My response to stories like this is typical: “How could they have even thought that?” But now having been through a creative process myself – of creating something and then attempting to build a brand around it – I have seen firsthand just how difficult many creative decisions are. First you have to come up with the ideas, and then you have to mix them up in just the right measure. In hindsight the answers are usually obvious, but when you’re actually creating it, it’s nowhere near as easy as it seems.

Just consider this… aside from Stallone, 1000 other actors were considered for the Han Solo role. And this is just ONE element in a massive creative project.

The way I see it, great brands are like great movies and great recipes – the magic happens when you get all the ingredients just right. Have you ever watched a movie where you thought, this has got potential, but something’s just not quite right? Sometimes it’s obvious, other times you can’t put your finger on it. But regardless, it throws everything out of kilter. Even if it’s only slight, it can be enough to spoil the broth. In such cases I find myself wondering how the director didn’t notice this. The thing is, they probably did notice - but didn’t know how to fix it. Such is the complexity of creativity.

So for those of you in the director’s chair, do you suspect your brand is a little out of kilter? Is something “not quite right”? If so, I know exactly how you feel! Personally, I think this can be a long process that evolves over time. Here’s a few techniques that work for me:

* Firstly, pay attention to what feels right. If it doesn’t feel quite right, it probably isn’t! When cooking we do a taste test – so when creating your product, service or brand, use whatever senses you have available to you. Look for harmony.

* Relax. I know this sounds very new agey, but there’s a good reason to chill out. The more tense you are, the further your brain is from your creative hub. When you’re searching for answers, your brain will function SO much better when you’re in a relaxed state – so put on some music, light the candles and adopt your yoga pose! At the very least, de-stress and get yourself in an easy mood.

* Stop thinking. Stop using your logical mind – just shut up already! Using your logical mind for the entire creative process is like driving across country in first gear … all the way. It really is. You need to tap into that vast amazing resource in the back of your mind, that’s where the power is, and to do this you must relax and calm your mind. This is probably one of the most productive techniques that I’ve learnt and used to date.

* Regain context. When you’ve got a persistent problem that doesn’t want to be solved, take your fixation away from the specific problem and re-focus on the big picture. This can turn confusion into clarity, sometimes instantly. It’s the old “can’t see the forest for the trees” adage. I was about three-quarters of the way through creating my game when this dawned on me, and just using this one technique sped the process up considerably from that point.

* Use creative questions. Although this sounds lame, it’s actually highly effective. Reframe your question from, “Why can’t I find the answer to this *!@#$%^ problem?” to “How can I…?” or “What’s the best way to…?” … this approach will actually trigger your brain to be on the alert for solutions (as opposed to commanding it not to find the answer).

* Dig. Sometimes we don’t ask questions because we’re afraid of the answers. Big mistake. Be brave and keep asking questions – what, when, where, how and why – to peel back the layers.

* Chip. Your aim is to get to your sculpture in your block of ice, so keep chipping away at the bits that don’t need to be there.

* Trust your own judgment. Ask for feedback from a variety of sources, and listen, but at the end of the day, go with what feels right for you.

Today when I see a brand that has really got it together, meaning their message and their look is so simple that you can digest it in one bite - and it tastes terrific - I really respect them because I now know what has gone into creating that simplicity.

In a brave move, the Russian vodka Pravda capitalised on its name, which means “truth” in Russian, and went with a “market research” campaign to build brand awareness on its recent entry to the US market.

Amy Corr from Media Creativity tells all in her post Vodka Drinkers Tell Truth About Taste:

Philadelphia residents gave their unadulterated opinions on the taste of various vodka brands — especially Pravda, the luxury vodka named for the Russian word for “truth.”

With the brand now available in the United States, Pravda focused on the city of Brotherly Love in an effort to gauge drinkers’ opinions on the vodka’s taste compared to brands currently on the market.

Pravda organized taste tests from April through July at a number of bars, targeting 25- to 45-year olds.

After blind-tasting Pravda vodka along with an assortment of other brands, participants were given business cards with the URL www.tastethetruth.com and a phone number to call and let loose on their experience. A drunk dialer that’s actually welcomed.

Users anonymously left voicemails for Pravda, revealing their honest opinion of the brand. These messages, whether they were good, bad, or downright inarticulate, were converted into mp3 files and posted online for the world to listen.

What do you think? Is this a clever marketing move in the age of transparency? Would you put your brand up for a public taste test and display the results for all the world to see?

For small business owners who are just starting out, or just getting online, the only real decision left to make is, what service do I use?

The team over at BigResponse.com.au believe that email marketing is the most affordable and best-performing type of marketing available. They offer email marketing solutions to Australian small businesses and would like Aussie business owners to choose them, so they contacted us for a sponsored review.

Big Response cofounder Mitchell Harper says they wanted to create an affordable, easy-to-use email marketing service that any Australian small business could use.

I qualify to test-drive this service for two reasons. Firstly I’m an Aussie, and secondly, considering that I can read maps more easily than I can read websites, I figure if I can find my way easily around a site (and get the task done without swearing too much), then anyone can.

So let’s take a look at how they stacked up in terms of affordability and ease of use.

Test #1: Is It Really Easy To Use?

Site navigation: To me presentation matters, so I personally love the fresh, neat look of the site, and never got disoriented once! There was an easy to find (and clear) answer to the first question I had – what exactly is Big Response? After which I was prompted to “take a tour” to see Big Response in action. How could I resist?

The tour was a clear and simple overview of the control panel which you use to create, send and track your email campaigns. Even I understood it.

Email Design Templates: Once the design template you’ve chosen is loaded, creating your email message is very similar to using Microsoft Word and includes a lot of the same functionality, such as text formatting, adding images, lists and links. If you can use Word then you can use Big Response to create email messages.

Having to navigate Wordpress on this blog, I personally can see the value in this!

Comparative User-friendliness: For an objective evaluation, I decided to compare the Big Response site with a number of other Australian email solutions providers for user-friendliness, and they rated very highly. In fact, Big Response was one of the easiest to navigate.

Verdict: I hereby certify this site as easy to use, and as such award them an A+ in the user-friendly category. I think this is especially great news for newcomers.

Helpful Features

* Free 30-day trial: I’m getting very tired of feeling “trapped” on websites, so I really liked that no credit card is required to sign up for their free trial. Only minimal information was required to get started, and I was instantly transported to the control panel. The free trial account is fully functional and you’ll be able to send up to 100 emails during the trial period.

* Email marketing tips are offered as you navigate your way around the control panel. Nice touch.

* Learning Centre: One of my biggest frustrations when searching websites is not getting enough information about what their service really is; the full picture so to speak. So I was particularly impressed with the Big Response Learning Centre.

I like that they’ve taken the time to clearly outline exactly what email marketing is and the benefits that businesses can gain from it. And this section is very thoughtfully highlighted right on the home page. Excellent for those who are new to business or a bit unsure about what email marketing entails.

* Pricing: I’m not sure what got me more excited, the Learning Centre or the fact they have pricing on their site! I’m often amazed at how rare it is to find a price on a website – especially a service-based site, but here it was clearly labelled. To me this says: We have a straight-forward system … we’re uncomplicated and just want to make things easy for you … here’s what we have to offer and here’s what it will cost you. And frankly I like that.

“Big Response operates on a very simple monthly pricing structure, based on the number of emails you send. See the chart below for exact pricing. If you have any questions please give us a call on 1300 662 182. We’re always here to help.”

Love it!

All the Features included in their package are clearly outlined and their offer is structured very simply (which wins brownie points with me):

• The ability to collect an unlimited number of subscribers.
• Unlimited free phone and email support from our expert team.
• No contracts, hosting fees, setup costs or termination fees.
• Month-by-month payments. You can cancel at any time.

