reasons and get bad results… And remember, on twitter it’s not you that makes it questionable it’s what your viewers see that define it as questionable (not authentic, not sincere, etc).

3 – Share you content over time and over discussion like a meal with friends.

My link and to the presentation and video didn’t need to be shared in massive quantities all at once.  The truth of the matter is that I only had a few people I was discussing this presentation with and sharing it with them was expected.  For others, I should have started a dialog and when it made sense, suggested the content for the right reasons – for them, not for me.

4 – Match what is valuable to you to what will be perceived as valuable to them.

This is the classic advertising snafu – assume everyone is interested and if they aren’t, interrupt them until they notice.  I know better.  The truth is, Scott called me out because this video probably means very little to him AND I hadn’t been talking to him about this presentation. In fact, my only engagement with him has been me complimenting his progress on his book which he cordially replies back to let me know he sees me. However that does not yet mean that he “gets me”. In fact, Scott is not even following me (I didn’t realize that until writing this).  To him, (I presume) we aren’t yet friends and all I was doing was leveraging the network to get his attention.  And in hindsight, that’s exactly what I was doing – I just didn’t realize it because it only takes a second to write @unmarketing in my next tweet.  My thought process – (use goober voice) “hey I like Scott, he replies back to me. I’ll include him in this next tweet. Weeeee”.  Just because it only takes a second doesn’t mean you should do it.

5 – When it feels like you shifted from honest intentions to “seizing the moment” that should be a red flag.

This happened after my 2^nd or 3^rd tweet, which is what prompted me to make the promise that I wasn’t spamming.  I should have seen this as a sign, but didn’t.  Don’t make this mistake. You may not have someone like Scott who sees it quickly, checks your profile, and calls it like they see it.  I was lucky and hopefully before too much damage was done.

Bonus Tip

Be open minded and considerate of your twitter fellows (and their feedback). Good stuff is everywhere and it’s up to you to see it and acknowledge it – regardless of the shape, package, or presentation of it.

The Bottom Line for Me

I got a real life lesson on twitter etiquette and I’m better for it (I think).

I hope I haven’t lost traction with any of my twitter people along the way.  Good intentions or not, lesson learned. Special thanks to Scott.  Not sure how others would have taken it, but for me it was a needed wake up call.  Thanks.

So now, tweet this so I don’t have too

I have a habit of buying many books at once – in bulk.  Thanks to nice folks giving me BN.com gift cards, this is my first load of books for 2010.  Here’s to happy reading!

Justin's "to read" stack - January 2010

What’s your title?  What’s your skill?  Is it one or two things, or maybe three things?  If so, you’re in trouble over the next 10 years.

The days of being a “plumber” or an “artist” are gone.  No more and never again will a person be able to be just one thing and be successful.  Now and moving forward, you must be multiversatile – capable of many things across many fields competently.

You already see it in the local business owner who is the accountant, the salesman, the customer service rep, the help desk, and the human resources department.  But it’s not just for business owners anymore.  Now it’s the regular guys.  The $10/hr guys.

The guys who will get ahead will be the ones who learn to express their ideas in a blog, an audio clip or a video – even if they are not “writers” or “camera men”.  The guys who will win are the ones who learn to setup a website, a hosting account, and a wireless network – even if they are not “programmers” or “network engineers”.  The guys who will have more accounts, more sales and better reputations will be the guys using facebook, twitter, along with teleseminars and local conferences – even if they are not “social media consultants”.

As we go forward, titles are pointless. If you want to win, you must be bigger than any job title and be able to demonstrate the ability to cross a wide spectrum of skills that were never before required.  The good news is if you do it now, you’ll still be with the pack or maybe even ahead of the pack – for a little while.

What are you doing to blow up your job title and explode with success?

Here’s 7 things you can do:

1. Pick a friend in the company (or at another company) and cross train with them
2. Learn twitter, facebook, blogging, or any other current technology
3. Even if it’s not your job, pick a project, make it your own, and run with it.
4. Learn more about leadership, sales, and/or marketing – you can’t go wrong with these skills!
5. Get out – go to seminars, conference, workshops, and events.
6. Become an expert on your business (not your job specialty)
7. Become the in-house trainer on topics / skills.

// Edit // See Bernie Bay’s thoughts on the future of business and predictions on the next decade.

So, two blog post got me thinking about the books I’ve read this year.  One from Annie Sorenson which I misstated the books I’ve read and another from Lauren Leto where I ribbed her for not having any business books on her list.

Anyway, I am often asked “how I know what I know” and while I’d like to take credit for having a huge brain, vast intelligence and an uncanny ability to see the world in a way no one else does, I simply can’t tell that lie.  The truth is, a lot of what I know and the insights I have is because of what I choose to read.  I then apply these insights into my world view and cement them in real life examples of my own – making them my own, but most of what I know is seeded from great books.  I typically read 3 or 4 books at one time.  That seems to keep me the most interested and also allows me to cover several topics at one time.

I’ve found that books on business, self improvement, sales and just about anything else are truly the cliff notes to success. All you have to do is invest some of your time and attention and a few bucks and you can learn what took someone else countless hours of personal experience and research to create.  Reading books is so much smarter, faster, and more insightful than college classes.  Of course, it’s worthless if you don’t apply what you read or learn and it doesn’t matter if you are reading books that only serve an entertainment purpose.

I think I’ve covered all the books from this year.  The following is my list of books from 2009.

1. Referral of a Lifetime by Tim Templeton. (read this twice this year)
2. Rich Dad Poor Dad by Robert Kiyosaki with Sharon Lechter (second year in a row to read this book)
3. The Microsoft Edge by Julie Bick
4. Tribes by Seth Godin (very quick book – read twice this year)
5. Innovation by Tom Gorman
6. Multipreneuring by Tom Gorman
7. How Full is Your Bucket by Tom Rath and Donald O Clifton ( I read this at least once a year).
8. The Big Red Fez by Seth Godin
9. Write the Perfect Book Proposal by Jeff Herman and Deborah Levine Herman
10. All Marketers are Liars by Seth Godin
11. Free Publicity by Jeff Criley
12. The New Rules of Marketing and PR by David Meerman Scott
13. Unleashing the Idea Virus by Seth Godin
14. Positioning by Al Ries and Jack Trout
15. Made to Stick by Chip Heath and Dan Heath
16. Buzzmarketing by Mark Hughes
17. Permission Marketing by Seth Godin
18. Word of Mouth Marketing by Andy Sernovitz
19. The New Influeners by Paul Gillin
20. No B.S. Direct Marketing by Dan Kennedy
21. What Would Google Do by Jeff Jarvis (have this on audio – 2 times this year).
22. The Google Story by David Vise
23. Purple Cow by Seth Godin (have this on audio – 5 times this year).
24. Small is the New Big by Seth Godin (have this on audio – 3 times this year).
25. Tipping Point by Malcom Gladwell (have this on audio – 2 times this year).
26. The Long Tail by Chris Anderson
27. How to Build a Complete Sales Person by Bryan Dodge (have this on audio – 3 times this year).
28. Influence. The Psychology of Persuasion by Robert Cialdini
29. Yes! 50 Scientifically Proven ways to be Persuasive by Goldstein, Martin and Cialdini
30. 91 Mistakes Smart Sales People Make by Tim Conner
31. The 25 Sales Habits of Highly Succesful Sales People by Stephan Shiffman
32. Cold Calling Techniques by Stephen Shiffman
33. How to Become a Marketing Superstar by Jeffrey J Fox.
34. Magic Bullets by Michael Kessee and Ankesh Kothari
35. The Dip by Seth Godin
36. What Matters Now by Seth Godin and friends (free ebook)
37. Your Best Life Now by Joel Osteen
38. The Shack by William P Young

