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Avatar, the movie, was SIMPLY mind blowing! I remember going into the theater thinking that this is going to be another 3D sci-fi movie. Little did I know, what was in store for me. I felt I was walking in that jungle and James Cameron totally impressed me with the use of Sci-Fi technologies. I had never experienced something even close to this… and of course! all my friends were surprised since I was the last one to catch this movie.

Coming out of the theater, I was convinced that the movie is setting a new standard for movie makers, marketers and brands seeking exposure.

This box office superhit broke every record. The results in its case were a $232 million opening weekend, a total of one billion dollars in revenue by year’s end, and the rank of #2 highest grossing film of all time. Cameron’s $500 million act of hubris has paid off.

Needless to say, social media had a role to play in this.

The Beginning:

Avatar has its own Facebook and Twitter pages. That’s getting to be standard these days. The 27,000+ follower Twitter account has info on the coming prequel – yes… not a sequel.

Before the launch of the movie,  followers would retweet updates to their followers, who (if interested) would do the same, spreading the word all over the web. The Facebook Page is impressive, with over 1.5 million fans.

The Tactic:

The red carpet premiere of Avatar was broadcast live to web audiences on video streaming web site Ustream. Fans could watch the video on the film’s MySpace page in addition to the Ustream website. This Red carpet was a week before the actual release just in time to create a buzz…

The Conquest:

On December 3, MTV.com put together a Facebook-hosted, LG-sponsored webcast called “Avatar Live.” Director James Cameron, producer Jon Landau, and stars Sam Worthington and Zoe Saldana were interviewed by MTV News’ Josh Horowitz, the questions were submitted by fans in the days leading up to the day of the event. The 30-minute interview was the the first time many huge Hollywood names sat down to take questions from Internet fans… If all this is not Social Media, then I wonder what is?

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Tagged as: active garage, avatar, deepika bajaj, invincibelle, james cameron, jon landau, josh horowitz, mtv, mtv.com, premier, prequel, sam worthington, sequel, Social Media, zoe saldana

Before proceeding .. Please consider reading this Post from Seth Godin.

Tagged as: active garage, are you indispensable, Change, health, instinct, landmark, landmark education, linchpin, lizard brain, seth godin, the three laws of performance, vijay peduru, yoga

When you begin to write your book, you may be pleasantly surprised to find that you’ve already made significant progress….especially, if you’ve been active in your field for a long time.

Because you may have already written a lot of your book, the first writing step you should take is to take a fresh look at your hard drive, looking for content just begging to be included in your book!

Existing content takes many forms

To help you locate contents you already wrote, I’ve added a copy of my Existing Content Inventory Worksheet to my Active Garage Resource Page which you can download without registration.

My Existing Content Inventory Worksheet will help you keep track of content like case studies, examples, ideas, opinions, perspectives, procedures, resources, shortcuts, tips, and warnings.

Where to look for ready-to-use content

Look for existing content you can reuse for your book in files originally created for projects like:

• Articles & newsletters
• Blog posts & comments
• Books, e-books, & previous book proposals
• E-mail
• Memos & reports
• New business proposals
• Presentations & speeches
• Press releases
• Teleseminars, webinars
• White papers

As you review your previous client, prospect, and writing files, you may be surprised at the content richness waiting for you.

During your exploration, you might want to search your hard drive for key phrases and words that might take you directly to the content you’re looking for.

What to do after locating existing content

Once you consolidate the titles, relevance, and locations of existing content onto copies of the Existing Content Inventory Worksheet, you can address questions like:

• What type of content is it? Is the content an idea, a process or a technique, a case study, an interesting anecdote, or a tip?
• Where does the content belong in my book? Which chapter?
• How much of the content is useful? Where will it appear within the chapter? Will the content be used as part of the text of your book, or is it more appropriate as a sidebar interview or tip?
• How literally can I reuse the content? Can I simply copy and paste the content, (assuming you have copyright ownership of the content)? Or, do I need to paraphrase the content? Do I need to expand the content? Do I need to verify the accuracy of the content?
• Do I need permissions for quotations? You may not need to obtain permission, for example, if the quote appeared in a published magazine or newspaper article. You might have to get permission, however, if you quoting an individual’s comments in a recorded teleseminar interview you hosted.

In many cases, of course, you may have originally written the content in long-forgotten articles, blog posts, or newsletters.

Of course, if you already knew, or suspected, that you were going to be write your current book, you’d- -hopefully- -have tracked the content using a mind map like the one I prepared for this blog post series (among other free resources).

Conclusion

Writing a book doesn’t have to mean a time-consuming endeavor requiring you to write every word from scratch! If you’ve been active in your field for a long time, you may have already written a lot of your book! Even better, if you used tools like mind mapping to organize your content and track your writing, you may be pleasantly surprised to find how much of your book has already been written.

