Ron McDaniel from the Buzzoodle Blog pointed to an article yesterday on the making of an expert. To be a true expert, you must constantly learn, and always be a student. Sound strange? Not really. Times change, new things evolve, and you have to keep up. Also, you are never done learning. There are always ways to improve your knowledge and ability in something, and evolve it. As one person always told me, “The best teachers are also students.”
A true expert knows both theory from all their textbook learning, etc., and application. That is where all that practice and work in the nitty-gritty come in. Who would you trust more, a surgeon who read a bunch of books on surgery for 10 years, but never did it, or someone who has read and performed operations for the same time?
Long story short there is no shortcut to being an expert. I have seen a lot of schemes where there are “instructional videos” and such to make you a pro on something. Not going to happen. Knowledge, experience, and true dedication makes you a true professional. You have to do it for years, and people can instantly spot a true pro from someone green a mile away.
This 4th of July exceeded my expectations. My family and I watched a spectacular fireworks show. It had all the great things you would expect to see, and it outdid the city’s fireworks from years before, and lasted longer, to boot. Here’s the thing, though: they weren’t the city’s fireworks. These were from a guy two houses down from my parents. The man has a license for creating and shooting off his own fireworks, and has done so professionally for years. A display of this caliber was definitely beyond the expected. If someone were to tell you to watch the fireworks of some random guy in the neighborhood or the city’s, you would probably choose the city’s, assuming it would be the best. This man proved me wrong.
This got me thinking about small businesses as well. How many small businesses release great products that are never tried because the assumption is that the bigger company’s version is better? Sometimes it is really worth looking into the small companies. You may just find a gem.
The New York Times recently posted an article on the latest, second highest paid guest teacher. Paris Hilton. The Learning Annex has reportedly offered her a cool $1,000,000 to speak on “Building Your Brand” to businessmen. Yes, you read right, and no, the world is not ending, the moon is not being filled with blood, nor are fish turning up dead in oceans around the world. I am still trying to wrap my head around this one. Obviously, this makes for great publicity for both sides.
What she will say during the seminar are beyond me. It is true, she has built a phenomenal brand around herself (for better or worse, you decide), but how is she as a speaker and mentor? After hearing her in interviews, I shudder to think about what comes out (no offense, perhaps I have just not heard the “real Paris”). My best guess is that she will have highly paid advisors coaching her and preparing the workshop for her. Or, perhaps I am not giving enough credit where credit is do? Time will tell. Either way, this is buzz for her that is a step in a more positive direction, and not about skin or alcohol.
Well, not quite my car, but Kent Floral’s is. While eating my lunch earlier I noticed their van pass by, and their colors and design really caught my eye. It passed by so quickly I didn’t have time to snap a picture, and Google search isn’t giving me results, so the most I can do is describe it to you. It was a very clean, white van with large flowers all over its side (I only got to see one side of it). Just picture Scooby Doo’s Mystery Mobile but white. Notice I mentioned clean, just read Ron McDaniel’s post on company imagery and you’ll see why. It stood out very well, and stayed with me long enough to want to post about it.
It had me thinking about other great advertising I’ve seen on automobiles. Sure, you see semi-trucks with products plastered on their side, but I mean something that becomes instantly recognizable and synonymous with the company. The best examples I can think of now are the Best Buy Geek Squad and Oscar Mayer car/truck/moving food product… whatever it is. Both are unique and recognized instantly. There is no mistaking who their for. Alright, so you don’t go around seeing the Oscar Mayer weiner-mobile driving around the road, but the Geek Squad cars are everywhere, and the fact that they are makes a great advertisement for them while they are out on house calls.
Having the Geek Squad bug and uniforms really established an identity for them that separates them from normal customer service. It goes beyond the expected. The question is, then, what do you do to stand out?
How many times have you seen this? A company gets ready to roll out a new product or service that starts out as one great idea, and slowy evolves into a multi-featured giant nightmare by adding new components over and over through the course of time. This is the “that’s good, but wouldn’t it be great if we added this?” syndrome better known as feature creep. A few things added to improve on the main goal may be okay, but it is best to stay on target and keep things simple. Unless your product is supposed to be an all-in-one swiss army knife of products, take a step back and go to the basics. This means making sure your product delivers on its original promise and goals, and retains its definition.
After a nice, week long vacation I return to my pc. It’s strange how much I rely on using a pc in my life yet I went on for one week without missing it much. I did sneak in a few peaks at my email, but otherwise my vacation was computer free.
Coming back, I see there is a lot of work ahead of me. I will be writing more now that I am back again. In the mean time, take a look at this neat piece of innovation from Microsoft, called Microsoft Surface. It looks like something from the future right in your home. How practical, affordable, and the likelihood of it catching on remains to be seen, but the nerdy side of me drools over the possibilities.
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.
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!
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.
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.