It’s the Challenge of Business that I love…

I do like the freedom and flexibility of being my own boss. I like how, to a certain extent, I can impact my income.

But, I recently realized, what gets me going is just the challenge of growing and nurturing the business.

I like asking questions (and learning from the mistakes of my answers) such as:

1. what’s the best use of my time now? this week? this month?
2. what can I do to innovate and help other people more?
3. what’s the best way to take my investment of money and time and get the best result from that investment?

You see, it’s not about the money, per se. Sure, like everyone, I need it to survive, but money, really, is just how I keep score. 

It’s as if I said, “ok, this year I ran the 10k in 55 minutes. Next year, I want to run it in 45 minutes. What do I need to do to make that happen?”

Aside from supporting my family at the right level, I don’t want the money for just having money (except, of course, that it makes that “mysterious technology/gadget slush fund” possible). I want it because it represents that this week, this month, this year, I just did it BETTER.

It means that I worked smarter (not just harder or longer) and was able to do all of the non-monetary things I want to do (like spending time with my family), but deliver more value to people.

That’s the challenge that inspires me about the whole enterprise.

Harley-Davidson’s Business History Lesson

I’m very excited about the evolution and growth of Never Stop Marketing and I hope it continues.

But, as a history major, I know that the reason we study history is so that we don’t repeat it.

Watching the Harley-Davidson biography from CNBC the other night, I was humbled and reminded by how things can go very well…and then, not so well.

A company that is over 100 years old and is, without a doubt, an American icon has seen its share of turmoil.

I think the lesson here is like the eternal lesson, be it the “7 years of feast, followed by 7 years of famine,” the “grasshopper and ant parable” or any other sage advice about preparing for lean times.

The good times don’t always last.

But I think there’s another lesson.

What HD did to survive and prosper was to not give up, keep innovating (dare I say ‘Never Stop Marketing’?) and to take smart risks when others were afraid.

The “Guru” BS detector

Disclosure: This post may cross the Self-Promotion/Arrogance line. If yes, please flame me.

When it comes to Web Analytics, few (maybe none) are better than Avinash Kaushik. That’s why he is one of the few folks I follow on Twitter.

I saw this tweet a while back and it got me thinking (actually a moment of self-doubt of being revealed as a fraud), since sometimes people do call me a “guru.”

I tend to shy away from the term (that’s why I like Marketing Navigator), but I think it’s important to do a self-check every once in a while.

In fact, that’s why we have the Todd Newfield Award on this site, since his rule #1 was “Never believe your own BS!”

While there’s no doubt I talk about marketing, community, and technology a lot, I took a look at myself and said “do I really do it?”

Here’s what I came up with.

• Gretchen Rubin reached #1 on the NYT best-seller list (testimonial)
• JackBe became a Forrester “Groundswell” Award Finalist (CEO testimonial and VP/mktg and Commty Mgr)
• Microsoft pilot drove 20 deals/237 opportunities in 90 days for a new product-BPOS (testimonial 1, 2, 3 and 4)
• Microsoft project generated 559% ROI (testimonial)
• Global 360 creating a story that “sticks” and led to new opportunities (CMO and VP/mktg)
• Yes To Carrots increased average purchase price by 25% for 72% of their community members (CEO)
• Dan Pink went to top of Business Week best-seller list for Johnny Bunko (Dan's testimonial)
• and 5 WOM Slams 

Whether this makes me a “Guru” or a Guru is up to you, but if marketing is about perception (and it is), then having people perceive you as a Guru (or thought leader) and you being able to substantiate those claims with stories, facts, and evidence would seem to me to be a competitive advantage.

So, the Lesson:

1. Document your successes.
2. Get credible sources to validate your successes.

One idea: The Flip Cam has been one of my great acquisitions and I’ve been able to populate my YouTube NSM channel with authentic videos.

The Self-Promotion:Arrogance Line

Image by TCOYD via Flickr

This is a tough one.

On the one hand, if you don’t tell people about what you can do and have done (we’ll leave out the HOW you do that for the moment), well, no one will ever want to hire you, buy from you, etc.?

On the other hand, if ALL you do is talk about how bleepin’ great you are…well, then no one will want to work with you because you are so damn arrogant.

It’s a fine line and, like many things, I am sure it differs for many people.