Test #2: Affordability

So do they stack up on affordability? In a nutshell, yes. Although it was difficult to compare apples with apples, and many email solutions providers don’t tell you their fees up front. But of the ones I could find, when you compare what’s included in the price, and then factor in Big Response’s added benefits such as no contracts, no hosting fees, no setup costs or termination fees, their offer is very attractive.

Areas for Improvement

* Convince me: I would like to have been told what the benefits were for choosing their service over another email marketing solutions provider.

* Ready-made email design templates (which can be customised to include your colours and logo) appears to be a fairly standard offer. They have a reasonable range, most of which have a very corporate look to them, and also offer custom-designed email templates. However, I thought the pickings were slim and would like to have seen a few more ready-made designs on offer.

* From what I understand, Big Response only offer email campaigns at this time. Some providers also offer SMS marketing solutions, and I imagine this would be very handy for some businesses.

In all, I think Big Response stand up to their brand promise of being an affordable system that “any Australian small business could use”. You can have an email campaign up and running with minimal outlay, minimal fuss, and in record time.

How often do we do things in business just because someone told us we should? Just because we believe, often with blind faith, that it will help take us to the promised land? Too often in my opinion.

Lately I’ve been thinking about how we’re bombarded with directions – should do’s and must do’s – in all areas of our life, but perhaps especially in business. And of course, if you’re doing what you should be, you’re probably reading and listening to a bucket load of information about how to conduct and grow your business. I mean let’s face it, every man and his dog is telling you what you should do…

Become a blogger, be the expert, do speaking engagements, follow-up, cold call, network, stand on your head and chant “I love the customer” 50 times a day, (okay, I made that one up), and on and on ad nauseam.

Now, while it’s great to listen and learn (especially from people who’ve done it), should we take it all as gospel? Do we just follow blindly? And if not, how do we determine which bits to ignore? And what if something we’re instructed to do doesn’t sort of “fit right” – do we still do it anyway, because we’re told we should? In other words: Does OUR success lie up the path that someone else has laid? I honestly believe the answer to that is yes and no.

I think there are certain fundamentals that we need to adhere to in order to succeed, but in my opinion there’s a lot to be said for tailor-making your journey to success. So as far as I’m concerned, they can take their should and shove it!

Here’s how I now approach it:

Use the “Do I Really Want To?” Yardstick

The next time you’re being instructed and prodded to perform a must-do activity (guaranteed to take your business to dizzying heights) ask yourself: Do I really want to do this? Is this in line with who I am and how I want to function? Backing away from something out of fear is one thing, but doing it just because you think you must do it in order to grow your business – even though you hate it – is really just following the crowd. Taking advantage of a particular vehicle is one thing, but using it just because it’s available is another.

“Life by Design” is my philosophy. I believe that establishing and running a business should be all about your own sense of fulfillment and the lifestyle you want. Otherwise, you’re better off having a job. So I suggest that before you race in every direction doing what you think you must, take some time to evaluate it on your own terms.

My point: Suit yourself. Break the rules (or re-design them) when the existing ones don’t “fit right” for you. Look for other alternatives. The upside of this is that, while the hoards are all imitating each other, you’ll find avenues, tactics and opportunities that are more congruent with who you are. Plus, the space probably won’t be as crowded!

Kites rise highest against the wind - not with it.
~ Winston Churchill

Know Why You’re Running

In the army reserve I learnt that I could run faster and further while running with the other soldiers than I could on my own. This is actually a known phenomenon (although I don’t know its name), because the participants spur each other on. I believe the same is true in business.

However, it’s important to be able to separate yourself from the pack – to know why you’re running from A to B in the first place. Are you running just because the pack is and you’re not sure what else to do? (And are you running in a certain direction just because the pack is?) Or are you running for a reason and a purpose that’s all your own? In my humble opinion, this is the key to fulfillment.

My point: Use the pack to your advantage. Feed off the energy that your field of competitors creates, but don’t see yourself as part of ONE entity.

Find Your Own Unique Place in the Field

They say answers are for those who seek, and that things come to us when we’re ready for them. Last week I watched a brilliant film which had the answer to something I was searching to understand. Don’t you just love those light bulb moments? Pure magic.

The film, directed by Robert Redford, was called The Legend of Bagger Vance. If you haven’t seen it then I say, you should and you must! In all seriousness, apart from being entertaining, there’s some terrific messages in this film. It’s perfect for anyone who is, or wants to be, an entrepreneur. (And the humour’s not too shabby either.)

My point: Geez… you want everything laid out on a silver platter don’t you! Watch the film and you’ll find out…

That old woman was very wise. If you heed her words you’ll realise there ain’t many things you have to do. Be defiant. Be original. Do you.

And have fun!
Danielle

Although much is done online these days, if you have a physical product to sell, I highly recommend the weekend markets as the ultimate platform for testing how your rubber hits the road – how well you know your product and your market, how you engage with it, what the demand is, and how people respond to your stuff. This is particularly useful if you’re just starting out.

Markets can vary greatly, so I tested a few different ones until I found the one that was the best fit for my products and me personally.

Now before you turn your nose up, consider this: The majority of people who go to markets are already in “buying mode”. They’re cashed up and looking to offload it. It was an eye-opener for me just how much money is out there! Many stallholders at markets (around Australia) make a very handsome living. In fact, quite a few of them have become millionaires courtesy of their market stall.

When I first set up stall, I had no idea what I was doing. No idea what market to sell at, how to present my stall, or how to sell. So for me, there was no downside – all I could do was learn!

Here’s some of the amazing benefits I found hidden at the weekend markets.

Low cost: The upfront costs to set up your stall are minimal (and nil if you already have a table and tablecloth!), and most markets will allow a week-to-week arrangement for booking and stall fees. Doesn’t get much better than that.

Market research: Oddly enough, markets are an excellent place for market research! One of the most challenging things when you’re starting out with a new product or concept is not knowing exactly how it will be received in the market. Market research is a guide, but in my opinion there is only so much faith you should put in it because it is not a “live” environment. Markets are.

The markets enabled me to observe how people truly perceive, respond to and engage with my merchandise and my concept. It’s impossible to convey how valuable this is.

Create brand awareness: Thousands of people will walk past your stall in a day. And many of those will come back week after week. Some will come back and buy, some will pass on information or a story to friends.

Learn sales skills: The markets are a fantastic training ground for selling skills. Not only will you learn through your own experiences and observations, but most stallholders are only too willing to teach you the tricks of the trade. I found them to be amongst the warmest, kindest, and friendliest bunch of people I’ve ever met.

Personally, I detest “selling”, but soon learnt it’s a vital skill in business - funnily enough! If it’s something you struggle with too, then you’ll need to work at it, simple as that. Check out Daniel Sitter’s blog, Idea Sellers for some great sales tips.

Build your database: I asked all my customers and even people I just had a conversation with if they would like to be advised of upcoming events, and many of them said yes.Some stallholders use the time at the markets specifically to connect with people and build their database. They know in advance they will sell very little in a day, if anything, but they will come away with a list of leads that they can then start building a relationship with.

This is particularly useful for people who sell services. You can sell other people’s merchandise (or develop your own line!) and “sell” your services on the side.

Networking: Forget paying for networking functions, you’ll meet a stunning array of people from near and far, and many of them want to chat and exchange business cards. Locals, tourists, buyers, business owners, and other stallholders with a seemingly never-ending source of contacts. I spoke to people all day long, and every so often I would ask my neighbour to watch my stall while I went off for a quick bit of socialising with the other stallholders. I never ceased to be fascinated with the information I encountered. Plus, it was fun!

Piggyback on other stallholder’s traffic: Find a busy stall and ask to be situated near it. Food stalls are great for this because they always attract crowds who then happen to notice you en route. After finding the market I liked best, I then trialled a few different stall locations and chose a spot beside a woman selling “laughing witches”. These little witch-like dolls that cackle with the recorded “laugh” of the kookaburra are hugely popular. Their sound and entertainment value drew crowds all day long and they sold like hotcakes (in fact, she now exports them around the world). It’s nice to be situated amidst all that traffic.
(And no annoying SEO concerns here!)

