MyBrainBlog

The Strong Tail

noreply@blogger.com (Don The Idea Guy) — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 07:33:20 PST

You've heard the theory of The Long Tail, here's my twist -- The STRONG Tail.

The Long Tail explained, per Wikipedia:

The Long Tail is a retailing concept describing the niche strategy of selling a large number of unique items in relatively small quantities -- usually in addition to selling fewer popular items in large quantities. The concept was popularised by Chris Anderson in an October 2004 Wired magazine article, in which he mentioned Amazon.com and Netflix as examples of businesses applying this strategy. Anderson elaborated the Long Tail concept in his book The Long Tail: Why the Future of Business Is Selling Less of More.

The Long Tail is thusly named because when charted, these smaller sales of a large number of items trails off into the distance like the long sloping tail of some prehistoric beast.

Keep this concept in the back of your mind as I tell you about another Wired writer's thought provoking concept of "1,000 True Fans." Kevin Kelly is the co-founder of Wired, and posits this theory:

A creator, such as an artist, musician, photographer, craftsperson, performer, animator, designer, videomaker, or author -- in other words, anyone producing works of art -- needs to acquire only 1,000 True Fans to make a living.

A True Fan is defined as someone who will purchase anything and everything you produce. They will drive 200 miles to see you sing. They will buy the super deluxe re-issued hi-res box set of your stuff even though they have the low-res version. They have a Google Alert set for your name. They bookmark the eBay page where your out-of-print editions show up. They come to your openings. They have you sign their copies. They buy the t-shirt, and the mug, and the hat. They can't wait till you issue your next work. They are true fans.

A solid concept. I loved this idea as soon as I heard it. The theory rings true, because I know that I AM one of those 1,000 fans for a number of performers and writers (Hi Gitomer!) The 1,000 True Fans theory also fits nicely into the Long Tail continuum.

Which brings us my theory of The Strong Tail
The Strong Tail begins to form at the very end of The Long Tail. It's made up of the amazing small quantity of super-fans who are willing to pay a premium for access to your product/service/presence. There are only a few of them, but they are willing to open their wallets wide for access to exclusive items.

If The Long Tail was represented by the tail of a Brontosaurus/Apatosaurus, The Strong Tail is represented by the tail of a Stegosaurus. It has the long sloping tail of the former thunder lizard, but the latter's tail culminates in a set of spikes that reach upwards to match most of the overall tail height.

These 'spikes' are investments in rare one-of-a-kind signed editions, original art, limited edition prints, private performances, one-on-one consulting and conversations. These items come at the end of The Long Tail because there are very few of the items available, but the price to own these items (and the passionate people who must possess them) drives the profit on these rare items higher up the chart.

Instead of 1,000 True Fans -- you may only need three of them to pay you for individual consulting advice. You may only need two of these people willing to pay you $50,000 each for a private corporate seminar. Or you may only need a single individual to shell out $100,000 for an original painting.

That's The Strong Tail
What do you think of this newest adaptation?
Please leave a comment below!

Author's note regarding the prior inclusion (now removed) of Seth Godin's First Ten concept... Good feedback from my friend @morningtoast convinced me that including First Ten in the Long Tail chart was a bit confusing and didn't really conform to the core concept because Seth was talking about winning your first 10 fans and riding their positive word of mouth to higher popularity and sales -- make it run a reverse course on the Tail. I see what he means, and although I feel Godin's First Ten is a cousin to the Long Tail, it made the chart a bit confusing to navigate and may have served to obfuscate the explanation of my Strong Tail concept -- which was the whole point of this post in the first place.

The Best Ideas Are Always A Little Scary

noreply@blogger.com (Don The Idea Guy) — Mon, 19 Oct 2009 22:42:06 PDT

Ideas that don't make the people sitting around the presentation table shift in their seats and give each other furtive sideways glances are a complete waste of time.

The best ideas are a little frightening.
The big ideas make people nervous.
The nice, safe, user-friendly ideas have already been thought of and put into action by your competition. If it were easy, everyone else would already be doing it.

The concepts that make you work a little harder, learn a little more, and force you outside your comfort zone are the ones that deliver the best results and reach new heights (and new customers) that you never knew existed.

It's good to feel a little fear. It's exciting...
Heart racing, blood pumping, and those hairs at the base of your neck standing on-end.

Goosebumps let you know you're on to a great idea.

