Recently, ABC-GLA presented an Educational Workshop on “The Art of Delegation” with event planner Mary Dann.

ABC-GLA Co-Director of Education Amber Gustafson gives us the details of the evening on her Amber Events Blog.

The fabulous Viceroy in Santa Monica was our host venue this month, and it was a treat! We were in the Bristol Room with the patio attached and we started off the evening mixing, networking, and listening to the fun tunes played by DJ Martin Felipe of Invisible Touch Events (Salt-n-Pepa’s “Push It” was my guilty favorite for the night)…. (read more…!)

Images by Ellice Schwartz of ES Photography

Thank you to Ellice Schwartz of ES Photography for these wonderful images!!

There are so many many Blog sites, make money online sites, work from home sites on the internet it boggles the mind. In my search to find the “perfect” at home business I have come across a plethora of informative and not so informative websites. There are sites on how to advertise and sites that just get you to follow a link and spend your money.

There are affiliate site and sites that tell you how they as an individual made hundreds of thousands, even millions of dollars practically overnight. There was this one site that had the audacity to say how they made a million over night.

I have been scammed dazed and now dazed confused at all the information out there that describes how you can make money and have come to one conclusion; you can make money on the internet but it’s not going to happen over night. Form my limited and humble knowledge you have to put the time and effort into your project to make it work. You have to find a willing audience that is susceptible to the product or service that you are promoting and then you have to be persistent in the pursuit of what “it” is that you are doing.

You don’t have to become an expert by no stretch of the word or imagination there are many companies out there if you are willing to spend the money that can and will get the job done for you at little to no cost to help you get started. Now taking in account that old adage “you get what you pay for”, it certainly is still true especially for online marketing and just doing business in general on the internet. You want and need to look professional and there will be a cost associated with doing business with reputable companies.

If you’re reading my Blog that is exactly where I am right now, I have the time, will and desire however, what I don’t have is the money at least not right at the moment. I found several great affiliate programs that will surely drive traffic and money to my site and ultimately in my pocket however, at this point I have to use the free stuff to get my message out and it is difficult. I have made money utilizing the internet to perpetuate my business however like many when the market fell out on the real estate industry it took the wind right out of my sail and here I am sharing my journey with you.

You have to understand in order to make money, profit from your efforts there are no guarantees you have to take comfort in that you will be honest in your efforts. We all deserve to make millions however the truth about the matter is that we all can not.

Humbly and Sincerely,
Docmover

Twitter…Simply Stated

Posted by nkoller on June 23, 2009

Hi Everyone,

For thise of you who follow me on twiiter – Icalled out some great trades today. I’ll be blogging two of them – because they are classics. I traded these in the morning as there was Non-farm payroll out in the US at 13.15 (GMT time), I wanted to make sure I was out of the trades before the data release.

I noticed that the AUDUSD kept testing the R1 level – but just didn’t seem to push through and on the third attempt it made an inverted hammer. Took my trade with an entry at 0.82434, placing my stop 21 pips away (just above the momentum high and the R1 level).

My target was the Pivot Point – that was 87.4 pips away.

Cheers,

TB

I’ve been thinking quite a bit about our economy and the bias that we’ve seen towards Keynesian economics in the current political administration and in the media. I wanted to take some time to study the effects of the Federal Reserve on entrepreneurship and innovation in the US from the perspective of the Austrian School of economics.

Hayek’s Theorem

The premise of Hayek’s Nobel Prize winning theory is that artificially low interest rates cause a surplus of spending. Lower rates mean money is cheaper. Cheap money means people can buy more goods/services. Buying more goods/services creates a price bubble in regular goods. When the market recognizes that prices are too high, the bubble busts. To prevent a recession the government has to lower interest rates and print more money, which prolongs and deepens the bubble.

Remember, printing money adds no value to the economy. The same amount of goods still exist. There are more dollars in the economy, but now with a lower value. The pizza stays the same size, but now the slices are smaller.

The excess demand caused by artificially low rates causes an excess of supply. Businesses make more widgets, build more factories and buy more equipment and they say, “This product we have is selling like hot-cakes! Lets put all we have behind it!” More competitors enter the market and price wars may ensue. To remain competitive and profitable, businesses must cut costs wherever possible (usually R&D).

Sadly, while businesses are off pumping money into current products, they may neglect future products because they’re trying to keep up with all the current demand. They may even be strapped for cash when business is so good.

So what does this all mean for entrepreneurs and innovators?

Opportunity.

Our economy will eventually reach a recession point when excess demand will dry up. Many of your potential competitors will have built factories that are too large for the true demand and they will have to fire employees to keep afloat. They will have invested too much in NOW and not enough in TOMORROW. Tomorrow, however, is today.

Inevitably, the government will lower interest rates more to try to get the economy back on track (and they’ll just make things worse) so acquisition will be the best friend of big companies.

If you have a great product, now is the time to strike. A recession allows entrepreneurs to build their business when good talent is in highest supply, introduce a product that a high proportion of other businesses are not in the financial shape to duplicate and borrow money cheaper (I’ll address credit markets later) than at any other time. Although there is less spending in a recession, because your product is a new innovation, you are in a position to transfer the demand for those now obsolete goods to your goods! Here’s an example. You sell medical software and the market has just tanked after seeing double digit growth in you sector. Lay-offs are happening everywhere and you hear news that no one is buying. You, nonetheless, are not an idiot. You see that you can find the best people you’ll ever find right now to launch a new medical records product that completely automates doctor’s offices so they only need a few nurses to run their clinics… and you know the system can pay for itself in a few months. You hear that one of your competitors just started developing an inferior product that will be out in 6 months minimum, probably 9 months and your other competitors are still struggling to stay alive. You have the entire street to roller-blade in for at least a year and a half.

