So how do you maintain that power within an organization of 10, 50, 100, 1000, or even 10,000?  An effective organization will be made up of two types of people: Entrepreneurs and Intrapreneurs.  You’re likely familiar with entrepreneurs but what is an intrapreneur? The popular Wikipedia includes this entry:

Intrapreneurship is the act of behaving like an entrepreneur, except within a larger organization… In 1992, The American Heritage Dictionary acknowledged the popular use of a new word, intrapreneur, to mean “A person within a large corporation who takes direct responsibility for turning an idea into a profitable finished product through assertive risk-taking and innovation”. Intrapreneurship is now known as the practice of a corporate management style that integrates risk-taking and innovation approaches, as well as the reward and motivational techniques that are more traditionally thought of as being the province of entrepreneurship.

Entrepreneurs will be found at the head of the organization as owners, key executives, and department heads. Intrapreneurs will essentially make up the rest of the organization.  The key to success, therefore, is instilling the responsibility, trust, respect, and expectations of entrepreneurship throughout the organization and within each position.  

The following list of qualities includes those typical of successful entrepreneurs.  Note how valuable they would be in any employee, even administrative positions.  The challenge is not only finding persons with this exhibiting this list but building an environment conducive to them.

Qualities of Entrepreneurship:

• Ownership mentality
• Innovation
• Risk (managed)
• Interpersonal skills (communication, sales)
• Inner drive to succeed, motivated
• Confidence
• Adaptive, open to change
• Leadership

Now, if each employee of your organization had these qualities, the potential success is notably higher.  The challenge is knowing how to manage an organization with this type of roster.  Most businesses simply drive these individuals away, many times to start their own venture.  Stephen Covey, in his book “principle Centered Leadership”, identifies some powerful points for developing the intrapreneurial position.  Start with a win/win agreement.  This ‘agreement’ ought to rest upon the following conditions:

1. Specify the desired results.  It must be clear what we are to achieve. This includes aligning on the desired result.
2. Set some guidelines.  These will ensure no one oversteps their bounds in accomplishing the result. You may include the what-not-to-do’s as guidelines.  If there are any legal requirements, these must also be understood (don’t do anything illegal!).
3. Identify available resources. Again, this lets all parties know what resources they are privy to and able to call upon in order to accomplish the goals.
4. Define accountability.  How will progress be reported? To whom? What aspects of progress are to be reported? Without accountability, responsibility goes out the window.
5. And determine the consequences.  This includes both positive reward and negative consequence.  If both exist, you are more likely to see success.

Once these conditions have been defined, it becomes a matter of self-management.  The individual must be left to seek out the solution without micromanagement or hand-holding.  This does not mean in isolation, only that they run the project, calling upon management and teams to accomplish the tasks.  The true intrapreneur will hit the ground running.  Without the self-management opportunity, this individual will not last long as that is a key ingredient to satisfy the entrepreneurial desires.

Do all positions within a company need intrapreneurs?

This will largely depend on the company, its purpose and industry, and a few other factors.  For instance, if your organization has some positions that absolutely must be repetitive and follow strict procedure without waver, intrapreneurs will not do well. The nature of these includes innovation, flexibility and spontaneity. If the position requires the opposite, then look for those will to do this type of work.  Now, I say requires as many organizations decide a position requires this restricted setup when the position would become infinitely more productive and powerful if the intrapreneurial approach were utilized.  Don’t get sucked into thinking it must be restricted when that is simply not the case.  If you have positions that you feel must be very tightly managed, attempt to think what would happen if it were open to intrapreneurial innovations.  Remember, the person still must have adequate resources and systems available to accomplish the task, only this time without an exact script to follow.  The idea is to allow for improvement and innovation by inviting the minds of others (those who are in the trenches doing the job) to participate in the development and growth process within the organization, instilling “ownership” of the position and we tend to take better care of what is ours.

So now what?

Once you choose to create this type of organization, you can begin by identifying a position within your company that you will convert to a more intrapreneurial design.  The key is to start with the results in mind.  What does this person need to accomplish? Are they rewarded if they accomplish more than expected? Does it really matter how they arrive at the result as long as it happens right (within reason of course)? Now begin to outline the above stated conditions. If the position already exists, do some of this with the individual filling it in order to get their buy in and to ensure alignment.  Ensure the person is capable of such a position (both skilled, and of character).  This will be a powerful first step to enhancing your entire organization.