THE Economy is Bad, But What About YOUR Economy?

noreply@blogger.com (Don The Idea Guy) — Tue, 13 Oct 2009 08:06:32 PDT

As always, wise words from Jeffrey Gitomer sharing a creative perspective on how you could be growing instead of woeing your business. I count at least a dozen ideas in the video below that could be put into action this afternoon. How many do you count?

Push Any Key for Creativity

noreply@blogger.com (Don The Idea Guy) — Tue, 29 Sep 2009 05:34:33 PDT

Creative commands for your mental keyboard, programmed to increase your effectiveness at innovation.

1. HOME
Do not underestimate the importance of a home base from which to create ideas. A favorite space that fosters your creative spirit and surrounds you with resources to feed your innovative energy. Windows, posters, books on creativity, fun games and toys, etc. can all serve to spark your creativity and give you 'permission' to free your spirit of innovation.

2. ESC
The Escape Key helps you think outside the box. Get out of your cube, office, or boardroom. Escape to a park or coffeeshop or amusement park. Have your brainstorm session at the zoo or a pub or putt-putt course. Your ideas will be bigger, better, and a helluva lot more fun.

3. INSERT
What outside ideas, influences, and opinions can you introduce into your brainstorm session? What does skateboarding have in common with your situation? What similarities can you find between the ballet and opening your new bakery? Can you come up with a metaphor that connects owning a pet with building your sales of propane and propane accessories?

4. SHIFT
Shift gears, change focus, and reframe your problem. Rephrasing your challenge using different words will also change the kinds of ideas you're generating. Shifting your perception of the problem -- coming up with ideas on 'how to earn more money' versus 'how do we spend less money' allows new ideas to emerge.

5. BACKSPACE
Take a step back and review the ideas you've already generated. Perhaps you'll have to hit the Backspace key several times. If you find that you're creating ideas to solve the wrong problem, you may need to go back and start your list of ideas from the very beginning.

6. CAPS LOCK
Get excited... ALL CAPS CAN INDICATE SHOUTING! Amp-up your energy level. Make sure you've got a positive attitude before starting a brainstorm session. If you're mood is positive, anything is possible. If you're feeling down and depressed, you're not going to come up with any ideas that you believe will offer an effective solution. Read some positive affirmations from Paulo Coelho's "Warrior of the Light" or "Napoleon Hill's Positive Action Plan" or Jeffrey Gitomer's "Little Gold Book of YES! Attitude" before you schedule a brainstorming session. If those messages don't press your internal Caps-Lock, it's better to postpone until you're in a better mood.

7. PAUSE
Take time-out during your idea generation session to reflect upon the ideas you've collected. Review your list and find concepts that can be explored further. Build upon one of the ideas and create a new branch on your mindmap, fully exploring every path down which you travel will generate many more ideas from which you can choose your solution.

8. ALT
What can you alter about a few of your ideas in order to multiply that single idea into a dozen? If 'offer free delivery' is one of your ideas, alter and expand upon that single concept to generate a variety of related ideas: free next-day delivery, delivered within 30-minutes or it's free, deliver each order with a special gift, deliver the order within non-traditional packaging, orders are delivered by singing telegram, orders are delivered by a guy in a gorilla costume, orders are delivered by celebrity lookalikes...

9. END
Know when to stop. The purpose of a brainstorm session isn't to suck your brain dry of every possible idea -- it's simply to get a group of stimulated minds together in order to generate as many ideas as possible. Extending a session until you feel like you're literally wringing your brain to squeeze out some last nugget of information isn't very pleasant, and certainly won't make you want to participate in future brainstorm exercises! In order to avoid writer's block, authors have been told to stop a writing session while they still feel like they have something to say. I think it's so they know where to pick-up the next time they pick up a pen. The same principle applies to brainstorming. It's okay to end a session while there are still some ideas flying, just ask the participants to scribble down any new ideas they have after the session and send them to you. It's a sure way to virtually guarantee they come up with another 3 or 4 ideas after the meeting has adjourned, rather than beating every last idea out of them while they're in the room and only releasing them after they feel exhausted and happy to have escaped!

Why People Fear New Ideas

noreply@blogger.com (Don The Idea Guy) — Fri, 11 Sep 2009 06:43:36 PDT

Though there are many reasons why people fear the adoption of new ideas, here are a few of the common ones I've run across...

1. Failure
What we're doing might not be perfect, but it's working. Why risk changing it for something better on the chance the idea fails?