That’s a huge advantage.

And, when the government causes a surplus in spending again to jump-start the economy, you have another opportunity. You sell at an artificially inflated price when the going is good , go sail your Yacht through the Bahamas and then come back and do it all over again.

So we see clearly, the federal reserve creates artificial value. Use it to make yourself a millionaire… or billionaire.

I posted my recommended reading list for entrepreneurs at the LinkedIn.com group page OnStartups and I felt inspired to share with you a reading list of a different sort.  Creativity and Innovation!!!!

In no consecutive order:

1. The Art of Innovation: Great book on innovation.  This will push you to push yourself.  If you’re an entrepreneur, you need to read this book.
2. A Whack on the Side of the Head: Kinda cheesy, but relevant for any of you who feel that the corporate world has gotten your whitey tighties too snug.  This book will show you how to start being creative.  Also has a good section on creative destruction that you need to read.
3. The Creative Habit: This is a book by the world renown choreographer Twyla Tharp.  This is good stuff for those of you who earn a living through your ideas. Creativity is not just about “thinking outside the box”.  Its work and its just as hard as any other intellectual pursuit.  Persistence makes us great, and that’s what you’ll find in this book.
4. Creating: Robert Fritz is a creativity consultant and former composer (like me) who’s authored a few good books about creativity.  Although he’s an indirect competitor of mine and I don’t necessarily agree with everything he says, I do recommend this book.  My favorite part of the book is on assumption.  Humans want to know the answer to everything and we often make assumptions to achieve this unconscious desire.   However, false assumptions stifle our creativity because they keep us from being objective about what step we’re on in the creative process. Its not super-light reading, but worth your time.
5. Innovation and Entrepreneurship: A Peter Drucker classic. Offer 4 thoughtful strategies for companies to stay ahead of the curve.  I like this one because Drucker has a vast business history knowledge, which is insightful.  This is a greatbook, but don’t believe everything Mr. Drucker says about innovation just because he’s a world famous guru.  Read The Art of Innovation and this one back to back and you’ll see why.
6. Creativity: A book by a guy who’s name I cannot pronounce.  Great book discussing the results of many years of research on creativity.  For those of you who desire to be great, to be remembered and to leave a lasting legacy… you owe it to future generations to read this book.  This will show you the way my comrads.
7. Read everything you can about business history!!!! Why?  Why can’t I just read how-to books all my life and take the best practices from other industries and be super-creative… blah blah blah?  The most successful people in any field usually have an expansive knowledge of their field’s history.  In music, just read a little about Brahms, Mozart, Igor Stravinsky, Phillip Glass, Debussy, Ravel…. or even Bob Dylan.  In business, learn about Warren Buffett, Peter Drucker, etc.  The past does not repeat itself but it does rhyme.  Do yourself a favor and become a business history expert.  You will be far ahead of the curve.

Lately I’ve been working on a business plan for a medical company that supplies solutions to problems like  expensive home health beds,  bed sores in home health environments and staph infection.  I felt blessed by God when I stumbled on the idea of a brass medical bed.  Bronze kills disease when it comes in contact so bronze will automatically disinfect anything it touches. I thought for sure that I was on to something great and my confidence was sitting atop Mt. Everest.  Then reality happened.

I was fortunate enough to talk to a VP at a large hospital in Little Rock with lots of experience with hospital beds.  I was operating under the assumption that the bed was the solution to the staph problem (what would you touch more than the bed?) and I confidently blurted out the statistic “One out of twenty people admitted to a hospital will contract staph and, out of those who contract staph, one in twenty will die.”   He then karate-chopped my assumption in the face (and I’m glad he did).  Turns out, staph is usually brought into hopsitals because of visitors… so my brass medical bed idea…. dead…. Thank the Lord.

Suprisingly, I got so much insight about the problems medical care providers face that I was overloaded with new product ideas (ideas much better and cheaper to manufacture than brass medical beds).  Suprisingly, I talked to my grandma, who’d just gotten out of the hospital after an irregular heart beat gave her a scare, and she suggested a bronze medical bed load of ideas that would make my products even better!  How would this be?  My original product was dead in the water, but somehow I came out of the situation better off.

It all started by talking to people who knew about my industry… people who ran it and people who lived in it… and then applying what I knew about product developement and innovation to their input.  The results?… better ideas, better products and, in the end, more money for me. 

The lesson: be open minded. Ask everyone and listen, even to your grandma.   If someone shows you a better way, don’t be hard-headed.  Take their good advice and run with it.  

You can’t learn anything be knowing everything.

I’m building my online presence and I feel a little sore. I just joined
http://www.linkedin.com and I realize now how far behind the rest of the world I am.

Anyways, down to business. This is the new blog. If you’re reading this from the link on my linkedin.com page, what we focus on here is innovation and creativity. I’m particularly interested in the music business (since I am a musician as well), but I also like to make principles clear so that anyone can apply my insights to his/her own situation.

Boring! boring!! boring!!!! Now for a fun video!!!

I don’t know this guy, but that really doesn’t matter. You see that he ’s playing the guitar in an innovative way, right? Well what inspired this? How did this guy come up with this idea?

Answer: Cross-pollination (….well, actually this guy probably saw Phil Keagy do it 20 years ago, but whatever… we’ll have a post on stealing best practices later)

You already know what cross-pollination is but what I want people to see is how you can apply it to any problem you have. In the case of Andy McKee, his style is a mix between guitar and percussion. Guitar playing is the article needing innovation and percussion is the article of cross-pollination. Andy has taken an idea from one medium and applied it to another medium.