Liesure reading:

1. NEXT by Michael Chrichton
2. Ghost Radio by leopoldo Gout
3. Busting Vegas by Ben Mezrich
4. People of the Book by Geraldine Brooks
5. The Prince of Frogtown by Rick Bragg
6. No Survivors by Tom Cain
7. Ghost Medicine by Andrew Smith
8. The Boxer and the Spy by Robert B Parker

So what are you reading?  Do you agree that books are better than college?  What do you recommend I read in 2010?

I’m often asked by business owners, friends and even other marketers about recommended tools for social media and websites.  Here is a quick list of social media search tools you really must know about.

Free tracking tool for your website or blog:

Google Analytics – This free analytics tool will tell you everything you need to know about your website traffic, pageviews, source of visitors, and so much more.  It’s free to signup and easy to use.

BlogTracker by IceRocket – This free analytics tool is geared to serve blogs only.  A good tool that works directly with IceRocket.

Free search tools for your blogs and twitter:

Google Alerts – This is an easy and powerful tool that lets you setup keywords or phrases to keep track of and Google will tell you every time those words or phrases are used in new posts online.  Great way to be notified when your brand name, company, product, blog or real name gets used and where.  Good for spotting trends, seeking out issues for damage control, or staying up to speed on a developing topic.

Google Blogsearch – Pretty straightforward use of Google Search technology only its applied to the spectrum of blog posts as opposed to the entire spectrum of the web.  Search for a keyword of phrase and you will find blogs that match your search.

Blogpulse – A blog search engine that offers a variety of ways to search blogs, see blogging trends and blogging statistics.  This service is offered by Nielsen and reports to have 126.4 Million blogs indexed (as of today).  This tool offers so many ways to slice and dice your data that you really need to see the benefits and uses here.

Technorati – A blog search engine that is free to use and very popular.  It also reports top blogs overall and lets you surf by popular categories.  If you want to know what’s being talked about today, look to Technorati for the jump start.

IceRocket – A blog search engine that also has trending tools and top blogs.  This is a handy reference if you are trying to see things from a different perspective other then Blogpulse or Technorati.

Twitter Search – Search twitter on keywords and see up-to-the-minute tweets on that keyword. Great way to find out who is saying what RIGHT NOW.  Easy to search for your brand, product service, website etc. Also if you are looking to find like minded folks, this makes it easy to find people tweeting on topics that interest you.

This may seem like a short list, and there are many more services available, but this is a practical baseline you should know about.

Feel free to share any additional services you recommend.

When I was a child everyone approved.

I’ve been thinking a lot about my childhood and how my parents and friends parents seemed to encourage me to keep dreaming and using my imagination.  I suppose it’s “what you do” when you are an adult listening to a kid.  I was always the kid and pre-teen who was mowing yards, selling lemonade, and bartering for money.  I was identified as a business minded youngster with imagination and talent with the gift for gab.

From about 10 years old to about 19 years old I heard this line from friends and family: “your so ____ (smart, talented, advanced, wise, etc) for your age”.  I heard it so much that I often wondered when I was going to finally be “as smart, talented, wise, etc as my age”.  Turns out, for me it was about 28 years old.  I still get the ‘wise beyond years’ comments, but otherwise I guess I’ve finally aged enough to match my ideas. I’m 32 now.

The shift.

Reflecting on my life, I spotted a shift where I went from being encouraged to dream to being discouraged by the majority of people around me.

It happened when I fell out of line, out of the status quo, and demonstrated my independence.  I was 20 years old and quit my management job at Gateway Computers to start my own web company. Suddenly, everyone around me wasn’t so sure about my entrepreneurial dreams.  Why? Because I was actually acting on it, not just talking about it.  At 20 years old, this is where I crossed over to the other side no longer a man with potential and promise, but a spectacle for others to watch silently hoping I would fail and continually surprised that I wasn’t.

I didn’t know it at the time, but it’s obvious now, almost no one wants you to live your dream.

Now everyone disapproves.

Unlike my child self, as an adult, any time I ask someone else what they think about my idea, everyone, even the people I trust, love, or respect are quick to tell me how it’s not a good idea.  How frustrating and disappointing this is.

The truth and what you can do about it.

If you have a dream you want to make a reality.  An idea you want to act on.  A goal you want to execute.  Do it.

Don’t ask what your family and friends think because they can’t and won’t ever be able to embrace your idea – it’s not their idea, it’s not their passion, it’s not their life, and it’s not safe to them.  That’s why you don’t need their input or permission to live your dream.

If this scares you, it should.  It means you have to act for yourself and you have be willing to go your own direction regardless of what anyone else thinks.  It also means there may not be a safety net below you or a shoulder to cry on.  If you dream it, you believe it, then own it and do it.  Know that others will judge, discourage, and speak against you because its not their idea, it’s not their passion, it’s not their life, and it’s not safe to them.

A few tips to emerge victorious with your dream.

• Don’t give up just because it’s tough
• Don’t be afraid to change directions to reach your goals
• Cut free from the anchors that hold you back
• Surround yourself with people you can learn from (as it relates to your dream).
• Put people with experience and passion in places you lack experience and passion.
• Be persistent. If you hit a wall, go under, around, through, or connect with someone who has the ability to move the wall.
• Be open minded.
• Seek out answers and don’t kid yourself to think you have all of them all the time.
• Keep moving. Action equals results.
• Measure (track, review etc) what you want to achieve or improve.
• Don’t keep yourself a secret. Tell others what you want and eventually you’ll find someone who can help.
• For as much as you want, be willing to give twice as much to get it.
• “No” is not forever. Keep asking.
• The experience of failure means more than easy successes so fail often and keep trying.
• Appreciate what you do have. It could be worse.
• Be willing to share.
• Invest in yourself (books, experiences, seminars, whatever it takes).

I’m still dreaming and you can too.

