I have a love for biographies, either business or celebrity. I don't go
after current pop-icons, but older entertainers who have been around the block.
Their lives offer lessons anyone can learn from, and I realized last night, that
they offer great business lessons as well.
Entertainers are Entrepreneurs too.
If you think about it, they are in the business of promoting themselves.
That is what an entrepreneur does as well. We promote our product, service and
ourself (if we're smart). Well, Steve Martin's autobiography has some great
lessons in patience, persistence and innovation - the same things that make a
great business person.
These are 5 lessons you can learn, and in the podcast, I go into
details of Martin's life and how we can apply these lessons to our own
businesses:
There are NO overnight successes.
Timing is everything.
We start by borrowing, but become successful by innovating.
Sometimes the best ideas arise out of problems.
Sometimes the best ideas need to be dropped.
I'd love to hear feedback from you. I've added the podcast
to FriendFeed because it allows commenting, and have posted a place for you to
comment on episodes at http://www.BrainStormBusinessPodcast.com.
Let's see how it works!
In today's Brain Storm! Business Podcast, we will discuss (in passing)
Obama's flawless marketing campaign, as well as ZipCar's 7 point strategy to
break out of the old mold and move from $2 million to $100 million in revenues.
As I said, I only mention Obama's campaign in passing, but thought it
deserved mention. A vague but energizing word (Change), celebrity endorsements,
the use of social media, and the targeting of an untapped generation of
typically unmotivated (and uninformed) voters worked wonders.
As for ZipCar, this podcast is based on an article from one of my 2 favorite
magazines (Fast Company and Inc). You can find it at http://www.inc.com/magazine/20080301/how-fast-can-this-thing-go-anyway.html to
read the details for yourself. I love stories that detail the exact steps
people have taken to build or improve a business (or to ruin it, so we can learn
our lessons through them).
The ideas that I took away with me included focusing on a small target area
and perfecting your business there before expanding. Get it right, then
duplicate it in other areas. Don't go for funding until you've got something
solid. I also love the tweeks they applied to better market to different areas,
and how they kept their clientele (and the client's desired result from using
their service) in mind, and made changes accordingly. Best of all, they went
after a target market NO car rental company in their right mind wanted, and got
someone else to cover the risk factor for them!
I'd love to hear from you regarding which of these 7 strategic steps could
you apply first? How could you apply it? (And WILL you apply it???) Let me
know by sending me an email at penny@1stpod.com. Until then, have a great
week!
Excellent content - as you always provide and inspires me to come again and again. You are on my RSS reader now so I can read more from you down the road.
By the way, there is one more valuable resource I’d like to share with others readers. It’s called GetMoreBuyers.com.
Trust me, it worked for me and I am sure IT WILL work for you.
Want a list that makes you one of the most sought after JV partners in the world?
Learn 10 simple techniques this super affiliate used to create a six-figure list that buys like their lives depend on it!
In today's Brain Storm!
Business Podcast, we will talk about the cover story of Inc. magazine -
Kevin Rose of Digg, Pownce & Revision3. He is the media mogul of the
future, or so they say. But what impresses people the most about him is his
persona.
He's accessible. He drinks beer and parties with geeks. He tells dirty
jokes on internet tv. Or does he?
He admits that he has one persona for doing business, and another one for
promoting business. In today's business podcast, we talk about YOUR business
persona and mine. The people who know me - long term clients - have one persona
about me. But I'm afraid I'm putting off another persona (one that may not be
helping me) to everyone else.
I'd love to know what you think your persona is, what your customers say it
is, and what you think it SHOULD be in order to best promote and build your
business. Email me at penny@1stpod.com,
or DM me via Twitter at http://www.twitter.com/pennyhaynes.
I know I just sent out the podcast yesterday, but I had to send out something today, since you don't get talked about on Entrepreneur.com that often! (At least I don't.)
Michelle Anton asked me to
ask you all to leave comments there, if you know
me personally or know my work - there's a place in the comment field for
you to put your web site link, which isn't a bad thing to have a link to your
site from Entrepreneur.com!
I wanted to announce to you all that I will be closing out my existing blogs and podcasts on my old feeds. I am starting them fresh on one of my own Online Community Magazines (AllBusinessMagazine.com).