Roger C. Parker helps business professionals write brand-building, thought-leadership books. He’s written over 30 books, offers writing tools at Published&Profitable, and posts writing tips each weekday. His next book is Title Tweet! 140 Bite-Sized Ideas for Article, Book, and Event Titles.
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Tagged as: active garage, anecdote, articles, author, blog, book, case study, comment, Content, e-books, emails, interview, Inventory, memos, newsletters, perspectives, presentations, press releases, procedures, proposals, publisher, quotations, reports, Resource, roger parker, seminars, speeches, teleseminars, tip, title, webimnars, white papers, Worksheets, Writing for Business

In general the growth of the internet in people’s lives has been closely segregated by demographics, primarily age and location. The old didn’t think they would ever learn how to use these new tools yet alone see the benefit in them and those living in the poorer nations just took longer to get access to the internet. But today you have to go quite far out the way to get away from a connection to the internet which in itself has become a much simpler task, coupled with the user interface becoming so intuitive that more and more of the older generations are now using the internet and its wonders too.

In a recent special article in the Economist, it quotes that if Facebook was a country it would be the third largest by population and this is just one of the social media networks out there. What this brought forth for me is that even though we are can now easily connected to many more people in our networks, our networks are generally age and geography independent as a result.

I have had two interesting situations in the last week that opened my eyes to potential breakdowns in the fast paced and fleeting electronic interactions of social media communications. I am a South African living in Boston, USA. I illustrate in real life what a long distance social media network relationship is like if we were to live them, as I come from a far away land where I call things by different names and I speak with a funny accent to the local American community.

The other day I was at the Home Depot store, where I made an inquiry to a store attendant about the ‘fall’ required in a particular DIY plumbing application. The store attendant looked at me blankly and did not understand me. He actually gave up on me until I picked up some parts and showed him what I was asking – “oh you mean the ‘pitch’ he replied”, YES!

The very next day we were interviewing and we asked the applicant if they had any experience performing data queries? The applicant looked at us blankly, and responded NO! Then my colleague gave some examples just to dig a little further, to which the applicant responded like running a catalog inquiry? YES.

If you have traveled internationally lately you will have noticed HSBC Bank’s advertising campaign “The World’s Local Bank” that seem to cover most airports today. This campaign illustrating these differences brilliantly as in the sample below.

In our online social conversations we need to be mindful of peoples backgrounds, particularly as the amount of time spent in these conversations today are briefer and shorter, many opportunities may be missed.

Tagged as: active garage, backgrounds, business, Communication, conversation, demographics, Guy Ralfe, Social Media, technology, www.activegarage.com

I have been riding the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority (MBTA) Commuter rail service for 5 years and the service has not changed much in this time, but year on year the cost of a ticket rises, often more than inflation. In addition the daily parking rates received a 100% increase a year ago supposedly to help cover MBTA staff costs and yet the only way you can pay at most stations is by stuffing one dollar bills through a slot – no monthly contracts, pay by credit card etc that are commonly available in many municipal parking lots across the country.

I am moaning but I am trying to make a point here too – on February 1, 2010 a new rule has been put in place where commuters must only board where there is a conductor present. In effect about a 30% reduction in the number of places to board a train that already only has an entrance at each end of the carriage. I doubt in the history of rail service, its  origins date back to 1889, has this situation ever been the case and it is sad that our modern day educated commuter cannot let themselves on or off a train unescorted.

Most commuter systems around the world are being redesigned to eliminate the human element and to abstract the ticket management to before the actual commute, which is the prime purpose of the conductors on the MBTA. Even the T, the metro system in Boston, running alongside this same service operates with just a driver.

What I observe happening is that people with power today are making decisions because they operate in the vacuum of state/municipal organization, thinking they are immune to the consequences of the value their organization produces. At the end of the day the leaders of the MBTA are exposed to the same market pressures as any other free market business.  When the marginal utility or value does not exist passengers will consider alternative means of transport – it has happened before. When the cost of operation exceeds the value paid by customers and from the state taxes, it will draw significant attention by both disgruntled commuters and non-commuters who will see it as a waste of their tax dollars. It will not be perceived as a necessity but a problem.

Where there are problems there are opportunities… successful businesses thrive on the vulnerability of these sorts of problems. When opportunistic businesses, observe organizations entwined by their own history, they quickly swoop in with fresh ideas not constrained by the existing historical standards and cultures. Today’s impossibilities will become tomorrow’s opportunities. These options will sound welcoming and fresh to a disgruntled commuter and tax base. Although things generally move slowly in state/municipal processes once a movement starts it is hard to stop the momentum of the masses.

