Building a Business Idea Around Artistic Hub’s Competition Platform

Instead of waiting for existing businesses to see the value in the competition platform interactive marketing tool, why not build a business around the platform itself.  Here are the ideas that we have so far:

Best Ideas

• Worst haircut (this idea is awesome)
• Ugliest Dog/Pet (has lots of potential)

Potential Ideas

• Grossest pic (could be dangerous… but might be viral…keep in mind)
• Best ass in jeans (I like this, who doesn’t appreciate a good looking ass in jeans… and they are easy to photograph with a phone cam)
• Worst ass in jeans (same as previous, just opposite in appeal)
• Would You Rather (if we can find a way to make this work, this would be great for a voting platform)
• Worst day at work (for people that hate their boss, their cubicle, their coworkers, or just like killing time at work)
• Funniest t-shirt (create a platform that can interface with bustedtees.com? or is a standalone platform for creativity)
• Ugliest person (who doesn’t a appreciate an ugly person…)

Getting the Edge in Business

Here is some great advice from Mark Cuban about gaining an advantage in the world of business.  In his view, it’s not who you know, how much money you have, etc that make you successful; it’s about whether you have the EDGE and the GUTS to use it.  Great motivational stuff:

• The edge is getting so jazzed about what you do, you just spent 24 hours straight working on a project and you thought it was a couple hours.
• The edge is knowing that you have to be the smartest guy in the room when you have your meeting and you are going to put in the effort to learn whatever you need to learn to get there.
• The edge is knowing is knowing that when the 4 girlfriends you have had in the last couple years asked you which was more important, them or your business, you gave the right answer.
• The edge is knowing that you can fail and learn from it, and just get back up and in the game.
• The edge is knowing that people think your crazy, and they are right, but you don’t care what they think.
• The edge is knowing how to blow off steam a couple times a week, just so you can refocus on business
• The edge is knowing that you are getting to your goals and treating people right along the way because as good as you can be, you are so focused that you need regular people around you to balance you and help you.
• The edge is being able to call out someone on a business issue because you know you have done your homework.
• The edge is recognizing when you are wrong, and working harder to make sure it doesn’t happen again.
• The edge is being able to drill down and identify issues and problems and solve them before anyone knows they are there.
• The edge is knowing that while everyone else is talking about nonsense like the will to win, and how they know they can be successful, you are preparing yourself to compete so that you will be successful.

—————————–
Sources:
http://blogmaverick.com/2009/05/13/success-motivation/

USD Poised to Fall…

This graph is worth a 1000 words.  For the first time in 26 years the US, the US has incurred a budget deficit for the fiscal year by the 4th month of the year!  This is directly attributable to the fact that tax revenue have fallen drastically from a year ago.  A deficit is bad, but what does it mean?  This could be an indicator or precursor to the next phase in the commodity bull market, especially for precious metals.  The easiest (only?) way the US Government can finance the debt is to issue more short term Treasury Notes.  As demand for US Dollars around the world continues to fall because of oversupply, it is likely the USDX will be testing the lows seen in the .71 to .72 levels in 2008.

———————————–
Sources:
http://caseyresearch.com/images/Recession%20Hits%20the%20Treasury.jpg

Thoughts on Business Cards

I have always been a believer that if you are going to have business cards designed for your business, then you might as well make them memorable.  The cards should have what I call the “Wow, that’s cool!” effect on someone.  This will make the person remember you as well as your brand better than a generic card.  Keep in mind that while I am a big fan of “standing out” when it comes to business cards, it should never be deemed a mission critical expense.   I came across a few ideas for business cards and logos:

http://creativebits.org/cool_business_card_designs
http://logopond.com/all/

A New Era of Marketing

Marketing has evolved over the course of the century into a completely different model.  It no longer works to canvas your brand or ads all over the place without a strategy.  According to Seth Godin, we are experiencing a shift from Mass Marketing to Tribal Marketing.

Mass Marketing: Average ideas being delivered through an abundance of ads. People with money and power deliver this idea to a mass audience

Tribal Marketing: Leading and connecting people and ideas.  The internet has caused a proliferation of tribes.  It is easy to find specific groups and target them.  All you need is a 1000 people who care enough about your product (true believer) that they spread the idea for you.

Bottom line is that it not nearly as effective to flood the market with your brand any more, it is necessary to implement a strategy to either create a tribe or win over existing tribes to become loyal followers and true believers.  Seth Godin recommends the following steps to

Build an Idea:

1. Tell a Story
2. Connect a Tribe
3. Lead a Movement
4. Make Change

Three questions you have to answer as you build an idea:

1. Who are you upsetting?  You must CHALLENGE the status quo.
2. Who are you connecting with?  You need to know who you are targeting and build a CULTURE.
3. Who are you leading?  Identify who and how you are showing where to go next and COMMIT to them

———————
Sources:
http://www.ted.com/talks/view/id/538

A New Era of Marketing

Marketing has evolved over the course of the century into a completely different model.  It no longer works to canvas your brand or ads all over the place without a strategy.  According to Seth Godin, we are experiencing a shift from Mass Marketing to Tribal Marketing.

