When Bright People Meet
I recently held a workshop and some of the smartest people in my community were there, great things happen when smart people meet, all you have to do is get out of the way. The workshop was on the topic of how to give your content away and generate revenue, the open & free business model, or free content business model. We discussed what was happening out there on the interweb, and we talked about what it meant to each one of them. The reality is, many of us are still trying to find our way, and most of us don’t know someone with arms length that has figured it out. Maybe it’s not important, maybe it’s more important to participate, build your plan, and then work your plan.
One of my goals in 2010 is to help 100 businesses with the new (old) business model, to show them which direction the tidal wave is coming from, and then help them ride it rather than get wiped out because they were looking the other way, Denial to foresight. When talking to business owners, the Internet is still just an add-on to their existing business. The concept of a social business or an open business is so foreign to them, a glazed look comes over their eyes after a few moments, which tells you they don’t understand. I suspect, many of these business owners don’t want to look stupid, or be viewed like they don’t know, so they act like they do. But when a business owners says ya I need to learn this stuff can you help me, I get pretty passionate about sharing and helping them.
I can tell you this, if you find business owners with an open mind, with a little humility, a desire to improve, feel they aren’t using the Internet effectively just yet, be gentle, then share the future with them before the details of what to do next. The future is actually easy to see if you’re looking at the world of business with the right perspective. Being out of the box means you are willing to adopt new ideas, it doesn’t mean you make poor decisions. Some things are right under your nose, like cell phones, everything is going mobile. In the future this mobility will be embedded into everything, your prescription glasses, contact lenses, even our blood stream once Nanotechnology matures. Our automobiles will be driven by computers not us, they will have sharper senses than we do. It’s already happening, just look around, the challenge is that this technology is not in the mainstream. It’s over most of our heads, so we tend to stay in and work with things we understand. Why, we are wired to be in control, being out of control feels like CHAOS, so we are very uncomfortable in it. The open & free business model promotes that chaos, we don’t know how to embrace it and more importantly trust it.
The best way to learn this new way of doing business is collaborate, to connect with those who are working on it, understand it, and show you how to get comfortable with the chaos. Is to create an environment where people can succeed, it’s as simple as putting a team of smart people together in a room and asking some key questions, then sit back and listen. Just get out of the way and take notes. When smart people meet, great things happen.
Social Networks Are The New Church Of The Future?
Since the birth of the Internet many have been trying to figure out just what it is, how big it is, I mean how big is it in terms of mankind. What is the role the Internet plays in terms of the world, maybe the universe as we know it. The question of what the Internet will look like in 50, 100 years from now looms large and is still is unanswered. The future is much easier to predict over the next 30- 50 years but 100 is a stretch, most likely we have no idea what technology will be like if we even get to live that long. With that in mind, what will Social Networks primary function be in the next 50 years?
Today we are producing content at a rapid pace, and using Social Networks to distribute it, hoping to get attention, and hoping to be recognized for providing good value. Most are trying figure out how to make a living here without the reputation of being unethical, wanting to be an honest business person and still generate income. In Social Networks it appears everyone is helping each other, building one another up, and encouraging each other to keep moving forward and to never give up. In some way these social networks behave like a church, maybe even better than, taking care of each other and speaking positive about all we come in contact with, as if we’ve known each other for years. It’s actually one of things I like about social network environments, it’s humane, it’s not about the system, it’s about people.
Almost everyone is willing to come and be together on Social Networks, see old friends, and meet new ones. It all sounds so wonderful doesn’t it? There is a dark side and we have yet to figure out what exactly it look likes and how to keep in check. I only mention it because we must keep our wits about us while chatting here faceless.
The church of the future will be more online than off, and many of the old guard will fight it, just like the music industry, they’ll fight back and try to keep control. In fact, today a new copyright law was introduced to prevent you, all of us from downloading music. I expect the copyright law will fail just as the previous document. Many question come when the idea of doing church online, sharing the gospel in a digital way. What about denomination, what happens to membership? The concept of broadcasting, streaming church services live online will become common place in the future even with the resistance of today.
