I always love a neat marketing office. There is something about a creative environment that is different from the normal white-wall cubicle stereotype. Guy Kawasaki points us to Threadless, who has one of the coolest offices I’ve seen to date. Take a look at both. You won’t regret it.
Posted in Buzz | No Comments »
Many people go through their lives in what they believe are safe waters. We all have our aspirations and goals we would like to accomplish, but it always seems that the more life altering ones don’t always see their way through. Some never even get tried. For some, they look back and wonder, “What if I did that? I would have been at this point by now.” For example, a college student dabbling in the idea of starting a web business selling interesting guitar pick designs. He may think, “that would be a neat idea…I bet I could make some money doing that” and never follow through with that. Years later he may be kicking himself for never trying, and not even bother to try it now.
Think about all of the things you’ve always wanted to do but never did, and how you would be today. Some of the things you may try will succeed, others will fail. In the end, though, you will still earn valuable life experience no matter what the result. Taking action makes the best of us.
I see two major blocks preventing people from turning their ideas and life changes into reality. Fear of the unknown and ill-conceived, self limitations.
People stick to what they know because it is easy, they know the results, and don’t have to worry about failure and not knowing the outcome. The realization must occur that without any change or even trying no growth can occur, and can even lead to stagnation. No one ever said change was easy, but it isn’t as hard as you may think. It just requires motivation and follow through.
The other notion of self limitations is a very large impediment on your progress. By self limitations I mean not believing their is more to yourself than what you see. You may be a restaurant manager, and just think of yourself as that without pursuing other avenues…hopping from one restaurant to the next. Here’s the thing. You are not just that. There is no rule saying that you always have to work in restaurant. There is no law telling you to do so, and nothing is preventing you from learning and doing something else. Want to start a business selling decorative pepper shakers online? Research how to start a business and get your feet wet. I don’t care if your dreams are as extreme as running away to the islands and building ships inside bottles. It’s possible, you just have to do it.
It’s very tiresome and sad for me to hear people talk about things they want to do with their lives and never set anything in motion to progress. No more thinking you can’t do it, or it’s only for the experts. You can become the expert. Don’t think and wonder what if. Just do!
Posted in Buzz | No Comments »
Google recently updated Google Analytics. With it, there are some fancy new graphics and features. While it looks nice, some of it can feel a distracting with its overwhelming set of features. The key is not to get too distracted by all of the bells and whistles and be able to stay on target with your goals. Seth Godin summed it up well in his recent post.
It’s really easy to let ego take over and think about just trying to increase site traffic, but don’t forget that there was an original reason for the site in the first place! Unless your purpose was to just drive more traffic and create awareness, and you have no other conversion goals, then you may want to think more on how Google Analytics can help you attain your original goals.
Posted in Buzz, Internet Marketing, Tech | No Comments »
Working on a project can take quite some time. During that time it may be easy to lose focus on the main goal. Ideas change, things restructure, and you may find yourself with an end product that is nothing like the original plan.
This is why it is important to have good planning from the start. Always start with the basics. Even if you “think” you know what they are, really think about them and write them down. Think about your goals and any other basics you need, then look at your project and see if it is meeting them.
Sometimes we get caught up in trivial details and lose site of our core. Whenever you feel lost in a project, or feel it is going off track, recenter it and look back to your basics. All of your answers are right there. This is the key from turning something like great, focused, marketing piece, to a 9 month project that is an amalgamated mess.
Posted in Marketing, Small Business | No Comments »