Knowing all this makes it so much easier to dream as an adult.Now, I don’t expect others to embrace my dreams or my ideas and I’m better for it.  It also means I don’t fault the ones I love or respect because I understand the fact that it’s just to hard for them to consider my dreams or encourage them.

Keep dreaming and stop looking for permission. Go ahead and step out of line, do something counter the status quo and I’ll see you on the other side.

I was reading a remarkable blog by Jon Swanson and thinking about his community and role as a pastor and blogger and thought it would be neat to have someone with Jon’s writing skill, love of God, and abilitity to communicate his faith in a modern voice work on a project with me – something simple.

The light bulb that went off in my mind was to present to Jon and a few other friends  an idea, a great idea, to develop a following of daily readers interested in what a modern Jesus would say, 140 characters at a time.

That’s right, Jesus on twitter.

Well, that idea doesn’t sound too original, but my concept was to have a twitter account setup on the idea of “what would Jesus tweet” if he was around today – not bible quotes as we know them, but tweets in our own common language – words about life from the Son of God via twitter. I’d be happy to see those tweets – surely others would too.  It would be a great outreach effort.

Knowing that I would need more than just an idea to present to Jon, I thought I would go ahead and setup the gmail account and then the twitter account that would be needed to run this idea.

Ten minutes later I realized my idea was not so new afterall, wwjt@gmail.com was taken and so was wwjt and jesustweet on twitter.  While I could re-imagine this and come up with a new email and a new twitter account, my motivation was displaced once this reality set in.

For me, knowing that I could not (or would not) run this by myself, I hit the first dip in this idea and decided to abandon it after less than 15 minutes of conceiving it.  As mentioned in an earlier post, I’ve put my own advice to work and made the effort to unclutter my mind by working this idea out so it doesn’t consume my brainwidth – which is important for me since I have so many things bouncing around in my mind. Knowing when to quit is just as important as knowing when to stick with it.  For now, “what would Jesus tweet” has already been done so you can find me following wwjt and jesustweet looking for the next new idea!

What’s your new idea?  Did you see if it’s really a new idea, or just new to you?

In an earlier blog post I discussed the impact of Pandora being branded as free internet radio and promised to make suggestions for improvement.  So here’s to keeping promises.

According to Wiktionary, Half Baked means “ill-conceived, unsound or badly thought out” and I think that accurately describes how the Pandora 40 Hour Limit service interruption currently works.  Obviously it interrupts service as intended, but at what cost to Pandora and the listener?  Much of it is a matter of the language used in the service interruption notice which I refer to as the 40 hour limit road block.

When you consider the cost of attracting new customers, you really can’t afford to run them off – even the free ones.

I see the 40 hour limit road block, to be a great marketing opportunity.

When your time runs out, you can...

How the 40 Hour Limit Road Block is Half Baked:

Well, this is what you see (graphic above, typed out below) when your service is interrupted at the 40 hour mark:

You’ve reached the monthly free listening limit.  Pandora gives you (leader4hire@yahoo….) 40 hours of free listening each month.  To continue listening, we ask you to do one of the following:

For just 99 cents, ontinue listening as much as you’d like for the rest of the month.

For $36, enjoy an entire year of unlimited listening, plus great features:

No visual or audio advertising

Very high audio quality (192 kilobits per second).

Learn about all the Pandora One features.  To continue listening for free, simply come back on December 1.  The 40 hour limit is reset every month.

I think this message was crafted by someone in the web app department because there isn’t an ounce of friendly, customer centric, marketing copy in this whole message. Nothing makes me say “Yes, I want to do this”.  I think if the marketing department was involved, this would look more like an ad and less like a court summons.

Definitely seems half baked to put such an unfriendly message in front of the customer when they are at a critical decision point about your service.

A Closer Look

(hey moocher,) You’ve reached your monthly free listening limit.

Do you really need to make it so obvious that you attracted me to your free service, I used the free service, and now I’m being pointed at for using it?  What if this was my first month of service and I didn’t know, I may have been in love with your service, but this doesn’t make me feel good.  You’ve already started this critical conversation with a negative tone.  And in my case, I’ve been a long time user and I still hate this message, yet I still love Pandora over it’s competition.

Pandora gives you (leader4hire@yahoo…) 40 hours of free listening each month (and you better be thankful).

Yep, definitely feeling like you are pointing a finger at me.  I don’t like being singled out like this, even if no one else can see it, I don’t like how you present it.

To continue listening, we ask you do one of the following… (spend your money or else).

You must think you are the only guy in town and that I can’t find free music somewhere else. Customers shop with their dollars every day deciding where to spend or not spend their money.  When you are online this is even more difficult if their are a lot of free alternatives.  Tone has a lot to do with my perception and how I will spend my dollars.

Then the sterile report on price options and the rather valueless offer on the Pandora One service. In my mind, the other Pandora One benefits such as the skins, mini player, desktop application, and 5 hours before timeout are much more compelling then high quality and no ads.

Overall, the voice, tone, and “offer” to spend money just doesn’t make me feel special.  I may really like the service, but when you boil it down to these terms, I’m just not interested.  I think many of your listeners come to the same conclusion.

Resetting the Timer for Full Bake

What if this 40 hour roadblock was reconsidered from a marketing stand point.  What if the point was to attract the listener and move them closer to your brand, not away from the brand?  What would you do then?

Here is what I suggest as a better option… Sell me, don’t tell me .

Give me the rest of the month free!

Wild idea, I know, but see, I’m logged in and I’m valuable as a listener and important to advertisers.  So, what if the first 40 hour limit road block notice said something like:

Suggested ad copy:

Hey Leader4hire@yahoo…  You’ve been a busy listener and hit our 40 hour limit.  Betcha didn’t know we were counting!

This is the first time for you and you may not know that most listeners use less than 40 hours in a month.  You on the other hand are a true fan of music and the music legends are smiling down upon you. We would normally suggest you upgrade your account here, but Tim Westergren, the President of Pandora is going to cover you for this month.  The next time you hit 40 hours in a month, we’ll ask you to consider upgrading your membership so you can keep listening.  Okay?  Click here for Tim to spot you for the rest of the month at no charge.  Click here to go ahead and upgrade or Click here to wait until next month for another bank of 40 hours.

What to do with Tim’s Freebie Listeners?

From then on, I recommend your tech guys enhance the player to report my time for the rest of the month. Once I click to accept Tim’s free offer, my Pandora player would give me a counter showing me how many hours I’ve listened with a note that said “Tim sponsored you this month” and make it clickable to a blog post by Tim on this free month with user comments showing below. I bet it would have a ton of users saying thanks.

Why?

By the way, you would go ahead and give me this ‘free’ month because by giving me something I am more likely to give you something in return.  In psychology its classified as the rule of reciprocation in which we feel a strong obligation to repay debts.  Now, this is difficult online, but it’s still effective if you work it properly.  In this case, you’ve created value in something I thought was free, interrupted me and told me in a nice way that builds value in our relationship and as a listener that it normally cost money, but not this time.  So, in return I’ll feel special (or more special) and make a mental note that this could have cost me something, but you did me a favor.  Will people keep listening and still not upgrade next month – yes, but its worth the cost.