Another example is the water bottle that the Silicon Valley product design firm IDEO created for Specialized Bicycle Components. By looking at how the valves of the heart function (article of cross-pollination), the firm was able to create a water bottle that could be used with one hand while riding. I suggest you check out IDEO’s approach in Tom Kelley’s book The Art of Innovation and visit IDEO’s website at www.ideo.com. I don’t work for them or anything, but I think they’re on to something.

That’s a quick and dirty introduction.

Please me email me your suggestions. If you matthewrduckworth@gmail.com

Introduction
This article is Part II of a three part series which is based on the marketing book Groundswell: Winning In A World Transformed By Social Technologies. In Part I I had discussed what exactly a groundswell is, the changing rules of the free market, outlined the concept of the sum being greater than individual parts and added some personal reflections on these topics. In this article I will address why a brand is dictated by customers and not by an individual or company providing the product or service representing the brand.

Traditional Marketing
Traditional marketing was based upon a company developing an advertisement and said company would release their advertisement to the public via print media (magazines, newspapers, etc.), radio commercials, or television commercials. This was one-way communications where the company who was marketing the product or service would push the information to the general public in hopes that sheer repetition and timing would increase the likelihood of someone making a purchase of the advertised product or service. The consumer would accept the advertised product but had little influence concerning the shaping of the advertisement for the product, the product development cycle or the product itself. Given the explosive growth of the Internet, social media, and online communities this concept is dramatically changing.

A New Way Of Thinking
Yesterday in The Groundswell Effect Part I I had mentioned that institutional power is being challenged by the groundswell. This has all come about due to a convergence of three forces which are people, technology, and economics. People are being connected more thoroughly and rapidly than ever before through such avenues as social media. Technology serves as the enabler of people due to the rapid advances in technology and connectivity. Finally, the economics of the Internet is traffic = money. The collision of people, technology and economics create the groundswell.

As discussed in The Groundswell Effect Part I the groundswell is changing the way the free market operates. No longer are manufacturers of products or suppliers of services defining the rules and pushing information to the consumer. The groundswell has allowed for two way communications, and  even in increasing regularity the consumer is defining the brand for the manufacturer or supplier as a result of interactions occurring in the groundswell. The discussions occurring in social networking communities such as Facebook and Twitter, definitions posted in such open source forum as Wikipedia, and even dialogue prompted by independent bloggers  such as myself are all defining individual brands and the world in which we interact.

The Groundswell authors, Charlene Li and Josh Bernoff provide numerous examples of this hijacking of brand identity within their book. I will not reprint those here but I highly recommend their book if this is an area of interest for you; the point is – this is happening with increasing regularity and there are documented examples. As introduced yesterday in The Groundswell Effect Part I, the rules are changing – crowds are more powerful than individuals and the crowds are redefining the rules and reshaping our products and services. This is bad news for some but a tremendous opportunity for others.

Is The Groundswell A Threat Or An Opportunity?
There is no doubt that the groundswell is a threat to traditional business. Individuals and companies operating in the old way of thinking will undoubtedly have difficulties, and although I hate to revisit the overused mantra of “change or die” prominent in so many business books I believe in this instance it is true. Web savvy consumers will no longer accept poor product or service quality coupled with superb marketing. The Internet allows people to discuss products and services effortlessly with the whole world to see, therefore the product or service delivery must be flawless from beginning to end.

On the other hand, there are an abundance of opportunities for those who embrace the change brought about by the groundswell.  In my opinion the organizations with the most opportunity are startups. Since startups do not have the baggage of a traditional organization they can start with a clean slate and begin building their processes for optimal execution within the groundswell. On the other end of the spectrum are the traditional, established companies who have a greater challenge as change within an established firm is often the most difficult – there are opportunities here though, it just depends mainly on people’s willingness to change.

Other opportunities lie in the area of product or service development.  The Internet allows for a greatly increased product development cycle of rapid prototyping, failure, and adaptation. As such the Internet allows for a greatly increased rate of evolution than has occurred in the past. Rather than researching the feasibility of an idea for a long duration, developing the product for another year or greater, and then releasing the product, the new method will be, release the idea to the public and monitor the groundswell chatter. The feedback from the groundswell will be used to improve the idea, which will next be prototyped and the cycle repeated. Increased feedback frequency and product and service development cycles generally equal faster time to market and increased profit.

I ask you to consider one final point. Groundswells and the Internet are also changing the way customers behave in regard to the manner in which they make their purchases. In the past customer loyalty was nearly guaranteed, as people operating offline generally do not change behaviors quickly. However, the groundswell creates an environment of fickle, uninhibited customers, as when operating online, people may often change as soon as they see something better. Take the points of increased rapid prototyping and change in customer behavior and magnify this across millions of people across the Internet and you can imagine the impact this has on business and society.

To Be Continued…
In Part III I will conclude this series by discussing the growing importance of relationships and how relationships are impacted by the groundswell.

Individuals and company brands must evolve to meet the business evolution brought about by groundswells!

-John R. Sedivy of Cape Cod Branding

Introduction
This article kicks off a three part series entitled The Groundswell Effect. This series is based upon the book Groundswell: Winning in a World Transformed By Social Technologies by Charlene Li and Josh Bernoff. While making my way through this book I walked away with three important concepts, each one will be addressed in a separate article:

1.  The whole is greater than the sum of it’s parts
2.  A brand is dictated by customers not by an individual or company
3.  Relationships are key

Part I will address what exactly a groundswell is, identify the changing rules of the game that we each take part in, and in doing so reinforce the first concept of the whole being greater than the sum of it’s parts.

