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Idea Log 15112011

Adversity and the route to success

Source: Seth Godin's Blog

Resource-rich regions often fall behind in developing significant industrial and cultural capabilities. Japan does well despite having very few resources at all.

Well-rounded and popular people rarely change the world. The one voted most likely to succeed probably won't.

Genuine success is scarce, and the scarcity comes from the barriers that keep everyone from having it. If it weren't for the scarcity, it wouldn't be valuable, after all.

It's difficult to change an industry, set a world record, land big clients, or do art that influences others. When faced with this difficulty, those with other, seemingly better options see the barrier and walk away.

Why bother? The thinking is that we can just pump some more oil or smile and gladhand our way to an acceptably happy outcome.

On the other hand, people who believe they have fewer options take a look at the barrier and realize that even though it will be difficult to cross, it's the single best option they've got.

This is one of the dangers of overfunded/undertested startup companies. Without an astute CEO in charge, they begin to worry more about not losing what they've already got than the real reason they started the project in the first place.

Idea Log 27102011

The power of visualization

Data is not useful until it becomes information, and that's because data is hard for human beings to digest.

This is even more true if it's news that contradicts what we've already decided to believe. Can you imagine the incredible mindshift that Mercator's map of the world caused in the people who saw it? One day you believed something, and then a few minutes later, something else.

We repeatedly underestimate how important a story is to help us make sense of the world.

Jess Bachman wants to help you turn the data about the US budget (the largest measured expenditure in the history of mankind, I'm betting) into information that actually changes the way you think.

Hence Death and Taxes, which we're publishing today. The new version belongs on the wall of every classroom, every public official's office, and perhaps in the home of every person who pays taxes.

It is not possible to spend less than ten minutes looking at this, and more probably, you'll be engaged for much longer. And it's definitely not possible to walk away from it unchanged. That's a lot to ask for a single sheet of paper, but that's the power of visualizing data and turning it into information.

Text from Seth Godin's BLOG. Click here

Idea Log 23102011

ENTER 'seth godin's BLOG'

Idea Log 01092011

RESILIENCE

You will fail at this. Often. Why is that a problem? In fact, this is a boon. It's a boon because when others fail to be remarkable or make a difference or share their art or have an impact, they will give up. But you won't, you'll persist, pushing through the dip. Which means that few people will walk in the door with your background, experience, or persistence.

If our young men miscarry in their first enterprises, they lose all heart. If the young merchant fails, men say he is ruined. If the finest genius studies at one of our colleges, and is not installed in an office within one year afterwards in the cities or suburbs of Boston or New York, it seems to his friends and to himself that he is right in being disheartened, and in complaining the rest of his life. A sturdy lad from New Hampshire or Vermont, who in turn tries all the professions, who teams it, farms it, peddles, keeps a school, preaches, edits a newspaper, goes to Congress, buys a township, and so forth, in successive years, and always, like a cat, falls on his feet, is worth a hundred of these city dolls. He walks abreast with his days, and feels no shame in not "studying a profession," for he does not postpone his life but lives already. He has not one chance, but a hundred chances.

- Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803-1882), U.S. poet, essayist and lecturer

[*entire passage taken out of Seth Godin's book - Linchpin, pg. 208]

 

Idea Log 31082011

NOSTALGIA FOR THE FUTURE

For many of us, the happiest future is one that's precisely like the past, except a little better.

We all enjoy nostalgia (the real kind, nostalgia for the past). We gladly suffer from that bittersweet feeling we get about events that we loved, but can't relive. Nostalgia for the way we felt that day in high school, or for the bonhomie of a great team, or for a particular family event.

We'd love to do it again, but we can't.

Nostalgia for the future is that very same feeling about things that haven't happened yet. We are prepared for them to happen, but if something comes along to change our future, those things won't happen and we'll be disappointed.

If your company lays you off, you may very well get another job, but it won't be the job that one day was going to get you the promotion you were imagining that led to the event that you were hoping for in that office you were visualizing.

We're good at visualizing this future, and if we think it's not going to happen, we get nostalgic for it. This isn't positive visualization, it's attachment of the worst sort. We're attached to an outcome, often one we can't control.

If you had a chance to remake your life with a wish, what would you wish for? Would you leave behind your family, your town, your appearance? Most people would merely change the fabric on their sofa or make their job a little better (and their salary will go up).

Some people, though, have an itch for a different future, one with radically different rules. Those people are emotionally connected to the sort of drive and visionary leadership that organizations look for in a linchpin. It's not a skill or even a talent. It's a choice.