Presentation, Presentation, Presentation: Presentation is to retail what Location is to real estate.

Not having a clue, I started with a plain old sheet draped over the table and just laid my stuff out. After graduating to a fancy cover made from a lovely material (courtesy of my darling mother) and building attractive displays, I noticed a vast difference in the way people perceived and responded to my stuff. I can’t tell you how much of a difference this made to their initial reaction and their willingness to engage. And people aren’t consciously aware of it – I would observe them closely, and their reaction takes place in a split second.

Personally, I think the degree of importance on the quality of your presentation depends on what you’re selling, but in most cases it plays a very significant role; whether your customers are consciously aware of it or not.

Weird and Wonderful is welcome: The markets are a vibrant, exciting and interesting place. A weird and wonderful world where whacky ideas are welcome.

Given that I come from a corporate background, oddly enough I felt right at home at the weekend markets. Most of the market stallholders are people who have escaped the corporate treadmill, or refused to ever get on it.

My experience of the corporate world was that people are accepted into “the fold” in direct proportion with their ability to conform to it. Outlandish ideas and individualism are usually met with stern disapproval. The “market folk” stand in stark contrast to this. They welcomed me with open arms because I was different. Because I was original. And because I dared to stand out from the crowd. When you’re out there on a limb this is a really welcome warm and fuzzy.

When you think about it, how many other platforms offer all these benefits for forty bucks a day or less?

Got a product you would like to develop a business around? Then I suggest you get yourself to a weekend market.

Website Grader contacted us here at Small Business Branding and asked us to review their website (by the way - did you know you can get your site reviewed on our blog by purchasing a paid review?). Website Grader offer a new software tool that measures the online marketing effectiveness of a website. It assigns a numerical score, or “grade”, ranging from 0-99 (apparently 100 isn’t possible) to a given website. The score is based on a variety of data points about the website including the structure, popularity, traffic, search engine optimisation, marketing features and a host of other factors.

The grade itself is calculated as a percentile score. So, if a given site gets a score of 60, this means it’s more effective than 60% of the other sites that have been graded. And therefore, the more sites that have been graded, the more meaningful the results. During their 3 months of operation, so far they’ve processed and graded over 35,000 unique URLs.

I took it for a test drive on Small Business Branding, so let’s have a look at the process and results.

Grading Your Site

Considering that I’m an internet ignoramus, I found Website Grader extremely easy to use and understand. And there’s great news for those who like instant gratification – it’s also very fast.

When you arrive on their home page there are two simple steps to complete. Firstly, all you do is key in some basic data about your site – in all there are four simple fields to complete (and one is optional). Then just click the “Generate Report” at the bottom of the page. Done.

The report generates in less than a minute and appears on the screen. Along with your “effectiveness” rating, you’ll also see a range of data and stats about your site, including the usual suspects such as page rank, inbound links and so on. But what you also get is an analysis of how some of the data is interpreted, and other interesting measurements such as your site’s readability level.

In all it takes about 2-3 minutes to get a comprehensive “report card” on exactly how your site measures up.

Spy on Your Competitors

A really neat component is that you also have the option of entering your competitors’ websites and the software provides data about these sites which you can then compare against your own.

However, the number of competing URLs that can be processed is limited and is based on the number of keywords. (The limitation is actually imposed by Google whereby Website Grader can’t “hit” their server more than a certain number of times to get the data needed). Usually, entering 1-2 competing websites is the norm. I actually tried 4 (along with three key words) and it worked just fine – but 5 was one too many!

Suggestions for Improvement

Another great feature is that the software also attempts to measure both the ability for a website to attract traffic and the ability to convert that traffic into qualified leads and prospects. So your report will analyse your data and make suggestions for improvement. For instance, the following suggestion was made for the Small Business Branding site:

High Number Of Meta Keywords

There are a high number of keywords in the meta-data of the web page.
We believe that though the search engines don’t weigh keywords as heavily as they used to, they’re still important to get right. By using a high number of keywords, it is possible that you are diluting the effect of your most important keywords. We would suggest keeping the keywords to 10 or less. Currently, this site has 19 keywords in the meta-data.

Not Yet Perfect

This software is still in the beta stage of development and it appears there may still be the odd bug because, interestingly, we were advised that an RSS Feed was not discovered. The report suggests that “though it is possible this site has RSS elsewhere on the site, it is best to make the feed discoverable on the home page itself.” Our RSS Feed is actually on the home page.

Knowledge Is Power

Website Grader is currently a free service, and those who subscribe are offered easy access to extended features of the software; but these are not as yet disclosed. If you think this is a pretty cool tool, you can find out more and stay up to date with their progress through their blog.

Overall I found it a really easy tool that provides detailed and valuable information about what you’re doing right and areas that may need some attention.

The team is keen to keep improving their software and welcome any feedback you may have, both positive or negative. So jump on, have a go and let them know what you think.

But before you race off, would you like to know how Small Business Branding stacked up overall? We were awarded 93. How cool is that?!
I think it warrants a gold star myself!!

Now that I’ve cheered you up, let’s consider why finding that “point of difference” is so difficult for many small business owners, and what steps we can take to point us in the right direction.

I’m inquisitive and like to investigate, so the question I asked myself was: why do so many businesses mirror each other? Here’s what I think:

Because we spend our whole lives being rewarded for being just like everyone else.

In other words, conformity is in. In fact, we’re spoon-fed it every day of our lives. From our school years right through to our professional and social lives, we are taught to “fit in”. So is it any wonder when Joe Average steps into the land of brand ownership that he just falls into line with the crowd? Why would he suddenly want to be different? When you really think about it, how uncomfortable would that feel? The answer is, very.

In my experience, the currency of conformity is Acceptance, by that very important crowd – the status quo. Individuals who rebel (those misfits who do things differently, and particularly those who think differently) are frequently punished; usually by being ostracized. Anyone know what I’m talking about?

But hey, look on the bright side – once upon a time they chopped people’s heads off for being a dissenter, so if you were a misfit and the only thing you copped was being ostracized then consider yourself lucky. In all seriousness, the fundamental thinking behind this mindset hasn’t changed in our sophisticated modern age – only the degrees of punishment have.

So we have ourselves a paradox. While our modern world of commerce clearly operates on a natural law of differentiation for survival, our social order still operates from an almost opposite set of principles. Just consider the use of the words in the two realms:

In the business world “differentiation” is divine. The word is used in a highly positive context. “Unique” is in.

Meanwhile, back in society, when someone is referred to as “different”, it has a negative connotation. As much as we hate to admit it, “Conformity” is in.

The Natural Effect of a Conformity Mindset

In his free e-book, Differentiate or Diminish: The Art and Necessity of Business Positioning, SBB contributor Kevin Levi tells us that, “many companies today fall into the trap of utilizing overused or meaningless words to describe what they do”. Warning that this doesn’t work, he offers a list of “trite” words to avoid.

So why do we naturally gravitate toward trite words? Because they’re familiar; they feel safe and comfortable.

It’s difficult for many brand owners to differentiate because unless they’re comfortable and experienced with being a misfit, or standing out from the crowd, it first requires a shift in their thinking pattern.

If any of this is ringing true for you, and you’re a bit stuck on how to go about “differentiating” yourself, here’s my tip:

First Things First

Get uncomfortable.

They say all change starts from within. For things to change, first I must change.

If you’re stumped about how to differentiate your brand, then perhaps start by taking a look at your own personal patterns. Are there any areas in your life where you’ve just blended with the crowd? Take an honest look. In what areas might you be living in Status Quo City? Sure, relocating to Individual Island may be difficult at first, but you’re bound to fall in love with your new outlook.

I believe that when you dig deep and find your own uniqueness, the road to differentiating your brand will be paved for you. All you have to do then is walk it. It may not be easy, but it is simple.