What is a Groundswell?
Groundswell was a term originally coined by Forrester Research in a 2006 report titled Social Computing: How Networks Erode Institutional Power, And What To Do About It. According to the Groundswell authors “the groundswell is a social trend in which people use technologies to get the things they need from each other instead of from companies.” Simply put, in the past if I had a question concerning the quality or usefulness of a particular product or service I would go to the company offering said product or service. Most recently though, if I had these same questions I would go online and read things such as blogs, customer reviews, discussion boards, wikis, etc. and not even  go to the company. The groundswell is the gathering of individuals and their interactions in these online communities which is essentially the Internet as we understand it.

The Rules Are Changing
This new dynamic is essentially changing the rules by which the free market game is played. In the past a company controlled communications regarding a product or service by being selective or limiting the amount of information released to the public about said product or service. The concept of the groundswell shifts the power away from the manufacturer or service provider to the user community. Manufacturers and service providers are realizing this is occurring whether they like it or not and are attempting to adapt by participating in the groundswell and as a result have a stake in shaping the communities perception of their product or service.

The Whole Is Greater Than The Sum Of It’s Individual Parts
As a result of my engineering background I have known this concept to be true for years but mainly in a high technology system context. Consider your car, although the individual parts such as the brakes, engine, onboard computer, etc. may be complex, powerful, and add value it their own right, it isn’t until they are combined into a complete functioning vehicle that their true power and value is unleashed. The whole vehicle is much greater than the sum of its individual parts.

Now consider this concept in a marketing and crowd behavior sense, which is the context of groundswells. Simply stated, an immediate assumption is that one person + one person = two people or 1 + 1 = 2. However two people working together is a much more powerful force than the two people working in isolation as individuals. Interestingly enough, the more people you add to the mix the more powerful the effect becomes – this is the essence of the whole being greater than the sum of it’s individual parts. Anyone who has ever worked in both an individual and a partnership situation knows this to be true.

Personal Reflection
In my experience I have found what the authors are saying to be true. Word of mouth is generally the biggest item to convince me to try something, especially when it comes from a friend or group with similar tastes. The web makes retrieving this information extremely easy, nearly instantaneous. As mentioned in my Consistency and Exclusivity post I tend to gravitate towards certain brands and stick with them over time.

Pockets of information form around these brands through groupings of user communities, this is certainly the case with brands such as Apple. If I am to purchase a brand, product, or service that I am unfamiliar with I almost always check online to find quality information about the expected purchase which is generally at my fingertips. Personally, the only meaningful contact I have with a company is at the point of sale where my opinion has already been formed through groundswelling. Another example is Starbucks, where this company actually formed it’s own individual Facebook and Twitter to tap into the power of the groundswell. For your convenience I have provided links both the Starbucks Facebook Page and the Starbucks Twitter Page as examples. For more on the role of Social Media in business development refer to my past articles titled Social Media Parts I, II, and III.

From a personal context consider the effect this has on your purchasing decisions. Personally, it is true that I am interested in nice ads and marketing campaigns that attract my attention based upon my interests. However, I am much more interested in online user reviews as opposed to industry experts and critics and most interested in friends and colleagues with similar taste. To finalize this point consider the impact an opinion a friend with similar taste and interests has on your decision making, now take it to the next level and consider the impact an online user community demonstrating trends concerning a product or service prior to your purchase and you will understand the power of the groundswell.

To Be Continued…
In Part II I will discuss why a brand is dictated by the groundswell and not the company offering the product or service.

The power of the collective groundswell is much higher than that of an individual!

-John R. Sedivy of Cape Cod Branding

Introduction
While writing What Is Class? Parts I and II, I had almost gone down the path of discussing “The Dumbest Person In The Room” concept, however I stopped short as what was meant to be a sidebar quickly took on a life of its own. Furthermore, a reader had made a comment to the effect of surrounding yourself with greatness in response to my Snow & The Snowball Part III article. Given the timing of the comment this seemed an appropriate time to discuss this topic.

The Dumbest Person In The Room
Throughout my career I have always tried to position myself as “the dumbest person in the room.” At first glance this may appear to be repulsive, especially to professional minded readers of this blog, however there is a method to my madness. When first entering a group, company, or organization and if in fact you are the dumbest, or to be kinder, least knowledgeable in a subject matter, there is a tremendous learning opportunity – nearly everything and everyone you come into contact with is a new experience – if you take in the knowledge like a sponge and properly apply it – you have nowhere to go but up. On the other hand, if you are the smartest person in the room, you are pretty much topped out and really there is a risk you may be dragged down by your environment.

Stretch
The smartest person in the room is the most comfortable position and as a result the least challenging. Lobsters (see The Power of Positive Part II for more on lobsters ) are most comfortable in this environment because it is easiest to stay on top and keep others down. Conversely, the dumbest person in the room is downright uncomfortable – at least in the beginning – however this is where the most learning takes place. Like anything else worthwhile, this is challenging, however the rewards are great.

In my career I have found once entering a situation I would be the least knowledgeable – on purpose, and then over time gain enough knowledge to gain mastery of a subject or situation. Once upon a time I was a young man in the United States Marine Corps (USMC) and was newly promoted to the rank of sergeant. Once promoted I had the opportunity to attend the Non-Commissioned Officer (NCO) academy which is basically a leadership school. While attending I learned at least one valuable lesson that I have carried with me throughout my military and civilian career passed down from an instructor – “a little bit of stress is a good thing.”