2. Blame
If this new idea doesn't perform as hoped, they'll hold me personally accountable.

3. Status Quo
Whoa, buddy... No rocking the boat!

4. Work
Putting a new idea into effect sounds like it's going to require a lot of extra effort, and my to-do list is already full.

5. Judgment
Some people might not like this idea, and perhaps they won't like me for being associated with it.

6. Change
Sure, change is inevitable -- but you go first. I might not like the way things are, but it's a lot easier to complain about it than to make any improvements.

7. Pessimism
That idea will never get approved. We tried something like that before and it didn't work in the past, and it's not going to work now.

8. Risk
Seems a little 'iffy' to me. It's much safer if we keep doing what we've always done.

9. Alone
I'm not willing to go out on a limb and show support for that idea. Who else is backing your concept?

10. Doubt
If this was truly a good idea, wouldn't someone have thought of it before? Maybe we should wait...

My friend Phil Rist from BigResearch shared this quote with me yesterday and it's right on target. It seemingly merges all of the fears above into this single statement:

"And let it be noted that there is no more delicate matter to take in hand, nor more dangerous to conduct, nor more doubtful in its success, than to set up as the leader in the introduction of changes. For he who innovates will have for his enemies all those who are well off under the existing order of things, and only lukewarm supporters in those who might be better off under the new."
~ Niccolo Machiavelli
from The Prince

Embrace new ideas -- don't be a 'fraidy cat.

Selling When Nobody's Buying : Day 1

noreply@blogger.com (Don The Idea Guy) — Tue, 14 Jul 2009 21:31:57 PDT

Just started reading what could be my favorite sales book of the year. I am only at the very start of the first chapter, but the message hit me so hard right (right between the eyes) that I had to drop the book and pick-up the keyboard (it's midnight!) to post this entry about it. If the author can keep the momentum going through the next ten chapters, he's really going to help a lot of people turn around what could be the most challenging year in sales that a lot of us have faced in a very long time.

Dave Lakhani's new book "How to Sell When Nobody's Buying" starts with a Chapter 0 -- and what might turn out to be the most valuable chapter in the book. Heck, it knocked the sleep out of my head enough to prompt an immediate post. Here is Lakhani's advice for getting started on Day 1 to selling successfully when nobody's buying:

Call 25 inactive clients and talk to them about engaging with you once again. If they stopped doing business with you because of an unresolved past issue, ask if they'll do business with you if you can resolve the issue. If they say yes, getthe issue resoved. If they say no, get the issue resolved anyway. The past client may reconsider once their problem has been solved.
Call 10 existing clients present them with a new offer. Have a plan and a pitch for an upgrade, a new product or an additional service. Doesn't matter if they bought last year or last week and you "know" they're going to say no. Do it anyway.
Call a non-competing company that offers a complementary service to client profiles that mirror your own. Tell them you've got five great clients to whom you'd be willing to introduce and endorse them if they'll do the same.
For an hour before you leave the office, work on your action plan for the following day so you can hit the ground running. Have a list of 10 people from whom you can get referrals, five that will give you a testimonial, and 20 that have asked for more information but haven't spoken to in 10 days. Plus a list of 10 prospects with whom you'd like to be doing business.
Just before you walk out the door, go back to your desk and leave five voicemails for people who've requested information from you in the past month and tell them you'll be calling them tomorrow because you've discovered something important that will impact them.

It doesn't matter what you sell, all the rules are the same. No excuses.

Love it.
Lakhani is basically calling 'bullshit' on everyone whining about the economy and proving that none of us are really doing everything we could possibly be doing to turn our situation around all by ourselves.

Can't wait to read about Day 2...

Paying for News Online

noreply@blogger.com (Don The Idea Guy) — Thu, 18 Jun 2009 06:03:49 PDT

I liked the interview and feel this guy (Gordon Crovitz, former publisher of WSJ) is on the right track, but I also think he is still waay too obsessed with the old newspaper subscription business model (I have what I feel to be a MUCH better model in mind), but at least their company JournalismOnline.com appears to have at least put some thought into the process and is approaching it as a potential platform for all online content providers (instead of just a solution for a single newspaper company.)

Unless the people behind this idea gets pushed to go after the NEXT right answer, I don't think this is the model into which online newspaper content distribution will eventually evolve, and may even delay the development of a better model. There are better ideas out there to solve this problem -- my feeling is that these guys just stopped thinking about solutions too soon.

