Tag Archives: the best ideas are free



You are always wrong [repost]

January 26th, 2016

No matter your stance someone can always come up with a solid reason why you are wrong. It just depends how much others care about the topic.

Politics for example can get so convoluted as each candidate cares deeply – you can lose sight of what you’re trying to achieve.

So your aim should be to be less wrong than you were yesterday. Not worrying about being 100% right. You just need to be less wrong than those you compete with and less wrong than you were before.

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Original post


Tirelessly working away on my next book, just reminding you about my first one

May 11th, 2010

I’ve had a huge influx of readers this year (awesome!), thanks for coming along you’re very much appreciated.

Shining the light briefly (for all my new readers) on my first book The Best Ideas are Free. It’s done hugely well, I’m very proud of it, and it delivers a lot of punch for what it is.

Some of the reviews it’s had:

“The best ideas are free, but it’s hard to know where to find them. Check out this book! Many of them are collected here.” (From Chris Guillebeau of the Art of Nonconformity Blog).

And a few others:

“The wrestle in communication through the user generations is wrapped up and captured perfectly in your book.”

“You’ll see the online world from a different and fresh perspective. It might even turn it upside down ”

“I’m made of rubber! I got that from Chapter Four, where Young says, “There are times when things go sour and all falls apart, you’ve hit rock bottom. No you haven’t. This is just a part of the process of getting to where you need to go, you’re made of rubber, so you need to bounce back, harder, faster and higher than before.” Absolutely, and I love the visual image of bouncing back.”

“The Best Ideas Are Free is the book I credit for driving me to me to create my first blog. Ben is an entrepreneurial and aspirational writer, but what I’ve most enjoyed in the book is that the “ideas” are practical, fast and simple to implement”

Oh and earlier this year Lee Hopkins said:

“None of these 63 ideas are long-winded. At most each will take two minutes to read, but the value of the ideas comes not from their brevity (or perhaps it does). The ideas are not new, but some are startling in how they make your head ‘snap’ in recognition of their ‘rightness’.

When the pupil is ready the teacher will come, goes the ancient saying. Ben therefore can be quite rightly viewed a teacher of men (and women), a shining light in a wilderness dark with wolves in sheep’s clothing.”

If you’d like to check it out:

  • Read it online in your browser.
  • You can grab a copy off Amazon or off the Kindle Store (it’s only a buck on the Kindle).
  • If you’d like to print it out yourself, you can grab a pdf here (it does cost a few dollars).

Also as a final offer you can order below for $23.99usd/copy.  And I’ll ship you a signed copy, anywhere in the world.

(Yes it costs more than Amazon, but hey I’ll ship anywhere plus it’s signed!)

Just click the button below, follow the process and email me [email protected] if you have any issues.

Buy Now

This is the last time I’ll offer the opportunity to buy a signed copy The Best Ideas are Free on the blog, so do so whilst you can.  At the very least read it online, grab it on Kindle, ideas are better shared and spread.

For all my older readers you can expect the next addition in the final quarter of this year.  It’s coming along very very well.  I will keep you updated.


A twist on the 12 Hour Startup: The $100 Business

January 12th, 2010

I had the opportunity to finally meet Chris Guillebeau in person last night.

(He wrote a testimonial for The Best Ideas are Free).

Nevertheless I thought it was long overdue a mention of his post on the $100 Business Case – definitely worth a read, bookmark and subscription to his blog.

As Chris points out (and the 12 Hour Startup does) it’s all about just taking that first step, giving it a shot, then following your feet.


Ok one other freebie: win a copy of The Best Ideas are Free

September 14th, 2009

Easy all you have to do is pop over to Amazon and add to the discussion on The Best Ideas are Free, I will randomly pick a winner Wednesday week (the 23rd).  Will ship you a signed copy of the book anywhere in the world.  Can post as many time as you want to increase chances.


The Free Stuff

September 14th, 2009

For the new readers (and old) just wanted to remind you what else you can get from me:

You can read the blog each and everyday for free (it is my absolute pleasure to do so). (remember to check the archives in the bottom left menu, there are now over 300 posts!)

You can also check out some manifestos that I have put together in the past for free as well.

Heck you can even read my first book online for free.

Check out all of the above, the marketing manifesto is a must read and of course the book draws everything together.

However what I do charge for is my physical book, if you like the rest, check it out.  I don’t need to sell you on the benefits of reading a book but the key thing is it makes it real – once you hold it in your hand the ideas take a different shape.


How I am tipping the book model

August 17th, 2009

TheBestIdeasareFree.com is now live – so as a bit of an update I wanted to fill my readers in on how it got to this point, where it’s going, and if you want to help how you can.

Background
Last year, mid november, I started putting together the 63 best ideas from the blog.  Through the next 7 months or so I went through 11 or so revisions, finally wrapping up in June.  Now it’s finally ready.

Tipping the traditional book model upside down
It hasn’t been the usual process – I have tipped a few things.

1) Firstly I wrote my book based off the blog, this allowed me to find the ideas that resonated with you guys the most but also forced me to take my conversational style into book form.

2) The book contains 63 easily digestible ideas to chew on, you can open it up on any page and give it a read.  You can pick up an idea within 30 seconds and run with it.

3) I don’t pander to the reader.  Instead of compromising and explaining every little detail I respect your intelligence if you don’t understand something you can look it up. (Not that it is overly technical, non tech/web savvy people enjoy it just as much).

