Been There. Done That.

“I never want to build another brand as long as I live. It takes about a billion dollars of marketing and about five to ten years. I swore to God I’d never build another brand as long as I live. It’s the most miserable, time-consuming, awful, nerve-wracking experience that you could possibly imagine because you never know until the end of the day whether you will succeed.” — Bob Pittman

http://news.com.com/2009-1023-233706.html

Is there a brand out there online or offline that was built with less money and less time?  I’m sure there is.

http://www.unurthed.com

hmmm… still trying to figure this one out.

“What thos hast of One yield to that One again, if thou intendest to keep it.

Only by so doing canst thou be a perpetuum Mobile “

- Philalethes, Magia Adamica, 1650

I never used to read the Sports section. Now, as a people manager and a business owner, I sometimes refer to it more often than the Business section. Here are two sports articles, or case studies, that can apply to business:

Dungy’s preaching pays off for Colts

Problems at the core

The first one is about remaining cool under pressure. The second one shows the pitfalls of top-down thinking.

Interesting definition on “fun” here:

http://www.jenovachen.com/flowingames/flowtheory.htm 

To get into the “flow” and have “fun” doing it, I highly recommend playing with Frozen Bubble.  It’s highly addictive and very satisfying.

I encourage all my friends to blog because having my friends blog will help me start blogging on a regular basis myself. Hardly any (count zero) started blogging, therefore you can imagine my excitement when I found this blog entry on blogspot:

Neil McDonnell Comments

This is Neil McDonnell’s first blog and he actually points out that I was partly responsible in getting him started in blogging. It’s nice to be mentioned in the same paragraph as Ted Leonsis. I do believe more people should blog. I have been trying to blog for years, but this time I’m sticking with it. I take great pride in being able to influence smart people like Neil.

I have a penchant for business case studies. Here’s a great one on how Yahoo blew it:

How Yahoo Blew It

I particular liked the statement about Terry Semel “never acquired an intuitive sense of the company’s plumbing.” To lead a bottom-up company, a leader must have some sense of the company’s operations. Without this s/he will be unable to ask the right questions or set any meaningful direction for the company.

The closing statement is also dead on:

At Yahoo, the marketers rule, and at Google the engineers rule.

Another way of stating this is Yahoo is a top-down company and Google is bottom-up company.

If you’re interested in learninb more about bottom-up principles, be sure to check out the classic Bottom-Up Marketing book by Al Ries and Jack Trout.

I enjoyed this immensely

http://headrush.typepad.com/creating_passionate_users/2006/03/how_to_be_an_ex.html

i am the type that doesn’t get bored with repeated practice or sifting through gigabytes of data trying to find interesting patterns.

We’ve all heard it before: Practice makes perfect. If you need to give a big presentation you need to practice, practice, practice. Here’s an illuminating account for giving a super high-pressure presentation and live demo at a Macworld Expo alongside Steve Jobs, written by a former Apple employee, Mike Evangelist.

Behind the Magic Curtain

This is the only valid rock star comparison I have seen in the world of business.

According to the Principle of Scarcity–people assign more value to opportunities when they are less available. Take for instance Balvenie’s absolutely exquisite 17 year old Islay Cask. I would’ve paid twice or even three times the normal price because this particular single malt is no longer available.

I thought this BusinesWeek article “What Entrepreneurs Need to Know” provided good tips to pitch ideas to VCs:

http://www.businessweek.com/smallbiz/content/jan2007/sb20070102_318657.htm

The part about telling a focused story was right on.  Entrepreneurs too often paint a very broad picture.  Staying focused and highlighting your core competency is much more effective.