We have a separate email subscription program built in over there, so if you would like to keep receiving Brain Storm Business Podcast (which as you can see, I have just started back up again), you can go to:
Or, you can fill out this form to subscribe. By December, this old email subscription list will be inactive. (When you put your email address in the box below, it will take you to AllBusinessMagazine to complete your subscription. You'll get an email with an activation link. Then you'll automatically start getting ONLY Brain Storm Business Podcasts.)
Thanks for being on the first part of my podcasting journey with me. Now it's time to start the second part, now that the Commercial Creation Center has gone live.
Hello Brain Storm
Business Podcast followers - if you are still out there. No, Penny
Haynes is not dead - she has just had to switch hats from entrepreneur to
geeky programmer for the last several months. Today she has been liberated as
the Commercial Creation
Center multimedia production software went public. So now I'm back to doing
the thing I love to do - like podcasting and learning about business ideas and
successes!
Brief review of what has happened over the past 4 months:
my programmers abandoned me mid-project, leaving me with promises I had made to
others regarding availability. My immediate reaction was to have a panic attack
and breathe into a paper bag. My other strategy was not getting out of bed out
of sheer terror of what other bad news the day would bring.
But eventually, I had to push myself beyond my fears and pick up the
project, re-learn VB6, learn php and mySQL, learn about Active X
programs, and learn more about xml. It has been horribly challenging, but in
the end, I have to say it was worth it. Now, I have more valuable skills and
basically the ability to program whatever the heck I dream of - without hiring
someone else. Of course, I do have a "Technical Advisor" whom I refer to as
Yoda, without whom I never could have learned as fast, nor could have dealt with
the technical support issues. YODA rules!
So today's business podcast is
just a quick re-introduction of myself to you, sharing a few lessons
learned, and the public intention to return to podcasting now that I have the
time to do so. Also, I want you to know that we'll be permanently moving the
Brain Storm podcast RSS feed. It will all go through FeedBurner at http://feeds.feedburner.com/brainstormbusinesspodcast.
I've had that feed for a while and put the quikonnex feed through it. Now, my
new feed is coming off of one of my Online Community Magazines (http://www.AllBusinessMagazine.com)
- so I'll assign it to Feedburner.
Well, that's all for today. I'm looking forward to reviewing my stack of
business magazines and sharing with you the cool stuff that we can all learn
from.
In today's Comedy Clip of the Week, we will enjoy some puns sent to me by Joan!
Two Eskimos sitting in a kayak were chilly, so they lit a fire in the craft. Unsurprisingly, it sank, proving once again that you can't have your kayak and heat it, too.
Did you hear about the Buddhist who refused Novocain during a root canal? His goal: transcend dental medication.
A group of chess enthusiasts checked into a hotel and were standing in the lobby discussing their recent tournament victories. After about an hour, the manager came out of the office and asked them to disperse. But why they asked, as they moved off. 'Because,' he said, 'I can't stand chess-nuts boasting in an open foyer.'
A woman has twins and gives them up for adoption. One of them goes to a family in Egypt and is named Ahmal. The other goes to a family in Spain; they name him Juan. Years later, Juan sends a picture of himself to his birth mother. Upon receiving the picture, she tells her husband that she wishes she also had a picture of Ahmal. Her husband responds, 'They're twins! If you've seen Juan, you've seen Ahmal.'
A group of friars were behind on their belfry payments, so they opened a small florist shop to raise funds. Since everyone liked to buy flowers from the men of God, a rival florist across town thought the competition was unfair. He asked the good fathers to close down, but they would not. He went back and begged the friars to close. They ignored him. So, the rival florist hired Hugh MacTaggart, the roughest and most vicious thug in town to 'persuade' them to close'. Hugh beat up the friars and trashed their store, saying he'd be back if they didn't close up shop. Terrified, they did so, thereby proving that only Hugh can prevent florist friars.
Mahatma Gandhi, as you know, walked barefoot most of the time, which produced an impressive set of calluses on his feet. He also ate very little, which made him rather frail and, with his odd diet, he suffered from bad breath. This made him (Oh, man, this is SO BAD, it's good) a super calloused fragile mystic hexed by halitosis.