...

The linchpin is able to invent a future, fall in love with it, live in it - and then abandon it on a moment's notice.

(Taken out of Seth Godin's book LINCHPIN, pg. 203-204)

Idea Log 07082011

I am currently reading Seth Godin's Linchpin and I found this chapter to relate quite closely to my yesterday's topic of www.nycgarbage.com by creator Justin Gignac.

WHO IS It [art] FOR?  (pg. 94- 95)

Some artists work to change themselves. The process of making the art and the results produced are solely aimed at the creator. Whistling as you walk through the woods is a form of art, but you're not doing it hoping a squirrel will applaud.

Most of us, though, most of the time, make our art for an audience. We want to change someone else. We're seeking to make them happier, or more engaged, or a customer.

There are two reasons why it's vital to know whom you are working for. The first is that understanding your audience allows you to target your work and to get feedback that will help you do it better next time.

The other reason? Because it tells you whom to ignore.

It's impossible to make art for everyone. There are too manyconflicting goals and there's far too much noise. Art for everyone is mediocre, bland, and ineffective.

If you don't pinpoint your audience, you end up making your art for the loudest, crankiest critics. And that's a  waste. Instead, focus on the audience that you choose, and listen to them, to the exclusion of all others. Go ahead and make this sort of customer happy, and the other guys can go pound sand.

In the words of Ev Willams, founder of Blogger and Twitter,

The core thing would be just do something awesome. Try not to get caught up in the echo chamber. That is probably the toughest thing when you are trying to break out and do something original.

A lot of things are evolutionary, and it is easy to get caught up in what the geek subculture thinks. There's lots of valuable businesses that can be bought there, but I think that is where a lot of peiple tend to spin their wheels, and I've been caught up there before. When I've had more successful things, I've thought, "Back to basics. What do I want? What do I want to see in the world?" And create that.

Ev and Twitter didn't succeed at first. People didn't get it. What's the point? Where's the business model? And then, once the word spread, Twitter became the fastest-growing communications medium in history. Not because it followed a model, but because it broke one.

Some artists create.

Some artists seek a patron, someone who will help them pay the bills while they do their work.

Some artists think they need a boss. Someone who will not only pay them, but also tell them what to do. The moment this happens, the artist is no longer an artist.

An artist's job is to change us. When you have a boss, your job is to please the boss, not to change her. It's okay to have someone you work for, someone who watches over you, like someone in charge of your movements and your output, you are a cog, not an artist.

 

Idea Log 10062011

DONE!! Cover to Cover by 11:43pm!
for the full photo journey go to the album 'How I read 'THE BIG MOO' in 1 evening

THEY SAY I'M EXTREME
(Taken out of "THE BIG MOO' from Seth Godin)
They say I'm extreme.
I say I'm realist.

They say I demand too much.
I say they except mediocrity and continuous improvement too readily.

They say,"We can't hande this much change."
I say,"Your job and career are in jeopardy; what other options do you have?"

They say,"What's wrong with a 'good product'?"
I say,"Wal-Mart or China or both are about to eat your lunch. Why can't you provide instead a fabulous experience?"

They say,"Take a deep breath. Be calm."
I say,"Tell it to Wal-Mart. Tell it to China. Tell it to India. Tell it to Dell. Tell it to Microsoft."
...
They say,"We need an initiative."
I say,"We need a dream. We need dreamers."

They say great design is "nice."
I say great design is necessary.
...
They say,"Plan it."
I say,"Do it."

They say,"We need more steady, loyal employees."
I say,"We need more 'freaks' who routinely tell those in charge to take a flying leap... before it's too late."

They say,"We need Good People."
I say,"We need Quirky Talent"

They say,"We like people who, ith steely determination, say, 'I can make it better.'"
I say,"I love people who, with a certain maniacal gleam in their eye, perhaps even a giggle, say, 'I can turn the world upside down. Watch me!'"
...
They say,"Fast follower."
I say,"Battered and bruised leader."
...
They say,"Market share."
I say,"Market creation."

They say,"Improve and maintain."
I say,"Destroy and reimagine."

They say,"Happy Balance."
I say,"Creative tension."
...
They say,"Peace, brother."
I say,"Bruise my feelings. Flatten my ego. Save my job."
...
They say,"We need happy customers."
I say,"Give me pushy, needy, provocatove customers."
... (x9)
They say,"Times are changing."
I say,"Everything has already changed. Tomorrow is the first day of your revolution ... Or you're toast."