Turning into the Skid

noreply@blogger.com (Don The Idea Guy) — Tue, 16 Jun 2009 05:10:20 PDT

When a game changing event or product threatens the well-being your company or industry, sometimes the best thing you can do when you feel like you're losing control is to "turn into the skid."

Early on in your auto driving experience, you were told that if you ever start to lose control of your vehicle on an icy road, you should turn your wheels into the skid in order to correct your direction and reclaim control of the car. I think that creatively, this principle can be used to course-correct for your business innovations, as well.

One example...

There's no arguing that harsh economic realities and advancements in virtual meeting technologies has dramatically impacted the business travel industry. Companies that once had no other option than to physically transport a representative to an event across the country, now have many other options at their disposal. They can choose not to attend the event at all, they can arrange conference calls, video calls, purchase DVDs or CDs of the events, create online meetings, trade emails, create wiki sites, blogs, podcasts, meeting summaries, and even follow along in real time via Twitter or web video sites like uStream... and probably a dozen other ways I haven't thought to list.

What if one travel company turned into this skid in order to correct their course? Instead of offering just another 'promise to match the lowest price' -- what if one of these business travel specialists stepped up to help their clients determine which meetings they really needed to attend, and facilitated virtual meeting options on their behalf for the ones they did not need to physically attend?

What's stopping Uniglobe from embracing the innovative tools of companies like Webex, GoToMeeting, PBwiki, uStream, Skype, and Dabbleboard to construct a simple link collection of all the best virtual meeting tools to benefit the changing needs of their clients?

What if they took it a step further and created a private-label version of these utilities and offered them for free (or fee) to their client base? If their travel clients already think of this company as their means of getting to meetings in the physical world, why not carry over that thinking into the virtual world? Why wouldn't a client use a TravelSolutions, Uniglobe, or Travel Partners branded online meeting tool instead of having to potentially create a new account and incur separate billing from some other company? Especially if the travel company has already established trust and reliability with their client (and made the tools easy and convenient to use.)

Remember, the next time you feel like you're losing control of your business, try turning into the skid to correct your course using innovative ideas -- and regain control of your destiny.

Quirky Way to Sell Your Ideas

noreply@blogger.com (Don The Idea Guy) — Wed, 03 Jun 2009 20:29:27 PDT

Brand new website I learned about via www.springwise.com this week. It's the latest crowdsourced business incubator. Quirky.com allows anyone to submit product ideas, plans, etc. for $99. The community then decides which submissions to develop, and the top votes result in a new product released WEEKLY.

It's certainly a bit bold to announce you'll be producing a product every single week, but the concept is certainly promising. Obviously spawned from concepts like threadless.com, Quirky stands a chance for survival if the submissions are creative, yet boot rooted in enough reality to justify production and sale to a supportive audience.

I think Quirky will need to quickly grow their consumer base beyond their site subscribers in order to maintain any long term viability. Unlike the crowd at threadless.com, not every member is going to be a prospective customer for every item produced.

Learn more by visiting the Springwise summary page or the company website at Quirky.com. A video produced by quirky to provide a quick overview of their concept is embedded below.

Bally High

noreply@blogger.com (Don The Idea Guy) — Wed, 10 Jun 2009 11:35:07 PDT

I've really been enjoying the new show on the Discovery channel, "Pitchmen" in which each episode follows the successful (and sometimes not-so successful) course of one or two "as seen on tv" products. Legendary hucksters Billy Mays and Anthony Sullivan guide the inventors through the surprisingly interestingly (but sometimes murky) waters of direct response advertising. Think of them as part PT Barnum and part Sacajawea (good article from CNN Money on these guys.)

In the latest episode, the Pitchmen take a potential next-gen "Billy Mays 2.0" under their wing and show him some of the basics in the art of pitching products to the public. A technique the guys referred to as "ballying" latched on to my brain, and I thought I share a few thoughts on the concept here.

I found a really good explanation of the word and the entire Bally process by searching for "carny terms" and discovering this site: http://www.goodmagic.com/carny/index.htm. A quick search through the listings for "B" and I had more Bally info than I could have imagined.

The "Bally" is the spiel designed to draw a crowd (called a "tip") to see a sideshow. The bally is essentially a commercial which typically features quick appearances by the performers in the show. It is a shortened version of the word "Ballyhoo" which came to mean "to attract the attention of customers by raising a clamor." The word originated at the 1893 Columbian Exposition in Chicago.