And let’s face it, if the marketing gurus are right (and we know they are), then it’s either get uncomfortable or get used to being a wallflower. No pain, no gain.

Perhaps there are a number of ways for identifying a brand’s essence. And perhaps the right approach depends on how the brand came to be in the first place. Some are no doubt created, think-tank style, while others are discovered, or uncovered. This post is about how I discovered mine. If you’re currently searching for yours, then come with me, and we may just track it down.

In my experience, creating a brand is an intricate and complex journey, and the essence of mine - that core identity at the heart - has eluded me for a long time. I had a general idea of course because I created the concept, but for the most part, no matter how hard I searched, I couldn’t seem to locate my concept’s essence. While I wished that someone else would solve the problem for me, somehow I knew that only I could answer it.

After two years I gave up thinking about it, which is of course exactly when the answers start appearing. (And just in time as I’m now preparing to have my game produced in a retail format.)

In my search I had always believed that “it” was somewhere “out there”. Recently I was struck with a revelation, and am now delighted to announce that I have since found “it”! They say things come in threes, and turns out that’s exactly how the answers showed up for me.

Curious? Well, here’s the process as it happened.

A few months ago I left a comment on one of Ed Roach’s posts, and he very kindly referred me to a white paper written by Marcia Hoeck; highly enlightening in all, but three sentences in particular jumped out at me:

Think about the value of being “yourself”.
It’s the best way to focus your brand strategy.
It makes sense to look inward for the basis of your organizations’s brand.

Unsure of exactly why, I printed these out and put them up on my wall.

A month or two later I happened to read a quote that started with, “Your vision will become clear only when you look into your heart…”. There was more but I never finished reading it. Those words stood out and I felt compelled to write them down. For reasons unknown at the time, I put the note on my dresser. In passing I read it every so often, and some weeks later the penny dropped (it’s takes a while sometimes!). Suddenly I realised that the key to my brand’s essence is not out there at all; it’s in here, in me. Here I was thinking it was “all about my customers” and therefore separate from me. I was trying to find the essence of my brand in other people. Nice aha moment.

The only job left to do was to look inside and find it. Simple enough, but daunting. Feeling the need for unfamiliar surroundings (this is one of the best techniques I know of when you want a shift in your thinking), I drove out to the beach, found a quiet park and felt drawn to a spot - which happened to be right in the middle of three trees. I started writing and let it flow. No big revelations, but something told me I was getting warmer. The light started to fade, the sailboats disappeared, and I wandered back to my car. Sitting there for a long time, I watched the sun set over the bay. Don’t you just love those moments? Then it hit me. I pulled my pad out and drew three circles. Here’s what I wrote in each:

Who I Am
Who I Am Not
The Problem I Am Solving

I wrote notes under each one then linked them together in a triangle. Suddenly it was crystal clear. After two years of struggling to find the answer, finally there it was. A triangle. My three trees suddenly explained everything: The essence of my brand collides at the intersection of these three realms.

I know my brand identity will shift and develop with consumer impact, but now I know for sure the essence of the brand I’m trying to communicate. This means I now have clarity around my broader vision.

In his post, Your Brand From Your Perspective, Drew McLellan talks about the “hand on heart” promise you make to the world with your company’s vision. This newfound clarity means that I can now pledge, hand on heart, my promise to the world.

My experience may or may not be of help to you, but if you’ve been searching to identify the essence, the very heart of your brand, and you’ve been looking for the answers outside of yourself, then perhaps it’s time to find three trees and plonk yourself down.

This brilliant little book gave Rhonda Byrne, producer of The Secret, her first glimpse of “the secret”. It’s a concise little gem packed with wisdom, and if you haven’t yet had the pleasure I highly recommend it. You can get a free downloadable pdf copy from Rebecca Fine’s site, The Science of Getting Rich NETwork. Rebecca is a friendly, happy lady who teaches the principles in this book and applies this one extremely well herself by providing lots of great free stuff and a set-your-own-price for her online course, Science of Getting Rich for Practical Geniuses^TM – which is overflowing with value. Even if you’re not interested in her material, I recommend her site as a case study in “always give more in use value than you take from anyone in cash value” and in great customer service. (The two are linked but they’re not always the same thing.)

So you ask – what’s in it for me? Apart from just coming across as generous, why exactly should I do this? Glad you asked because I’ve got a scientifically based bullet-proof answer for you.

“The desire for increase is inherent in all nature; it is the fundamental impulse of the universe.”

Mr Wattles says that because of this fundamental law, “People will go where they are given increase”. This is the core reason why ‘going the extra mile’ for your customers is worth it for you. Customers not only want great experiences, they want their money’s worth. In fact, they want more. So when they feel they got more than their money’s worth they are happy little campers indeed, and they will tell everyone about it. Rebecca’s site is a perfect example of this – I’m so impressed with her I want to tell everyone. It’s a simple principle that works a treat.

The power of this principle was driven home to me recently when I encountered two incidents at opposite ends of the “value to customer” spectrum. You can have the slickest brand and a marketing message that pulls people like flies to a picnic – but if you don’t give them value, you’ll pay the price. No “increase” (i.e. added value) = no come back + no tell friends.

When you get creative, there are lots of ways to add value for your customers, many of which can be low cost such as small gifts and “surprise” extras. But here I’m going to focus on enhancing your customer service, and thus the customer’s experience as a way of adding value.

My best lessons in customer service came during my years in HR. It was a very interesting training ground because these types of internal “transactions” often have emotion around them and you need to learn to navigate and manage these for positive outcomes. This is especially true when it comes to people’s money as I found out during my time as a payroll manager. If you think you’ve got demanding customers, try paying people on a complex award structure for a living! Wow, if there’s one thing people have a lot of emotion around, it’s money. Talk about going the extra mile, my life depended on it! But in turn I was rewarded handsomely for it, in many respects. Not the least of which was valuable insight into people’s needs and behaviour patterns around customer service.

I also learnt a great deal about customer service through observing the best manager I ever had. A cheerful, generous and smart guy, Peter used to wander around saying things like, “Wouldn’t be dead for quids“. Apart from teaching me a whole lot, he was also a great inspiration. Employees lined up to see Pete, and he would greet each one like he was on holiday and they were a long lost friend. Employees bothered to take the time to come and see him because they knew they would get their problem solved and walk away feeling on top of the world. A busy HR manager is like a busy restaurant – people go where they know they’re going to get their problem solved and have a good experience.

Most often it takes just one or two small offerings to make all the difference. Very often these centre around treating your customer like a person – giving a genuine smile and having a chat (or a friendly email exchange) is enough to give your customers a memorable experience. One of the keys things I found was that it’s not necessarily what you do, it’s your genuine intent that really matters. When you demonstrate that you really care about the outcome for your customer, you’ll not only make them happy, you will earn their respect. People sense it, even if they can’t articulate it, and the same is true for the other way around. If you treat your customers like transactions – something to be executed and gotten rid of, albeit politely – they will sense it; and even if they do come back they will never become raving fans. Guaranteed.

In our highly automated world, here’s some very simple, thoughtful things you can do to ensure a great customer experience:

• The Golden Rule: Never forget that customers are people. Treat your customers like people, as opposed to transactions, and you’ll make an impact. You will also be miles ahead of your competition.
• Be friendly – Be helpful – Be genuine (whatever you do or say, mean it)
• Never skimp on nice – it doesn’t cost you anything and people know when they’re being short-changed
• Take a genuine interest in them as a person (don’t underestimate this one)
• Send follow-up emails or make calls to enquire about how they got on
• Wherever possible write personal notes
• Follow-up – if you say you’re going to do something, do it!
• Answer your emails like a person wrote them rather than an autoresponder
• Stop sounding like a marketer and start sounding like a person
• Smile and look like you’re enjoying yourself (preferably for real!); even when you’re on the phone or sending emails
• Give away ”free” stuff
• Recommend other products and services that you genuinely believe in and which may benefit your customer (you can also earn commissions this way)
• Use humour
• Go out of your way to get things to people quickly
• Keep your customers informed about where you’re at with delivering your product or service (this is especially important when it’s a project that takes time)
• Include nicely written notes in your packages – this will make your customer feel important, even if it’s a standard letter sent to everyone
• Remember that no matter how great you may think you are (and I’m sure you are!), you’re never more important than your customer

Make them feel on top of the world. They’ll rave about your business and you’ll also feel great about yourself. This is Mr Wattles’ “increase” at work. Everyone gets more – win/win. Oh, and then there’s that little issue of getting rich.