Related posts:

1. Higher Purpose Entrepreneurs, for-profit, for-betterment of mankind I am passionate about entrepreneurship and individual empowerment, it is...
2. Re-design of Daily Life: an ESSENTIAL assessment Every few months, I reach a boiling point in my...
3. Entrepreneurs should avoid Burnout Many entrepreneurs come face-to-face with burnout at some point in...

Related posts brought to you by Yet Another Related Posts Plugin.

Common discussions in today’s society include efficiency, uses of limited resources, care of the environment, and related topics.  This are concerning and critical issues but one piece of the discussion that is often missing is the opportunities that lie ahead.  This includes innovation, technology, and more.  Many of the discussions are in a closed box as though we will never innovate or improve again and are left to find improved efficiency with what we have.  The result is always lackluster performance with incremental influence and essentially no solution to today’s issues.  Take examples such as cap & trade.  Scientific evidence suggests little, if any, measurable improvement by such enacted measures.  So why do we, as a society, interest ourselves in the wasted resources (in this case, increased economic costs), for little result? Again, the discussion and solution are discovered within the closed box and the supporting groups and individuals feel doing something is better than nothing, even without favorable result.  So what happens when we up top the box? Welcome to the key of societal development.

Since the beginning of mankind, we have always be faced with limited possibilities until innovation opens the current sphere of existence revealing much higher possibilities.  A common example is the Malthusian dilemma.  Groups for centuries have discussed the limited availability of land for food production, leading to overpopulation.  These fears and predictions have been trumped time and again thanks to innovation.  Today, crop density and production is higher than ever.  Crop resilience is also improving.  Some places have even begun “stacking” land, that is growing crops on multiple floors or levels within a given space, yielding 100 times the yield of the floor space alone.  These simple innovations have allowed the world to surpass 6 billion in population, a number thought impossible only 50 years ago!  So are resources really limited? well, Yes… and no… Resources are limited within any given sphere of influence.  We will discuss this over the remainder of the article.  At any given time, we as individuals and humanity have a specific space that we have access to, lets say our scope of access.  Within that space, we have a specific capability set and capacity that allows us to utilize the space productively, including all resources there in.  We will call this the scope of utility.  Within these spheres, resources are limited at any given point.  But is there a limited to the expansion of these spheres? No sir, the universe is a big place and we still have a lot to learn.  So lets look at some hypothetical examples and explanations.

We will start with a given time period, say the 1800s.  Now, during that time, the scope of access was pretty high.  With horses and ships, the world was being explored (albeit slowly). Most natural resources were available to humanity.  The scope of utility was much lower, however.  Take petroleum as an example. During the 1800’s, there were limited uses for it.  By the early 1900s and beyond, the utility of this resource exploded with air travel, automobiles, industry and more.

This illustration graphically demonstrates the differences thanks to innovation and advancement.  The Scope of Access as expanded due to improvements in travel including ocean and space exploration.  The expanded scope of utility is due to improvements in utilization of resources available within the scope of access.  Improvement here is seen on two levels. The first is more efficient and effective use of resources previously used. The second is new found uses of resources previously known but not used.  Energy solutions is a great example.  We are now exploring energy from the sun, algae, thorium nuclear, hydrogen bonds, and more.  These resources have been known for years but not utilized as the utility was not understood.  We still don’t understand them.  Innovation and advancement is the only way to expand the scope of utility.

Government policy, conservation, and many other discussions have no effect on the scope of utility, only on how much we utilize.  Sometimes, these discussions add to efficiency but typically revolve around simply limiting and managing consumption.  If at any time, we were to freeze the scope of either access or utility, we would eventually deteriorate as a society as the limitations are introduced, then consumed.  If you stave off consumption, you may slow down this deterioration but consumption is critical not only to improved society but survival. Ultimately, we would destroy ourselves.  The only strategy to survive and thrive is innovation.  It is still vital to speak of conservation, only not alone and not within typical constraints.  The solutions will not only be more effective but cheaper and better for all if it includes innovation.

Now lets think to scales of infinity.  If we consider the points mentioned.  We are faced with infinite possibility.  Think beyond our current capabilities and see what waits for us with the scope of utility. Every day, we are finding newer and better ways to use the resources we have access to. Think beyond the bounds of Earth and imagine the vastness of space and resources of other planets, the scope of accessibility is just as infinite.  What if we had vast mining establishments on Mars? A planet with no life, what if it contained vast amounts of useful mineral? Many resources we may not know how to utilize yet.   The exciting part about innovation is the ability to imagine and then make it happen.  This is the key to survive, the key to thrive!