The reality is, the church our Mother’s & Father’s attended, that model of church, is no longer working and a new model needs to be introduced. The new model means opening the doors up to the soon to be 5 Billion people that will take up residence here online. It won’t be enough to just stream services, but virtual churches will literally need to transform traditional church so it works online. Then the questions of, would people attend, would virtual churches survive financially? I belive they will, and they will most likely increase giving because they have opened the church doors and seeing that they to have become even more human.
Some say the Internet is evil, it’s the same statement as saying people with guns kill people, the truth is, guns kill people. The motive and heart of the people determine whether that happens or not, but that’s another story.
The Internet is changing our world(s), in such a way many are having a very difficult time trying to understand just what is happening and what it all means in the big picture. I can only say, this change is going to happen and we have to learn how to adopt. The details have yet to be worked out, but the picture is clear, the church will come here whether those today like it or not. The same applies to business owners resisting the reality that the Internet, that their business must be web-centric rather than not.
Will social networks be the new church, will they be accepted, or will they be viewed as outsiders as they are today? I like to think we are all people, we all have the same desires and frankly the same needs. If that is true, then social networks we know today will remain behaving the same way with very little change. That remains to be seen, but I can say without an hesitation, the church will be here doing the good work that they do, and I say AMEN!
3 Things To Watch for By 2013
In the next 3 -5 years there three major things that will force how we think and how we do business on the Internet. You need to prepare today in order to adopt new ways of doing business online in the future. To adopt new ways of thinking, a paradigm shift unlike you have ever had to endure in the past. Giving customers what they want is paramount, if you don’t, word of mouth will work against you at a faster rate than you can ever recover from. The future is filled with change, how you embrace change matters more than ever today. The next 5 years will test your ability to make changes.
Questions to consider: 1.) Does the Technology you use today help fill your sales funnel? 2.) Does your current technology improve productivity? 3.) Do you have easy ways for your customers to connect with you or talk to you? 4.) Does your current technology help build your brand? 5.) Does your current technology match your business objectives? 6.) Is your company web-native, is the web your primary way of doing business? 7.) Does your current technology make paying for your product or service easy and in a seamless way? 8.) How easy is it to do business with your company online?
3 Things to pay attention to:
1.) The 3 Billion yet to come
In the next 5 years we will see the arrival of 3 Billion people, that’s 3 Billion more people online than there is to date. This will create a sound boom, an avalanche of new content and a serious need for filtering the noise. Filtering content will be more important than creating it, and you will need to be tagged to be heard. If you do business online, getting attention and converting will be much more difficult if you don’t prepare today. These new consumers will want more control and will not be forced into paying for something they can find elsewhere. Hence the phrase, Proudly Found Elsewhere. Your Ecosystem will need to harness the power of an open economy to survive.
2.) Web-Centric
In the next few years 30% of all commerce will be done online, do you have the right systems in place to adopt that 30%? It is expected that that number will eventually hit 60%, are you ready to serve them? Do you have a team working on creative ways to adopt to the web in a primary way? Are you still treating the Internet as an add-on to your business?
3.) Mobile & Social
The Internet is shifting from computers to mobile devices, eventually these devices will be embedded into eyecare and possibly bionic lenses. More text messages are being sent than actual vioce calls are being made in the USA today. Is your business channeling to mobile devices? Are designing systems to adopt mobile devices that integrate social networks? Each day new mobile devices are being developed, and each day more and more business is being funnelled through mobile social networks, is your business leveraging new technologies that maximize presence and attention?
The world is getting faster and very mobile, the web is central to everything being developed today, are you there, will you be ready? The world is coming like a tidal wave, will you ride it or be hit by it? It’s an exciting time, embrace the open economy and the open & free business model, adopt this new way of serving others and generate more revenue than the past.