The idea being not too much, not too little but just an optimal amount. If you are not at least a little stressed, you are not growing or in other words, stretching. When you position yourself as the dumbest person in the room you will likely be uncomfortable – but this is not a bad thing. You are in essence, growing and stretching, and in turn positioning yourself for bigger and better things. After some time has passed you will transition from being the dumbest person in the room to the smartest and it will be time to move on. There is not a set time, but you will know based on your feelings towards a given situation – just trust your instincts.

Concerning your feelings on a group or situation – are you empowered and energized? Admitted it is difficult to position yourself in situations where you are empowered and energized, however it is well worth the effort. In situations where I am growing and stretching I feel a burst of energy, although there may be a bit of uneasiness about the unknown, the overarching emotion is excitement and motivation. Conversely I have experienced environments and projects with minimal challenge or growth – uneasiness was missing, but so too was the excitement and motivation.

This ties in perfectly to the concept of “marrying up” that I had introduced in Snow & The Snowball Part III. In surrounding yourself with people in either your personal or professional life you should attempt to position yourself with others who bring something to the table and you learn from just by mere association. Again, this has nothing to do with wealth, fame, or success, but has to do with intangible qualities such as class and your feelings in a given environment or group – are you empowered and energized?

Strive to be the dumbest person in the room!

-John R. Sedivy of Cape Cod Branding

Background
In Part I of this series I discussed the concept of class. I determined that in my opinion, class was not directly linked to one’s amount of wealth, formal education, or pedigree or upbringing. Additionally, the number of friends or specific social circle does not entitle one to be defined as classy. Part II of this series attempts to define the elusive quality of class.

Definition of Class
So if one’s class is not directly related to one’s wealth, formal education, or pedigree, what is it then? In my opinion, class is really the respect one demonstrates to another, regardless of wealth, formal education, or upbringing. It is really how a person or group behave or handle, people or situations in their lives and the perception of others towards this behavior. Class is also maintaining a positive attitude throughout even the most trying of situations. Consider the following example.

A Practical Example
A sterling example of class may be viewed in the case of Drew Bledsoe. For the complete story please refer to the referenced blog, however I will provide a brief summary. Before those of you who are not sports fans or from New England decide to quite reading here, I must note that this is not meant to be sports oriented but just a relevant example. In short, during the 2001 football season, Drew Bledsoe was injured and had to cede to second string (at that time) quarterback Tom Brady. When Bledsoe recovered, Brady finished the remaining season with a Super Bowl victory and Bledsoe watching from the sidelines.

As an unwritten rule, Bledsoe was entitled to finish the season, and would have likely had his teammates backing. However, Bledsoe put his individual needs aside and conceded to the needs of the team. In addition, when Bledsoe left New England that same season, he took out a full page ad in two newspapers thanking fans for their support. So, let’s look at this a bit closer. What made Drew Bledsoe classy in this situation?

He put the needs of others ahead of his own, which is consistent with a service mentality. Drew Bledsoe demonstrated a tremendous amount of class by putting his needs aside for those of the team and fans. Lesser men, without as much class may have pushed to be put back into the first string lineup and may have been successful in doing so. However, Drew Bledsoe had made a conscious decision to behave selflessly and therefor exhibit a true example of class.

Drew Bledsoe had also demonstrated much class with his farewell message by  means of several newspaper ads in New England. He could have shown bitterness for being sidelined during his team’s success, however even with his departure he had shown class, which was consistent with his overall behavior and individual brand. In closing, remember that class is not tied to wealth, education, pedigree, one’s social circle, but to the respect shown to one another. Individually and/or as a business treat others with respect and over time your brand will be recognized as a class act.

Class is a combination of respect towards others and maintaining a positive attitude throughout!

-John Sedivy of Cape Cod Branding

Background
In starting Cape Cod Branding a concept that Amy and I discussed was that of class. The naming of Cape Cod Branding was purposeful in that Cape Cod denotes a certain level of sophistication and draws association with small upscale specialty boutiques as well as a world renowned vacation spot for the wealthy. The branding aspect is meant to connote a certain level of business knowledge and convey this to our customers. This article launches the first of a two part series titled What is Class? In Part I I discuss the concept of class and in Part II class will be defined as well as a practical example provided.

What is Class?
What exactly is class?  I would like you to ponder the following questions relating to class:

1. Is it the amount of wealth one possesses?
2. The level of formal academic education achieved by an individual?
3. An individual’s pedigree or upbringing?

I have found the class question to be a tough nut to crack and have had countless hours of discussion with Amy concerning this topic and will provide our conclusions.

While reflecting on this topic I found myself drawing upon my past experiences and those of my business partner to answer this question.

Wealth and Class
Does wealth define class? While cataloging the individuals I had known with wealth there were some I would consider classy, while others were most assuredly not. Conversely, I know of individuals considered poor by material standards but who I consider contain much class.

Education and Class
What about formal education – does this indicate class? Again, as with the wealth aspect, I have found that education does not define class. In my travels I have had the good fortune of interacting with a wide range of individuals from high school dropouts to those educated within the Ivy League. As with the wealth test, I could not surmise a direct correlation between education and class.

Pedigree and Class
Surely then, one’s pedigree or upbringing must indicate class. As with the other aspects, not necessarily. I have witnessed that those with a “proper” upbringing can perhaps erect a facade of class, however those in the know (either raised or self taught) will easily pierce this, regardless of upbringing.

To Be Continued…
In Part II I give you the answer of how I define class based upon my experience and provide an example of class.

Class is an elusive quality and not easily defined!

-John R. Sedivy of Cape Cod Branding

The Holidays are a time for family. John and I are pleased to share with you the story of Mary Eble, a social worker in California, who is pursuing her passion for bringing families together.

