October 15, 2007
Today is Blog Action Day. An important opportunity for bloggers of all sizes to influence the thoughts and actions of the mass and media. Collis, Cyan, and their team have done a phenomenal job organizing this event and having it recognized worldwide.
We were one of the first sites to sign up for the event and are anxiously awaiting the final tally later this week as the amount of participants, funds raised, and response from all the big news networks, is released
I thought it might be interesting to pick out a handful of existing businesses/ideas that you may or may not have heard of and highlight their environmental benefit. These ideas are creating markets of their own and opportunities for young go getters like ourselves to grab a share while they’re still in their early stages.
This environmentally conscious alternative has become quite the trend. Shipping containers that would normally be used to transport goods from overseas, are stripped down, cleared out, and stacked much like Legos to create a unique grid of housing or retail stores. These containers were and are used for many years in the Eastern world and by the military, but are only now becoming a cost-effective mobile condo.
A Dutch company called Springtime, has created the green version of Zipcar. Many cities pose quite a risk when locking your bike up outside. By creating vending machines for bikes, you’re enabled to rent one for a short or lengthy commute and return it to another machine near your destination. With zero emissions and the cost of pennies compared to a car, this initiative is much needed in many parts of the world.
TerraCycle is a truly innovative company. Their products, fertilizers, are packaged in cleansed pop bottles that each of us use every day. By providing a Pepsi bottle or whatnot, you receive $0.06 along with an ever important contribution to the already 1,098,440 bottles collected to date. This model could be applied to hundreds and thousands of different liquid based products that we use and eliminate the entire process of having to crush, melt, and re-form new bottles.
We wrote about the trend of designer shopping bags back in July. The idea is that retailers offer a fashionable or classy version of a bag that replaces the disposable plastic ones we would normally receive at the checkout. These stylish woven ones can be used hundreds of times and serve as an accessory, especially for the female crowd. Would still be nice to see dozens of lines and variations of these bags be offered by the major chains across the world. Until then, the hilarious UK version you see above will be effective at grabbing attention.
The idea of being a hamster on a wheel doesn’t sound too bad when applied to our normal actions throughout the day across all our environments. Energy generating speedbumps are already in the works, as are treadmills that convert the rotation of the belt into electricity. While the small amount of power generated from these devices may seem minimalistic at this time, once a cost-effective way is developed to enable us to convert motion to energy, this could change the hydro industry altogether.
Happy Blog Action Day everyone. Please contribute to this initiative by writing on your blog or donating to a green charity of your choice. Cheers!
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October 11, 2007
There are plenty of guides, books, articles, and directions as to formulas for effective advertising. Donald Gunn narrowed it down to 12 back in 1978, Suzanne Pope, 11 or so over at Ihaveanidea. I want take 4 directions that may or may not be labeled exactly as to the two lists I mentioned, and give examples of how you can use them, whether that be in networking, marketing, or face-to-face with your customers.
Stories
It’s not a matter of writing stories, but creating them. FedEx is known for their fly through a blizzard to ensure their package arrived on time story; a timeless classic in every b-school. A more recent one got to me and is an even better example from a customer’s perspective:
Keep reading…
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October 5, 2007
While they say “no risk, no reward”, I’d like to change that a bit for the purpose of this article. How bout, “some risk, no immediate reward”?
In almost every industry, service providers work on a per project, per milestone, or per hour basis. The tasks are determined before the assignment begins, by yourself and your client. An amount and method of payment is agreed upon. And you begin your process, whether that be creative, financial, manufacturing, etc…
That model appears to be going through a process of evolution in the creative world and migrating across numerous markets. The new approach takes from the entrepreneurial notion of banking on equity. If you’re a sole proprietor, the entire equity of your business is in your hands. Your actions determine your earnings (or losses) and your lifestyle is molded by the outcome of those actions (no sales, no rent).
Keep reading…
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October 4, 2007
NOTE: This post came from a conversation Eric and I were having at 3:00 am EST.
Followers are just as important, if not more important than the big name bloggers. Without them, those powerhouses wouldn’t exist. They are a metric of pop culture in our community. We need them. But I don’t think any of us like to be labeled as a follower.
In every single industry, in management positions, there’s been individuals making hundreds of thousands of dollars a year. That’s nothing new. When you can count the amount of bloggers making such an amount on your fingers and toes, it doesn’t look like the most promising industry to be in.
Keep reading…
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October 3, 2007
Guest post by Dan Schawbel, owner of the Personal Branding Blog and publisher of the Personal Branding Magazine.
Personal Branding applies to everyone throughout the world, but who really benefits most? As a youth, you have the flexibility and lack of responsibilities necessary to focus on your brand and improve it. The faster you can discover who you are in your youth, the more prone you are to a successful career. As you age, your responsibilities increase, such as leasing an apartment, purchasing a car, marrying your fiancé or having your first child. When these milestones in your life occur, they force you into making decisions outside of the “branding realm.”
Keep reading…
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September 19, 2007
90% of the time there would be no reason to write about a project that is one month removed from final beta with still another month from a scheduled October rollout. Then again, in 90% of the world, a final beta and a rollout would never have made news at all. This project is about to change all that.