Mass Marketing: Average ideas being delivered through an abundance of ads. People with money and power deliver this idea to a mass audience

Tribal Marketing: Leading and connecting people and ideas.  The internet has caused a proliferation of tribes.  It is easy to find specific groups and target them.  All you need is a 1000 people who care enough about your product (true believer) that they spread the idea for you.

Bottom line is that it not nearly as effective to flood the market with your brand any more, it is necessary to implement a strategy to either create a tribe or win over existing tribes to become loyal followers and true believers.  Seth Godin recommends the following steps to

Build an Idea:

1. Tell a Story
2. Connect a Tribe
3. Lead a Movement
4. Make Change

Three questions you have to answer as you build an idea:

1. Who are you upsetting?  You must CHALLENGE the status quo.
2. Who are you connecting with?  You need to know who you are targeting and build a CULTURE.
3. Who are you leading?  Identify who and how you are showing where to go next and COMMIT to them

———————
Sources:
http://www.ted.com/talks/view/id/538

Evolution of SEO

I read a great little article on how SEO has continued to change and evolve over the past few years.  SEO is something that will continue to change, and those that stay on top of it will be successful.  It used to be that page design and backlink generation were the keys to bumping up your webpage on the search results page.  While still important, this has become merely a piece of the overall puzzle to conquering SEO.  A large piece of SEO is now based on interactivity, primarily represented through effective use of Social Media.  Some of the most effect tools that John Jantsch recommends are Flickr, YouTube, EzineArticles, PitchEngine, FaceBook, LinkedIn, twitter, Google Maps, Yelp!, Insider Pages, and industry related social networking sites.  Below is an excerpt from the article:

I’m not suggesting that web page optimization and inbound links are no longer important, they are, they just might not be enough anymore. It is rare these days to do any kind of normal search that does not return results from social media sites. Blog content dominates many question related searches and videos, audios, and images are routinely mixed in on page one searches on both Google and Yahoo.

What this means for the typical small business is that you must add a blog and podcast to the mix, upload, tag, and thoroughly describe images on sites like Flickr, create customer testimonial videos housed on YouTube, write articles and press releases to submit to EzineArticles and PitchEngine, create and brand optimize profiles on FaceBook, LinkedIn, twitter, Google Maps and industry related social networking sites and get very proactive about generating positive reviews on sites like Yelp!, Google Maps, and Insider Pages or you’re not really online anymore.

—————————-
Sources:
http://www.ducttapemarketing.com/blog/2009/05/05/the-changing-face-of-seo/

Market Focus of a Startup

As I attempt to brainstorm new business ideas, I constantly find my mind wandering and lacking focus.  I sometimes find myself wondering how to completely dominate a particular market, when in reality this is the wrong approach.  A common misconception is that large successful companies such as Microsoft or Google started with a broad focus to dominate the entire market space.  This is far from the truth.  Almost every succesful business starts by filling a void in a small niche.  More specifically, a good niche is a market that is small enough that larger competitors are not already going after it, but big enought that if you are successful, the profitablity can parlay into greater success.  When this initial niche is filled, then it is ideal to tackle another niche that can be approached with the same level of success.  After successfully adressing several niche markets, it becomes easier to expand into more niches and grow the existing product offerings vertically.  A key to developing a good product is finding the right balance between uniqueness and desirability.   A good balance of both will always provide the greatest success.

The Depth of the Current Bailout

Here is an eye-opening video I found on reason.tv that shows through comparison the true magnitude of the bailout that were are experiencing…

Who benefits from recessions?

I saw an interesting interview with Pastor Rick Warren, the author of The Purpose Driven Life, on Fox Business Channel today.  He stated a few interesting things.  During a recessionary time, people lose faith in materialism.  Three industries benefit directly:

1. Church attendance goes up
2. Bars gain more traffic
3. Movie Theater attendance goes up

Well, what is it that people are searching for when they begin to increase their attendance to the following places?

1. Church – people search for meaning
2. Bars – people search for connections
3. Theaters – people look for relief

There is a lot of sadness, madness and blame going around during recessionary times, what is the best way to combat this?

1. We must learn to work together, blaming does no good
2. Everyone has to take responsibility for their part in the disaster, we have been living beyond our means as a society
3. Look at what is left, not what is lost

Interesting analysis and thoughts.  As I thought more about this, I realized that there is a lot of truth to what he is saying.  I have never seen him interviewed before, and though I disagree with his stance on certain issues, I respect his opinions.