FREEBIES, freebies, freebies! In honor
of Effective Communications Month – a real honest-to-goodness
holiday listed in Chase’s Calendar of Events—throughout the month
of June, you can pick up loads of FREE fabulous tools to help you
communicate more effectively in your business with your customers,
clients and prospects so you can enjoy greater success.
My
colleague, communication expert, Felicia Slattery, has pulled
together some of the world’s best and brightest to give you a
one-stop shop to pick up all things related to getting you the
results and success you want.
There is nothing to buy.
This isn’t some teaser offer where you only get to see what’s
listed and then have to buy something in order to get the goods.
This is completely 100% free to you. That’s right -- we’re doing
a real giveaway going on until the end of June.
You’ll
get tips on organizing (because you can’t communicate if you can’t
find your phone or keyboard!), podcasting (I'm GIVING AWAY my $20 Podcasting Handbook multimedia ebook and a 2 week trial of my Commercial Creation Center software), writing your book, search
engine optimization (so people can find you to communicate with you!)
public speaking, and so much more. Overall you’ll find more than
20 freebies designed especially for you. It’s going on right now
until June 30.
Online Community Magazines: Simple Multimedia Creation and Affordable Online Marketing for Communities
Online
Community Magazines is a community-based business opportunity requiring
no out-of-pocket investment. The proprietary software allows Owners to
provide easy multimedia marketing for members of their online or
offline community. Discounts apply for veterans and people with
disabilities.
Holly Springs, GA (PRWEB) April 29, 2008 -- Online Community Magazines is now accepting applications for new community installations of its online multimedia marketing software.
Owners of this work at home business opportunity provide affordable
online marketing services and easy multimedia production tools to
members of their community. Only one Magazine is installed per
geographic territory or online niche or industry, and applicants must
pre-qualify for ownership by acquiring 10 charter magazine members
prior to opening.
AroundCherokeeCounty.com, an Online Community Magazine
This unique pre-qualification system makes Online Community
Magazines a perfect work at home business opportunity for people with
disabilities and war veterans, as well as unemployed sales
professionals. In place of financial investment, they are required to
prove their ability to gain new accounts within their chosen community.
This allows potential owners to verify that they will be successful at
running a multimedia magazine for their community, as well as provide
them with opening content for their Online Community Magazine.
"The key to the success of Online Community Magazines are the
individual owners," says Penny Haynes, CEO of Encouraging Enterprises,
Inc., and designer of the software. "They must be a member of the
community which the magazine serves, and must be available to their
community during business hours. No technological knowledge is needed
because the software is intended for use by internet novices. However,
complete software training is provided, as well as suggested sales and
marketing scripts and materials. The most critical requirements are
salesmanship, an urgent desire to succeed, and knowledge of the
community and its members."
The Online Community Magazines software can be used as a multimedia business directory,
multimedia content creation system, and community internet tv and radio
site. Features of the software include RSS, podcasting, blogging,
social bookmarking, email subscriptions, a forum, FAQ and community
coupon site. For more information about the software or business
opportunity, go to http://www.OnlineCommunityMagazines.com.
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My Argentinian programmer who is working on the Commercial Creation Center suggested that I read this book. I think he was trying to tell me something. I am always tempted to add more things to my software. This book tells me less is more - as long as it meets the customers' needs.
Simplify and Focus is the first order of business.
Don't plan on doing everything - plan on doing one thing very well. "Underdo your competition" is a unique statement, but they make a very good case for it, as we will discuss.
What exactly IS your problem?
Once upon a time, most of us started our business because there was a need - either we had a need, or someone else around us had a need. I don't mean just a need for money. We found something that met a need, became passionate about it, and built a business around it. It might be programming, nutritional supplements, multimedia, online marketing, but whatever it was, it convinced you that it was a viable the answer to some problem.
Are you still focused on solving that problem?
There is a saying among Christians: If you feel far away from God, you're the one that moved. If you feel displaced or far away from where you started in your business, maybe you have moved. Maybe you need to revisit the original problem and restructure your business products and services so they are back in alignment with the problem.
I love this one: Have An Enemy.
37 Signals designed a project management software. The software everyone else connected with PM was MS Project. So they decided that Basecamp, their software, would be the ANTI-Project. It would not be anything like it in its complexity or it methodology. Building upon that nemesis, they created a Writeboard that had 100,000 installations in 3 months. I don't mind those numbers.