4) Business Books typically contain a few ideas, or at the other extreme 100, instead I have 63 – why? It’s my lucky number.  (You will also note there were 63 limited signed pre-orders).

5) Even further, I have made the book free, you can read the book online for free right now. (Absolutely no region restrictions, anyone, anywhere can read it).

Clearly of course, my hope is that you enjoy it and will want to pick up a copy.  If you can’t do that, spreading the word is a great way to help.

6) There are also a series of videos (authors typically hide from the camera), detailing more information about the book, the themes, the journey and more…

So head along check it out TheBestIdeasareFree.com.

Already read it?
If you have already read the book, it would awesome if you could:

  • Share a review on Amazon (help others get to know about it)
  • Write a blog post or tweet about it
  • Retweet this post (or thebestideasarefree.com)
  • Tell your friends! Ideas are better shared.

Or simply email me with your feedback.

Thanks guys, I really cannot ever express my gratitude for the support shown by many of you. – Ben


Get it started!

July 26th, 2009

Like fridays post – it has been said before…. but if you have an idea sitting in the back of your mind, irritating you – get it started!

What are the next steps? Write them down and TAKE THEM

Why am I bringing this up today? Well this week marks another huge week for me:

  • Shipping my pre-orders of the The Best Ideas are Free.
  • Wrapping up videos for the book (huge undertaking).
  • Speaking on marketing (Topic: Why marketing just got small….real small) this friday (should have a video to share from it).
  • Getting someone onboard part time to assist with some of my marketing activities.

If I hadn’t chased ideas and put them into action none of this would be happening, now, today.


The Best Ideas are Free is available for limited pre-order

July 6th, 2009

Emails have gone out to those that opted-in and now I’m just letting you know.

There are only 63 signed and numbered pre-order copies available so you need to get in quick (they will go fast).

I have put together a bit of a video below:

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VaOTGA0Vp0k

For more info visit TheBestIdeasareFree.com to call dibs and ensure you get your copy.

(Update 3rd Aug 09: The book is now out, you can click the book cover to the left in the sidebar to get a copy off Amazon or visit www.thebestideasarefree.com thanks – Ben).


The Best Ideas are Free (the book)

May 5th, 2009

As many of you may have heard (and seen the occasional spy shot) my first book The Best Ideas are Free is due out soon.

I sat down last year after 6 months of blogging, printed out every post and spent an afternoon selecting the 63 best ideas.

Since then they have been put together into a book – 63 easily digestible ideas to chew on.

It will soon be available to the general public (I expect to ship July 6th but that may move up if time allows) but I will be opening pre-orders exclusively to you guys.  This is to thank you for all your support, comments (good or bad), readership and to celebrate my 1 year anniversary of blogging!

Now I will be the first to admit that yes you can browse through the blog and read the ideas for free (go for it I encourage you) but hey how much cooler is it having a book?

The book is designed to be such that you can open it up on any page, read an idea within 30 seconds, pick it up and run with it.  The first time you read it you won’t get them all but reread it three months from now another one may be relevant.

If you enjoy the blog you’ll love the book.  Like the blog it is colloquial format – as if I am having a conversation with you.  DO NOT expect a typical book – expect my blog in phsyical form (and yes with all my quirks!).  This truly is a book the way I would want a book to be..

For the 130 pages of goodness you will be given the opportunity to pre-order 1 of 63 limited edition signed copies.

To snag one enter your email below and I will be in touch (first in first served).

(Update 3rd Aug 09: The book is now out, you can click the book cover to the left in the sidebar to get a copy off Amazon or visit www.thebestideasarefree.com thanks – Ben).

(Note: RSS & Email Subscribers need to click here to visit the blog to use the form. Thanks!)


What are you excited about?

February 12th, 2009

What would you like your customers to be excited about?

Are they?

Why not?

I got an impatient email “When is the book coming out Ben?”.

I explained the hold ups but if you step back a second.

How neat is that that someone is excited enough about it to send me an email about it?

Think about the passion Apple fans have for their product do you have that? It is a worthy goal.

How can you improve yoru communications such that your customers can’t wait for your latest revision?


Ideas for a bounty

January 18th, 2009

The Best Ideas are Free we know that.

But often in a business scenario to stimulate the idea generation we need to part with some dollars.

A few crowdsourcing sites have popped up, the idea is to tap into a large crowd to generate ideas for marketing, business and general problems.

Fantastic model.

Yet for Marketing I think its slightly overengineered and appeals to a slightly lemon market.

That is those that have the time to invest in the site may not necessarily be that savvy (exception to the rule is those that commit time to invest in it strategically).  

Typically the target market are very time poor and do not have the time or resources to invest into yet another social resource.

I think a simple email list suffices.

Create a list of interested parties, email then occaisonally with a marketing problem, provide them with a bounty.

Keep it simple.


Affairs in order

December 11th, 2008

Right, I have some announcements,

  • I will be speaking on a panel at the 2nd Digital Media Summit next March on Gen C.  More info here.  I will try to get video content to share with you.
  • My blog will be syndicated onto GetFrank.co.nz once a fortnight under the Design & Inspiration section to share with their audience, am very stoked and proud to be selected.  My first post will be up soon.
  • My book The Best Ideas are Free is coming out early next year, I will have the site up and pre-orders in the coming weeks (with a bonus for all those who pre-order)

Also you can subscribe to my blog via email if you wish below:

Otherwise rss and other options available here.



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