This old/new word seems to embody the principles needed to attract clients into our dot-com tents from the new media carnival midway.

There is a lot of information on the GoodMagic.com website, and even though this post is pretty long, this is an edited version of what you can find on their site.

Here are the steps to a successful bally:

MAKING THE OPENING/BUILDING THE TIP
"Making the opening" is attracting the attention of everyone within earshot. The object is to assemble a crowd. They don't have to be eager attendees, they just have to be willing to pause for a moment to find out what you are yelling about.

The word "free" is particularly attractive. The crowd is being separated from their money at every point along the way from the gate to the "back end" where the biggest sideshows are usually placed. Anything they can get free is a real relief (they don't quite catch on that the whole idea is to take even more of their cash).

To keep the crowd once you have their attention, build anticipation -- something very interesting is going to happen and it's just about to be revealed!

The bally should only last five or six minutes, with six to ten repetitions per hour. The goal is to project intense energy and to sense and respond to the crowd's mood.

FREEZING THE TIP
You've assembled a gaggle of freeloaders, but they're not a "tip" until they're paying close and continued attention. "Freezing the tip" is getting them almost immobilized. Get them to move closer to see better, making it difficult for anyone to leave because of the tightly-packed crowd.
A few successfully mesmerized people will attract a larger crowd ("What are all those people looking at? Let's go check it out!") You must keep them amused so they don't drift away.

You might also use a "stick" (a shill) to subtly herd the tip people into a tightly-packed bunch so that it becomes difficult for anyone to fight their way out of the tip (much easier to stay and see the interesting stuff.) Add a "draw" -- a little business, a gag, some bull -- designed to draw the tip inexorably close to the bally platform.

To entertain is not the purpose of the bally. It is to stop people so you can sell the contents of the show. The entertainment is on the inside.

THE PITCH
Now you have a "tip," and it's time to give them "the pitch," the part where you describe in glowing hyperbole the glories to be seen inside. You might want to introduce a "hook", a promise of something that is just about to happen or a feature you must not miss. Refresh the hook from time to time by referring to it or elaborating on it.

Use your authority (people are used to following the instructions of someone louder and higher than they are.) Then pitch what you've got inside, describe the excitement they'll experience, the rare opportunity to see something thrilling. Talkers became experts at painting word pictures. A good talker could at implant the idea that this experience would be "interactive" and personally involving. Use superlatives and florid language, but use it in a calculated way and refine it with practice or it will sound foolish. The bally is both practiced and improvisational. Reading the crowd and reacting to them is an art.

TURNING THE TIP and THE JAM
The turn is the point at which the sales pitch becomes a call to action. The term probably comes from turning a herd of cattle, and what human cow could resist a bargain? For that matter, who could get out of the assembled, tightly-packed tip once the crowd started moving to the ticket booth and the entrance?

This begins the 'jam' and the momentum is kept up by a 'grind.' The jam is the ratcheting up of the call to action by introducing a sense of urgency. ("Just three minutes left to buy admission at the sale price? Gosh, I hope I can get up there in time!") Of course, no one is ever too late, but they think they might be. Think of a modern-day television commercial: "Call in the next 10 minutes and we'll also include a second bottle free!"

THE BLOWOFF
After you have them inside, fairly captive, and have shown them the best you have, you have a chance to make your real money. Throughout the show, the giant has been selling huge rings, the Mule-Faced Girl and the Lizard-Skinned Man have been selling cards with their photo and bio, etc. Now it's time for a final "surprise" sales pitch. After you've delivered all you promised, the star attraction or the inside talker would always give the people a chance to see something really special -- for an extra charge.

Perhaps the additional attraction would be the chance to come up on stage and look down into the Blade Box, perhaps it would be the chance to see a part of the tattooed lady's anatomy that might not be appropriate for the whole family. Or the talker could suddenly slow the rapid-fire parade of claims to draw attention by contrast of pace � tell a story, and aim the appeal seemingly straight at the emotions.

...which is usually the best connection to the wallet.

Bossing Around Your Ideas

noreply@blogger.com (Don The Idea Guy) — Mon, 11 May 2009 10:56:58 PDT

Here's some advice from bnet.com on how you can get The Boss to get behind your ideas.

Summary of their three-pronged plan for success...

1. Present multiple concepts in a fashion that makes the person in charge feel that the ideas originated (or were at least inspired) by them.

