The Real Estate & Wealth Expo was in Toronto a few days ago. About 15,000 business hopefuls were duped into paying a couple hundred bucks to learn the secrets of wealth from Trump, Robbins, and a few other big self-help names.
Trump was obviously the biggest name on the set list, having fetched himself $1.5 million to speak for an hour. If you’ve read any of Trump’s books you’ve seen his presentation, minus the professional fucking vernacular of course—he tends to swear a lot.
But the highlight of the event had to have been this motivational dance-a-thon:
Unfortunately I wasn’t able to attend the event myself, and as a result am a couple hundred dollars richer and have the pleasure of not being one of the scapegoats in the above video.
Matthew Baldwin over at The Morning News posted a great compilation of Tricks of the Trade.
As an entrepreneur, half of my work seems to be finding a cheap and easy solution to a problem. This list was entertaining and very insightful to how different people find little easy to use solutions to common problems.
Some examples:
Cartographer
Mapmakers will often use “copyright traps,” bits of information in their maps that are purposefully wrong. They might label a body of water “Lake Strongbad,” for instance, and then examine the next editions of competitors’ maps to see if the incorrect information makes an appearance.
Jeweler
When setting a semiprecious gem, set a tiny piece of silver or gold foil behind it to make it sparkle.
Balloon-Twister
When you’re twisting balloons for children, never tell them what you’re making. The majority of the finished products—despite your best attempts—almost always look like a dog, a blastula, or something vaguely phallic. If you identify what you’re actually attempting to make, the children will respond to your finished product with, “That doesn’t look like a [insert animal name]…” But if you make the animals and then ask, “What does it look like to you?” the child’s imagination will take over, turning the blue, four-legged balloon into Blue from Blue’s Clues, the blastula into a Pokemon, and the phallic object into an elephant. You’ll also get bonus points because you were so cool for making exactly what they wanted.
Basically, a group of bloggers and well known authors had created a site called MeanKids (no longer online) that smack talked famous and respectable bloggers such as Kathy Sierra, Hugh MacLeod, and Robert Scoble.
A few posts on the MeanKids site are archived by Google’s cache, you can find them quite easily, and they are disgustingly idiotic.
Someone chose to go much too far, threaten Kathy through comments and e-mails, and hide behind an anonymous name.
The whole nature of creating a blog with the intent to slander others, no matter how humorous you found it, is ridiculous. You have to be out of your mind to not think that those words won’t offend anyone.
If you’ve ever visited Break.com, you know that almost every single comment on a video is immature, offensive, and has no relation to the video whatsoever. I feel this MeanKids attack on Kathy is much the same. It’s a shame that these people can hide behind their little avatars (Seth touched on this) and can’t find something better to do with their time.
I apologize for the title, but this one really got at me.
Podcasts seem to have taken the backseat to video in the past year, but there are many businesses that still devote their time to producing shows on a regular basis. Finding those shows and filtering the weaker ones out can be quite a challenge. That’s why I’ve taken the time to create a list of business themed podcasts that are worthy of subscribing to.
Hopefully you’ll see a few new shows to add to your reader. Here they are in no specific order:
For anyone interested or involved in the web design process, at some point you’ll come to learn the importance of grid systems. To help you begin the grid-tastic journey, here are a couple resources that surfaced this past week.
1) Subtraction has written about and released their presentation (pdf link) from a couple weeks back at SXSW. The pdf is a fantastic ice-breaker that’ll help you understand what grids are and slowly release the nitpicking designer within you.
2) Jesse Bennett-Chamberlain discusses his design process for the recently re-launched ExpressionEngine website. Again, you’ll see how grid systems come into play but more importantly an inside look at the refinement process.
In what might be the longest page on Flickr, a case of plagiarism inspiration has been the topic of discussion in the design world for the past couple of days. Dan Cederholm at Simplebits came across a logo that looked eerily familiar.
As we’ve seen in the past, blatancy tends to tug on the right strings of designers, resulting in blacklisting and lawsuit threatening.
So the tip of the day is: if you’re inspired by an existing piece of creative, acknowledge it. Seeing your work influence others is flattering. Seeing your work in other’s portfolios is infuriating.
It is said that having an ego isn’t an option when you are an entrepreneur… it is a requirement.
Ego
From Dictionary.com
e·go [ee-goh, eg-oh]
–noun, plural e·gos.
1. The self, especially as distinct from the world and other selves.
2. In psychoanalysis, the division of the psyche that is conscious, most immediately controls thought and behavior, and is most in touch with external reality.
3.
1. An exaggerated sense of self-importance; conceit.
2. Appropriate pride in oneself; self-esteem.
In any form of sales you need to have confidence. You have to convince another person in the value of the product you are trying to sell them. As an entrepreneur that product often isn’t a disconnected something, but your idea and a very personal part of who you are.
You can only be a Journalist (professional) or Hobbyist (personal) in blogging. Anything in between will fail.
Fail at making you rich or making you friends. Fail at making you famous or making you happy.
At some point, you’ll have to make the decision. You’ll either have more time on your hands than expected, or you’ll have no time at all.
As a journalist you’ll work around the clock. (Michael Arrington, Arianna Huffington, or Perez Hilton) You’ll have to research each and every one of your stories, be able to meet several daily deadlines, develop a process for copywriting, and establish networks for leads.
As a hobbyist you may only post once a week or once a month, but when you do, you make the day of all your readers. (Matt Brett, Sally Hogshead, or Veerle) There’s no pressure or deadlines. If a thought strikes you every now and then, you share it.
Obviously, the difference between the two financially is enormous. You get what you give. 40 hours of writing per week will generate more revenue and opportunities than writing 20 minutes every other week.
I will have to make this decision in the very near future. If you’re in a similar situation the question is, will you be a journalist or hobbyist?
