Albert Einstein

I was just thinking today about the new discovery that there is something that travels faster  than the speed of light – the Nutrino, now confirmed by a second study conducted in Italy

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Can’t sleep?  Why?  What gets me up and out of bed? 

Ideas I want to capture that came to me after a bit of rest.    I write them (long hand) down in my Moleskine – doing drawings. 

There is something still about the feel of paper that helps me think better – I love a good pen (Mount Blanc).  The ideas seem to flow a bit more rich when  I use paper and pen.  It’s peaceful to have a light shine down on the page in the morning rather than shine at me from a screen while I sit in my study to capture an insight that emerged from the unknown scribe that visits in my dreams.  

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When a person, like Steve Job's must leave this world the only light that can be found for those of us left is cast in the genius and inspiration his life inspired.

I write of the personal inspiration Steve Jobs has given in my life and the life of our organization. At one time, Apple too, was a small technology firm, with an idea and dreams. In the success of technology, like Apple and Steve, lives are forever changed in ways that we might never imagine. With the impact of genius, like Steve carved into the lives of so many, with a masterful hand he shaped a global culture.

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“We cannot solve the significant problems we face today at the same level of thinking we were at when we created them…” Albert Einstein

When I was a kid I couldn’t stop reading comic books.  I loved superhero adventures.  When DC and Marvel comics came to life and started appearing in theaters with advanced storylines and special effects I was once again captivated.   Certain to thrill, I anxiously made my way to the theater.   The one that stuck with me the most, with similarities to the emergence of Social Media in business and life, was Iron Man.

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Every business in the world right now is trying to tap into the power of the collective voice of social media. The problem is in order to do that, businesses are first, sending their customers away, and then yelling to try and get them back. How is this a good system?!

Every time someone thinks they’re being a savvy marketer, and puts one of those ‘Follow me on Twitter’ or ‘Check out our Facebook page’ buttons on a website, what they’re doing is telling customers to leave their space – where they control the message – and go into the world of social media.  What are those customers going to do when they get onto Facebook, Twitter, YouTube or LinkedIn? Are they going to remember the message, or will they find a million reasons to be distracted?

These customers are going to do the exact same thing you do when you hop onto a social network – check your messages, catch up on gossip and comment on the latest episode of Game of Thrones… If you go to a social media site, you’ve done more than left a website; you’ve left the marketing message behind. This is not great relationship building. Clicking a ‘Like’ button may mean you get a fan, but it doesn’t mean you’re getting engagement! Marketing like this will not create a valuable customer relationship.

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Can you think of anything more romantic than meeting your future partner for the first time?

“Hi, I’m Tim. What’s your name?”  They turn to you and your heart melts. You  say  to yourself “this is the person I’ll spend the rest of my life with.”

Then, being the charmer you are, to seal the deal you say, “I’d like to get all of your information so I can manage our relationship better for the future!”

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Marketing shouldn’t be a verb.  I firmly believe that marketing isn’t something you do to someone, it should be a conversation. I’m not the only one who’s convinced marketing needs to be better, and that’s why you hear so many experts today talking about Conversation Marketing.

The market today is basically a bazaar.  Everyone’s mingling and everyone’s stuff is on display - view any global village market and it’s pretty easy to see the similarity between the internet and a busy street in Dhaka.

The problem with the ‘bazaar’ state of the market is that everybody is yelling. You’ll soon discover what the caliber of the conversation is when you see a business trying to join the market.   Businesses are yelling at potential customers “buy ours, buy ours, no, don’t buy theirs, buy ours!!” and yelling at other businesses, “mine’s better! No my product is better! We have a testimonial!” Blah blah blah.

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Short answer:

Technology distracts you. Take the Free Zone Quiz and find out how to work smarter.

Long Answer:

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Does your business provide information in hopes of selling a product, or does it provide real value to showcase your business, product or service before the sale?

Let's face it, the web and the world are jam packed with information!  Anyone can come up with catchy marketing copy and push it out to thousands or hundreds of thousands of people with the click of a button. Offering real value like a test drive is a lot more difficult. Thus, most companies’ marketing departments coast by – pushing out more and more info, but getting less response from a market overwhelmed and swimming in information. The companies spend more and more money, and their ROI just keeps dropping.

Today people expect to test drive your offers before they’re willing to commit to becoming your customer.  The auto industry figured this out years ago.  The software industry has set the standard for online marketing with "trials".  Even infomercials offer a "no risk money back guarantee".  Trials and test drives are becoming the norm because they create powerful marketing connections that add depth to your customer relationships. It doesn’t cost your business anything more to let people try before they buy and the gains put your business on the right side of the ROI curve – small investment, big return.

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Putting my seven year old daughter to bed last night, I tucked the covers under her little chin.  She is such a precious little person.  As I leaned down to kiss her and whisper good night in her ear I saw her do what kids do. “I caught you,” I said and we had a good laugh as she pulled her little finger out of her nose!

It starts there doesn’t it?  Habits that we learn.  What is acceptable, what is minor, what is major.  Somewhere between starting kindergarten and turning 10 we start forming the habits that will be with us for our whole lives.

By the time we’re adults, we’ve formed routines for everything, whatever they might be: coffee (my favourite 5am routine), alcohol, tobacco, working out, meditating, brushing our teeth or even checking our email… we are naturally creatures of habit and our routines become the paths of our lives.   The more the habit affects our health, our time, our personal or professional life, the higher the stakes and the more serious the outcomes are for us and the people around us.

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