2. Allow The Boss time to peruse the options and choose the variation that most appeals to them.

3. Make them feel the selected option was sparked by their brilliance in some past (and perhaps mythical) conversation.

Let me add my own final point to bnet's plan...
4. Update your resume and find a job where The Boss isn't an ego maniac who makes decisions based on puffing themselves up instead of on the merit of the idea and what it will mean to the success of the company.

Why not try my 5-part approach instead?
1. Meet with The Boss to discuss the project for which you'd like to contribute an idea.

2. Come to a mutual agreement on the challenge itself (a problem well-stated is half-solved.) There's no use spending time creating a proposal to increase the spending of existing clients if The Boss believes the problem is failure to convert prospects into new business. You need to both agree that the real solution is to increase sales.

3. Ask questions of The Boss so that you can incorporate the answers into your solution. If you ask "what's the one thing that can't be missing from a proposed solution?" and The Boss answers "it's got to show weekly measurements to gauge success" -- you darn well better incorporate those sorts of analytics into your concept.

4. Now go away for at least 24-48 hours before presenting your solution to The Boss. It doesn't matter if you didn't learn anything new in your conversation and your proposal is dead-on point right out of the box. You want The Boss to feel you've considered their feedback and included their perspective into your concept. Plus, I can just about guarantee that as your brain processes the conversation you're going to come up with some improvements to your idea no matter how much you love it in its current form.

5. Present the idea to The Boss by reviewing your original conversation in order to bring them right back to the same page you were both on at the conclusion of your original meeting. Remind The Boss of both your original perceptions of the problem and the resulting agreed-upon problem statement. Be sure to hit each bullet-point of the 3 or 4 things you both agreed had to be in a proposed solution. Why? Two reasons -- one, The Boss is working on a dozen other projects right now and probably hasn't been dedicating the time you have to this single problem. And two, The Boss has had time to process your original conversation as well. It's quite possible that between your first meeting and this one, that The Boss has changed the scope of the challenge on which you're working. You may have come into this meeting with a brilliant plan to get current clients to spend more or to increase the closing ration of new business, but now The Boss might feel the problem revolves around the pricing of the product or service. You need to make sure you're both on the same page and that the specs of the problem have not changed since you last spoke. If you're both still on the same page, present your idea and seek approval to put it into action.

Now, here's the REAL secret behind my process:
It works for selling ideas to ANY person -- not just The Boss.

Famous Inventions from A to Z

noreply@blogger.com (Don The Idea Guy) — Sat, 11 Apr 2009 10:10:51 PDT

Did you know the first patent for glue was issued in England for an adhesive made from fish, or that the first television remote was patented by Zenith in 1950 and was called the "Lazy Bones?"

If not, you are sorely in need of a visit to About.com's alphabetical list of famous inventions!

Scott McCloud: Understanding Comics

noreply@blogger.com (Don The Idea Guy) — Fri, 27 Mar 2009 07:27:29 PDT

On the surface he's talking about comics, but he's really talking about understanding innovation.

Learn from Everyone
Follow No One
Watch for Patterns
Work like Hell

Sounds like a plan.

Make a Point. Make an Impact.

noreply@blogger.com (Don The Idea Guy) — Tue, 24 Mar 2009 11:08:51 PDT

The short video below makes a helluva impact in a creative and
powerful way. See what you think...

100-Whats Book - Now Available!

noreply@blogger.com (Don The Idea Guy) — Fri, 06 Mar 2009 11:21:58 PST

My book "100-WHATS of CREATIVITY: One Hundred What-If Questions to Spark Your Creativity, Unmuck Your Mind, and Break Through Your Mental Blocks" is now available through Amazon.com!

For a limited time, you can buy it through my on-demand storefront and save 30% off the cover price of $12.95. Just visit the link below and use the discount code: 7CTTGLG8 --

https://www.createspace.com/3374646

Seeking '100-Whats' Preview Feedback

noreply@blogger.com (Don The Idea Guy) — Thu, 26 Feb 2009 10:41:36 PST

I'm finally ready to launch a newly revised and updated paperback edition of '100-Whats of Creativity' and would appreciate your feedback on the concept, content, and cost.

I've recently discovered the on-demand publishing site CreateSpace.com and plan to use it as the publishing vehicle, which will make the book available for the first time ever on Amazon.com!

CreateSpace also has a pretty cool preview tool, which makes contributing your feedback a snap using their online form. You get to download the table of contents and a few free pages, and then I hope you'll take a couple seconds to provide a some quick answers to five short questions.