When I first spoke with Mary, she told me about her vision for Heritage Stories, and how helping families connect is her driving motivation. Mary’s story is perfectly suited for Christmas. She has just released an E-book entitled The 12 Gifts, and it is her gift to all of us. The 12 Gifts is a treasure trove of suggestions for strengthening the bond between family and friends. It offers ideas for thoughtful gifts and mementos that can be shared among family, and passed down to future generations.
Mary told me that we all have a basic human need to connect and be social. She feels that for her, personally, understanding her history helps to ground her.

Her insightful blog, www.Heritage-Stories.com is dedicated to helping families re-connect, and keeping that connection strong. She offers advice, links to beneficial sites and stories that others have shared. It’s a fun and informative site, whether you’re just starting your journey of tracking your family’s history, or you’re already well on your way to a fully filled-in family tree.
As we celebrate with our loved-ones, remember this should be a holiday season of “connection not consumption”.

Mary’s complimentary E-book, The 12 Gifts may be found here.

Happy Holidays from CCB!

-Amy Stevens Adams of Cape Cod Branding

Introduction
As our regular readers may recall last week was an extraordinary week for us here at Cape Cod Branding – a week of many firsts. To name a few it marked the highest number of visitors to our blog – CCB Buzz, the highest amount of web traffic in a given day, and above all the first time we hit over 1,000 in a single day, and over the course of the week we maintained over 1,000 visitors a day for the whole week. Although this week has really just begun, it has been phenomenal. First, we reached over 2,600 visitors in a single day. To top it all off we reached a total number of 10,000 visitors to CCB Buzz, all within 21 days of launching the site!

A former classmate from the Johns Hopkins University (JHU) Carey Business School had contacted me and asked how we ramped up so quickly. Since there was interest on his part, I thought others might be interested as well so I am providing the top three items that we here at Cape Cod Branding believe attributed to this. My plan is to touch briefly on each of these points for today’s discussion and then follow up at a later time and discuss each in greater detail.

Driving Web Traffic
When we launched CCB Buzz in early December I recall our traffic was in the single digits for about the first week. After a short time we ramped up quickly, double digits, and then triple. In my mind I had a goal of attempting to drive towards doubling web traffic every day. Initially this equated to something as simple as increasing web traffic from two hits to four hits, which of course does not sound very exciting and was the equivalent of watching paint dry. However over time as the numbers grew, so did our excitement.

That being said I thought about the top three things that got us to where we are today and they are the following:

1. Partnering – Two are better than one.
2. Content – Offer value to your readership.
3. Frequency – Post often.

Please keep in mind the following when reading this article and reviewing the accompanying WordPress screen captures:

1. The three items identified in this article are in addition to the Five Keys to Success that I identified in my previous articles titled the The Five Keys to Success Parts I and II and serve as a foundation for the more blog specific topical items of partnering, content, and frequency
2. The CCB Buzz blog was launched on 12/1/08
3. The screen captures were taken at approximately 1:30 PM EST on 12/23/08

Above all, keep in mind that there is not one set method of generating traffic – this is simply our view on the world. My thought is that there is a certain magic that takes place based on a convergence of factors; for me it was a mixture of partnering, content, and frequency but for you it may be different. Experiment a bit – try an approach, monitor the results, and then adjust if needed. Stick with it and enjoy yourself.

For today I just wanted to introduce the topic and identify the three items which I believe were instrumental to our success in such a short time. After the Christmas holiday I will delve deeper in each area providing a separate blog article for partnering, content, and frequency respectively.  In the meantime, Amy will be providing a feature of our first client at Cape Cod Branding which will be similar in scope to the first feature from Amy on Why We Started Our Business Cape Cod Branding.

Partnering, content, and frequency have been the formula to our success!

-John R. Sedivy of Cape Cod Branding

Introduction
In keeping with the snowstorm weekend here on Cape Cod I am continuing yesterday’s discussion on The Snowball which is the biography of Warren Buffett. As a refresher, three pertinent points were identified from this book:

1. Accumulating wealth may be likened to building a snowball
2. Zig when everyone else zags
3. Marry up, not down

Yesterday in Snow & The Snowball Part I we discussed how building anything of quality, whether it is wealth, a business, or an individual or company brand, may be likened to building a snowball, by adding to it a little over a time it gradually accumulates significant value. Today I will continue and discuss why following the crowd is not always the best approach.

Zig When Everyone Else Zags
At first glance this may seem to defy logic. Is it not a good thing to follow the crowd? Considering today’s society of increasing peer pressure is it not wise to follow the crowd and not upset the status quo? Is this not why more books on the topic of the wisdom of crowds are being written and why we watch the news and participate in social media outlets – to see what everyone else is doing and follow suit as the group must know best? Warren Buffett argued against this logic in his biography and I tend to agree.

I am not arguing against the wisdom of crowds. There are a number of interesting books on the subject, one of which I had recently read titled The Open Brand by Kelly Mooney and Dr. Nita Rollins, and another I am currently reading called Groundswell by Charlene Li and Josh Bernoff, neither of which I am going to elaborate on here as they will be the topics of future articles. What I am arguing against is blindly following crowds. Crowds are useful insomuch as gathering information on one’s target market and your brand. They may also serve as a valuable predictor of your business future or the economy in general.

One should monitor crowd behavior, plan accordingly, and adjust their strategy. However when taking action I advise against taking the popular or mainstream action and following the path less traveled. Consider a couple relevant examples. First, in Warren Buffett’s biography a consistent theme was his investment strategy of looking for bargains, whether it was an individual stock or even whole companies. As individuals were offloading, he was buying. The second example, and pertinent to many out there is real estate investors, savvy investors have been known for purchasing while others are having to offload and receive tremendous bargains as a result. Consider both examples in light of today’s economy – especially the state of company, real estate, or stock investments and the wisdom of following the crowds should immediately come into question.