After my post, LinkedIn Recommendations as Art, Kelly Close of Close Concerns, a Raving Fan (dare I say?) sent me this note:

This is good.

I'm amazed at all the self-promotion you do and it always just stops short of arrogance and is nice and teaches us all something!

That meant a lot to me and I started to wonder:

What is the difference?

I may be oversimplifying, but perhaps it is embedded in Kelly’s note.

Does the self-promotion also teach and share?

Or is it JUST self-promotion?

If you talk about what you’ve done AND help others see a new opportunity, that may be the balance.

Now, take a look at this “Am I a guru?” post and let me know which side of the line I’m on.

The Business/Personal Line and “social” media…

One of the questions I get asked most often is:

“do I really want my ‘business’ associates to know anything about my personal life?”

My answer has always been:

“While I may not care that your 7 year old niece had a birthday party, it’s not the kind of thing that will keep me from doing business with you. Now, if you are cavorting around with prostitutes in Bangkok, well, that’s another issue.”

And the flip argument is that…when all is said and done, people buy/work/connect with other people and, when you have a fuller understanding of the people in your world, you are more likely to be able to work with them more effectively.

As it turns out, I ran into a former Microsoft colleague of mine, Michael Moore, the other day. He reads both this blog and my “work” blog.

In this video, he shares why and the benefit for both of us.

Comeback 2010 Award Winner

Honored to have been selected by Cortera as the winner in the “Hanging Out the Shingle” category in the 2010 Comeback Awards.

Looking through the nominees, it was clear that there was some stiff competition and the judges were no slouches, so I’m pretty excited about this one.

Entrepreneurship, Rabbi Shmuel, and the Talmud

Rabbi Shmuel Herzfeld interviews my brother, Asher (the director of the Dingman Center for Entrepreneurship at the University of Maryland.)

Entertaining to say the least. Here’s part 2

Year 3 of the Never Stop Marketing Movement…

Last year, I shared with you the goals of Year 2 for my little consulting adventure.

I wanted to review them and use this same forum to start talking about Year 3.

I view the period between April 15-May 2nd as the “birth” of the company.

Here’s what I said I would do in last year’s post.

• develop logo and overhaul look and feel of website (thanks to my intern)
  • both of these are done—thank you, Nick!
• get my Blook published (think of it as a 'Greatest Hits' of posts from my Igniting the Revolution blog).
  • done. see: It’s All on the Blog, Don’t Buy the Book
• 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
  • Done. Disqus is implemented and I think the experience is better.
• drive the CDM message farther and wider via more speaking engagements
  • Done. Close to 30% of my business is now speaking and I am represented by a speaker’s bureau. My presentations have been in front of close to 2500 people.

All in all, not too shabby.

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

I think I’ve got a bit of a head start on this in terms of some of the service offerings, but here’s what I’d really like to do this year.

1. Take the concepts that I laid out in Dandelion Marketing (PDF eBook) and work with 2-3 innovative, cutting-edge clients to help pilot and then seed a true Dandelion Marketing Culture (with the metrics and ROI to prove the value for them)
2. Extend and improve upon the various Assessment offerings (Customer Touchpoint Assessment, Marketing Anthropology Assessments, Made to Stick Assessments) and increase the impact and effectiveness of them. (with the hard metrics and ROI to demonstrate that it was really worth it)
3. write another eBook that continues the effort to “jump the innovation curve” as I prep for year 4.
4. and then innovate on the operations side….after getting ripped by my accountant, I am going to implement a financial accounting system. Excel is great, but it’s getting a bit ugly ;-)

And, as I said last year, 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 (and most importantly, the NFO). I love how people keep pushing me on all points and suggesting improvements, both large and small. It's like having a team of 1000.

Thank you.

How to Buy Disability Insurance

The foremost expert in my world when it comes to all things insurance (health, that is) is my cousin, Lee Nathans.

Here's an interview of the two of us discussing how one should go about buying disability plans and what you should look for when you do.
You can reach Lee at 800-846-4120 or LeeNathans AT gmail.com

If you are a NSM fan AND a Website Owner…

Only if you are motivated, add a Facebook fan badge for Never Stop Marketing to your site. Code is below.

If you do, send me the link…I’m going to create an Honor Roll on the site and link back to you.

Thanks for your support!