Here's the link -- http://tinyurl.com/dnder2 -- and thanks for your help!

Kibbles and Hits

noreply@blogger.com (Don The Idea Guy) — Tue, 24 Feb 2009 04:44:31 PST

Most folks are familiar with HungerSite.com and their linked cousins. You visit hungersite.com each day and a small donation is made to feed the hungry. Click on one of HungerSite's category tabs along the top, and you can make additional daily donations toward Breast Cancer Research, Children's Health, Literacy, Rainforest, and Animal Rescue.

Fewer of you are familiar with FreeRice.com, another site that asks you to visit daily to donate rice to help feed the hungry. One of the things I like about FreeRice.com is the fact they make a game out of it. You test your vocabulary by choosing the correct definition from a series of words. For every word you correctly define, a donation of 10 grains of rice is given to the UN World Food Program. Your 'winnings' are tracked in a clever graphic on the webpage that displays how many grains of rice you've contributed. It's a tough game to stop, because you're doing some good with every flex of your mental muscles.

Today I became aware of another site that helps provide food for animals in shelters. Take one part Animal Rescue page from HungerSite.com and stir in a liberal amount of FreeRice.com and you get FreeKibble.com. Like FreeRice.com, this site asks you a daily trivia question and rewards your participation (right or wrong) by donating ten pieces of kibble to help feed hungry dogs living in shelters. Like HungerSite.com, they ask you to return daily in order to repeat the process and answer a new trivia question to win ten more pieces of petfood.

The most interesting bit of trivia about this site is that it was brought into reality by a 12 year old girl named Mimi Ausland from Bend, Oregon. The "About" page doesn't go into much detail about how Mimi put her idea into action, but it says she launched the site on April 1, 2008 and delivered her first round of kibble (240 lbs!) to the Humane Society of Central Oregon on May 14 -- enough food to feed 456 dogs for one day. As of February 3rd of 2009 she's amassed over 50 TONS of kibble through her original site FreeKibble.com, and through her more recently launch feline version FreeKibbleKat.com. The site tally reads over 83 MILLION pieces of kibble have been donated since April of 2008.

Here's a short video of news coverage sharing Mimi's story:

At some point Mimi's project captured the attention of Oregon-based pet food manufacturer Castor and Pollux, the sponsor who now supplies the pet food and delivers it to more than ten shelters in the state (with plans to expand.)

I've said on more than one occasion that there are no "new" ideas -- only creative combinations of existing concepts. FreeKibble.com is a perfect example of that statement.

This is an innovative new combination of ideas from a brilliant young mind. Mimi's concept is making a difference in the world everyday.

How did YOUR ideas improve the world today?

Killing The Group, Long Live The List!

noreply@blogger.com (Don The Idea Guy) — Wed, 18 Feb 2009 04:22:39 PST

I'm going to be eliminating the current Yahoo Group sometime within the next 5-10 days.
If you're a member of that Group, your email address has been automatically imported into my new private email list. As with all previous messages, you'll have the opportunity to opt-out from any email sent to the list at anytime.

Frankly, I made this decision based on Facebook's new content policy. I need to ensure that I retain full rights to distribute and control access to the content I worked hard to create. A lot of the content that I have posted in that members-only group holds tremendous value to me, and I wouldn't want Yahoo to flex it's corporate policy and try to claim some sort of infinite permission to post and provide access, as it seems the folks at Facebook are want to do.

If you've been a member of my Yahoo Group for any length of time, you already know I rarely use it to send messages -- preferring to keep info posted on my blog instead. You'll soon see me adopting a more regulated email schedule and providing some exclusive content to list members only. Some things in store for list members:

Free mini-brainstorms in each edition on topics YOU choose
Reduce fees for consulting services
Reviews for media that sparks ideas
First-access to new content
An occasional bit freebie loot given to list members

If you're a member of the Yahoo Group, you're already a member of this new list. If you've not signed-up for the old group, I hope you'll consider subscribing to this new list. I promise not to abuse your time or attention.

Please sign-up today!

PS: If you're a member of that Yahoo Group, I'd advise downloading and saving anything you want from the "free" files section of the site. I plan on shutting down that group and its content as time permits, and probably won't provide any additional warning.

100 Best? Business Books of All Time

noreply@blogger.com (Don The Idea Guy) — Mon, 16 Feb 2009 04:28:58 PST

I just purchased Jack Covert and Todd Sattersten's "The 100 Best Business Books of All Time" over the weekend. I was suprised by how many of the books I'd read, by how many I hadn't read, and by how many I'd bought and then put on a shelf without reading.

