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.
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.
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?
The term “interactive” is thrown around like a football in the design and advertising world. Interactive forms of communication have been around forever, but our generation describes it as Flash websites, pretty much. I won’t make this a history lesson, and talk about people like Howard Gossage, but I will provide an example of a recently launched website that uses a unique approach to be interactive.
Red Universe is the beta version of an agency called Red Interactive’s website. It’s a simple two-dimensional environment that allows you to explore the website as a character. There are limited features and elements you can adjust about your character right now, but I’m sure those will be expanded in the future.
One of the cool features is the ability to chat with everyone else that’s viewing the website. Several companies have tried to create browser applications that allow you to do this, but being that I nor you can name them, they haven’t been adapted too well.
I spoke about being able to converse with those watching the same television show as you a while back; Red Universe is a nice step in that direction.
Fuel Industries created a game called Cowboys and Engines a couple years ago that allowed you to interact with others in a 3d environment, kind of like Second Life. I can’t get it to work in my browser now, nonetheless it wasn’t interactive in the sense of combining a typical website with atypical interaction.
It’ll be interesting to see where Red Universe goes over the next year and how many websites attempt to replicate what they’ve done. This is the beginning of a new form of interaction.
What do Coca-Cola, Google, Starbucks & Apple all have in common?
They are internationally known mega brands and billion dollar companies.
… and their brands were created on the cheap by the founders of the companies.
I remind myself of this whenever I sit down to come up with a name and branding for a new idea. It is definitely important to spend a good amount of time finding the right name and brand for your project as it will help you the creator bond with it and pitch it… but at the end of the day, how good your product is will determine it’s success and not the name you gave it.
Google is probably my favorite example of the good product trumping the terrible brand. You could actually say that Google’s brand is quite good as it is easy to remember and just about everyone in the world knows it. But if you took their brand to a top branding firm today you’d probably get “Childish colors and a beveled serif font! Blech!” Several million dollars later they’d give you a really slick looking logo and a 12 page report on how the average search user demographic responded in test markets to the new and improved logo.
As I’m dealing with building a new house I’ve been reminded yet again about how important it is to protect your credit. Sooner or later in your life you’re going to need the banks money and a good credit score is your meal ticket. Don’t screw it up.
Basic education on credit: There are three credit bureaus that creditors report to: TransUnion, Experian, and Equifax. If you mess up, one of these three (if not all of them) is going to hear about it and it’ll get stuck in your file (for years).
If you don’t know your credit score, shame on you - but it’s ok because you’re about to find out. The three bureaus above charge for the ability to peek at your credit report - but there’s a free way to do it that many people don’t know about.
Don’t screw it up.