1. Click on this link
2. Select All
3. Copy
4. aste into your site as only you know how!P
5. Send me the URL

The Cost of Commuting…

To the untrained eye, it would seem that I spend a lot of time doing things other than working during the day.

I drive carpool, exercise, go to events at my kids’ school, run errands.

If you compare me with someone during the 9-5 hours, there are certainly some days when I am “not working,” (though I would argue in the digital age, that I am actually ‘working’ most of the time b/c 1. I have my phone/email with me and 2. a lot of the time I am thinking about business issues, but I digress.)

However, the 9-5 slot is not the full experience, since there is the cost of commuting.

I don’t spend 60-90 minutes each way engaged in the relatively inefficient commuting process when, typically, people are engaged in less than optimal tasks.

My commute is 40 seconds.

And, if I have to drive somewhere, it is with a specific purpose and, typically, I’ll set those meetings up during non-rush hours.

As we move into a new world of work (you may enjoy this video with Adriana where we discuss it), we’ll all want to challenge our assumptions about what working and productivity really means.

9-5 in one place every day makes a lot of sense in a manufacturing-based economy. Not always the case in an true information economy.

Eco-Friendly Business…

There were two days the other week that were notable for their eco-friendly nature.

On one day, I didn’t leave the house and didn’t drive a car at all.

On a 2nd day, I got a ride to the subway, took the Metro downtown, and got picked up on the other end. Didn’t drive myself at all.

Wonder if there’s some tax credit I can claim?

Video: The Never Stop Marketing Story…

A few months ago, I got a call from Lori at Johnson & Johnson (client).

She had heard me speak and thought I might be a good fit for another project.

Lori asked for a 'capabilities deck.' I felt like a deer in the headlights… 'uh, I don't have one. People just hire me.' “Can you just quickly put something together?”

Now, when you live by the “Remarkable” mantra, you set yourself up for a high standard…and I couldn’t just send her a “deck” full of bullet points.

But Lori had laid down the challenge/opportunity and I thank her for that…(well, not really, but I made it one anyway).

“Could I make a 'remarkable' presentation that tells the story of what I do and why it matters?” Well, it was not really I. There was a team (see who really gets the credit below).

This is the effort. Let us know how we did.



The voiceover artist is Kathryn Schwab, who also turned my Community Driven Marketing whitepaper into a Podcast/mp3 file. She is great to work with and I’ve heard from a number of folks who have actually listened to it that it made a big difference for them.

But, the true hero of this story is Amy Detrick from the Tangible Group.

As you can imagine, I am not an easy client, but Amy was more than up to the task.

In my career, I have NEVER met a designer who was so able to integrate the brand identity into her work and take the raw vision I gave her and execute it in a way that made me happy. My basic direction to her was “this should make Nancy Duarte proud.” I don’t know Nancy, but I think she might be (or hope she will).

In short, I cannot recommend Amy highly enough.
 Is this video perfect?

No, of course not, but our goal is to be remarkable, not perfect and then iterate via perpetual beta with feedback from you.

Looking forward to your comments. Big thanks to Lori, Kathryn, and Amy for making this a reality.

Two Things I Will ALWAYS Invest In….

Marketing and Technology.

Legendary management professor Peter Drucker said it best:

“The business enterprise has two—and only two—basic functions: marketing and innovation.”  (The Essential Drucker)

And I view Technology as a fundamental driver of innovation.

That’s why I spent the bulk of 2 days last week TOTALLY overhauling and upgrading my infrastructure.

I was away from my core business (fortunately it is August and things were a bit slow), but this is the kind of upfront investment that technology requires…”all in” and which pays off SIGNIFICANTLY over time.

Here’s what we did (it’s going to get a bit geeky, so hang on)

1. bought a new x64 PC w/4 GB RAM and dual core. Installed Windows 7 on it, added a 2nd video card and now have 4 monitors attached to it. Office 2010 tech preview is coming
2. Took my previous machine and made it a true “media center” PC where TV, Video, Pics, Music can all be accessed from multiple locations throughout the house and, (most importantly for the NFO and me) while exercising
3. Migrated my business email/calendar/contacts to a hosted Exchange solution
4. set up real-time synchronization between 3 computers and my mobile phone
5. got a new mobile phone (HTC touch) and brought it online
6. reconfigured my Magic Jack phone to make it easier to access
7. added cameras to two other computers so we can Skype with family/friends around the world (and no one has to come into the “man cave”)
8. used Windows Live Sync to keep all files up to date across multiple devices

There’s more and it took some work. One night, I had parts of 3 different computers strewn about the basement floor.