The Internet Is No Longer Just An Add-On
For years we have used the Internet much like a PS3 or an XBOX, it was an add-on to our entertainment center, it was attached to the TV. The TV has been the CORE entertainment box since it’s inception, but now TV as we know it is all but done. Internet TV is becoming the primary way we watch TV, that’s killing advertisers and cable networks. I wrote earlier this week that we in our household canceled cable for a couple reasons; we can get what we want on the NET, and two we weren’t watching TV all that much. So, we cut the overhead and will put that money into something we want online.
Business owners started paying attention to the Internet when they heard a few making considerable revenue online, the problem is, it was never take seriously. Today, if you’re a business owner you must take the Internet seriously and have a strategy that meets the requirements / objectives of your business plan. The Internet is no longer just an add-on, it has and is now becoming central to doing commerce period. In the next couple years you will see 30% of all commerce done online, is that your business? That number is going to grow closer to 60% when it’s all said and done.
It’s not enough to use the Internet as your primary source for revenue, you will also have to adopt an open economy strategy. The strategy is not difficult, it’s the way you think about that open economy, and how you will participate in it. I’ll harp on this until I no longer have to, it’s a paradigm shift, and it’s a painful shift. Take a look at my last blog post on Gerd Leonhards list of 14 shifts. My question to you is, how does it make you feel when you read that list?
Are you using the Internet only for entertainment, or is it becoming your primary way of doing business? The Internet is demanding respect, and so are your customers, they want to know if you are there to serve them or if you are just playing them and the Internet. No longer can you treat the Internet as an add-on to your business, you must begin the process giving the Internet it’s due. You should be shifting to a Web-Native model, that’s where the Internet is central to everything you do. Then you need to embrace an open economy where you give users more control of how they do business with you. This open economy is also very mobile and very social, how will you adopt this model? Will you be kicking and screaming or will you invite creativity and ask your customers what they would have you do?
Is the Internet just an add-on for you and your business or is the core platform for your business? The Internet is the game changer and has given everyone an opportiunity to not only have a voice, but also build something special your customers will embrace. Make the Internet your primary platform, the Internet Is No Longer Just An Add-on.
Will You Embrace an Open Economy?
You will read much about this a great deal here, and you will hear about it in many other circles, the world has yet to arrive, but when they do, an Open Economy will emerge and swarm the Internet like never before. An open economy will bring about a new way of thinking, a new way of planning, and a new way of generating revenue. Much will change and then some things will remain the same, out of fear and creativity.
One thing that will change, regardless of you or your businesses participation, customers will take charge in this open business model, they’ve already started if you haven’t noticed. In fact, you probably are seeing a shift to where the middle-man is dead, small is the new big, it’s happening because we used to succeed by controlling, and businesses are no longer in control in this open economy. Good companies will have to find things users can do in order to keep them, open things, give users more control.
Jeff Jarvis, author of , What Would Google Do?
In the new model, attention will be the new currency, getting attention will be central to your success. In fact, if you want to be found, you will have to be in “the public”, in the open, the model will demand it. You will place value on different indicators, you will learn the value of being involved in the conversation, with your customers, do what they are asking you to do, will you listen to them?
Here are a number shifts that are going take place, some have already begun. Taken from Gerd Leonhard’s Slide presentation:
1.) A Web-Native Business Model – the Internet (Web) will be the primary way of doing business. It’s no longer just an add-on.
2.) Shift from the Network to Networked
3.) Mobile & Social 1st
4.) Open Platforms (Google)
5.) From Control to Trust
6.) From Egosystem to Ecosystem (Collaboration will be everything for survival)
7.) From walled gardens to the Jungle (You can’t keep things behind walls and generate new money)
8.) Everything will shift to the Cloud
9.) Friction to Engagement
10.) GUI (Graphical User Interface) to NUI (Natural User Interface)
11.) Linear to Fuzzy Logic
12.) New Qualifications
13.) A Shift from Denial to Foresights
14.) Yes / No to Maybe
The world is coming, and it bringing a new way of doing business, it’s called an Open Economy, an Open & Free Business Model, will you learn it, will you embrace it?