Posts Tagged ‘Blog’
Scott Stratten's UNMarketing Book
It took me two days to read this book, and what a joy it was to finish it so I could share with you. I was emotionally moved while reading this book, that doesn’t happen often, I’m not sure why yet but I’ll figure it out. It could be because he has son named Owen : ) Now I read alot, I like to learn, I like to read other perspectives, and I love to take what I’ve read and learned and then apply it. I’ll admit up front I have been a Scott Stratten fan upon learning he was in this space, he joined Twitter a month earlier than me and I’m proud to say he has made something of Twitter that most haven’t. The book is part of his overall plan I think, he didn’t expect to get asked to write the book but if you follow Scott, it was only a matter of time. The Title is his Twitter handle, @unmarketing. The Book is called, UNMarketing – Stop Marketing. Start Engaging.
Once you start reading, you get the impression he practices what he preaches. I was reading along around chapter 10 and I had this notion, this feeling that I have heard all this before. In fact, I did! I heard it from Scott since the day he joined Twitter, these 64,000 words he put together in this book are actually 457 Tweets on Twitter! If you do the math, 457 x 140 Characters = 63,980 words! I felt like I was reading bite sized chicken nuggets (Tweets) from Scott, bite sized stories, this book reads like a Twitter stream to me. I know, I’m weird, but when you read it, you’ll understand what I mean. I don’t know if he intended it that way, but that’s what it was like for me.
There are 56 Chapters, they are somewhat short, but all are packed with well thoughtout points, some you have to read twice. I found myself saying yes many times while sifting through the pages, because, everything, most things he was talking about, all were simply the use of common sense. Looking at a business in a new way, not using old Industrial Age thinking. I believe that anyone over the age of 35 is stuck, stuck in old thinking. It’s no ones fault, it’s everyone’s fault, from our parents who couldn’t see past what was in front of them. To our leaders in the school system that had to buy into a lie. And we believed the Government was going to look after us, another lie. I think we are seeing that the system is not humane and it merely serves itself.
The first two chapters didn’t really grab me, but the third one did, it’s called the Trust Gap. From that point on, I was giving Scott all of my attention, right through to the Index. The restaurant story is one of my favorites, I have actually lived and tried to get that one done, you’ll love it. If you can get a restaurant owner to do it, the fun they will have, and the money will be a by-product of their trust in the people formerly known as consumers.
There is one thing I don’t agree with Scott on, I hate Wal-Mart, he loves them! His reason’s for loving Wal-Mart are valid to him, he admits he is lazy, and that’s why he goes there. One stop shopping. What I really don’t like about Wal-Mart is this, it makes people think in a broke frame of mind, by cheap stuff 500 times when quality might only cost a few bucks more, and you buy it 5 times instead of 500. That’s just my view on stores that sell in that fashion, right down to Dollar Stores & the new $5 Store. I should talk, I used to work at a store equally as bad back in the 70’s, F.W. Woolworth! But that’s a whole lifetime ago and another Blog Post.
OK, let’s get back to the book…..Buy It! Don’t take my word alone, you will learn, you will get perspective you may not have had before, and you will see a much bigger picture when you get to the Index. There is much more I could cover, but let’s face it, I didn’t write the book, and I can’t possibly do it justice here. Thanks Scott, and good luck on the Book Tour.
Be sure to follow Scott in your Social networks, buy his book, there is much wisdom between the covers, and most definitely visit his UN-Marketing Blog.
A tease for you, you will love The UnEnding : )
I.T. Strategic Planning – The Blog
There are many things I.T. Strategic Planning can cover, blogging isn’t really one of them, unless your an IT Sweat Shop and it’s your portal to the world. Blogs however, tend to be birthed out of Marketing & PR Departments, they are a means to an end when it comes to getting the message out or building community.
From a Strategic Planning perspective, the Blog is a tool, yes it’s a technology platform but not a strategic one, this is not an item the company may live or die on. In my case, I’m a Consultant, a self-employed one at that, one of my tools of choice is this Blog. In this case, not only would it be in my Business Plan, it would also be in my I.T. Strategic Plan. Why? I would have to plan to implement and deliver the platform in order for my business to to do business here.
How would I arrive at such a decision? Well, I am not a large organization with resources, I am a sole Proprietor, I can reach my target market faster and in a more efficient and cost effect way. Hence, I need the Blog! I also need to have a Hosting Company to hold my blog so I am able to deliver my content, not only to my target market but to the world. I started my own webhosting company, it was a place to put my friends & clients, I also wanted learn how the backend works. So the arguement of Tactic & Strategy comes to the forefront yet once again.
This decision was easy for me, almost no money is required, I know how to build the site, and I know how to run the Content Management System. I knew which CMS I was going to use (WordPress Self-Hosted) & which theme, I use Headway Themes.(affiliate link) A no Brainer right?
Today almost every person is or will have a Blog at some point, almost every business will have a Blog, if they don’t, they won’t really have a voice out here and most likely will be out of business. So, the Blog is strategic in some cases, and in today’s digital world, it is imperative.
