What Year 2 is all about..

I mentioned a few posts ago that I just finished Year 1 of my consulting practice (sorry, no link, I am writing this on a train.)

That's all well good, but as I round the turn into Year 2, I thought about what the Strategic Focus should be.

Year 1 was: Prove the Business Model...would someone actually pay for what I had to offer? Check.

Year 2: Invest in Marketing. Look, the company name and my motto is "Never Stop Marketing," and I hold by Peter Drucker's belief that the only two responsibilities of the enterprise are Innovation and Marketing.

I believe that the concept of Community Driven Marketing (CDM) is itself an innovation. In fact, it's now patent-pending (again, no link to USPTO due to train). It's gotten some attention (thank you Guy Kawasaki and NY Times), so the focus is on marketing.

Here's what's involved:
develop logo and overhaul look and feel of website (thanks to my intern)
get my Blook published (think of it as a 'Greatest Hits' of posts from my Igniting the Revolution blog). I've got a good title, which I'll share in a future post (I have an editor working on this)
Improve the website/blog visitor experience (we will be launching the Disqus commenting system, for one to improve interaction (i have a tech guy working on this) and remove some of the dumb glitches
drive the CDM message farther and wider via more speaking engagements (I have 1...and am open to more, commission-based rep whose job is to find and secure paid speaking engagements)

There's NO way that the business could have evolved to even this small, but notable, point, without the tremendous support of the FOJ community. I love how people keep pushing me on all points and suggesting improvements, both large and small. It's like having a team of 300. Thank you.


Year 3, by the way, will be focused on Innovation. Go back and challenge the assumptions. Don't believe my own BS.

Obviously you need to do both...all the time...very well, but if I have to give a theme for the year, that's how I'm looking at it.

Onwards and upwards...