P.S. I couldn’t resist using “The Secret” in the title because isn’t everything just “the secret” these days!

It’s an intriguing dilemma, so let’s consult an expert. Swinburne University’s Professor Emeritus Murray Gillin has made a career of studying entrepreneurship. Having set up the world’s first masters degree in entrepreneurship and innovation in 1989, he has since seen many of his students become multi-millionaires.

So what’s Professor Gillin’s take on it - logic or gut instinct? The professor is convinced that successful entrepreneurs are guided by a deeper force, a level of intuition that allows them to predict future outcomes. He believes that business needs to be seen as a holistic enterprise; it’s not just about producing a product and selling it.

Professor Gillen is so convinced that intuition plays a central role that he’s embarked on a study to prove it. His research paper is titled, Before Cognition: The Active Contribution of the Heart/ANS to Intuitive Decision Making as Measured on Repeat Entrepreneurs. Won’t that be interesting.

Assessing my own journey – both my initial experiences that got me into this mess wonderful adventure, and my experiences and lessons since – I think he’s right on the money.

I’m blogging about it now because in the last few months I’ve had many lessons around trusting my own intuition, and have been reflecting on it a lot lately. My lessons have actually been occurring all the way along, I’ve only just learnt how to really make sense of them.  I realise now that had I listened to my own inner voice at the time I would have saved myself a lot of trouble, time and money. Hindsight is a wonderful thing.

As with all startups, some of the decisions I’ve had to make have been very difficult. Recently I was faced with a choice between options, and the choice my gut was voting for appeared like it would put me back at square one, so it was a tough call. But the alarm bells were so strong I couldn’t ignore them, and it was of course the right decision. It didn’t actually put me back at square one at all and I’ve since had a number of breakthroughs.

When every alarm bell in your system is going off it’s a bit of a no-brainer really, but unfortunately we’re not always hit over the head like that. If we’re not accustomed to listening to our inner voice, or our gut, then the feelings, or the “sense” can be easy to miss or ignore.

It’s vital to get to know your own “inner terrain”, and tune into RadioYOU.

Here’s some of my lessons to date that may be food for thought:

The starving entrepreneur: This is when you’re most vulnerable. When you’re eager (or desperate) for things to start working it’s so easy to get caught up in not wanting to say no to an opportunity. Deborah Morandin from Squiggly Training says it best: “Say ‘no’ to the good so you can say ‘yes’ to the best.”

When you’re really eager for a break, you must question if it truly is a good choice for you. Does your logical mind just want to grab at it because it’s the only choice currently available? Or because you feel bad about turning down an opportunity? Bear in mind that your logical mind is a control freak and often a traitor, so learn to make it serve you, not the other way around, and practice tuning out from it. Ask yourself: Am I truly happy with this choice? And, does it truly resonate with my brand and my vision? In essence: Will this choice help steer me to where I want to go? Getting the right answer requires honesty and courage.

The wrong deal/person/scenario: I say “wrong” as opposed to “bad” because not every person or scenario that is wrong for you is necessarily bad. It’s just bad for you.Most of these will sound really obvious, but it’s incredible how we will ignore our own feelings and go with what our logical mind comes up with, or what we want to believe. This can be a really destructive way to operate. At best it means we’ll take the long, expensive route to where we are going.

• If you think someone is trying to extract an unreasonable amount of money from you – more often than not they are (even if you’re not familiar with the protocols for that industry).
• If you think someone is fibbing to you, guess what – you’re right. Don’t brush over this, no matter how good the deal/offer/scenario looks – if you move ahead, you are well and truly setting yourself up for trouble.
• If you feel pressured, then BINGO, you’re being pressured. Despite a natural tendency to cave into this, this is exactly the time to back away. If they have to have an answer/money/(insert whatever) from you RIGHT NOW, then get out of there FAST.
• If someone makes you feel uncomfortable, uneasy, or any other negative emotional or physical response this is not a good sign – regardless of what your logical mind is telling you. Keep in mind that this doesn’t mean they are necessarily dishonest or bad in any way, it just means that whatever they are offering is not right for you.
• If it seems like they’re saying “all the right things” to butter you up and make you believe they are just so in tune with your vision – you can just about bet your bottom dollar that it’s all crap. The ones to trust will ask you lots of questions and won’t pretend to have their head around your concept in 10 minutes flat.

When alarm bells are going off, pay attention to them. There is no such thing as an inner false alarm. When it goes off it’s the real deal, and you better get out of that building – fast.

Idea Generation: Well, this is one topic that fascinates me. I’m currently drafting a post on this one alone, so I won’t go too much into it here. But what I will say is that in terms of generating ideas (both big and small) turning the task over to your subconscious is where it’s at. There’s no question about that, the trick is in how to do it.

Brand Identity: The further along the track I get, the more convinced I am that to create or “manifest” your brand in your vision (the one that lies within you which has no words, no form, just that sense of “knowing”) you need to start feeling it. Yep, that’s right, feeling it. I believe that to manifest your brand in its best form, you must tune in to feeling your vision. When you can really feel your vision, the answers will start coming to you.

I’m currently experimenting with this and finding it a fascinating process and experience. I’m also finding it’s not an easy thing to do. Your first hurdle will be to quiet your logical mind – which, if you haven’t noticed, never shuts up! A big mistake that new entrepreneurs are prone to making is constantly being tense, and quite often in a state of panic. That’s lethal because it shuts everything down. You’re really sending yourself up a creek without a paddle when you operate like this (and I speak from experience here!!). If you want to give this feeling thing a go, you’ll need to relax into it. And persevere – any new approach is difficult at first.

Here’s another very effective technique. Creative Questions has come up with the technique of feeding your mind creative questions framed in a positive context. Their theory is that we are always asking ourselves questions (usually in a negative context). Whether they’re positive or negative questions your brain will search for answers and respond in kind. Negative question = negative answer. So when you reframe your questions into positive ones you give yourself a fighting chance to come up with powerful answers. They have a deck of cards you can use, and you can also create your own questions.

In future, when you’re faced with a decision, be still. Tune in and learn to listen to your inner voice – it’s surprisingly wise and accurate.

Have fun!
Danielle 

All-round nice guy, Greg Walter, recently launched a new business called Q-Pay, which will change the way we buy and sell stuff.

A serial innovator, Greg first had the idea for an SMS marketing solution in 1999. After years of initial research and two years in heavy development, Greg secured two world-first patents that address two very specific and immediate needs.

First Things First

The first is a mobile phone (cell phone) payment solution, which means you can buy stuff through your phone. To buy items you need a Q-Pay account, which is much like an ordinary bank account. When you want to buy something you simply send a text message with the relevant item code and amount. The money is debited from your account, and the item dispatched. In future, this will include everything from pizza to you name it.

Having been operational for six months, essentially in testing mode, Q-Pay is now on a mission to acquire a wide array of merchants so they can offer a broad range of products and services at consumers’ fingertips. Merchants are licking their lips over this technology – take-up is around 90 per cent – which makes perfect sense, because the convenience to customers adds to their value proposition.

Even charities can see the potential in it, and the future looks rosy. Just after the tsunami disaster in Asia two years ago, Australians were offered the option of making donations via their mobile phones. But because this technology had not yet been developed, the charities used a phone company to collect the money. Clearly people loved the convenience because donations were off the chart.