No related posts.

Related posts brought to you by Yet Another Related Posts Plugin.

I tell you this to simply point out that sometimes life throws a curve ball and it can be tricky to catch.  My blog here is perfect evidence of me dropping the ball (not posting in a month! Come on Billy!!).  My routine was utterly destroyed by the new found responsibilities and extra hospital time.  My reading, studying, working, all have suffered.  Now, I absolutely do not regret the time spent with my son. However, my handle of the other stuff has been less than stellar.  This is an important principle of life productivity.  How we handle the curve ball may demonstrate personal power that will carry throughout our lives.  This does not mean the routine “changes for no one” but simply that we are flexible and still responsible.  Taking a break from the blog is not the issue, it has been the slow transition back into reality that has been my downfall.  This goes for other aspects of my own productivity.  Flexibility is essential for just such moments as long as we know when it is time to mount up and get back to business.  I have not let essentials, of course.  That being relationships with close friends, business associates, clients, and “urgent” matters.  I simply have slacked in the departments of personal education and dissemination of ideas.  What I didn’t realize is how critical a piece that area is in my general well being and personal productivity.  A sharp mind and innovative thinking are  foundational pieces of my makeup.  By slacking on those, other areas suffer.  Well, my friends, I have learned from my mistakes and am here to announce my return to reality and higher productivity.  So what are the key principles I have taken from the last month?

• First, It IS okay to take time to focus on the most important things in your life.
• Be flexible but know when to start back up.  Don’t let the “time off” turn into a hitch that holds you back.
• Curve balls will come, know it, prepare for it, embrace it.
• Routines can and will change permanently (especially with major changes like kids!)
• Keep a sharp mind and take time for personal education even when you’re not “working”. Read, study, share ideas, its essential.
• And of course, Kids are a blessing!! Especially mine… hehe

Have you ever experienced times like this?  If not, you’re a liar!! This is not my first either…  Share your thoughts on lessons learned, strategies, etc.

Related posts:

1. Re-design of Daily Life: an ESSENTIAL assessment Every few months, I reach a boiling point in my...
2. Minimize your Productive Resistance to Accomplish More Productive Resistance? In any productivity system, you have a certain...
3. The “When, Then” Syndrome of Entrepreneurs A common conundrum that entrepreneurs find themselves in is that...

Related posts brought to you by Yet Another Related Posts Plugin.

As seen in both Free and The Long Tail, community and open-source are the future of industry, advancement, and entrepreneurship. Even large, blue chips are taking part to some degree.  Take Microsoft’s decisions to open beta-test its latest Windows and Office packages as an example.  Other companies are entirely based on these community participation models. This free or near-free participation and approach has been tested, and proven, with the web and the constant content generation found there. Now, as can be interpolated from the article title, the open-source and open availability of these digital bits is being translated into near-free atoms! Actual physical products and goods are the next step to prove the concept of opensource.  As we translate all the content, development, and innovation of the web into physical products, entrepreneurial opportunity will explode and prices, competition, and innovation will accelerate at levels unseen. Now, resistance will obviously occur, but pressing forward will yield tremendous return.  Threadless is one company that is a common example of this opensource bits-to-atoms process, and a good one at that.  They have demonstrated the win-win possibilities of the model in creating not only more unique, high-quality products but at reasonable prices with low-overhead, high profit business returns. This is only the beginning, of course, as Chris introduces us to much more complex possibilities than t-shirts.

Take Local Motors as an example that he mentions.  They have actually begun production on a car that was designed and voted on by a community, in fashion of Threadless’ t-shirts.  It will be built mostly using “after-market” parts and assembled individually as orders come in.  Interestingly, Local Motors follows a model described in another WIRED article found back in June here. Currently Local Motors is coming out as a niche company, giving little competition to the major car conglomerates but that will likely change as Local Motors develops or others come into the game.  This is only the beginning! Local’s design-to-market turn around is a distant dream to any detroit competition.  As Chris states:

the company says it can take a new vehicle from sketch to market in 18 months, about the time it takes Detroit to change the specs on some door trim.