To Be Continued…
In Part III I will conclude the series by discussing the concept of marrying up.

Watch the crowd but never blindly follow!

-John R. Sedivy of Cape Cod Branding

Introduction
Nothing is more Cape Cod-ish than a seashell stuck in the snow.  Now say THAT 10 times fast!
Yesterday was a pretty exciting day and evening as we had just received the first major snowfall of the season here on Cape Cod. It was another first as it was also my first time of being on a beach in the Winter with snow. As part of this blog I have provided a few pictures to share with you the beautiful, almost magical atmosphere in the aftermath of the storm which occurred most of the day and into the evening. While walking around town and down to the beach and looking at the snow covered streets and beach I was thinking of a book I had just read that is on the New York Times Best Seller List at the time of this posting called The Snowball: Warren Buffett and the Business of Life. There were three items of interest that I would like to share with you from this book:

1. Accumulating wealth may be likened to building a snowball
2. Zig when everyone else zags
3. Marry up, not down

I will discuss each of these items in greater detail as a two part series.

Like a Snowball
For those not familiar with The Snowball, it is a biography of the life of Warren Buffett, excellently documented by Alice Schroeder. The title The Snowball comes from the fact that Warren Buffett likened his slow but steady accumulation of wealth to building a large snowball – he started with a few flakes, but gradually over time as more snow (or money) became available he added to it, with a snowball that grew dramatically over the years. Although the author discusses the snowball in terms of money, I believe it may also be applied to business or your brand (either as an individual or company). In the Five Keys to Success Parts I and II, I had identified time, persistence, and patience as three of the five keys – Warren Buffett possessed all five, but most certainly these three attributes listed here. I will elaborate on all three a little more.

Building anything of quality takes time, especially at the start. In the beginning everything is a blank slate, a hunk of clay ready for the molding. However the more effort and time you put into accumulating wealth, building a business, or establishing a personal or professional brand, the greater the results you will see. As you accumulate more snow and pack it into your snowball, so to will you accumulate money, clients, and a reputation which will grow larger as you accumulate more and more. As the snowball grows, the results will compound and be greater than the sum of their individual parts.

Because building greatness takes time, it will require a large amount of patience and persistence. Success does not occur overnight and you will need to persist day in and day out, slowly but steadily to achieve your end objective and patiently await the results. Of course from time to time you will need to persevere through some difficult obstacles which will seem insurmountable at the time, but I guarantee you they are not and will appear trivial in hindsight, especially if your perseverance is fueled by passion. This was certainly the case with Warren Buffett; in The Snowball there are many examples of obstacles that Warren Buffett had to overcome to achieve greatness and build his snowball.

To Be Continued…
In Part II I will discuss why following the crowd is not the way to greatness and the concept of marrying up.

Building a snowball of wealth, a business, or individual or company brand takes time!

-John R. Sedivy of Cape Cod Branding

Another Thank You!
During Part I of this series I had mentioned that CCB Buzz had exceeded the 1,000 site visitor milestone for the first time and that 722 of those visitors were from yesterday alone. Today, for Part II I have the pleasure of announcing that we have exceeded over 1,000 visitors in a single day! A fitting accomplishment given the title of today’s blog, The Five Keys to Success Part II. Once again I would like to take a moment and thank everyone for making this happen as we certainly could not have done this without you.

Yesterday
The Five Keys of Success Part I identified five attributes that will lead to success in a given endeavor which were the following:

1. Time
2. Patience
3. Perseverance
4. Passion
5. Persistence

I had discussed where in my experience I had come across each item and how they were relevant to success. In The Five Keys to Success Part II, I will discuss limitations, or constraints with the five keys as well as provide a practical example using this model.

Constraints
In my experience I have found that given enough time, patience, perseverance, passion, and persistence one can accomplish anything. There are a couple of constraints here though. First, keep in mind that it may take some longer than others based on their level of experience to accomplish a given objective. For example, is this an individual’s first new business or their tenth new business? In most cases the person who had started other businesses in the past will ramp up faster due to past lessons learned.

Second, this model requires a certain level of sacrifice. With Cape Cod Branding, Amy and I will often ask one another, “How much is it worth to you?” Really, meaning, what are you willing to sacrifice and how bad will we let things get before we pull the plug. Will you sacrifice your present quality of life in order to launch the business in trade for a quality of life that is estimated to far exceed anything prior known? Obviously the sacrifice and difficult questions are asked with most intensity on day one and generally reduce with frequency as time passes, progress is made, and results are witnessed; but it is an important factor nonetheless.

Passion Fuels Excellence
What does this mean to your business and brand? Let’s use CCB Buzz as an example. During the first few days of launching the blog there were greater ups and downs. We would spend time researching information, writing, and then publish. While monitoring the analytics, one would be less than optimistic, at least initially. However, Amy and I are both passionate about CCB Buzz, it’s really a labor of love. So we persisted. Gradually traffic increased, and then increased, until we reached our high points this week which exceeded our wildest expectations.

So my point is if you are really passionate about something, whether it is your individual brand, company brand, or a profession – then stick with it. It is always difficult to overcome gravity in the beginning. However, over time, with your passion fueling you to patiently persevere with great persistence, people will take notice, word of mouth will spread and it will become easy, and eventually effortless over time. If you are not passionate, you will likely not overcome gravity, so if you lack passion, find something you are passionate about and then press forward!

Passion Fuels Excellence And Will Push You and Your Brand to Success!