They say,"We can't all be revolutionaries."
I say,"Why not?"

They say this is a rant.
I say this is just a reality.

«this excerpt has been edited for publishing; for full version go to page 34-37 of the book!!! or for more information go to: http://www.sethgodin.com/bigmoo/ or borrow it from Toronto Public Library~!

Idea Log 06052011

EVIL PLANS by Hugh Macleod + Linchpin by Seth Godin + Suze Orman's The Money Class =TOTAL PLUM REWARDS EARNED: 835!

Plum rewards for Indigo’s customers

Published On Tue Apr 5 2011

by Dana Flavelle Business Reporter for TORONTO STAR

Canada’s biggest bookstore has launched a new loyalty program that rewards customers for buying more than just books.

Indigo Books & Music Inc. unveiled its new “Plum” rewards program Tuesday saying it will complement its existing iRewards plan.

“This program will absolutely not replace iRewards,” Deirdre Horgan, Indigo’s executive vice-president marketing, said in an interview.

Plum will be free while the price of joining iRewards will jump by $10 a year to $35 as the program expands to include toys, gifts and anything else sold in its stores, the retailer said.

The move comes as booksellers, along with music and video retailers across North America, face increasing competition from digital content.

Indigo’s shares fell 6 cents to $12.70 on the Toronto Stock Exchange Tuesday, hitting a new 52-week low, amid ongoing turmoil in the sector.

South of the border, superstore book retailer Borders Group Inc. has filed for bankruptcy protection, as has DVD rental chain Blockbuster Inc., while British-based music retailer HMV has announced its Canadian chain is up for sale.

Book and electronic retailers are losing sales to online powerhouse Amazon.com, Scott Devitt, an analyst with U.S.-based Morgan Stanley wrote in a recent report.

But some Canadian analysts say Indigo is a safer bet because of the steps it has taken to diversify itself.

“Anybody who’s strictly a book retailer is in trouble,” said Bob Gibson, an analyst with Octagon Capital Inc., in Toronto. “But Indigo is really moving away from being a book retailer.”

The retailer recently tapped Ted Marlow, a former head of clothing chain Urban Outfitters, to be its next president.

As well, Indigo will begin carrying the first of a line of exclusive store-brand gift merchandise by New York-based creative director Patrick Ramsey this fall.

Indigo is also a partner in Kobo books, one of the world’s largest retailers of electronic books.

The revamped loyalty program, which stitches it all together, is the most important cornerstone of its strategy, Horgan said.

The iRewards program, which gives customers 10 per cent off books, used to apply only to books and while it worked well for seniors and teachers, other customers said they wanted a different kind of rewards system, Horgan said.

Plum is a points’ progam. Customers earn points through purchases and then redeem those points for free merchandise at the cash register. Customers who tell Indigo more about themselves, such as their book preferences, will receive customized email offers.

As well, Indigo can offer bonus points on certain merchandise to help boost sales.

In addition to free merchandise, Plum’s most loyal collectors will receive invitations to special events, such as an annual lunch with chief book lover and Indigo founder Heather Reisman, Horgan said.

Plum is designed to tell the retailer more about customers’ preferences and also help it drive certain behaviours. It can offer bonus points on certain merchandise, for example.

In addition to discounts, its most loyal customers will receive invitations to special events, including a lunch with chief book lover and Indigo founder Heather Reisman, Horgan said.

Another reason Indigo has avoided Borders’ fate is it isn’t weighed down by excessive debt, Horgan said.

Indigo has paid off the $80 million it borrowed to buy rival Chapters in 2001, she noted.

Borders expects to close a third of its 433 stores.

http://www.thestar.com/business/companies/article/969693--plum-rewards-for-indigo-s-customers

Idea Log 23092010

THINKING LOYALTY published on Monday's (20th September) Globe and Mail Newspaper

Companies prize loyal customers. But they may have some mistaken notions about loyalty. Marketing guru Seth Godin, on his blog, notes that loyalty occurs when someone refuses a momentarily better option. So loyal customers don't believe you are unparalled. Loyal customers understand that there's almost always something better out there, but they're not so interested in looking.

"If your offering is always better, you don't have loyal customers, you have smart ones," he argues. "Don't brag about how loyal your customers are when you're the cheapest or you have clearly dominated some key element of what the market demands. That's not loyalty. That's something else."

He says that loyalty usually comes from inside, from the story we tell ourselves. We're loyal to sports teams, products, or companies because that makes us happy. Some customers like being loyal. You can help by reinforcing the good feeling they have by being loyal.