Even better is the open availability of the design plans under creative commons license.  This allows components, add-ons, mods, and more to be created by anybody, unveiling countless other business possibilities. This is just one example of companies taking technology, community, and open-source to the world of physical products, to “atoms”.  Many other examples may not scale like Local Motors nor have the desire to do so.  The fact is many small entrepreneurial ventures, with today’s technology and tools, have the opportunity to compete with the behemoths or simply fill niches that are untouchable by them.  It is a beautiful thing to behold.  And we aren’t talking about the digital realm here.  This is manufacturing, production, products, this is atoms!  With simple tools such as 3D printers (for less than a grand), access to custom limited-run manufacturing at remarkably affordable prices (thanks again internet), and open community feedback, the opportunity pool is much deeper than it used to be!  Even nuclear power is being approached with this technique as I discussed here regarding yet another WIRED article.  Like I said, this theme can be seen throughout their articles over the last while.

So what does all this mean for the entrepreneur?  Well, if you haven’t picked it up already, its all about endless opportunity and open, community development of ideas!  With that in mind, what do you think? Any other great examples of similar business models in use?  Let me know!!

Related posts:

1. Freemium Future, Business Model Evolution: Free to Fee The world of web 2.0 and tech startups have revealed...
2. Coopetition… What is it? The concept of coopetition is one I’ve heard a fair...
3. A fragmented “stealth” brand can be good? For some, YES! Entrepreneur Magazine’s November issue featured an article regarding a new-ish...

Related posts brought to you by Yet Another Related Posts Plugin.

This principle was illustrated quite well in a blog post offered by Cal Newport here.  You may also learn more about him on his own blog here. The starting principles for fixed-schedule productivity are as follows:

• Formulate your ideal schedule – divide your day in an “ideal” fashion. When are you working? When are you not (and I mean NOT)?  Do you have gym time or other health activity in there?  While you work, what general activities do you do and when? (i.e. email, writing, customer service phone calls, project work, and other general tasks). What time do you wake up? This all will be different for each person.  Some will get up early, work, take a nap, go to the gym and lunch, then work, then break, then work, then done for day, or whatever.  It is important to line out the tasks as well, such as email only after lunch for 30 min. then writing work, etc.
• Now, work backwards to fit everything in – This stage is where it gets interesting.  Often times, our workload and task lists grow to such astronomical proportions that we need to be “productive” about 28 hours a day.  With so many productivity systems out there causing us to realize how much there is to do and creating productive resistance at the same time, this task can be a challenge.  Concepts that may be foreign to you will come alive! such as actually turning people down and gracefully saying no from time to time.  Giving people and projects actual, realistic time-frames and completion deadlines (I’m not kidding, you might actually hit those deadlines!).  With no ability to justify projects based on the idea that you could simply put in an extra 30 minutes tonight, you become more reliable in project timelines.  When someone asks you to do something, you MUST look at your schedule before giving them any time frame on completion.  You will quickly realize that you don’t need to do have the stuff you currently do.  You will seek ways to delegate and outsource the more menial tasks.  You will also begin finding ways to be more productive during the time you do have as that is all you have.

That is it!  Those are the key steps in understanding the fixed-schedule lifestyle.  Each persons’ ideal schedule may be different and that is exactly as it should be.  Its important to realize you are NOT allowed to do tasks out of their scheduled time.  You are however, at liberty to adjust your schedule as needed but not because you are lazy!  Don’t make excuses!  This will be the toughest part, learning to change the channel.

Jim Collins

Jim Collins has sold over seven million copies of his canonical business guides, Good to Great and Built to Last. He attributes the success of these books to his research discipline. As he revealed in a New York Times profile from last May, he leads teams of up to a dozen undergraduates in the process of information gathering. His books require, on average, a half-decade of time and a half-million dollars of expenses to get from their initial premise to the polished ideas. When he enters his “monk” mode to covert this research into a manuscript, he produces, at best, a page a day.

In other words, Collins is a hardworking guy. You would expect, therefore, that like many hard-charging business-world types he would be a blackberry-by-the-bedside workaholic.

But he’s not.

Scrawled on a whiteboard in the conference room of Collins’ Boulder, Colorado office is a simple formula:

Creative 53%
Teaching 28%
Other 19%

Collins decided years ago that a “big goal” in his life was to spend half of his working time on creative work — thinking, researching, and writing — a third of his time on teaching, and then cram everything else into the last 20%. The numbers on the whiteboard are a snapshot of his current distribution. (He tracks his time with a stop watch and monitors his progress in a spreadsheet.)