When this shift takes place it will become quickly apparent that even the state/municipal organizations are competing in a global marketplace irrespective of if the infrastructure is immovable such as in a train infrastructure. People and organizational practices can always be changed – it depends who holds the most compelling and valuable story at the time, which is what business is essentially. There are many transport service companies all over the globe that given the opportunity, and having no sentiment for existing established policies or traditions, will gladly start anew – possibly without a conductor or possibly one to keep all the doors open for their valued customers.

No customers  = no service, the value has to be there, and if you are not producing value with existing assets and opportunities there are a lot of companies out there determined to make better use of established assets like a rail network. Of late has been the acquisition by Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway investment company of Burlington Northern Santa Fe, the nation’s second-largest railroad for $34 Billion, their biggest acquisition yet.

Surprisingly this lesson has not been learned by the MBTA where this situation has already transpired in Boston’s Transportation History to quote

“The West End Street Railway had a virtual monopoly on all streetcar lines in greater Boston, but high profits, poor service, high fares and a general lack of concern for the public had resulted in alienation of the West End’s management from its customers. On December 9, 1897, under the supervision of the Transit Commission, a lease was entered into with the West End Street Railway by which the property of that company was leased to the Boston Elevated Railway Company”

Remember I told you so!

Tagged as: Action, active garage, business opportunity, Business Strategy, competition, competitors, Customer Service, execution, Guy Ralfe, services, takeover, value

Quality #14: Process Improvement and the 3E’s

by Tanmay Vora, Jan 25, 2009

When process improvement initiatives fail, it is typically due to the lack of one or more of the three E’s – Lack of Empowerment, Lack of Education / Training or Lack of Empathy. Upper management needs to show they are serious about process by allocating the right resources. Implementation staff need to understand what they need to do and why. Lastly, there should be realization across the board that one-size-fits-all approach will not work. Focus on the three E’s and your journey will become easier and fun. more…

BLOGTASTIC!: You have to give back!

by Rajesh Setty, Jan 25, 2009

In life or on your blog, there is more joy in giving than getting. Your blog expands your capacity to give. Invest some of your time expanding the capacity of fellow bloggers who need your help. You’ll quickly find that the effort will produce its own rewards. You will quickly realize that the incremental costs will be quite low for you to provide high-value to someone or some cause. more…

Change Management #1 – Leadership: Navigating with an Executive Map and Compass

by Gary Monti, Jan 26, 2010

Welcome! to the first post in the Change Management Series. This blog is a simple user’s guide to a change management map, compass, and navigation method. We will look at their make-up and how they work. Later blogs will go deeper into how they work.

In this post Gary talks about the three essential components required to lead your company through change – The Map, the Compass and the Navigation Method. In an ever changing environment (the map), you need to be able to adhere to your values (the compass) and adapt your (navigation) methods to reach the goal. more…

BLOGTASTIC!: Say more than “me too.”

by Rajesh Setty, Jan 26, 2009

You may come across blogs with great content and you may link to them. But if you don’t have anything original to say, your links won’t help much. It’s like giving somebody free movie tickets to a bad movie! Understand that the “me too” comments and links only add to the noise and don’t add value to the conversation. more…

Performance comes from Performing People

by Guy Ralfe, Jan 27, 2009

An organization’s goals and an individual’s aspiration will both be successful only if they intersect with each other. Guy illustrates this point in this blog through his recent experience on an airport ramp waiting to get into a plane undergoing tests to make sure the aircraft is clear to fly. more…

BLOGTASTIC!: All about comments

by Rajesh Setty, Jan 27, 2009

How do you create online conversations? Well, in the blogosphere, you do it via comments. Leaving comments on other blogs is a powerful mechanism to build traffic to your blog, build your credibility and in the process build valuable relationships. But before you start commenting, be sure to learn the basic commenting etiquette. more…

When Securing Your Data and Network, Just Look Inside

by Robert Driscoll, Jan 28, 2009

When securing data and network, the most obvious threats to guard against are the external intrusions. Studies have shown time and again that a great number of attacks originate from internal sources. You can safeguard against these risks by constantly reviewing your security policies, following a stringent hiring process and having more than one administrator for critical systems. more…

BLOGTASTIC!: The ultimate leverage engine

by Rajesh Setty, Jan 28, 2009

Whatever you do offline, you can leverage your online presence to your benefit. For example, you can use your blog to generate business or get speaking engagements. What you get out of it depends entirely upon you. You can read a good book and get nothing out of it. Or you can be moved to change the rest of your life. Same thing holds true for your blog. more…

Author’s Journey #6 – What’s the best size for your book?

by Roger Parker, Jan 29, 2009

Common thinking triggered by the word “book” is the long and never ending text books in school and college. Not true anymore. With the dawn of twitter and blogs, smaller books from 140 to 160 pages are popular. It takes less time to create, the cost to publish is lower and also the books are more focused. The trend is not to “tell all” but tell just what’s needed. more…

