Posts Tagged ‘Marketing’
The Future Of Business – Is To Create!
The greatest of creations ever made, were you and I, we’re amazing! We can do things no other creature or animal on earth can do, we can stop before we respond, we can decide how we want to respond to stimuli. We have so many abilities, one of them is the ability to create, we can create incredible solutions to world problems, we can see things through our ability of foresight, the list is endless.
This blog’s tag-line is: Create. Differentiate. Deliver.
These three words sum up what the business of the future will need focus on.
All of us have ideas, we’re spiritual creative beings, we strive to conquer, we survive, we overcome, we’re passionate, we love, and we have a desire to help one another. Mostly, we like to create, we like to build and conquer. The problem many struggle with, fear, and what to create. A good place to start is, what drives you, what energizes you, what you’re true passion is, listen for the voice within. Many search external clues, the true passion is in you, create that. Seth Godin calls it “ART”, the art each one of us carries within but is scared to let out. Mostly because of fear.
It doesn’t matter what you create, what matters is that you do something, let the art in you be heard, seen and found, you will change your world. So create, make something, solve a problem, eventually you will find a way to monetize your creation. Let the world do the marketing for you, you just let the world know where to find your creation.
The fear of failure is a powerful force, the cost of doing nothing is far greater than failing, so create and fail as often as you can. That failing will teach you more than you will ever learn doing nothing. Don’t analyze, just do! Create!
The Future Of Business – Is Not SEO!
There is much confusion on what SEO (Search Engine Optimization) is, and what it will do for you, in fact, there are many claiming it to be the end all to your websites problems. I’m not going to go into the details of SEO, I’m going to share an experience, what I’m often asked to do for a business. I can safely say, if you think SEO is going to bring the desired outcomes you’re hoping to obtain without planning, without knowing why you’re flexing the SEO muscle in the first place, you most likely would be wrong and disappointed. If your website sucks, SEO will merely reveal that it sucks even more, much like Social Media Networks do.
[pullquote]SEO is not duck-tape, it’s not a quick fix to a perceived problem[/pullquote],I’m not saying SEO doesn’t play a role in your marketing efforts, I am saying…you need to step back, fly at 50,000 feet, and ask yourself what it is you want your website to accomplish, and then work towards that end. It’s called a realistic strategy, and then a marketing strategy. To explore, to discover what your business objectives are, why do you even have a website? There are many, many questions that need to be answered long before you journey down the Search Engine Optimization road. The future of business is not about shortcuts, it’s not about SEO either.
SEO is not duck-tape, it’s not a quick fix to a perceived problem, it’s supposed to enhance, to improve your findability on the interwebs, to assist your conversion ratio, and much, much more. SEO is so much more than just trying to game Google or Bing, to just end up on page one. If you haven’t done the hard work, SEO won’t do anything if your site isn’t designed or setup to make people do something. If you’re only goal is to end up on page one, that’s easier than you think….but you will still fall short of your desired outcome.
[pullquote]SEO is so much more than just trying to game Google or Bing.[/pullquote] SEO, in my opinion, should be in your marketing efforts, well after the planning and building, after you have completed a mind map of your site’s objectives. SEO is a tool to ensure your content is directing visitors to a call to action of some kind. SEO is not a destination, it will not fix other broken problems with your content, or your website, it will reveal them. SEO should be used to qualify those visitors, and then enticing them to go where you want them to go, what you want them to do. The very notion that SEO should is the solution to your site reaching page one is the wrong objective, it’s the wrong goal, you are asking the wrong questions, there are deeper reasons why Google and other search engines aren’t giving your site it’s due, your site isn’t doing the right things to garner their attention in the first place.
The future of business is not SEO!
The Future Of Business – Create. Differentiate. Deliver.
January 1st, 2013, I spent a great deal of time reading material from people far smarter than myself. Through the process of what I call research, which is reading smarter people’s work, or listening to them speak via video on YouTube, I thought about what my driving force for 2013 was going to be. I wanted to use simple words to help me focus, to help me continue my message, a set of words that would be the basis of my work for this new year.
The Future of Business will always be the umbrella of all that I share here on this blog, from nanotechnology, marketing, people, ideas, thoughts, and the open & free business model. All of the content here is to help you make a paradigm shift, to think differently about business, more specifically…your business. But this years primary theme, or driving words are:
Create.
Differentiate.
Deliver.
This year, to help you, to make it easier for you, I’m going to continue building my platform. A platform where I will provide some tools for you to Create, to implement the open & free business model into your business. These tools will be in the form of webinars, videos, templates, and a simple workbook, similar to the one I provide in my workshops. I will be doing my workshops in a webinar format from this day forward. Most of the material will be FREE, some will be paid content, for members only.
This year is about creating, differentiating, and to always deliver that which has been created and made different.
CREATE
This area is easy for some, and very hard for others. many find it much easier to create for other(s) businesses over their own. But creating isn’t marketing, it’s giving shape to, and giving life to ideas. We all must create before we can do the other two, before we can differentiate and deliver. We want to be creating all the time, it should be what energizes us, to create a solution, or something useful.
DIFFERENTIATE
Once something has been created, we want it to be special, to be different, to be useful, to be the best. This will be the secret sauce of your creation. This is where the quote, “Be The Best, It’s The Only Market That’s Not Crowded”. That quote was provided to me by Tom Peters, which he borrowed from the late George Whalin, from his book called “Inside The 25 Best Independent Stores In America“. (Affiliate Link)
DELIVER
In my humble opinion, you can never deliver enough. You should create, differentiate, and deliver more than you should ever consume. This is where the money will be made, if you ship, you will at some point make money. A call to action. If you don’t ship, nothing happens, it’s that simple. To deliver means, the world will hear from you, and frankly, the world needs you to create, to be different, and to deliver that which is scarce – YOU! The world needs you.