Could you use Q-Pay for your business?

If your answer is “yes!”, then I have good news and I have bad news.

The bad news is that the Q-Pay system is currently only available to Australians. But plans are in place for rapid expansion into Asia and then the UK. They are now also seeking a contact in the USA. Can you imagine the scope of this? It’s mind blowing.

But wait, it gets better.

Their second product is also being welcomed with open arms because it stops online fraud. Greg and his team have developed the world’s first interactive two-layer authentication for online transactions. What that means in English is that in future your online transactions can be verified through your mobile phone. So whenever a debit to your account occurs via an online transaction, you will receive a message on your phone that money is about to be transferred from your account. If you did not initiate the transaction you have the option to put a stop to it then and there.

I stumbled across Greg’s idea when I saw an advertisement in Australian Anthill a few weeks back. Having spotted a back issue I wanted, the ad prompted me to send a text message to buy it. Intrigued, I thought, how easy is that? Soon after, I got a phone call from the Q-Pay office advising me how the system works. Before I could say, “how cool is that?”, my account was set up. Ironically, this all happened just after my post, Case Study – Part 1: Blaze a New Trail and Clean Up Financially in which I promoted the “Year of the Idea” idea.

Lessons from the Q-Pay Startup Front

Brisbane boy Greg describes his entrepreneurial journey as an amazing rollercoaster ride, both emotionally and financially.

“I’ve made two major mistakes, which is all part of the learning curve,” he said.

As an “old-fashioned” kind of person, Greg said one of his big lessons was: be trusting, but not too much. And another biggie: maintain control.

Although building his team was part of the roller coaster ride, today he said he’s got a really solid team, and their seed investor is very ethical. When contemplating bringing someone on board, in whatever capacity, Greg advises to ask yourself, “is this person going to contribute or drain?”

To ensure their product was really meeting a need, Greg and his team invested the money in independent market research – at corporate as well as grass roots level – and they believe the money was well spent.

And last but not least :: celebrate your wins :: as they will give you emotional fortitude.

Married with four children, Greg said he’s been very fortunate to have the support of his family, especially his wife who he describes as “terrific”.

When someone does something good, applaud!
You will make two people happy.
~ Samuel Goldwyn

Danielle
Ideas Champion

During this fun, 30-minute podcast Lena also offers some tips on how to manage what she calls the “social media spaghetti”. Here’s a snapshot of topics covered:

• Using social media to create a “fabric of conversation around your company”
• Coming up with content for your blog
• Why social media is not “magic in a box”
• Using online video strategically to produce what Lena calls “The Cinderella Effect”
• Why YouTube needs content

Another neat tool for managing your “social media spaghetti”, or at least the blogs you read, is Pageflakes. SBB contributor Steve Woodruff introduced me to this site recently – check out Steve’s customised portal of Branding and Marketing blogs here.

Online Video is Hot

If Lena whet your appetite for using online video, check out the article from e-Marketer, Viral Marketing’s Video Love Affair.

If you’re marketing specifically to men or women, statistics in the US reveal that more women are online than men, and this is expected to continue. But currently more men watch online videos than women. So if you market products specifically to men, online video might be a great option for you.

Is she right – is it all over red rover? Have we missed our chance to “care”? I don’t think so. I’m not convinced that it’s “too late”, or that the world “doesn’t care”. On the contrary. While our world is far from perfect, the evidence I see suggests that people are “caring” more than ever – and many of them are doing it through their businesses.

More and more we are breathing life into our businesses by weaving personal meaning into them, which in turn is changing the world. Savvy entrepreneurs are realising that contributing to or promoting a cause that means something to them is both a feel-good experience and a wise marketing strategy … In that giving itself is a natural feel-good balm which brings with it a sense of satisfaction, and that many of today’s “caring” consumers like to buy from businesses that are willing to go out of their way to help make the world a better place … which comes down to – people do business with people they like and respect. Check out the stats that demonstrate this on Nick Rice’s blog post, If you’re not on the cause marketing bandwagon.

Okay, so you haven’t already been bitten by the do-gooder bug and are feeling a bit at sea? Let’s take a look at some ideas for how you might incorporate “cause” into your marketing.

I started by looking for something that had meaning for me personally and which was aligned with my business mission. Because my mission is to help people to connect (through fun) and thereby enhance their relationships (through better communication), I decided to donate $1 from every t-shirt I sell to a small school that specialises in helping children with communication difficulties. As my business grows I would also like to contribute to an organisation that helps struggling families to stay together.

Donations, sponsorships, or write-ups on your blog are typical methods, or you could hold a special event.

Last December Internet Marketers John Reese, Armand Morin, Alex Mandossian, Mike Filsaime and David Frey held a teleconference to offer their Ideas, Insights and Predictions for 2007 and then donated the money they raised to build a school in El Salvador for kids who didn’t have one.

Now, here’s a novel idea…

Drew McLellan and Gavin Heaton came up with the idea of creating an ebook to celebrate The Age of Conversation from which 100% of the proceeds will be donated to Variety, the Children’s Charity, an organisation that helps children around the world. Knock-out idea guys.

An open invitation was extended for 100 writers to share their ideas, and SBB contributors Nick Rice and Steve Woodruff were among those who responded. So keep your eyes peeled for this exciting project. (Drew will soon be joining the team at SBB, so stay tuned for his first article!)

Some folk are going all the way…

A new breed of entrepreneurs is founding businesses for the specific purpose of helping a selected community.

The Bang Consortium was founded by five enterprising mums when they found a gap in the market for a genuinely eco-friendly and fashionable alternative to the green polypropylene shopping bags (designed to replace plastic bags in supermarkets). But the eco-friendly angle is just the start of it for these crusading entrepreneurs; Bangladeshi artisans manufacture their natural-fibre products under a fair trade arrangement which provides sustainable trade and employment to support vulnerable families in Bangladesh.

This is clearly a win-win for everyone. The brand now offers a range of unique, eco-friendly and affordable contemporary bags while at the same time supporting a vulnerable community. Consumers who choose to buy from them can support eco-friendly products while also helping people in need in third world countries.

Even more extreme is Taylor & Khoo. A fashion and homewares label founded by Kylie Taylor & Valerie Khoo, they provide employment and opportunity for people in poverty in Cambodia and support the needs of about 120 orphaned children. Neither Kylie or Valerie receives any income from Taylor & Khoo. Did you get that? Their entire business – they operate both a physical store (in an upmarket retail centre) and an online store – was established to support charities in Cambodia. Last September they were among the 10 “cool companies” honoured in Australian Anthill’s Cool Company Awards. Not bad.

What’s in it for you…

Allison Toner’s article Social responsibility: Can you make a difference? in Flying Solo looks at cause marketing purely from a marketing perspective and explains the advantages of being socially responsible for your business. She also provides examples of how you can approach it:

Business-wise, being socially responsible can be some of the best advertising you can do. However, for it to be effective your social responsibility action has to actually connect to your solo business. It’s really no different to the approach large corporations take; it’s just on a smaller scale.

The trick is to take actions which aren’t only socially responsible, but which help to reinforce your brand. So before agreeing to sponsor a local school event or donating to a fundraiser, assess what good it will do for your brand.

Whether or not you feel compelled to change the world, this perspective may give you food for thought about how you might make a difference and connect at a deeper level with your customers. Supporting a cause can:

1. Add another dimension to your brand’s personality,
2. Trigger new ideas that will enhance your brand,
3. Attract favourable publicity for your business, and
4. Add more meaning for you.

The act of giving is actually a very selfish one when it makes you feel good. When it doesn’t it’s a sacrifice. So I personally wouldn’t recommend jumping on the nearest bandwagon. If you choose to go this route, I think the most important factor is to find a cause that is meaningful to you. 