Collins is a pristine example of fixed-schedule productivity in action. An author with his level of success could easily fall into an overwork trap: long nights spent updating twitter, signing partnerships, building elaborate web sites and launching product lines, speaking at every possible venue. But he avoids this fate.

Even though Collins demands over $60,000 per speech, for example, he gives fewer than 18 per year, and a third of these are donated for free to non-profit groups. He doesn’t do book tours. His web site is mediocre. He keeps his living expenses in check so that he’s not dependent on drumming up income (he and his wife have lived in the same California bungalow for the past 14 years), and he keeps only a small staff, preferring to bring on volunteers as needed.

“Mr. Collins…is quite practiced at saying ‘no,’” is how The Times described him. (He once wrote an article for USA Today titled: “Best New Years Resolution? A ‘Stop-Doing’ list.”)

His fixed-schedule approach to life comes from his simple conviction “to produce a lasting and distinctive body of work,” and his “willingness…to focus on what not to do as much as what to do” has made that possible.

He’s not alone in reaping the benefits of the fixed-schedule approach…

The Baby Factor

Michael Simmons, a good friend of mine, reported a similar story. His company, the Extreme Entrepreneurship Education Corporation, expanded quickly in the years following college graduation. Around the time I was reading The 4-Hour Work Week, I started to discuss the possibility that Simmons tone down the hours. It was his company, I argued, so why not take advantage of this fact to craft an awesome life.

Among the specific topics we discussed, I remember suggesting that Simmons cut down the time spent on e-mail and social networks.

“This isn’t optional for me,” he explained. “Any of these contacts could turn into a important partner or sale.”

But then Simmons’ daughter, Halle, was born.

Simmons’ work schedule reduced from 10 to 12 hours days to 3 to 5 hour days. He took care of the baby in the morning, then worked in the afternoon while his wife, and company co-founder, took over the childcare responsibilities. Evenings were family together time.

Halle forced Simmons into the type of constrained schedule that he had previously declared impossible. And yet the business didn’t flounder.

“The baby turns ’shoulds’ into ‘musts’,” Simmons explained to me. “In the past I used to put off key decisions, or saying ‘no’, because I didn’t want to deal with the discomfort. Now I have no choice. I have to make the decisions because my time has been slashed in half.”

“Since out daughter was born about a year ago, our business has more than doubled.”

Related posts:

1. Different Schedule Styles for Different Positions, Understand them! A recent essay by Paul Graham found here illustrates two...
2. Minimize your Productive Resistance to Accomplish More Productive Resistance? In any productivity system, you have a certain...
3. Create your meMethod™ for Productivity With countless blogs, books, and best-practices (pardon the alliteration), maximized...

Related posts brought to you by Yet Another Related Posts Plugin.

• Get organized! – possibly a more common goal is to get organized.  The opportunity to re-look at your systems and methods of tracking the stuff that needs to get done is one that should not be missed.  Look at the tools you use, the concepts and tenets you follow (i.e. GTD, 7 Habits, etc.) and the schedule (work, home, balance) you keep.  We will be unveiling a new system and tool to help with this over the next few months called Akomplish.  I’m excited for what it will do and the flexibility it will offer for you to live and work the way YOU want to.
• re-address your tax planning – With 2009 said and done, it is a great time to look at how you do taxes, bookkeeping, and financial accountability and tracking.  It will be much easier to start now than shift gears mid-year and cause confusion and chaos for yourself and your accountants.  Look at the past year and see what expenses could have been written off but were lost in the minutiae of living.  I know, I know, accounting sucks and is no fun (unless you actually ARE an accountant, then it might be okay to you although you also may not like it!).  The advantages of doing it right the first time and from the beginning will pay off, no doubt about it.
• 2009 in review – Take a look at what was done and not done in 2009.  What could you have done better?  What should you have done but didn’t? What bold moves do you wish you’d taken?  Well, lets do them this year!! How can this information and introspection be incorporated into your new year’s resolutions?
• Life Balance – Well, you work too much or too little.  You probably don’t have any hobbies but “family” or something cliche like that.  By the way, family is not a ‘hobby’, although important to you.  What do you do with them?  What can you do to unwind and breakup the life of work?  Having hobbies will prove invaluable as stress mounts from other money-generating areas of life.  For myself, I find this solace in photography, painting, mountain biking, and the like.  In fact, my wife would contend that I have too many hobbies!  Either way, having a good way to be productive without ‘work’ or pay (this does NOT include watching TV or wasting time) is an important part of balance.  Now, maybe you are lucky enough to do what you love for a living! Yay, hooray! I don’t care… find another hobby as well.  That doesn’t mean you quit loving work but you don’t want work to burn you out of loving it anymore.  For that reason, find a hobby!  Now don’t neglect your family for this hobby, again we are discussing BALANCE.  Maybe share your hobby with them or find some other way to balance.