But, we got it done and now, we’re ready to rumble.

First Corporate Sponsorship…

Welcome Nicole Tate to the Never Stop Marketing team.

Nicole is Miss Black Nevada 2009 and will be a contestant in the Miss Black USA pageant on Monday night in Washington, DC.

Nicole (who obviously never stops marketing herself since she was wearing a sash in the Las Vegas airport) graciously agreed to have her picture taken with me (I had to ask.)

Her talent is singing and dancing and hopes to wow the judges with her rendition of Lee Ann Womack’s “I hope you dance.”

Nicole, a nursing student at UNLV, is committed to changing the abysmal 67% drop-out rate among Nevada high school students.

This change the world attitude is what we look for in all of our relationships, so Never Stop Marketing is excited and proud to officially be one of her corporate sponsors.

You’ll be seeing more of her over the course of the year (just not sure how yet ;-)

Wish her luck!

They May Not Like You…

One of the toughest parts about being a consultant is coming to terms with the idea that not everyone is going to like you or your style.

When you sell pizza, you don’t necessarily care if people like you as a person or not. Maybe a little bit, but it’s more important (usually) that the pizza be good.

In the service industry, however, you soon learn that is not the case.

If everyone doesn’t like you, that’s not good, but if some people don’t, well that’s the way it is going to be and as long as the proportions are quite different…more liking you than not, you are probably ok.

Still, it’s a human business and when someone clearly doesn’t jive with your style, it hurts.

But, hey, that’s the life that has been chosen.

The Problem With My Corporate Name…

I took some heat from people for choosing the name “Never Stop Marketing” for my company.

Some thought it was a double negative.

Others thought it was just a bad idea.

You know what the real problem is?

It’s a mantra.

Normally, that’s good and that’s what I want clients, prospects and fans of Never Stop Marketing (feel free to become one) to remember.

Thing is, it makes it difficult for me to sleep or get distracted.

When I want to shut down, I say “Never Stop Marketing” and so I keep going ;-)

FB Fan Page: What’s In It For You?

I have been harsh in the past on people who seemingly invite their friends at random to a Facebook fan page or group.

That’s because it is usually done without much context or one of the key elements of community building within the Community Driven Marketing framework, namely:

“as a fan, what can you expect to get out of it?”

So, with that, it’s time to see if I can practice what I preach.

I’ve set up a Never Stop Marketing Facebook Fan Page and you are welcome/invited to join.

If you decide to join, what you will get out of it is:

1. Updates about innovative ways I’m discovering to use Fan Pages for marketing purposes/benefit
2. The opportunity to be a part of cutting-edge Facebook Fan Page marketing tests (would rather test it out with you than have you test it out on your customers/clients, right?)
3. The chance to connect with other, like-minded individuals who share a passion for marketing and discovering how to thrive in a billion-channel, socially networked, attention economy where permission is the key asset (obligatory consultant buzzword quota is now met).

It’s very much a perpetual beta approach and would love to have you join me in the voyage.

Never Stop Marketing

Promote Your Page Too

Power of Raving Fan Podcast…

If you are looking for a better understanding of what my work around Community Driven Marketing is all about, you have another option now.

Thanks to the beautiful voice of Kathryn Schwab at Voice Over Gurl, the Guy Kawasaki-endorsed whitepaper (still available as a blog series or a PDF) is now available as a podcast.

More on the organizational model...

Image by PeterForret via Flickr

When Gianni was born, we had a little party for her and at the party, we had a number of "activity stations."

These included coloring for the kids, making a blanket for homeless shelters, making cards, and Sunshine kits.

We recruited volunteers to staff the stations and gave them specific guidelines and timeframes for helping our guests in completing their tasks.

Then, we left them alone.

The NFO gave them the supplies/tools that they needed and the "station managers" were ultimately empowered to facilitate the experience of the guests...and, in many cases, they improvised as they did.

So, I'm wondering if that can be the model for an organization going forward?

Maybe, through the power of technical/social networking, we're really headed towards a Free Agent Nation?