Remind them of the favor.

Now the payoff comes from taking advantage of the favor from that point forward.  Every time I log in the rest of that month, remind me that Tim hooked me up, tell me how many hours I’ve listend too so far and tell me you are glad I’m still listening and hungry for more.  Then, as I get closer to the end of the month encourage me to go ahead and upgrade and get something free (a hat, a shirt, a poster, a free download etc – all cheap stuff).  I’ll be spending a lot of time thinking about the free ride im taking, valuing my service, and rationalizing my future expense.  Then when the new month hits, tell me I get to start over at 40 hours but remind me Ive already got my free pass from Tim and that you would love to have me as a Pandora One member.  Follow me for the following 40 hours of my new month reminding me and smartly nudging me forward to the upgrade.  Then at the end of 40 hours, give me a very friendly service interruption.  Perhaps tell me that I seem to really like Pearl Jam, Tool, and Nine Inch Nails (my top 3 stations) and that Pandora has cataloged over 400 (correct number here) songs by those artists and you’d hate to see me lose touch with my favorite bands.  Encourage me to upgrade and get more of what I like with no restrictions.

Nice try Justin, show me another way.

Ok, what if you just took the current road block and rewrote it with a more friendly tone like this:

Suggested Ad Copy:

Leader4hire just rocked out 40 hours of free streaming radio and it’s only Thursday October 16^th.  You still have 15 days until the hours reset on November 1.

We bet you love Pandora.com and we want you to keep listening, don’t wait 15 days to come back.

Like your local pool hall or diner’s jukebox, drop 4 quarters (99 cents actually) and we’ll rock your socks off for the rest of the month – promise!

Or even better, show your support of the Music Genome Project and become a Pandora One member for only $3 a month ($36 a year).  You’ll get a free Pandora One badge for your site, all access to the Pandora One members-only club and members only downloads.  As an added bonus, we’ll stop those ads from showing in your Pandora player or playing commercials interrupting your playlist and we’ll give you a cool desktop Pandora player, a longer window to listen before we check to see if your still there, and high quality music.

See what we are doing here?  We are talking about what I like and how I like it.  This makes me sound like you really don’t want to cut me off and you are trying to work with me and you understand me.

If you really wanted to get clever and include an advertiser, here is the perfect hook:

Add a note in the more friendly version that says:

If none of these work for you, you can fill out this long form and we will see if we can get an advertiser to sponsor your listening, but you’ll need to fill it out completely and yes, we’ll be sharing your information with the advertiser so they can try to do business with you in exchange for giving you a free Pandora One subscription.  It’s the best we can do to keep Pandora from costing you money even when it costs us.  We’d rather see you be a Pandora One member though.

Still not sure what to do?  Okay, just come back on November 1 and you’ll have a fresh 40 hours to work with.

One last idea, Pandora should get my friend to buy:

Why not give me a way to share my service interruption with friends to see if they can buy my month or my Pandora One membership for me?  This would act as both a soliciting tool for the listener and a recruiting tool for new listeners.  In the months around Christmas and the listeners birthday, this might be an easy (very easy?) sale if the listener was prompted to share.  The trick here is to make it very easy, no complicated forms, now date of birth, city or state – just friends name and email with an optional message.

Bottom Line:

The 40 hour road block is not a notice to stop listening, it’s an invitation to keep listening (provided the listener acknowledges the value of Pandora’s service).  So, instead of throwing up a stop sign and pushing them in or out, try replacing the stop sign with a friendly greeter who sounds nice and interested in me as a listener.  Really wow me by giving me a free pass with a reminder that next time it’ll cost me.  Then work with me and remind me.  The sum of all those tiny touches will lead to me to take a more favorable view of Pandora and ultimately increase my willingness to open my wallet.  May sound far fetched, but it happens all the time from free samples at the grocery store to lunch and learn seminars to test drives at car dealerships and free mail list services like mailchimp.com.

I originally drafted this with the title of “What do you stand for? Chris Brogan and Seth Godin Know”, but then I realized that might not be a good headline so I changed it before posting – who knows if either were good to begin with….

Back story and foundation for this post:

In a recent article from Chris Brogan, he shared his frustration with Timberland regarding a pair of boots he saw advertised on TV on Thanksgiving day, but couldn’t find locally in any brick-and-mortar stores. His story sufficiently details a negative experience with shoe representatives at various stores in his area with conclusive thoughts on why brick-and-mortar stores are failing and how that leads consumers to make online purchases when they would have done it at a local store. While I did not see his first version of the blog post, it was apparently very negative and he was prompted by a reader to reconsider his narrative (and for good reason too according to his followup post entitled “With Great Power”).

Any how, the original, but revised post: What Timerbland Taught Me About Retail says:

I changed this post around 100% after a conversation with Pat Phelan. He was upset at my handling of the post, and I think I can see his point. More about that in a subsequent post.

Now you should know that Chris Brogan is a prolific writer, consultant, and book author who blogs frequently about his thoughts on what it takes to be successful in today’s world, how to run a great blog and all things social media. Chris happens to be the #1 blogger in the country according to AdAge and all this from a “normal” guy sharing his thoughts on his own blog. His online success stems from his experience, authority and expertise + transparency + consistency around thought leadership. The word ‘trust’ fits in there somewhere too since he can be trusted for what he says and is coauthor of a new bestselling book, Trust Agents.

Why does Chris Brogan or this Story Matter?

I respect what Chris has to say and what got my attention is how he reconsidered his own thoughts and opinions about his experience after hearing others chime in. Not just personally, but as it related to his brand and his blog and seemingly how he viewed himself and how others view him. This shows that leaders really are learners too. As he learned more about this experience, he revised his views and then went on to share his new view post haste. Remarkable to see such transparency in a leader.

Stand up and Stand Out

This brings up two key thoughts. What do you stand for and how relationships are built online.

Continuing with Chris as my real world example (hope you don’t mind Chris), I’ll just keep working through this scenario to reveal how important it is to stand for something and how relationships are built online.

What do you stand for?

People are quite familiar with this question, but it can often be hard to extract or define because we tend to stand for things based on situations and we typically stand for things based on core beliefs. I can’t claim to know exactly what Chris Brogan stands for, but I’m guessing it’s based on trust, leadership and transparency.

According to Seth Godin, another thought leader and online trail blazer has a better way to illustrate this concept and shares it well in his Authenticity post from a few months ago:

Authenticity, for me, is doing what you promise, not “being who you are”… because if you’re inconsistent, you’re going to get caught.