In light of this warm and fuzzy marketing strategy taking root, could Ms Thom be mistaken? Could it be that the world does care – even those who aren’t punk rockers with flowers in their hair? Might a “revolution” be in the air?

And are you going to join the lovefest?

As Valerie Khoo puts it in her recent article in Australian Anthill:

As businesses and individuals, we can decide to make money, build our empires and become leaders in our respective industries. Or we can do all that and change the world at the same time. Which will you choose?

Danielle
Caring Capitalist

If you answered ”Yeah man!” then you need to apply now for Australian Anthill’s Cool Company Awards:

The inaugural Cool Company Awards was launched in February 2006, as a way for Anthill to recognise Australian companies that are doing things differently - defying business conventions, launching exciting new products, implementing new ways to do business, undertaking ‘rule-breaking’ thought leadership, challenging the status quo. Six (6) criteria and (7) judging panelists will be called upon to identify ten (10) winners. These ‘cool companies’ will be profiled in the Aug/Sep edition of Anthill Magazine. To self-nominate or nominate another company, simply visit www.australiananthill.com/cool 

Australian Anthill, for those who haven’t yet had the pleasure, is the uber-cool magazine for Aussie entrepreneurs.

For details about last year’s Cool Company Awards (and more in-depth tips on what their esteemed panel consider as “cool”), get a copy of their Aug/Sep 2006 edition.

Be cool
Danielle

Of the readers polled, 51.5% said the quality of blog writing helps them determine which blogs are credible and high quality. But these same respondents were equally divided on the key determinants for choosing which blogs they read regularly - 43.9% opting for quality of writing, and 43.6% for topical focus.

Nearly forty per cent believe that an author’s reputation drives perceived credibility. Frequency of posting and site design also drive what is perceived as a high quality blog.

The study, conducted by online market research service Vizu Answers and Advertising Age, also found that 32.5% of blog readers read for education and information, and 12.3% for work. A huge 65.7% read for entertainment, and 42.5% for personal interest and hobbies. The majority of people who read blogs for professional purposes use them as tools to track information, while 27.3% use blogs to track trends.

Meanwhile, keeping all these info-hungry blog readers happy is busy work - bloggers rack up 1.6 million posts per day. Technorati says it’s tracking more than 70 million blogs, with more than 175,000 new blogs arriving on the scene every day.

Demand is clearly fuelling this frenzy. Just over 30 per cent of blog readers read more than three blogs regularly, and of the blogs they read most often, 68.3% said they read them daily.

So how do you get on a reader’s daily radar?

When asked how they find the blogs they read, 67.3% follow links from other blogs. And, not surprisingly, recommendations on blogs (22.9%) are ranked higher than finding links on search engines (19.6%).

So the message for bloggers is clear: offer quality writing, or make your point clearly. Do both and your readers will be in blog heaven!
 
Source: www.MediaPost.com

Quoted in Friday’s article on TheStreet.com titled Better Branding, Steve advocates that simplicity sells.

Just like producing a good vodka, the message has to be distilled to its essence. “You’ve got to explain in a few words what you are doing and why,” Woodruff adds. “You build all your branding and marketing off that core message. If you don’t have that, you don’t have anything.”

Steve believes that branding has changed since the dot-com era, “when the credo was to make as much noise as possible, gain as many eyeballs as you can and worry about the long-term later.”

Click here for the full article by Annika Mengisen and find out what Steve says you must do in today’s market! This is a great read on better branding for small business.

Have a super-simplistic week!
Danielle

Too often we are so fixated on finding and then adhering religiously to the “right” formula (so that customers will buy, buy, buy…) what we actually become is just another face in the crowd; a second-hander, inheriting a world we never made. This is why the Linden Lab story appeals to me so much. Founder and CEO, Philip Rosedale, did it his way. Not content with inheriting a second-hand world, he created his as he wanted it (albeit a Second Life and all!). And boy do they shine out.

In Part 1 I explored the necessity for new ideas, and what that can mean for your business in terms of your bottom line. Here I have one main point – which relates to breaking the rules – and I’m going to travel via Linden Lab’s creative internal business model to make it.

It’s partly because of my human resources background and partly because of the rebel in me that I got so excited when I read about Linden Lab’s experimental cultural ideology and model. The reality that confronted me in HR was that we were essentially bureaucrats, developing and enforcing policy. I started out believing that I could make a difference, but over time merely saw myself as part of the “fun police”. Fun was allowed mind you, as long as it was neatly orchestrated. Anything was allowed really - as long as it conformed to policy…

In my experience, innovative, out-of-the-park ideas for internal business models are usually met with outright horror or amused condescension, even in companies who view themselves as very progressive. Many companies talk it up, few mean it.

Okay, I’m going to get a bit mushy here, but bear with me.

Author Henry Miller once said the one thing we can never get enough of is love. And the one thing we never give enough of is love. (Interestingly, Miller’s middle name was Valentine!)

All too often, one of the places we feel most unloved is at work. Indeed, it’s a well-known fact that employees rate a desire for “appreciation” and “recognition” over higher wages. Another age-old work woe is self-expression, or lack of it, and variety – the opportunity for new, exciting challenges outside our “job descriptions”.

The Love Machine & Creating Entrepreneurial Employees

Well, have I got something special for you. In Michael Fitzgerald’s “How I Did It…” article over at Inc.com, founder and CEO of Linden Lab, Philip Rosedale, explains their internal model:

Our approach to engineering was this: Tell everybody in an e-mail every week what you are doing, then make some progress of some kind and tell everybody in an e-mail how you did it. That was our organizational scheme. We said, Everybody is smart here. Identify what you are going to do today and get it done.

That evolved over time into the work system that we have today. We have this huge database of stuff to do. You choose your own work from it. So groups are formed more organically. I am pretty critical of traditional business styles. The biggest way you avoid that is you continue to make everybody entrepreneurial, which is easy to say–everybody says garbage like that in big companies. But the way you really are entrepreneurial is that you have to set your own strategic direction. That’s what entrepreneurs do. You have to take risks and you have to expect to be held accountable.

We have this thing we built called the Love Machine. The Love Machine allows anyone who works here as a Linden employee to send anyone else a brief note that says “Thank you for doing this for me.” There is a little webpage where you can go to send an e-mail, and then you get a little e-mail that says “Love From Philip” in the subject and it’s got text in it. Now, you think, what’s the big deal about that? Well, all of that stuff goes into a database. Your review carries that. Everybody is sending love to each other. It creates a positive collaborative environment.

Most businesspeople communicate in a mostly negative way. If people are encouraged to be entrepreneurs and take risks, they can also become combative and competitive. You have to balance that. So we built the Love Machine for balance. We joke that some day we will be more famous for the Love Machine than for Second Life.

We use a lot of the ideas from The Wisdom of Crowds. We vote internally on tasks. And when you get something done you can say, “Oh, I got 17 votes on this.” And again, you use that as part of your review.

We also use anonymous spot surveys for a lot of stuff. So I send out surveys saying, like, “Should we get rid of me as CEO?” Or I send out several options: “We should get a new CEO: now; when we have 200 people; when we have 500 people; never.”

There were some nevers. I think people didn’t figure I was good for a thousand-person company. I actually think I am, but I’d be fine not doing it, either.

We don’t even have a concept of budgeting here, really. For example, we don’t have a travel budget. If you travel you have to send an e-mail to everybody that says how much you spent and why it was worth it.

As an entrepreneur in high school, I thought starting a company was about a process where you do all these official things to create a company. I was so proud of my business license. I hung it on the wall. Now I’ve realized that a company is a culture and a model and a business surrounding an idea or ideas.

How do like that? – an entrepreneurial internal business structure. I think it’s magic. Not to mention smart. In his post, Imagine, the ever-inspiring Renaissance man, Mike Wagner from Own Your Brand!, highlights Traci Fenton’s innovative idea: a forum for recognising businesses that use democratic models. This month the inaugural WorldBlu Most Democratic Workplaces 2007 honoured thirty-four businesses and non-profits from around the world. Not surprisingly, Linden Lab made the grade.