Having said that, the Blog is also not strategic. Why? There is no way a Blog can circumvent the server and it’s server platform, that has to come first before the Blog. The server, or the hardware required to deliver your information is strategic in that it’s a fixed cost and yet disposable at the same time. In my IT Strategy I would be saying, I need a server, on that server I need to run Windows Server or Linux or whatever server software happens to be the best suited to deliver my content. On that server, there will be web server software, it will be home to the Blog, it will be the space to which I upload and store my content.
As you can see the Blog really can come later, it may be the driving force to having a server but I think not, you will need a place to store files first before you need a Blog. We could go back & forth on this for some time, but the fact is, the Blog is becoming a staple in your business strategy and it is thought of long before the server ever is. So in that sense it’s part of your I.T. Strategic Plan.
What do you think?
HELP! I Need Your Input Please
The past few months have been interesting to say the least, and in closing out 2009 I have been getting a variety of requests on my Blog, including speaking & consulting opportunities. When I started blogging I was hot and bothered about Nanotechnology, why people weren’t talking about it and how it may or may not impact our lives. That turned out to be a dead horse.
I then shifted energy to my other passion, I.T. Strategic Planning, that has developed some interest from a business perspective.
Lately, the biggest area of interest is Social Media, monetizing a blog, and how to get traffic to it. Go figure.
Anyway, My question for you is, is learning the ropes about blogging and or monetizing your blog important to you, do you want to know how and where I’m having success with it? Late 2009 and so far this year has proven profitable teaching and sharing on these items. Please do not take this as bragging, I’m merely sharing and want to know if you want to learn how I have done it. Or, is there something else you would like to see covered?
Thanks for your time, please let me know so I can discern where to invest my time serving you.
Please send me an e-mail with your input and or request: owen@owengreaves.com
Many Blessings,
Owen Greaves
http://blog.owengreaves.com
I’m Making Headway!
For years I have held off paying for a theme for my blog because I like free. What I have learned is that free themes are bare bones and usually clone in nature. Having just purchased the Headway Theme after considerable deliberation, OK, I was being all wishy washy on the decision but I eventually did it.
This isn’t a review of the Headway Theme, I’m just sharing how easy it was for me to make the transition. Virtually pain free, I had to learn where things were located and the order in which the Visual Editor likes to function, but that didn’t take long. In fact, I was able to make the shift in a few hours last night, today I have been tweaking the small stuff.
Yes, I am endorsing Headway Theme because of its ease of use, and you will see much thought that was put into it, feature rich, and simplistic in nature. You don’t need to be a coder of any kind, just learn the tools and you can build a slick looking site in no time at all.
I love how each page is treated individually, the sidebar is not automatically assigned to all pages in your blog, you get full control over that Leaf. You can duplicate your Homepage Leaf and place it on specific pages within your Blog, just a couple clicks and you’re done!
I made the shift, please take a look at my Blog and let me know what you think (unless its negative). Just kidding. I’ve tried to keep it clean and simple, I am considering a background on the Banner but that will have to wait, I have to run off to a meeting.
I highly recommend you consider purchasing a Headway Theme (Affiliate Link), you can find them here.
So what do you think of my new theme?
When You're Not Prepared
I mentioned I have been reading alot over the holidays on building a successful blog, a successful business, or whatever else you might be building. I love to learn, but I hate the details. That means I need to build a team of solid people that can ensure the details are getting looked after, it’s in my plan. In my last rant I suggested to you that sitting still is not an option when you are building a business, a following, or even a Blog. But before you can get all wound up with busy, you have to have some sense of preparedness, or have a plan to work from. Because winging it, is really planning to fail.
I would also suggest to you that in my 52 years, I have failed (learned) more than not, from my perspective anyway. Other’s would say I’m a huge success and have my bleep together. Ya right. I’m actually very insecure and tend to over analyze, I am very calculating to the point of doing nothing sometimes. There, I feel better now, you now know my biggest weakness.
Getting back to being prepared, do you prepare for meetings, do you prepare before going outside in sub-zero temperatures, do you prepare and plan your vacation well in advance of leaving? I think you are getting my point here. The truth is, we only really prepare if its important to us, it doesn’t matter what it is, if it’s important, we prepare for it. In fact, studies have been done proving that we plan our two week vacations more than we plan any other event in our lives! That can’t be good, Gary Vaynerchuk once said, if you are working for the weekends and holidays, your crap is broken.
I play on a Worship team in my church, I handle the lead vocals, we try to practice every Friday night, when we do, Sunday goes very, very well. When we don’t practice on Friday’s, like this past week, Sunday morning looks, sounds and feels like we were under prepared. That’s what it’s like when you’re not prepared, it falls apart quickly and comes off bus league, don’t do that. A bad performance is what you get when you’re not prepared. Worse yet, embarrassment. You can’t do most things without being ready, without being prepared, so why do we try to get by without being prepared? The question is perplexing at times.
The same principle applies to Blogging, business or anything else you hope to realize a positive result. Success is not an accident, it takes time, effort, planning, and being prepared. Oh you might get lucky once, but I doubt you will be able to wing it and realize the success you want. Why is it that all the Internet Marketers sell you their plan on how to do what they did? To sell you their success system, their new Book or eBook. They went through the long process of being prepared, they had a plan long before they did anything, they prepared by doing the research, all the writing, the video’s and they worked out a system from start to finish before they launched. Those who do the work, most likely see the results they prepared for.
Do you want success or do you want the result from when you’re not prepared?