-John R. Sedivy of Cape Cod Branding

Acknowledgment
Cape Cod Branding and our blog CCB Buzz had a phenomenal day. It was a day of firsts in two important ways. For the first time we reached and exceeded our 1,000 site visitor milestone. Second, we had 722 visitors to our blog in one day! I wanted to start today’s discussion by thanking all of you, whether you are a regular reader, or just stopped by to check us out; we would certainly like to see more of you and hope that you join us throughout our growth and journey. Not too shabby for a blog slightly over two weeks old!

Background
In commemoration of achieving two significant milestones today I decided to move this two part series up in the rotation and mix things up a bit due to the relevance of this series. I’ve entitled this series the Five Keys to Success as I believe they are instrumental to nearly anything that you do, especially to starting a business or promoting a brand. The five keys are as follows:

1. Time
2. Patience
3. Perseverance
4. Passion
5. Persistence

Perseverance and persistence are arguably the same, however I found each in a different context and therefore thought it important to separate the two.

Time, Patience, and Perseverance
The timing of this milestone was interesting in that I am currently reading a book titled Born in Blood by John J. Robinson . This book provides a history of the Knights Templar and a potential connection to Freemasonry, which at first seems to have nothing to do with business, or branding for that matter. However, at one point the author describes a monument erected to honor a legendary Masonic character that contained a Figure of Time which “reminds us that time, patience, and perseverance accomplish all things.” This statement struck a chord with me given the basic simplicity yet ultimate truth implied. Also, this statement triggered recent thoughts I had that seem particularly relevant to personal, business, and brand development which lead to the passion and persistence pieces I had picked up in another experience.

In yesterday’s Branding and Outliers post I had discussed the 10,000 Hour Rule as outlined by Malcolm Gladwell the author of the best selling Outliers: The Story of Success book. The gist of this theory is that a person or group is usually considered world class when they have achieved 10,000 hours of experience within their chosen area of expertise, with an assumption of 20 hours a week over 10 years.

My opinion is that this is the time portion of the time, patience, and perseverance statement. Not that it should take you 10,000 hours to turn a profit, or be successful, just generally to be known as a top contender in your field. My thought is that it also takes a great deal of patience and perseverance to achieve 10,000 hours of anything. Patience to wait for something good to happen, and perseverance to push through the low points or valleys that all entrepreneurs know all too well. If one has the patience to wait for the resultant good things to happen, the perseverance to push through the tough times, and the wherewithal to achieve 10,000 hours of deliberate practice in a given field, then excellence will be achieved and many good things will happen along the way.

Passion and Persistence
Gene Theus, a former classmate at the Johns Hopkins University (JHU) Carey Business School had prompted a discussion concerning “passion and persistence” while we were wrapping up our MBA program. The statement was in response to a faculty query concerning business opportunity within the new economy and may be summed up as follows: “Recognizing the opportunity and delivering a cost effective solution needs to then be followed with passion and persistence.”  This statement has stuck with me since that point and has resurfaced from time to time during the peaks and valleys that I have experienced since founding Cape Cod Branding with my business partner Amy.

To Be Continued…
In Part II of this series I will discuss a practical example of how the five keys to success may be used to propel your brand.

Time, Patience, Perseverance, Passion and Persistence Are The Keys To Your Brand’s Success!

-John R. Sedivy of Cape Cod Branding

Background
Just recently I had read the book Outliers: The Story of Success by Malcolm Gladwell which occupies the top spot for hardcover non-fiction on the New York Times Best Sellers List. Reading this book prompted me to think about branding and outliers. Today’s blog will focus on the key points I found form this book and how they relate to your brand.

What Are Outliers?
In layman’s terms an outlier is a scientific term that describes something that is outside of a normal group and different from the majority. In this book the author speaks of the factors that make certain people (outliers) successful in their careers and ultimately in life and what they have done differently than the ordinary rank and file to achieve such extraordinary success. I found two important points that relate directly to branding:

1. Outlier performance has been said to be linked to the person being exposed to a set of circumstances that uniquely positions them for success; sort of like being in the right place at the right time.
2. It has been determined that in order for a person or group to be considered world class that they generally had achieved 10,000 hours of experience within their chosen area of expertise. This was based on an assumed 20 hours per week over ten years.

In the next section I will discuss how this relates directly to your brand.

So What?
Although there are no substitutes for hard work, drive, discipline, education, and experience; for a person or business to achieve greatness they must be at the right place at the right time. For your brand this means putting yourself out there for people to find you. A clean, simple, creative website which effectively communicates your brand is a great way to do this. In addition, in my three part social media series I had discussed the effectiveness of social media tools for promoting your brand which will drive traffic to your website and ultimately to you. A solid web presence ensures you are always virtually there, ensuring that you are at the right place at the right time.

Secondly, it is important that your brand drives towards world class performance as represented by the 10,000 hour rule. This is really a guidepost but seems realistic in my opinion and a good rule of thumb. The Outliers book provides a number of examples of well known superstars in their respective field to prove this point. Researchers have coined this term “deliberate practice” meaning activity that’s explicitly intended to improve performance, that reaches for objectives just beyond one’s level of competence, provides feedback on results, and involves high levels of repetition.

I am recommending that you deliberately practice the creation of your product or service in a manner that is consistent with your exclusive brand. You should strive for this 10,000 milestone; but ensure it is consistent with what you want your brand to become good at and as a result known for. By the mere act of consistently practicing and promoting your brand you will by default improve your product or service offering and as a result your standing within the marketplace. Make your brand stand apart as an outlier among a sea of common offerings.

Position Your Brand To Be At The Right Place At The Right Time and Strive to Achieve 10,000 Hours of Deliberate Practice Within Your Brand!

-John R. Sedivy of Cape Cod Branding