What you do today WILL reflect on you in ten years.
So why would you settle for less than a great post or project?
My theory is life too short to repeat the same stuff over and over may as well get it right the first time round.
Whilst I have still tripped and fallen it has been a marvelous attitude.
EIR for short, an entrepreneur in residence is what Venture Capital firms seek, they invite an entrepreneur in to help them put together a solid idea.
Very smart, identify a real go getter whom you want to work with, invite them in.
My question is why are only venture capitalists doing this?
I think big companies should hire entrepreneurs, to come in, sit in their organisation for a few months, bring their outside in view and generate real change within the organisation.
Act as a your own venture capitalist in your industry..
I’d love to see that, hey we hired Guy Kawasaki to come sit in our offices for 3 months, help us come up with some game changing ideas.
From my point of view that would be real fun but also a good way to hear ideas from the edge, observations on how to improve, or just a different point of view.
Really want some culture change? Hire a dozen entrepreneurs seed them in different divisions.
Like Airlines need bums on seats so do cafes.
In fact airlines are getting almost anything to get you on the planes at the moment, combining deals, deep discounting, rewarding frequent flyers.
Cafes locally on the other hand aren’t doing much.
They need bums on seats, drinking coffees, eating muffins, chatting with their friends. If you see two cafes one empty and the other half full people tend to go for the half full one. Social acceptance et al.
This is why wifi in Cafes should be ubiquitous, it is in some parts of the world, but not all. And it should be free. If you know a cafe owner tap them on the shoulder and whisper the secret to them.
Wifi will bring in clientele who will browse their email, maybe do some work, chat to their friends, use their smart phones to access the wifi. Thus increasing those buying your overpriced muffins and coffee. Cafes are about the experience, round the experience off for me when in the middle of the business day I want some time out from the office.
They are bums on seats, which makes your cafe more attractive vs being empty.
Stacey Childs of discounderworld (a free monthly digital magazine profiling people from all over the world) interviewed me a while back on the changing consumer trends in relation to the media.
Visit discounderworld.com for a copy (it’s free!) or go to the discounderworld blog for a full transcript of the interview.
I thought I’d pull out a couple of points:
The marketplace for media in general is evolving. What is different from ten years ago, what will be different in ten years?
Media has revolved around distribution. Whoever had the distribution had the market and whoever played the game right could get their content into the distribution. PR agencies are all about leveraging their networks to get your company into this locked distribution channel. The internet has unlocked these tight distribution channels. I have talked about it here:
/the-difference-between-traditional-and-new-media/ and here: /its-happened-to-music-now-for-books/
What will it be like in 10 years?
We are talking infinite channels for media. Blogs like PerezHilton are a prime example, not limited to text, photos or even video, they draw all media together. Something newspapers cannot do.
Ten years from now media will be distributed over infinite channels, the world is now a global village, we still consume ‘mainstream media’ but we invest more time in niche interests who deliver video, audio, text, experiences. Conversations are going to be the driving force of how media is distributed, if it’s worth talking about people will spread it. Traditionally all you had to do is overcome the hurdles (book publishers, pr agencies) to get the word out. Word of mouth will be the driving force of this.
We have seen this happen with music, slowly with books (but not yet) and increasingly with the news media. Twitter is a fantastic example of news spreading via conversations. It’s village gossip on a global scale. As Shakespeare would say ‘all the worlds a stage’.
What do you see as the reasons why some print magazines have failed and others have florished? In relation to differences in content, readership, marketing, adaptation to new technologies? (and anything else you think is important)
The number one reason print magazines have failed is the inability to derive significant revenues from their readership. In my opinion once distributions were locked the focus became how can we maximise profit? By changing the focus, journalists report on quantity not quality, advertising revenues are all about maximum dollars (not necessarily maximum value for advertisers). Once journalists start to change their mantra to compelling journalism to rewording press releases they lose their audience. which flows onto advertising and in turn the bottom line. See my blog posts above for more thoughts on this.
Do you think in the future, print magazines will exist? If no, why? If yes, what magazines do you think will be around? What will magazines have to do to still be in demand in say, 10 years?
Newspapers will exist in the future, but not in form we see now. People enjoy the tactile experience of sitting down, having a coffee, reading the paper. However the model needs to change in how newspapers deliver content. I forsee digital papers, where consumers purchase the right to use a newspaper reader, it looks just like a newspaper, feels like a newspaper, yet the content changes daily to reflect the latest news, it notices my interests and modifies the front page according to that. The Sky TV model is the current example I would compare it against. Newspapers will deliver photos, video, audio and combine these into enjoyable experiences for their users.
Those are just some snippets for the full interview click here.
I have also uploaded my crib notes, which include above, the full interview and anything that may have been cut, rough but straight from the source.
Wind back to Sep 29th, 08, I wrote this post on Silence:
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Silence
is scary huh?
People pause. They don’t know what to do.
There is a void.
You instantly think you need to fill it.