Yep, that’s a good way to be recognized for what you stand for, how/what you are. So, in the quest to stand for something, start by being authentic, which Chris does in his blogs and video posts.

This gives way to how being authentic is at the core of building relationships online (and in life). Mainly because people want to trust and if you can be trusted you’ll win and keep them. Again, Seth Godin chimes in:

People and brands and organizations that stand for something benefit as a result. Standing for something helps you build trust…”

How do you build online relationships?

Being authentic is a key factor. That authenticity leads to trust which is at the foundation of all relationships. In another blog post regarding Seth Godin, Small Biz Bee shares another insight from Seth:

Seth says we should be asking ourselves “Are their people out there I’d go out of my way for, and would they go out of their way for me?” That’s what you should be tracking.

And how do you get there? By going out of your way for them, and earning the privilege of one day having that connection be worthwhile.

While that may seem obvious, we can not all go out of our way for everyone all the time. That’s what leads me back to Chris Brogan. In his post, “With Great Power”, he actually brings you into his thoughts and experiences and the consequences of his actions with the earlier Timberland post. By sharing his new findings, he creates more trust in all of us who follow and read his blog. This new level of insight on how Chris thinks and sees this allows us to buy in a little more. Its this buy in that makes us connect to Chris even though he may not know us. In business terms, we are increasing our loyalty to his brand – just because he consistently can be trusted.

For me, this leads me closer to him, I make a note to read him daily instead of ever few days, I revise my mental note of “maybe” buying his book, to “I will buy his book”. This is social media at it’s finest. Chris like Seth sells himself, his thoughts, his ideas, his passions and I buy into them, one blog at a time until ultimately, the trust, the relationship, and the message is solidified into action. That’s how you build a relationship online.

What this means to you:

If you are considering how you build relationships, what you stand for, and how to use social media in your life, start with authenticity and trust, act consistently and don’t stop learning or sharing. Also, take Lucy Beer’s advice on social media because she’s right, when it comes to a life online and social media, it is about self expression, being personal, and growing as an individual.

Are you trust worthy? Do you stand for something? How are you growing as an individual?

The mind is the most powerful computer in the world, but it’s vulnerable and hackable. If you are feeling overwhelmed or having problems “shutting off”, change the way you are thinking about things. Try running a personal defrag on your biological hard drive and separate your cluttered mind into black and white sectors – free up your mind for good.

The things on your mind are like the people in a crowded room, you can’t really think with all that noise, but you try. While you may feel like you have many things on your mind, most of it can be grouped into these 2 categories: Fear and Confidence.

The Looming Buzz of Fear:
Things that you fear will gnaw at you like a fly flitting around your food or a mosquito in your ear. These fear clouds tend to hover over you, raining on your actions, ideas, and goals often producing a double negative impact by locking up your mind and also interfering with the things you have confidence in. Your fear factory includes these things:

• New ideas or concepts you don’t understand but want too
• Problems (work, personal, intellectual) that you don’t know how to solve
• Statements you want to say but are unsure or wish you said, or regret saying
• Something you did or didn’t do that you regret

The Funhouse of Confidence:
Things you are confident in tend to be more like a pinball game in your mind often beeping, bumping, and bouncing around in constant action only limited by your time, energy and circumstances. It’s your confidence in these things that keeps your mind playing with them, juggling them until you can deal with them. These things are labeled as “easy” or “fun” items but often flood your mind and chew up brainwidth until you act on them. Your cockpit of confidence includes these things:

• Tasks and to-do items of all shapes and sizes and priority
• Problems (work, personal, intellectual) you have a solution for
• Ideas you want to develop
• Statements you want to say or will say in the future
• Good intentions

Once you know that crowded room in your mind is really just full of fear clouds and pinballs of confidence then you’ll see that crowded room take shape to something manageable – very manageable.

Now that you have them in black and white, or rather categorized as fear of confidence, get them out! Process the demons, write the tasks, schedule the activities, move the ideas to goals and goals to task items and take action on the good intentions and things you want to say or already said.—- just start doing it – don’t think about it, get it in motion from inside of you to outside of you… This purge will free up your mind and make you more productive and more focused. I call it “buffering” once you move the simple stuff out – on paper, in a note, in an email, whatever, your brain no longer has to buffer it. Your mind can just let it go, trusting the note or activity of getting it out will be enough and it will move on to other things.

In short, brain dump on paper or the white board, or whatever is best for you as often as possible. That stuff, the stuff you are juggling, really doesn’t need to be stuck inside your head chewing up your brainwidth.

Take action – do it today and feel better and be better.

Last.fm versus Pandora.com

I’ve been going back and forth between last.fm and pandora.com over the last month or two and have reached a verdict on these two free internet radio stations.

Last.fm is superior at:

Initial station setup when creating account – basically a comma separated list of band names in one box. Very easy.

• Commenting the song you are listening too.
• Introducing you to possible friends and telling you how closely your musical preferences match
• Showing your most listened to songs and artist (and other users)
• Recommending other artists I might like
• Integrating with your devices (pc to mobile to website)
• Introducing you to a wider range of artists faster due to scrobbling
• More to look at, interact with and do on the site
• Promoting their paid users with the little black square

Pandora.com is superior at:

• Music on initial site load
• Playing the song quickly without buffering or queuing
• 99.99% never a “my station wont load” experience
• Providing a simplified user experience
• Providing entertaining ads and skins and stations based on advertisers

Despite a longer list for last.fm, I see pandora.com as the clear winner if what you care about is a reliable online radio player that’s usable, loads well and efficient.

I’m also more connected to my Pandora experience because of the thumbs up thumbs down option and the ability to change stations and get information easily within the Pandora interface. To me, as far as an internet radio player goes, Pandora.com is the best.

Seth Godin, marketing mastermind, respected entrepreneur and author of “Tribes” and “Purple Cow” makes $50,000 in one day – By lying or by selling or both?

Get Seth Godin's boxed set

So, like Seth did when he was naming his book, “All Marketers are Liars”, I was lying when I named this blog post. Seth isn’t a liar; he’s just a great story teller. We are the liars. We lie to ourselves every day about what we wear, where we live, and where we work. And now 800 of us can lie to ourselves about the souvenir (wooden box of books) coming our way.

Today, in approximately 4 hours, Seth made over $50,000 in book sales with his unique souvenir idea. I admit to being one of the Godin junkies who purchased the book at 10:53 this morning – only 14 minutes after his email (from his blog) hit my inbox informing me of the boxed set and the website to purchase it from.

Webpage to purchase the Box Set

At that time, I was amazed to see the 800 in inventory was already showing as only 435 items remaining. A little scarcity in action + time sensitive + emotional hook = Sold without thinking twice. Now that’s great marketing (selling).