I could go on about Linden Lab’s brilliant cultural ideology – and Rosedale’s joke that some day they will be more famous for the Love Machine than for Second Life might be right on the money – but my main point is about the style of thinking that generated this approach. This is independent thinking, which leads to innovative thinking.

Not long ago I was talking with someone who, in the course of the conversation, painted a picture of how my business should look in the future – how it should be structured, where it should be based, et cetera. This person’s vision for how my business should look was like fingernails on a chalk board for me. It was just wrong, wrong, wrong. However, I was very grateful for that episode because it made me clarify how I do want my business to look, and how I see it evolving. Prior to that conversation I had only a vague-ish idea.

I began to think carefully about it, and my way of approaching this was to consider three things: the lifestyle I want and what it is I want from this business personally; how I would like the business to be perceived (and meeting customers needs is an integral part of this); and the type of internal culture I want. Then I worked backwards from there.

Whether or not you currently employ staff, the broader message here is: don’t follow convention blindly. Don’t accept a second-hand world view if it doesn’t fit right with you and your dream. Design your business as you want it to look. Tailor make it to your style.

When you break the rules and follow your own path, the payoff (often after a long and difficult road) is not only measured in cash, but in the sense of satisfaction that you have created the world as you want it. Can you think of anything better? I can’t.

All You Need is Love

In her post Loveocracy Kathy Sierra shares what their secret to success is:

The secret is simply this: you have a much better chance for success when your business model makes what’s good for the users match what’s good for the business, and vice-versa.

In another take on the “love” concept, in his post How to Surf the Attraction Economy, Kevin Roberts from Branding Strategy Insider demonstrates the power of a fascinating brand concept, “the Lovemark” (gotta love that!) – the zone that brings you High Love and High Respect. Ooh la la.

And guess what flows then? Yep, a river of riches. “Love” = Cash + Happiness. So try this:

1. Forget about the dollars for a minute and put your thinking cap aside.

2. Take three deep breaths, and tap into your inner zone – the place that will tell you what it is you really want to create. Dream bold.

3. Break the rules where necessary and write your own.

By doing this you will open yourself up to the chance of creating a Lovemark and a Loveocracy. And hey, your brand may even wind up on Lovemarks.com! The alternative is to end up as just another face in the crowd. A second-hander, inheriting a world you never made.

The more I read about this innovative company and their outta-the-park venture, the more I realise they have zero respect for the status quo. Which earns them bucketloads of respect from me. Now, don’t get me wrong, it’s not like I feel at home with a concept like Second Life. On the contrary. In fact, I was chuckling with understanding when I read Michael Fitzgerald’s amusing article, My Second Life Life, over at Inc.com about his initial adventures in Second Life. It’s the ahead-of-his-time thinking of its founder and CEO, Philip Rosedale, that flicks my switch.

I first wrote about Second Life in December last year, and found myself yet again captivated with this concept and phenomenon after reading Fitzgerald’s recent article. Now I would like to pose two questions to you:

Could your business use a Second Life?
(…or, if you work in the field of marketing, could your clients’ businesses use a Second Life?)
…and,
Will you adopt 2007 as the ‘Year of the Idea’?
(More on Q2 in a minute.)

From Oblivion to Explosion

As Fitzgerald outlines in his “How I Did It…” article, Rosedale has taken Second Life from being an “unfundable idea” that nobody got to an “overnight sensation”. The site drew almost a million new residents in the last two months of 2006. But not before “six very quiet” years.

Rosedale explains some of the barriers they faced:

Second Life was just unfundable. It was just the dumbest idea ever. Mitch Kapor [the founder of Lotus Development] was the only person who got it. Mitch invested in 2001 after I had invested about a million dollars of my own money. I think some of the early angel investors were largely investing in me. They thought I seemed to be a capable, balanced, good-engineering-background entrepreneur, so I could figure out something.

But we could convince absolutely no one that what we were doing made any sense. People said the technology can’t possibly be made to work smoothly because there are too many problems with building a simulation combined with broadband, combined with streaming, combined with rendering, talking to many computers at once, the whole idea is just completely impossible.

The second thing they said was, This is not for ordinary people. Even if it is compelling, there will only be a few crazy people that want to do it. And then you guys will be dead.

Oh, and user-created content had never been a fundable idea. Now, everybody’s doing it. But in the beginning the idea that random people were going to build a three-dimensional world was just impossible for people to understand. A lot of applications, and all 3-D applications, were top-down designs, where some master designer built all the content and you just wandered around in it. And we were saying, You [the world's residents] are going to build everything. You are going to build these walls. And everybody was like, That’s terribly stupid. Nobody got it.

They wanted us to make it like something that had come before it so that they could value it. (my italics added)

Today 3 million user accounts have been issued in this virtual community. On an average day, between 12,000 and 25,000 users are logged on at any one time. Residents are represented by a customisable graphical image (known as an avatar), most of which are human in appearance (you can be an animal if you wish…). Residents create most of the content using the Linden Lab’s 3-D modeling tool, including virtual buildings, landscapes, vehicles, furniture, and accessories.

But Second Life is no game. And this is what I find compelling about it. You retain the intellectual property rights to anything you create in Second Life. Which translates to the same meaning as in the real world – you can give away, sell, or trade that item. And guess what? Business is booming. You can also buy and sell real estate, and not surprisingly it’s currently a hot commodity. So, while Second Life is a 3-D virtual world in which people interact with one another in an Internet-based environment, avatars play for real.

What’s real is that Second Life is a haven for entrepreneurs, with thousands of businesses selling things ranging from clothes to office buildings to body parts. Business is conducted in Linden dollars, but those can be cashed for cold, hard credit card credits.

The in-world economy is now clipping along at $10 million–those are U.S. dollars–a month. Big companies are popping up, too, experimenting with what might be a look at tomorrow’s three-dimensional Web.

Does Your Business Need a Second Life?

What’s intriguing is that while the businesses created within Second Life are booming, as Fitzgerald points out in his follow-up article, Does Your Business Need a Second Life?, real-world businesses are now setting up shop here. And, unlike the real world, cost is not a barrier.

American Apparel was the first major real-world company to formally enter Second Life when it opened a virtual store in June 2006. Now denizens of Second Life can buy American Apparel clothing there for their avatars (and pick up free virtual tacos and Tecate beer).

American Apparel is still feeling its way along in this world, but Second Life has been great for Wes Keltner’s business. Keltner is president and CEO of the Ad Option, a year-old Lexington, Kentucky, agency. It was Keltner’s idea to get American Apparel into Second Life, and the buzz from that has meant a swarm of clients and prospects. He says he has another five or six clients ready to launch Second Life presences. Keltner is even developing what he calls Second Life’s equivalent of Times Square and has a commitment from Lego for advertising.

Rob Seaver, Vivox’s CEO, says he has every intention of making real money in Second Life. But mostly, he thinks Second Life lets him explore the future of the Internet and think about what that might mean for his business. “A lot of what Second Life portrays is the future,” Seaver says. “This 3-D virtual realm is a significant part of the evolution of the Internet and more and more activities will be presented in the virtual world.”

For a good snapshot of what Second Life is and isn’t – and what possibilities may be awaiting you – check out Inc.com’s slide show 12 Things You Need to Know About Second Life.

Risk more than others think is safe.
Care more than others think is wise.
Dream more than others think is practical.
Expect more than others think is possible.
~ Cadet Maxim

It’s not hard to see that as “big ideas” go, Second Life makes the cut. And, after doing the hard yards, it’s also not difficult to spot their success story. Not only has Rosedale seen his crazy, “unfundable” idea come to life before his eyes, I’d say it’s a fair bet that his pockets are bulging right about now. As well, apart from creating new markets, the beauty of ground-breaking ideas is that you don’t need to worry about the competition – the