Most people are familiar with the story of One Laptop Per Child and it’s vision to protect a child’s innate capacity to learn, share, and create on their own. OLPC’s answer to the developing world’s challenge is the XO laptop, or as many folks have come to refer to it, the $100 laptop.
The story behind this nearly-launched humanitarian effort is well documented. If you need a rundown, you can watch Nicholas Negroponte (OLPC Chairman) give a spirited synopsis of the progress to date at TED. What most people don’t know, is that Mr. Negroponte is not your typical reformed capitalist-turn-philanthropist. From all accounts, this has been his life’s dream turn reality.
For the better part of two decades, Nicholas has been nudging his dream forward. Recently, I had a chance to speak with a former colleague of his from days spent with the International Multimedia Developers Association several years ago. I was told, quite emphatically, that he spoke about the $100 laptop as fervently then as he does now. He has never once compromised the project’s purpose and has never once let the mound of obstacles, inherent with a mound of stakeholders, keep him from realizing the possibilities.
So when October rolls around and we all start to feel good again about humanity, let’s keep in mind that “feel-good” stories are not the result of millionaires suddenly spending their cash. They are not the result of hardware and software partners organizing to lend their products and services to a cause. And they are not the result of the press (both formal and bloggers alike) agreeing that something is of noble intentions. Before any of these things can happen, someone has to dream the impossible - and dream it enough times to believe that nothing can stop it from becoming real.
Imagine where you’ll be in 20 years… then imagine where your dream will be.
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September 18, 2007
Most small businesses would define branding as the identity by which their company is recognized and all of the items it’s associated with, whether that be an advertisement, business card, voicemail message, etc… This would be correct by definition. But when it comes to owning something with your brand, many b-schools, books, and articles don’t touch on that.
By owning an object, I mean a physical object, colour, saying, sound, style, phrase, shape, packaging, texture, or anything that you could uniquely call your own. Something that people can identify, relate to, and instantly associate with your brand.
Below, you’ll find 9 examples of brand ownership from the past and present, without the brand. See if you can name the brand behind each item and post your numbered guesses in the comments.
Note: You have to click on number 5 to hear the audio clue.
These examples are pretty easy. Of course, all of the companies behind these brands are massive compared to our small businesses, but that doesn’t mean we shouldn’t try and create a branding object to call our own. It’s actually much simpler for an entrepreneur to find a unique object to own because of our market size and chanches are, our competition lacks any sense of branding insight.
I’ll post the brand behind each of the objects tomorrow. Until then, see if you can go 10 for 10.
You young go getters got pretty close, with 9 out of 10, but that last one may not have been as distinctive a palette as I thought. Here are the correct answers.
1) Fender, 2) Corona, 3) Tiffany’s, 4) Kanye West, 5) MSN Messenger, 6) Mary Kay, 7) Rolling Stones, 8) Swingline, 9) Altoids, 10) Kodak.
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September 13, 2007
There are plenty of tools available nowadays to plan your day, set reminders, and assign tasks. You have applications on your mobile phone, you have Basecamp, you have Outlook, you have iCal, and so on.
But what do you do when you’re driving down the highway, remember an extremely important task that needs to be done tomorrow, and ensure you don’t forget it? Jott it. (Disclaimer: YGG does not recommend you talk or use your cellphone while driving on the highway. :)
That’s Jott it, without the down. A verb that seems to be almost as catchy as “Google it”.
This online service was first announced back in December or so on TechCrunch. The idea is that you have a local or toll-free number you call from the phone associated with your Jott account, say who you’d like to send a Jott to (contacts), say your message, and it’s then transcribed and e-mailed to the contact you chose.
Jott is entirely free, but is still in “Public Beta” mode. They are expected to roll out of beta in the near future and offer a Business plan on top of the freebie, most likely with a few new features, no Jott advertising in the e-mail notifications, and an unlimited amount of messages.
Where and when could this be handy? On plenty of occasions, many of which I’ll try and cover today.
Keep reading…
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September 12, 2007
Let me first start by saying the title is not squeezing “exercise” into your busy schedule. Exercise is over stated, overall fitness is not. Being fit and healthy is more about your diet than it is about your workout routine. Getting in shape and losing a little weight (if that’s what you’re trying to do) is actually very, very easy.
You’re already going to eat, so if you can teach yourself to eat right that’s half the battle. Here are some basic eating tips that if stuck to will clean out your body in no time
Keep reading…
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September 11, 2007
I shared my disappointment with Scoble’s prediction as to the future direction of blogs, a week ago. He didn’t take too nicely to my critique of his opinion, but I said at that time that I would send out a dozen or so e-mails asking the opinion of some other bloggers I thought would better fit the role of a creative psychic.
As expected and completely understood, only a few responded. Thankfully, one response from our friend, Collis Ta’eed at FreelanceSwitch, was quite thoughtful and I’ll share a few excerpts of it, along with Neil Patel’s from Pronet Advertising, an amusing response from Seth, and my own.
Keep reading…
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