If you’ve read any of his books, you see that he is doing exactly what he preaches. Seth has created a reputation as a leader (tribes) and knows how to do big things by thinking small (small is the new big) and already has our permission to sell to us (permission marketing) and we are happy to be sold because we are a part of his community (triiibes.com) and he is offering us something valuable at a discount along with a story and something free (purple cow / free prize inside).

Having said that, I’m surprised he only did 800 because we all know it could have been more. Additionally, I’m surprised he sold the box set at a discount (about 25% off compared to buying the titles one-by-one) instead of selling them at a premium. But I’m not too surprised because he knows by giving what he can at a rate he can afford, he will get more back in other areas (speaking engagements, next books sales, bloggers buzzing, google juice juicing etc). Again, more of Seth doing what he tells all of us to do.

Now then, I noticed some odd stuff with the purchase site for the book. I sat on it throughout the day and made notes – I was enamored by the whole thing. So, for those of you who didn’t see the blog post soon enough, here is sort of a play-by-play. At least, what I saw.

10:39 AM – Seth’s email about the box set hits my inbox
10:49 AM – 435 boxed sets remain. I purchase mine
10:53 AM – 339 left
11:02 AM – 64 left
11:05 AM – 17 left. Amazed, I start to do screen captures
11:06 AM – Site shows negative quantities (see animation)
1:00 PM – Site shows 131 boxed sets left
1:14 PM – Site shows 90 boxed sets left
1:42 PM – Site shows 48 left
1:58 PM – Sold Out!

What was up with the weird glitches? I’m thinking it was tracking all clicks to the paypal account then checking to see which of those referring visitors completed the check out process. Once that happened, the site was updated releasing the inventory. If this is the case, this shows that nearly 400 people (maybe more) clicked with intent to buy and then bailed out. That tells you a lot about buyers intent and the biggest challenge with online sales – the abandoned shopping cart.

Alas, glitches or not, I got one for myself. How about you?

Mentoring requires you to be real, but that’s not a bad thing. Mentoring is pretty easy too. At times, it’s support or a nudge forward. Sometimes it’s a point-of-view or clearing of the air to move things forward. Sometimes it’s a friend or colleague offering insight to a persons blind spot. Sometimes it’s just a conversation over lunch or dinner that jars something loose and shifts a persons thinking. Other times it’s a referral or a suggestion to speak to someone new. Sometimes it’s giving something tangible or intellectual without strings attached. Sometimes its a promise to get others involved because you know you can. Sometimes it’s working for someone else pro bono when you could charge for it. Sometimes you don’t even think about it, you just roll up your sleeves and help.

Mentoring pays it forward, moves other people, ideas and things forward, and generates good will. Plant your seeds of knowledge, kindness and interest in someone else and watch them grow. Be generous with your time, knowledge, and resources and you will live a happy and full life.

All this may sound a bit like a fortune cookie, but trust me, give yourself to others and you will get it back in abundance. Giving someone cash is a transaction, giving a person your time, knowledge, consideration, guidance, and attention is a priceless investment in someones life.

If you aren’t mentoring, you should be.

(originally posted on 409news.com by Justin McCullough – leader4hire)

A quick (edited) list of things that bloggers are saying about how to write a good blog.

1. Write Clickable Titles: Blog titles need to inform and drive you to click to read the story.
2. Originality Wins: Be original with your ideas and when there is nothing original, write in your own voice.
3. Problem Then Solution Then Result: Give the reader a chance to understand the situation and then the answers and the result of the answers.
4. Don’t Write in CAPS: This looks like screaming with words so use caps sparingly.
5. Teach Your Readers: Share your knowledge in a way others can learn from.
6. Write with Conviction and Passion: Have energy behind your message and words.
7. Understand the Writing Process: Sniff. Explore. Collect. Focus. Select. Order. Draft. Revise.

The original sources share a total of 80 useful writing tips, and I highly recommend you review their posts in full:

• Blogging is About Writing
• 50 Tools that can Improve your Writing Skills
• Writing Tool #50: The Writing Process

It’s true, “Marketing” may not be in the bible, but the marketing of beliefs and faith certainly was. Think John the Baptist and his relentless effort to announce (market) his beliefs and faith, not to mention Jesus and his efforts!

The folks at Church Marketing Sucks seem to have a bone to pick regarding the lack of marketing in churches and the poor marketing efforts from unknowing church members. Oh, and they take a firm position on the issue of using the word “sucks” stating:

We’re being authentic. We’re being real. We’re doing the same thing we’re asking the church to do when it comes to communicating and marketing who they are.

Personally, I think most churches have the basic concept of marketing and understand how to get the message out.  They use their signs, they make announcements to the congregation, they ask members to tell others about the church and their faith, many members actively recruit and encourage others to share in their faith, and they hold events to bring new people into the church.  That’s more than most businesses do!

When it comes to church marketing, or anything else, be smart and consistent with your marketing message and consider the quality of the message AND the presentation of the message.

I’m looking through WordPress plugins and found this widget that lets your WP site show your latest tunes from Last.FM.  As it happens, I’m a huge pandora.com fan and am actually listening to Pandora right now… wish we had a Pandora WordPress Widget because I’d plug it in for sure.  For now, you can click here to see my listening habits….

Oh wow, now I see something I haven’t noticed before, an embed code.  Lets try it!

According to BusinessDictionary.com, a business system is:

Methodical procedure or process, used as a delivery mechanism for providing specific goods or services to customers in a well defined market.

In simple terms, its a defined set of known things you do and do not do in your business. People buy McDonald’s Franchises because 1) it can make you a millionaire in a year or two and 2) the system has been refined to the point that you can make a million bucks from a store that is almost exclusively run by teenagers.

We can’t all be a McDonald’s, but we can all have a system in place. Start with the basics:
- Payroll system (accounting software, checks, scheduled payments, etc)
- Human resources system (application, screening services, filing system, employee handbook)
- Sales system (customer management software)
- Marketing system (advertising, referrals, networking, etc)

After that, whats your business really trying to do? Can you adopt another companies system for operations? Same for your business model? Do you need to create your own system?

No matter what, if you don’t have a system or several systems in place, then you are missing out on the opportunity to grow, be more efficient, and lead a company without you doing all the work yourself.

Dear Tim Westergren and the Pandora.com team,
This is an open letter to you, my dearest friend at Pandora, the worlds best (free) internet radio. Like a brother in arms or a fraternity brother in the wee hours of a long night of debauchery, I’m going to shoot you straight, but I won’t leave you hanging.

Let’s talk about your identity crisis, or as I like to think of it:
Pandora, a Crisis of Disbelief.

Lets start with the fundamental issue. The root cause if you will. The Positioning of Pandora.com.