I also noticed some books that I felt were missing from this august list, and few that seemed out of place for being included.

If YOU were going to edit the list, which books would you add -- and which books would you remove in order to make room for your choices?

You can find the complete list on www.100bestbiz.com, or you can buy a copy on Amazon.

For all my unemployed peeps...

noreply@blogger.com (Don The Idea Guy) — Sat, 31 Jan 2009 10:01:59 PST

Inspiration struck and I setup a new store on CafePress.com with a shirt design honoring those who weren't allowed to make the Mix 97.1 to 97.1 The Fan transition.

Good-bye my beeyotches...
I'm gonna miss you guys!

Click here for a larger image of the imprint.

$5 Brainstorms on Hiatus

noreply@blogger.com (Don The Idea Guy) — Fri, 23 Jan 2009 04:02:58 PST

The Five Buck Brainstorm project was a success -- and by "success" I mean I got my butt kicked with requests!

FiveBuckBrainstorms.com still has a few sample bstorms that can be downloaded for free, but the site is no longer accepting orders for new brainstorms until I can complete all the pending requests already in queue.

Watch for a new and improved version of Five Buck Brainstorms to be rolled out within the next 30-days or so.

If you have an immediate need for idea generation, I invite you to avail yourself of the beanstorming services I offer through my Idea Barista website.

THE Best Middle Name Ever

noreply@blogger.com (Don The Idea Guy) — Tue, 20 Jan 2009 04:57:05 PST

How could Don THE Idea Guy not agree with the latest post from Seth Godin (Godin The Guru)?

"When your middle name is 'The', it means you're it. The only one. The one that defines the category. I think that focus is a choice, and that the result of appropriate focus is you earn the middle name."

Read the rest on Seth's blog at SethGodin.com.

Inventions of the Year

noreply@blogger.com (Don The Idea Guy) — Fri, 19 Dec 2008 13:28:17 PST

Time has announced their 50 favorite inventions of 2008. I must say I definitely have a few favorites among them, but there are few that came in out of left field.

Click here for the article.

They also published a list of 50 favorite websites of the year.

Picky Pricing

noreply@blogger.com (Don The Idea Guy) — Tue, 09 Dec 2008 05:54:19 PST

Apparently there's a website (PickyDomains.com) out there that will create a list of available domain names for your personal or business website for a fee of $50.

Perhaps someone should tell them about FiveBuckBrainstorms.com?

Don't Hate the Audio Playa, Hate the Game

noreply@blogger.com (Don The Idea Guy) — Mon, 08 Dec 2008 05:49:53 PST

I just installed the del.icio.us playtagger on this blog and it's pretty cool. It's a single line of code that turns any link to an mp3 file on the page into streaming audio. You simply click the tiny blue "play" button next to the file link and (after a brief buffer period) will begin to play. If you click the file link itself, you can still grab the actual file for download.

Here are a couple audio files to test the feature (...and they have some valuable content to boot!)

Turning Business Ideas into Realities - BusinessWeek Smart Answers
Turn your innovative ideas into practiceInnovation (and the ability to act quickly on new ideas) is a big edge small companies have over larger competitors. Serial entrepreneur Nancy Jarecki talks about how to nurture creativity and make practical decisions about innovative business concepts.

You Can Have Too Many Great Ideas - BusinessWeek Smart Answers
Focus on what your company is best at. Entrepreneurs are great idea people, but some small companies pursue so many trends, products, and strategies that they lose focus on their core competency, says Andrew Graham, head of Kepner-Tregoe, a consulting and training services firm in Princeton, NJ.

Interview with Dave Balter - Personal Brilliance Podcasts
Dave Balter is the CEO of BzzAgent, a community of over 400,000 bringing consumers and markets together to organize and track honest word of mouth. BzzAgent has worked on almost 450 word of mouth campaigns in the past five years. Dave is also co-founder of WOMMA, the Word-of Mouth Marketing Association.

Interview with Chris Brogan - Personal Brilliance Podcasts
Chris Brogan tops of the list of advisors on Social Media best practices. It's all about authentic conversations between co-workers, customers, and even competitors. Brogan is cofounder of the PodCamp UnConference series exploring the use of new media community tools to extend relationships and build value. Find Chris' blog, articles, and more at http://www.chrisbrogan.com/.