What will you create this year, how will it be different, and will you ever deliver that creation? The foundation of the Open & Free Business Model is to Create. Differentiate. Deliver. I challenge you to explore and implement the open & free business model, to use the 90 / 10 rule, to give away more than you charge for, your business will be a business of the future.
Happy New Year – 2013 Is Your Open & Free Year!
My Goals & Plans for 2013 are not really for me, they are for you. It is my hope that the research and work I do here helps you, helps you see your business in a different way, and most of all, helps you increase revenues through the use of the open & free business model. What is it that you wish to learn, implement or execute in your business? Maybe you want to start a business, maybe you’re looking for marketing help, or maybe you just want to improve your current situation. If you’ve been a regular reader of this blog, and you haven’t signed up for the Future Of Business Updates, do that now. You can wait for the Pop-up or just sign-up to the right ->
As I contemplate what to focus on next here on this blog, it will always be based on the open & free business model, it will always be based on what you want and need, so I’m looking for your input. I often get asked the same question, how do I make money by using the 90/10 rule? If I’m giving away 90%, and only charging on 10%, how do I make that work in my business? It is this question that motivates me to help you, the simple fact that you actually want to know. Unfortunately, not everyone understands the model, or at least there is a perception of what it is I’m trying to teach you, you’re taking me too literally at times.
The best way to start your understanding of the model, is to read through this blog, listen to a few podcasts here, they are on iTunes as well. What you will find is, I’m talking about a new way of thinking, a paradigm shift, actually doing the opposite of what you have been taught in school. Businesses in your community are continuing to do what has always been done for the past 100+ years, they are doing things the old way, the Industrial Age way. I’m challenging you to stop doing that, I’m hoping you’ll allow me to teach you a new and exciting way of doing business.
WHAT SAY YOU?
It is here that I ask you:
1.) Are you curious about this model?
2.) Do you want to learn a different way of building your business?
3.) What is it that confuses you about the model?
4.) What are you afraid of in building your business?
5.) What area of your business are struggling in?
6.) Are you willing to pay the price and stick through this open & free strategy?
7.) What do you really want to know?
8.) What are your goals / plans for 2013?
9.) Would you attend a webinar on the open & free business model?
10.) Would you buy a Book called – “The Future Of Business – The Open & Free Business Model”?
These are just a few questions, but I’m hoping you’ll open up and share with me, that’s a huge part of being OPEN in this model, don’t let fear be the reason you don’t change anything in 2013.
Well enough about that, I want to wish you all a Happy New Year! Please don’t drink & drive, do enjoy yourself, and always think of others first, you’ll be happier and richer for it.
Many Blessings, and I look forward to your questions, please feel free to leave them in the comments, or just email me, I’ll respect your privacy.
The Future Of Business – Yes!…You’re The Problem
The more things change, the more they stay the same. We’ve all heard it before, and we’ve all said it, and yet we expect different results. That’s the definition of insanity right? Doing the same things over & over again expecting different results. We know it’s true, we tell people this all the time, and yet we don’t change our habits, worse yet, we don’t change our thinking.
If technology is changing the world, and changing the way we move products & services, why do we practice the same connecting exercises? Why do we still hold on to old ways of thinking? We hold networking events, we hand out business cards, we shake hands, eat lunch and then never really stay connected. Many attend networking events because they truly believe this is the way to build a business. For small tiny businesses and MLM’s, this will be the normal way of building business, the rest of us have to start paying attention to the way business really is, and how it’s changing.
The problem is business, it’s you. Most of us claim we like change, but when the metal meets the meat, we’re not totally honest with ourselves and those around us. It’s easy to spot, you say it, and then 5 years later, nothing changed. You might be thinking, Owen sure is being hard on me, you’d be right. This blog and my work is about you, to help you see business differently, to make you think, and most of all, help you change how you view business, how you think about your business. Clearly, I’m failing on a massive scale, I apologize for that, I’ll keep trying harder to find ways to reach the very depths of your hearts and brains.
If the problem wasn’t you, things would be different, right? The innovators would never innovate the same thing twice, you would never practice the same bad business practices twice, it would all be different. You’ll notice I didn’t say better.
I challenge you to sift through this blog, read much of the content, and then….make notes on how you see your business, I’ll bet it’s different. I’ll bet you find yourself a little uncomfortable, and wanting to stay in the comfort zone you’re in, that would be a mistake in my humble opinion. You should embrace the change, you should be excited about the future of business and how it will be different than the way you were taught. The problem will always be you, you can never point the finger at someone else.
If you keep using old networking practices, you will continue to reap the same results, and you will notice, you will be shaking the same hands at every networking event. Change your scene, move up a level, start networking with people you don’t know….better yet, start networking with people that have money. If you have to network, doesn’t it make sense to be with people with money, people with influence, people who don’t think or do the same thing twice. This alone will scare the daylights out of most of you, but I challenge you to try it, just once. You might feel energized by it.
You don’t have to be the problem, it’s better if you get out of the way, your business will thrive if you step out of it’s path.
The good news is, you have the power, you can get out of your businesses way, you can meet new people, people with money, people who see opportunity. The very people that fired you, are the very people you can make money from. It’s a matter of perspective, it’s changing the way you see and do business. Sounds uncomfortable doesn’t it, it’s not personal, it just feels that way, it’s business, get out of the way and build a business that makes the world a better place. You have the power, you just have to decide to do it.
The more you analyze your fear, the more you discover you are the problem….shed the fear, and stop being the problem.
By the way, I’m no different than you, I have to do the same things, I’m not so special that I don’t have to constantly change, at 55 it get’s harder and harder, but I must change, or my work and business will be forgotten : )