Well, there you go.  Four points to consider with your New Year’s resolutions!!  Any other major points that we all ought to consider?

Related posts:

1. Entrepreneurs should avoid Burnout Many entrepreneurs come face-to-face with burnout at some point in...

Related posts brought to you by Yet Another Related Posts Plugin.

The modern consumer can smell inauthenticity from a few simple interactions with your organization. Fancy marketing hype and a good smile don’t get you quite as far as it used to.  Especially in economic downturns, people are more skeptical of corporate bull and sales hype.  If, however, your mission is authentic, you will reap the benefit.  This is the beauty of the modern economy.  We are rewarded for pursuing social agendas, allowing us to ‘have our cake and eat it to’!  It is no longer simply a drain on for-profit resources but a boon.  It is much more an investment than some ’sacrifice’ and that is great!  It allows us to continue on with the social mission as our business is bolstered by it, who doesn’t want that?

So the question is, what are some simply ways to develop your social mission? Here is a simple list of ideas to get started:

• brainstorm causes, concerns, and areas of interest that you have personally.  It doesn’t have to be so cliche as ‘inoculate babies in Burma’ (although that is great if it authentically is a concern) but even hobbies can become great social causes.  For example, I am an avid mountain biker.  There are many concerns for trail preservation, natural forest maintenance and other related interests.  Maybe I should distribute bikes to children in Burma! Simply create a list of ideas and interests.
• Identify interests that run congruent with or compliment your business.  What is your business? Do any of the above ideas coincide with your business in any way?
• Identify a list of interesting charities and special-interest groups that compliment your own ideas and/or those of your business.  Do any groups do anything listed above? Are there other ideas gleaned from this new list of charities and non-profits?
• Explore the ideas and concepts with your team to garner support and acceptance as well as to explore alternative perspectives to the new idea.
• Develop the ‘dot org’ side of your business.  Start a website or blog and begin developing your social mission and agenda.  You may use the platform to focus and hone your purpose, deciding on the key areas your social mission will include.
• Create a 6-month action plan to integrate and enact this new mission.  Be wary of any dangers and shifts in current company culture to ensure preservation or positive transformation of it.

This is a simple list to get you started. Many companies are becoming economic powerhouses will changing the world (at the same time!) and your organization can do it to.  You don’t need to wait until your “microsoft” is built to start a multi-billion dollar “Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation” of your own (which I think is totally awesome by the way, I just don’t have that pocket change laying around quite yet).  Your social mission can begin WITH your company, not after it…

What other ideas are out there to help entrepreneurs in their social mission?  What is your social mission?!

Related posts:

1. Kutcher’s twitter dominance shows business potential Twitter’s growth is leaving some fascinated and devoted to the...

Related posts brought to you by Yet Another Related Posts Plugin.

In this talk, Jason discusses what he’s learned at 37signals over the years. Topics covered: The idea that you should “fail early, fail often” is bogus. Plans are guesses. Interruption is the enemy of productivity. Sell your byproduct. Emulate chefs. Focus on what won’t change. If you want to do something, you’ve got to do it now.

Listen to it, I highly recommend it.  If you feel the need, let me know what you think of the key ideas, namely:

- “Fail early, fail often” debunked.

- Planning is a joke, just live in the moment!

- Don’t talk to each other, its an interruption.  Use tools instead.

- Sell byproducts.

etc…

Related posts:

1. Do less, make more: The Power of Focus (still works) This is definitely an old concept that you will find...

Related posts brought to you by Yet Another Related Posts Plugin.