The marketing classic, “Positioning – a battle for your mind”, is a great book by Al Reis and Jack Trout and considered by many in the industry to be the authority on the topic of positioning for companies, products, and services. Although there are different definitions of Positioning, probably the most common is: “A product’s position is how potential buyers see the product”, and is expressed relative to the position of competitors. In this book, they have some great examples of positioning. One such example illustrates why Xerox can’t sell computers and IBM can’t sell copiers despite the millions of dollars they put into product development and advertising. In the mind of the customer, Xerox means copiers and IBM means computers no matter how much money either entity puts into trying to do something different than their core. You see, IBM = Computers and Xerox = Copiers. Just ask anyone on the street, they will tell you the same thing.

Enter Pandora. Pandora, you have built yourself on the back of free internet radio. This means all those years of saying and doing free internet radio has positioned you in the customers mind to mean free internet radio. So, like it or not Pandora = free internet radio in the mind of the customer. Hence your identity crisis and why your customers are going through a Crisis of Disbelief.

<title>Pandora Radio – Listen to Free Internet Radio, Find New Music</title>

To further confuse things, you still keep the “free internet radio” message in your Pandora.com browser title and repeat that message all over your website. So, after 9 years of operations and roughly $65 million in funding, all your users from the internet to iPhone to Blackberry and on and on have bought into your position of free internet radio. This is good, Pandora. This means unlike deezer.com, dizzler.com, bluebeat.com, grooveshark.com and all the others, you have earned the position as free internet radio. You, not anyone else, means free internet radio. What a wonderful position to own. Just like craigslist.com means free internet classifieds and pentyoffish.com means free dating site. All great places to be in the long-term.

Perception is reality (or should we say Position is reality).

The reason your listeners are crying like little girls at a midnight showing of the Titanic is because you have spent your whole life saying one thing and now you are doing something completely different.

I have plenty of money, but I didn’t expect to give you any.

If you go to the movie theater you expect to pay to watch it. If you go to a restaurant, you expect to pay for your food. If you go to the park, you don’t expect to pay for the sun to shine. Wait, what? See, the park has a position in your mind and by default that position means fresh air, family fun, and sunshine. If you put a park ranger out there to charge for being in the sun, it won’t matter who the people are (millionaires or bums), you’re going to run them off because the position and expectations don’t match what it means to go to the park. In your case, Pandora means free internet radio – all the time, not up to 40 hours. Where you might be tempted to think you are just getting backlash from the ‘poor’ listeners, that would be completely inaccurate. These listeners are operating on the position and expectations you created. The same things they fell in love with. See, it’s really not about the money, it’s about the position of Pandora.com no longer syncing up. Unfortunately most people can’t tell you what they are feeling in a meaningful way, they just throw up the price because it’s the easiest to zero in on. Additionally, with the paid advertising, they expect that you are making money and don’t need to charge them. Stupid, I know.

Stop your belly aching, we gotta make money don’t we?

Absolutely. I can assure you every one of your listeners wants you to make money and stay in business. This is also why the listeners are accepting of the ads because they know you have to make money somewhere since you are “free to listeners”. The key here, is that the listeners don’t expect you to try to make money off of them. If you want to give up your dominate position as free internet radio and see your listeners drop thus dropping your traffic and number of ad impressions, then keep on the path you are on now. If you want to continue to be the biggest player, clearly head and shoulders above everyone else, rethink the value of your position and what it means before you reposition yourself to something you wish you hadn’t.

What would Google Do?

Just like they don’t charge for all those extremely valuable search results, they wouldn’t charge for listening to the radio either.

It’s the listeners, stupid.

Your die hard listeners, the ones busting the 40 hour limit are your most loyal listeners and also make the best prospect for your advertisers because these listeners provide advertisers the consumption of their ads over and over – an advertising concept known as frequency. Because you have customers that stay on your site for HOURS, you are proving to be one of the most prominent ad networks online. You want as many of these ‘power listeners’ as possible because your advertisers want them. From looking at blogs and comments posted on the 40 hour limit, I see a trend of people reaching this limit as a product of listening at work. This is great news for Pandora. This means your listeners are by-passing their local radio station to listen to you, thus Pandora is becoming their local radio station. This is huge! Add elements to user profile to indicate the area you live in. Then you have the ability to target users in a market for advertisers and ultimately would open you up to allow media buys from hyper local advertisers who want to tell that guy at work that he can go to the sandwich shop in his home town for lunch instead of the current advertiser, Jimmy Johns, which isn’t in my market – but their ad and message is perfect for this medium and if they were in my market, mmmm sandwich time.

By limiting 40 hour or more listeners you do 3 things:

1. Erode your best asset for the advertisers you sell
2. Debunk your evangelists who praised and recruited people to Pandora.com causing them to work twice as hard to undo you, either intentionally or not.
3. Push your loyal fans into the arms of the next best “free internet radio” service which will later monetize their site in a better way having learned from your mistakes.

Buzz meter goes up then goes bust.

You will see a drop in your traffic as well as your apps downloads, your impressions served, and your new user signups. This is inevitable due to the power of buzz going from positive to negative like a wildfire with increasing winds. Your buzz has been positive overall, continually building on your position of free internet radio, but that may shift quickly and with a tremendously negative impact. As more and more people talk about this 40 hour limit, more people will seek alternatives before they ever sign up.

Begin the demise of Pandora.com (see also the twitter effect killing Bruno the first week in the box office). I like Pandora so much, I can not even vet out what the demise of Pandora.com would be like. Lets prevent this before it happens.

What is the best way to handle this?

Assuming Pandora.com values, cherishes, and wants to maintain the position of free internet radio in the mind of everyone, they need to keep the free internet radio message and own it at all levels. It means that instead of penalizing the 40 hour listener, they embrace and develop that habit, that addiction to the service. Perhaps a few suggestions can get you thinking about other ways to monetize it.

Let the ideas flow:

Sponsor a listener program
Offer people, business, corps, causes etc to pay any sum $10 or $10,000 to sponsor free listening for others. You can hold an annual fund raiser for this, put a huge marketing spin on it for all kind of PR that will grow the Pandora brand. Promise to donate a portion of the revenue to a good cause so it has the warm fuzzy element, then reward listeners with ongoing free listening (with ads showing). This way you can continue to monetize the user clicks for thumbs up/down, play/pause etc which is good for your advertisers. Your fans will love you more and will work harder for you. For more clarity on this model, just look at what PBS does every year (or NPR for radio) both of which aren’t far from Jerry’s Kids. The point here is that it works and will work for you if you just have a little imagination. And its not just for funds but great PR (and will not run off your listeners).

Promote membership
If you want to monetize the user, go for it, but don’t put me in fight or flight mode. Offer things that reward membership or transactions. For example, Pandora exclusive concert ticket purchasing at a Pandora price for paid members. Partner with an advertiser and give Pandora members special incentives when they purchase the membership. For example, pay $50 and get $25 in Rock Band credit. In other words, you can use promotions to drive membership, not a road block to your service.

