Why I FAILED

Seen on a Billboard

Life shrinks or grows according to ones courage.

Highlight the Opportunities

From his 2003 commencement address to University of Texas grads:

“Circle the pitfalls and highlight the opportunities. Then build a vision of how it could all be better and work like hell to make it happen.”

- Michael Dell

Prepare to Live

Thanks to mybusinessmag.com for digging up support for something I’ve believed for some time: we are miserable because of the media.

The Wall Street Journal and Businessweek have both posted articles about the disparity between the reality and perceptions of today’s economy. Historically speaking, we have very small problems and we are likely to get through them effectively. As one author points out, 94% of Americans are not at risk Mortgage foreclosure and most that are won’t lose their houses anyway. Furthermore, most people are NOT trying to sell their homes so a down market is simply a headline.

Am I (or the other authors) saying there aren’t problems, no, but I do want to emphasize sanity. First of all, the media is incapable of reporting middle of the road news. The entire mechanism works off of sensationalism and arguments. Even if 99% of scientists say such and such, the reporter will find a representative of the 1% for “balance.”

Second, the world economy is exploding and new opportunities arise every day. Is it disruptive? Changing? Scary? Sure, but don’t blame anyone but yourself if you’re not keeping up with what’s truly going on and exporing, learning about and preparing ways to ensure a life for yourself.

Fix Your Follow Through

I HAD a terrific post that my remote tool choked on, so instead, jump directly to John Jantsch’s outstanding career guidance here. Yes he’s talking about marketing, but he’s actually laying it all out. As in: “fix your message, fix your follow through, and fix your hourglass first, figure out how to get bigger this way, and then turn the lead generation tap and prepare to witness a flood of growth.”

Read it. Think about it. Apply it.

My Son’s Band Spy Machine

My son’s band competed in a Nashville area Battle of the Bands tonight. Against bands older than them.

They won.

And I’m not at all surprised. They rocked the place.

Give What Away for Free?

In the past two days, I’ve come across four articles about giving away digital content for free. Most are, somewhat understandably, bemoaning the idea. This post quotes Esther Dyson as saying “that the ease with which digital content can be copied and disseminated would eventually force businesses to sell the results of creative activity cheaply, or even give it away. Whatever the product — software, books, music, movies — the cost of creation would have to be recouped indirectly: businesses would have to “distribute intellectual property free in order to sell services and relationships.” It then goes on to describe all the problems - for artists and consumers - that this will cause.

On the other side, is this post from Joe Wikert about his excitement and ideas after reading Adam Engst’s point of view. I love Joe and Adam’s enthusiasm and want to encourage the same in you. They are looking for opportunities to succeed in the midst of changes by introducing new concepts that bring benefits to their customers. Ideas like this will always win. Starbucks is not about coffee, it’s about a “second home.” Disney is about dreams coming true.

All of the negative reminds me of this speech from Other People’s Money where Danny Devito’s character speaks about the mistakes of the buggy whip makers at the dawn of the automobile. Instead of involvement in the biggest opportunity of their lifetimes, they put more effort into creating better buggy whips. Make sure you don’t do the same.

I’m Not Worried

Beyond considerations about terrorists, the mentally unstable and other rational fears, I’m simply not worried about the technological and environmental challenges of today.

Developments like CamTrax are the reason why.

Though it doesn’t solve any major world issues, check out this piece of code that recreates the Wii without anything more than a webcam. It will have ramifications far beyond gaming and I figure that with leaps like this taking place - capabilities vs. cost - it’s reasonable to expect most problems can be solved.

Even some of the major world ones.

I’m Not Worried

Beyond considerations about terrorists, the mentally unstable and other rational fears, I’m simply not worried about the technological and environmental challenges of today.

Companies like CamTrax are the reason why.

Though it doesn’t solve any major world issues, check out this piece of code that recreates the Wii without anything more than a webcam. It will have ramifications far beyond gaming and I figure that with leaps like this taking place - capabilities vs. cost - it’s reasonable to expect most problems can be solved.

Even some of the major world ones.

ALERT - Music Business Alive and Well

“In today’s globalised, digitised music industry, record companies may be on the run, but the enterprising individual artist has never had it so good.” That’s the quote beginning Robert Plummer’s story on BBC News about Ahmed Fakron’s blossoming music career.

Fakron is a Libyan born artist seeminly doomed to “international isolation” until about a year ago when a “New York-based DJ known as Prince Language unearthed an old Ahmed Fakroun track called Soleil Soleil, re-edited it and put it out on a 12-inch single, renamed Yo Son.” But that’s not the cool part, or the part of interest to you.

“Since April this year, Ahmed Fakroun has had 20 of his songs available for download from 7digital’s indiestore - an offshoot of the firm’s main site that allows singers and bands to create their own digital music shop.

“It happened through a fingertip. I happened to find [the store] while I was surfing and I tell you, I am happy to find them. It wasn’t too complicated, my fans started to know about it and others discovered it,” he says.”

Still not convinced?

DubMC has an in depth interview with Kenyan band Yunasi. You think you have it tough in the music business? Read this. The live in a country with no music industry. None. The radio stations mostly play western music and they earn all the money they make through live performances. Again and again, they mention how they long for the structure and mechanisms of the music businesses we take for granted in the west. Mechanisms that are still valuable btw.

But then, near the end of the article, the band mates say this:

“The internet has been a God-send to Yunasi. It allows us a window to the whole world and different demographics that despite geographical positioning can be exposed to our music conveniently. We have a website making our info available 24-hours a day, social networks like Myspace accounts allowing interaction with potential fans, YouTube allowing our videos to be available, music available for purchase directly for download from our website, on Itunes, Amazon and so forth. We are able to get useful contacts of world music professionals, media, festivals and organizations just at the click of a button that allows networking opportunities. We even can send our music to anyone in the world and use the available learning opportunities to make us better musicians. We were even invited to two festivals in Thailand festival thanks solely to our website and the availability of our video on the internet. People are also able to contact us easily after listening to our music from whatever sources. The internet offers us numerous opportunities to better ourselves as a band and further our careers.”

Take a look at what’s going on in the GLOBAL and internet linked music business and you’ll find endless opportunities.

Biting The Hand That Feeds You?

The owner of NYC indie record shop Rockit Scientist Records is quoted as saying:

“Anybody who legally downloads music is an idiot! You can get it for
free, why pay for it? Download it illegally, who’s going to catch you?
Legal or illegal, they sound the same.”

Hmmm, interesting. But as this article says, perhaps “he seems to recognize that there’s still plenty of value in the physical product: the CD or vinyl for those who want it.”

And the CD is just the beginning of related stuff people will - still - pay money for.