Dr. Neil Postman, the celebrated Chair of the Department of Culture and Communications at New York University, has this to say about it:  “We must keep in mind the story of the statistician who drowned while trying to wade across a river with an average depth of four feet. That is to say, in a culture that reveres statistics, we can never be sure what sort of nonsense will lodge in people’s heads… A question, even of the simplest kind, is not, and never can be unbiased. The structure of any question is as devoid of neutrality as its content. The form of a question may ease our way or pose obstacles. Or, when even slightly altered, it may generate antithetical answers, as in the case of the two priests who, being unsure if it was permissible to smoke and pray at the same time, wrote to the Pope for a definitive answer. One priest phrased the question ‘Is it permissible to smoke while praying?’ and was told it is not, since prayer should be the focus of one’s whole attention; the other priest asked if it is permissible to pray while smoking and was told that it is, since it is always permissible to pray.”

Roy concludes by discussing an alternative to the typical “who is your customer?” question: Why does my customer buy my product? What does it do for him or her? He states:

Create your marketing plan around the question, “Who is my customer?” and you’ll soon bump your head against a very low ceiling. The true profiles of “your customer” are like the characters in a Fellini movie; an unimaginable circus of people with conflicted personalities and unconscious buying motives.

Proponents of hyper-targeting are quick to say, “You’re using the shotgun approach. I believe in putting the customer in the crosshairs of a rifle.”

But we’re not hunting just one customer, are we? Hyper-targeters believe in fishing with a hook. But for best results, I suggest you find a net.

If you want to grow your business, don’t target age, sex, income or education. Target according to buying motives. The question isn’t, “Who is my customer?” but rather, “Why does my customer buy my product? What does it do for him or her?” The answers to these questions will tell you exactly what to write in your ads.

Congratulations. You found your net.

Thanks for the thought Roy… What do you think?  Is this strategy too unfocused?  or is it focused on the right areas?

No related posts.

Related posts brought to you by Yet Another Related Posts Plugin.

From the Article:

“Twitter is about reaching the right people at the right time,” says Becky McCray, a longtime Twitter user and advocate who operates her own cattle ranch and liquor store as well as a website, SmallBizSurvival.com., in Oklahoma’s Woods County. “But you have to think carefully about what messages you want to communicate.” Here are some recommendations for what to do–and what not to do–on Twitter.

• Listen before speaking. “When you sign up and start reaching out to folks, listen to them before joining the conversation,” McCray says. “What are their customers talking about? Who are they listening to, and what can I learn from them? When you feel it’s time to tweet some messages, share things you find interesting–share things you wish other people would share.”

• Don’t be boring. “Make sure your tweet is interesting to the reader–be unselfish, and be useful,” says Laura Fitton, co-author of the book Twitter for Dummies and founder of the Twitter application storefront oneforty.com. Short, direct messages work best, especially given Twitter’s 140-character limit. Talk about what your business is doing–e.g., new products, services or promotions, or anything else likely to pique the curiosity of your clientele.

• Consider the source. “The beauty of Twitter is that tweets with value are almost instantly recognized,” says John Battelle, founder, chairman and CEO of Federated Media Publishing. “Does it come from somebody who’s been on Twitter for a month, or for a year? Someone with 10 followers, or 10,000 followers? Did that tweet get picked up and re-tweeted? You can tell a lot about the value of a tweet by those metrics.”

• Update daily. Give your customers a reason to follow and return to your Twitter feed. Download a mobile client to your smartphone to facilitate regular updates while on the go–some of the most popular include Twitterific, TwitterBerry, PocketTweets and Twidroid.

• Embrace Twitter applications. Don’t wait for followers to find you–identify and connect with local Twitter users via services such as Twitter Advanced Search, ChirpCity, Nearby Tweets and Tweepz. Other Twitter apps of value: SocialOomph (for scheduling tweets, tracking keywords and sending direct messages), CalTweet (for tagging, promoting and sharing upcoming business events) and Twitalyzer (for measuring the impact and influence of your tweets).

“Twitter is a tool that’s incredibly powerful,” McCray says. “What makes it powerful is the fact that it can be used in so many different ways.”

Well, there you have it straight from Entrepreneur. One day, we will all figure out Twitter and maybe, just maybe, Twitter will figure out itself!

Related posts:

1. How I use Twitter, and I finally LIKE it! Twitter has been around for some time now and I...
2. Kutcher’s twitter dominance shows business potential Twitter’s growth is leaving some fascinated and devoted to the...

Related posts brought to you by Yet Another Related Posts Plugin.