What if you didn’t? What if you bought 30seconds of ad time during peak times and had nothing. Absolutely nothing.
People would be in the kitchen during the ad break going “who turned the tv off?”, others would look up to see what was going on, they might even tune in.
Silence is polarising, we are so used to noise, we have no idea how to react.
—
In a world of continual noise, silence is deafening, oh no what to do? Hell we even equip ourselves with a cell phone at all times to avoid complete silence, time to ourselves. The rare times are probably in the shower or exercise (although the ipod is typically providing some noise).
Take some time out, for some real silence, to relax, ponder the world.
You’ll find it much more compelling than you initially thought.
Shopping at a local supermarket on Sunday I received great service from a new checkout person. It was at that moment I thought, why don’t they have a simple touch machine where after the transaction you can rate the service, 1 to 5 stars. I would have loved to give her five stars.
Imagine that, a small touch screen device, where you can rate the service in a second. The system then records the rating and at the end of the day the staff member gets their average rating.
Staff realise:
For the service provider:
And for customers:
Not sure on the cost but it would be worth a try! This one little thing could change the whole customer service experience.
(Extra for experts: You already realise people are doing this on twitter (see here) and will continue to do so. Bit of a no brainer. Embrace the change)
Honestly stop it.
Not me specifically but others in general.
Carve your own path, your unique path, your passion.
Watch this quick clip of Will Smith receiving his award at the Childrens Choice 2005.
Makes sense now that he is one of the most successful male actors of our time… in summary:
1) Any problem you have had someone has already experienced it & solved it before (potentially in a different context but same framework).
2) Running (or any exercise) forces you to push yourself and squash the quitting voice inside you.
Well they’re not laws in the classical sense.
Metcalfe Law
The number of users increases growth expotentially in a truly social system.
Moores Law
Technology doubles every 18 months.
Long tail
Half of your profits are hidden in the long tail. How do you unleash them?
80/20 rule aka Pareto Principle
Take these rules. Apply them to your unique problems, business model, whatever! Now see what opportunities these yield.
Parkinsons Law
Work expands so as to fill the time available for its completion.
Give them all a read (links are to wikipedia entries), compelling thoughts & implications.
Ok stay with me for a minute.
Marketing traditionally has meant to you, putting some advertising out, get your message in front of enough people, you convert a few to sales. The return used to be enough to justify it.
However in a market where people are counting their pennies, you just aren’t getting the same return you used to.
Now organisations are going hey time to try something new.
Word of Mouth is on the tip of everyones tongue.
How do you stimulate word of mouth? Through action. Actions that are worth talking about.
Right so we have gone from advertising to action in all of 30 seconds.
Now how can you stimulate action? Through entrepreneurship.
Stimulate entrepreneurial traits in your employees, to try something new, perhaps it will make you a few more dollars but also send a message to the market.
Innovation, sales & marketing? Entrepreneurship is marketing. (And always has been).
Viral activities are a dime a dozen. Everyone giving it a go. And that is great because they longer they keep at it the better they will get.
Often you will see a somewhat lame initiative go viral, or at least succeed in your perspective, you think hey i had a better idea.
But guess what?
They have much more momentum. When Nike or Skittles does something cool, it is more likely to spread due to their momentum.
If I announce a project it has a higher chance of spreading than a blogger just starting out even if it is the same initiative.
Viral success = Momentum + Remarkability
If you don’t have momentum you need to really push the remarkability side. You need to be doubly, triply, quadruply remarkable.
So don’t be disheartened if you haven’t had success the first time, keep giving it a go and remember the formula.
Filters can come in the form of networks, relationships, applications, physical filters.
How can you develop a filter for your passion? or your industry?
By providing a filter you create a barrier between the signal and the noise. You will be rewarded for that.
Maybe even you are the filter?
Have a think about it, create one if necessary, the best thing about it? You are helping others, of which you can build a business out of, or just build your own brand.
Why do people keep coming back for more on Twitter? Blogs? Podcasts?
It is like a drug, getting great content is like the mouse in the cocaine experiment, he can press a lever for a pellet of cocaine or sugar. Inevitably he keeps pressing cocaine, as he likes the feeling.
I have absolutely no scientific proof but I suspect that is why once your in, your in.
You keep coming back to twitter for the great content & people you meet, the same with your favourite blogs they write in a fashion you understand, is relevant and what you demand. Podcasts the same.
You keep chasing that experience….
Risk is fun
Rick is rewarding
Risk is challenging
Risk is different
Risk is worth it
Risk is visionary
Risk is risky
Risk is the best dam thing I learned to do growing up.
As a young boy McGregors Pies were famous (locally) for their mutton pies.
They were disgustingly unhealthy, you had to bite the side of it to drain out the fat, yuck.
But boy were they yummy.
Health aside, they still sold well, people would still stop in for a McGregors pie – even if it wasn’t the mutton pie.
You see that talking point was enough for them to stand out.