So, where can you simplify your products and services so that they can once again solve that initial problem? And what competitor in your industry can you find as an example of what you are NOT trying to do?
My Commercial Creation Center's screen recorder is an ANTI-Camtasia (a tool I dearly love, but is way too complicated for every day people). The same with our audio recorder and mixer. It is an ANTI-SoundForge or Audacity, or even my beloved WavePad. Less options (and things to confuse the user), simpler and easier interface, and an end product that can be used just as well for most of their purposes.
Let me know what you think about today's brainstorming session, and if you realized some areas where you could improve. Until next week...
In today's Brain Storm! Business Podcast, we will discuss different strategies to determine and implement pricing for your products and services.
I first explain the problems I have been (and am continuing to) endure with my USB microphone. Ear pieces move, and despite packing tape, still cause clicking and clacking. Just shoot me now.
We discuss the different options in pricing and how pricing is a part of your marketing strategy.
Determining your target market and competition (or lack thereof) figure in, as well as segmenting your target markets regarding what they need from you and what they are willing to pay. Thanks to Joel Spolsky and a December 2004 article, we learn a lot about economics and why businesses price the same product different ways. Link to Joel's article is here: http://www.joelonsoftware.com/articles/CamelsandRubberDuckies.html
We also discuss real life business examples, including lessons learned on my trip to Six Flags (I learned so much, I should have considered that a business trip).
From coupons and rebates to discounts and membership sites, we touch on it all, and if you want to learn more, you'll have to listen to the business podcast! :)
FREE PUPPIES... Part German Shepherd, part
stupid dog.
FREE GERMAN SHEPHERD 85 lbs. Neutered. Speaks
German.
FOUND - DIRTY WHITE DOG. Looks like a rat . been out
a while... better be a reward.
COWS, CALVES: NEVER BRED. Also 1 gay bull
for sale.
NORDIC TRACK, $300, Hardly used. Call
Chubby.
GEORGIA PEACHES, California grown - 89
cents/lb.
JOINING NUDIST COLONY! Must sell washer and dryer.
$300
WEDDING DRESS FOR SALE. WORN ONCE BY MISTAKE. Call
Bettie.
AND THE BEST ONE)
FOR SALE BY OWNER: Complete set of
Encyclopedia Britannica. 45 volumes. Excellent condition. $1,000 or best
offer. No longer needed, got married last month. Wife knows everything.
In today's Brain Storm! Business Podcast, we will discuss SalesConX with its CEO, Evan Sohn, and how you can, in a very straight-forward manner, buy and sell introductions to the people you need to contact.
I was introduced to SalesConX by the owner of a business opportunity directory. She had signed up for the affiliate program and we were all offered a $25 credit. I figured "Why not try it." So far, I'm glad I did.
Ever want to find your perfect target market, but have no clue how to do that?
With SalesConX, you write out a detailed description of who you want an introduction to, put a price on that introduction, and also possibly a bonus price if the introduction leads to a closed sale. Or, if you know of someone who needs particular services or products, you can post their need and offer to sell someone an introduction to that person. Of course, you are not to blindside people you know by sending strangers to them - you discuss the connection with your contact and see if they are interested.
You get to the the "Go To" guy for all of your clients.
As we've talked about before, being the person your clients turn to for any of their needs can be a huge differentiating factor between you and your competitors. SalesConX lets you find other people who can help your clients in non-competitive ways.
Hitting Singles, Aim-Fire, and Shouting Out the Window
Evan Sohn discusses the challenges he is facing with SalesConX, and also what he has learned during his 5 start-up career. We talk about endurance, commitment, risk taking, changing your goals and paying the right person for the right warm introduction. I think you'll learn a lot, be encouraged and challenged, and possibly find a great place to find leads for your business as well.
1st Podcast Publishing - Audio/Video Magazine (Variety)
By the way, there is one more valuable resource I’d like to share with others readers. It’s called GetMoreBuyers.com.
Trust me, it worked for me and I am sure IT WILL work for you.
Want a list that makes you one of the most sought after JV partners in the world?
Learn 10 simple techniques this super affiliate used to create a six-figure list that buys like their lives depend on it!
http://www.clickaudit.com/g...