Make me feel special and I’ll give you more
Develop Pandora exclusive content only available to members. This can be tshirts, books, compilation CD’s etc. Take a look at bluebeat.com and see about a similar setup where members can create their own playlist and share with friends this way they can have a little more control over the Pandora experience. Similarly, with grooveshark.com you can play a specific song pretty much on demand which is might be an example of something a member could do. Lastly, since you know so much about my musical interest, use that information and present hyper relevant products to me. By doing this, you give me access to things that I otherwise may not have known about. For example, I am a major nine inch nails fan, but don’t always know what’s going on with nin fan club promotions – however, I am always on Pandora.com and you can see I have a nin station and thumbs up nin when they play on my other stations. This means you can keep me tapped in as a one stop location for all my musical interest.

Feel free to chime in, agree or disagree. Think about your position. Pandora = Free Internet Radio. Or does it?

Potentially more to follow…

Regards,
Justin McCullough
leader4hire

http://www.pandora.com/people/leader4hire

More and more, consumers are relying on friends and family members for advice on what to purchase, where to shop, tonight’s dining experience and tomorrow’s evening out   This is great news for organizations who want to get the word out, i.e., market a new product, service or communicate an event, because word of mouth is essentially free.

Despite this oh-so-obvious fact, few organizations properly implement buzzmarketing by leveraging the “friends and family” network but it’s easy to do, and, did I mention..it’s FREE.

First, identify your friend network. You’ve already got it essentially. No need to create a new spreadsheet. Your organization’s “friends and family members” are its vendors, community alliances, partners, third-party providers and the friends and family members of your employees.

Second, tell ALL your employees, not just your sales and marketing gurus, about your new product, service or event. Every employee should know what your organization is doing, promoting and trying to be known for.   It’s always a bit baffling when the receptionist or gatekeeper of an organization doesn’t know that the company just merged with an international conglomerate, is having an open house and Madonna is performing or has launched a national campaign introducing a new organic, non-caloric, gluten-free chocolate bar. Basically, everyone from the janitor to president and every stakeholder in between needs to know what is going on with your company!

Third, encourage every employee to tell a friend about the event, product or service. And always make sure the “buzz” is clear. Concisely communicate the product, service and event and why a person should attend, buy, partake, etc.!

Communicate via email, word of mouth, phone calls, etc. to these friends and family members what is going on at your company.   Remember, we all have a business and personal friend network. If properly informed, they can do more for our cause than any mass advertising. All we have to do is tell them and excite them.They will do the rest.

A note about friends. Some friends are promoters and natural sales people who are likely to go out of their way to tell others about your cause. Others however, are more likely to be soft-spoken supporters. Don’t expect every friend to blast away emails, Tweets or Facebook posts about your cause. All you want to accomplish is awareness that produces discussion in conversation as your friends and family members interact with others in your market.

The more people that know about the organization’s cause, the better the discussion (and results).

So go out there and start a discussion with your friends and family and keep them informed. They will talk and you will benefit from the “friendly” conversation at no charge.

- Justin McCullough
leader4hire.net

Sorta Simple Tortilla Soup

So, I don’t cook often, but when I do, its always an experiment er I mean experience.
And this Sorta Simple Tortilla Soup is no exception.

So tonight, on the way to the store I called my friend Brandon East
http://www.facebook.com/home.php#/profile.php?id=1371484155
who writes a Beer Review article for a local lifestyle magazine
http://www.vipbrew.blogspot.com . He makes some amazing beer and food pairings and has a good reputation doing so. Anyway, he’s pretty passionate about flavor concoctions and I see him as a taste guru so I gave him a call for a quick run down on a tortilla soup recipe.

I get him on the phone and skip straight past the usual greetings and asked if he knew how to make tortilla soup to which he immediately said “yeah man… yeah… of course, yeah..” and then he went on to explain a pretty simple tortilla soup made up of onions, celery, stewed tomatoes, corn, beans, rice and some chicken broth.

While he explained the recipe I was thinking to myself that his recipe is more or less what I would have done… hmmm what’s special about this?…. And then I heard Brandon say “So yeah, that’s what I would probably do off the top of my head”. Then he goes on to tell me that he “has never actually made tortilla soup”. *chuckles* … Okay, so we are both making this up on the fly. Anyway, before we got off the phone Brandon asked for me to tell him how it turns out.

So here we are. “Hey Brandon, it turned out pretty darn good”. Taste pretty light with a very full flavor. Its, by far, better than any tortilla soup I’ve had at a restaurant. Just my opinion.

Sorta Simple Tortilla Soup
by Justin

Ingredients list:
YELLOW ONION – 1
CELERY – 5 stalks
MINCED GARLIC – 1 tbsp
BUTTER – Half a stick
BABY CARROTS – 10 chopped
GARLIC SALT – 1 tbsp
Knorr Caldo De Tomate Con Sabor De Pollo (Tomato Boullion with Chicken Flavor) – 2 tbsp
Knorr Caldo Con Sabor De Pollo (Chicken Flavor Boullion) – 2 tbsp
Del Monte Stewed Tomatoes (Mexican Recipe Style with jalepenos, Garlic and Cumin) – 1 (14.5oz) can
Rotel Chunky Tomatoes & Green Chilies – 1 (10oz) can
Rotisserie Chicken – 1 already cooked
Spanish Rice mix
Kraft Mexican Cheddar Jack

Boil 6 cups of water and add 2 tbsp of the tomatoe boullion with chicken flavor and 2 tbsp of chicken flavor boullion then keep on low heat for later… (just to be clear, that actually is two different flavors… one is just chicken and one is chicken and tomatoe)….

Cut up your already cooked rotisserie chicken breast and legs. Either pull it, shred it, dice it or whatever you like to do. I cut mine into very small cubes. Keep on the side for later…

Put your chopped onions, chopped celery and chopped carrots in a ‘big pot’ with a half a stick of butter and 1 tbsp of minced garlic and 1 tbsp of garlic salt. Cook down for about 10 minutes on medium heat stirring often. Then add about a cup of your boiled boullion mix and let it boil with your onions and celery for about 10 minutes.

Add your can of stewed tomatoes and Rotel tomatoes and cook just below a boil for about 10 minutes. I drained the juice from the tomatoes, but its your preference.

After your 10 minutes with the tomatoes mixed in, then add the remainder of your boullion mix into the ‘big pot’ and cook just below a boil for 20 minutes. Then add your cooked diced rotisserie chicken to the mix and boil for 10 minutes.

Serve in a bowl with half a cup of Mexican Cheddar Jack cheese on top and serve a side plate of your Spanish rice.

I’ll leave it to Brandon to suggest the Beer you should drink with this meal.

Hope you try my Sorta Simple Tortilla Soup sometime.

Best,
Justin McCullough
leader4hire.net

PS – No, I don’t think I’m a chef. No, I don’t actually think anybody here  will try to recreate the recipe. But if you do… tell me what you think and what beer your drank with it *wink*