BLOGTASTIC!: Increase your capacity to do more good

by Rajesh Setty, Jan 29, 2009

You can use your blog for good causes too. In this post Rajesh talks about David Armano’s experience in raising money for a woman who recently separated from an abusive husband – through his blog. This illustrates that your blog can change who you are, your blog can change who your readers are and best of all, your blog can change the world! more…

Tagged as: active garage, BLOGTASTIC!, business, business planning, Business Strategy, execution, Guy Ralfe, himanshu jhamb, Magesh Tarala, Rajesh Setty, Robert Driscoll, Strategy, tanmay vora, Twitter, www.activegarage.com

I don’t see myself as competitive but thinking about it if someone draws a line in the sand, I have to jump over it. My boss decided that we all needed a challenge to get us through the winter. He offered to everyone in the company an entry to Boston’s Run To Remember – 1/2 marathon. Not being a runner but seeing the line in the sand I signed up.

I asked a few questions to get an idea of how to train and how to build up to this race. I was told “…you need to get into the habit of running about 35-40km (about 21.5-24.8 mi) a week” and then build up on speed after you have established a base in attaining distance.

I had never run more than 10 km before, and to be honest if I recall most of those 10km were walked, how was I going to achieve this? Well I put on my trainers and set off aiming for 35 km in the first week. After a mammoth effort I managed just over 10km on my first run. Suddenly 35 km didn’t look so far but finding another 3 hour slots in the week was going to be the challenge. Getting daily email reminders from my boss on how far he had run, quickly helped overcome that problem, and surprisingly, after my first week of training I managed to log a respectable 37.5 km. Now that was some two months ago, and it has gotten a lot colder up here in the north east. What started to happen was that I began not keeping accurate records of what I was running so I began telling myself stories about what I had done to feel better, not what I had left to accomplish. The result was that suddenly I was not able to keep up the required standard.

Lately I have been trying to build up speed since all I had been focusing on was distance. (to you athletes out there I am not a runner yet so no laughing at my shared statistics) From discussions I heard someone mention that you need to be in the 4:50 min/km pace for this type of a run. So I sported a watch and off I set. In my mind, I was thinking that I must be getting close to the 5 min/km mark. Well after a good fast run the watch must have had a problem, I was averaging 5:32 min/km. I was suddenly aware how weak my training program was and that the performance metrics for running were both speed and distance. After some work I have now been able to break the 5:00 min/km mark for my training runs.

So just yesterday I went for a run in Copenhagen, it is flat with no hills and I felt like I had flown. At one point I sprinted alongside a cyclist to keep the pace elevated for 2 minutes – my time must have been close to 4:50 min/km. After looking at my watch I only managed 5:01 min/km. I was really upset and shocked, but I also learned a very clear lesson that us humans cannot be objective for our own sake.

We must know what we are going to do, what the criteria (metrics) are that define the standard if we are at all going to compete. Let’s not fool ourselves we compete all day every day. We need to ensure we stay ahead of the pack to succeed and realize our ambitions.

This is a great video emphasizing the point of knowing what the standard is and measuring against it.

(Click to Start Video)

Here is a brilliant blog post Don’t Do Your Best that gives more insight into the limitations we commonly set ourselves when saying we will do our best.

And from a business perspective here is a an insight to what it means to Run the Last Mile of the Race.

Know your ambitions, personal and business, set the criteria you are going to measure against then go out and perform. And if nothing else measure your performance!

Tagged as: active garage, ambition, Business Management, exceptional, execution, gralfe, Guy Ralfe, performance, purpose, Strategy, www.activegarage.com

Do you have a rock star culture in your organization?

by Himansh Jhamb, Jan 11, 2010

In a world where heroes are worshiped, superheroes idolized and rock stars treated as gods, somehow it gets lost upon us that the true power lies in high performance teams and not just embodied in one person, however good that person might be. Learn to recognize and deal with “Rock Star Culture” in your organization. Yes, Rock Stars are valuable to your team, but ultimately what matters is that you need to have a Rocking TEAM! more…

BLOGTASTIC!: The value of quality readers

by Rajesh Setty, Jan 11, 2010

Quality readers are discerning readers. They recognize value and don’t stay around if they don’t see it. So, provide valuable content on your blog. It is easy to start a blog on any topic. Pick one and you will see hundreds, if not thousands of blogs on the topic. If you don’t provide decent ROI to quality readers, they will find an alternative to your blog. Remember, It is not the quantity but quality that matters. more…

Portfolio Management – A Case Study

by Sanjai Marimadaiah, Jan 12, 2010

For any business leader, Portfolio Management is a critical activity. This article offers a bird’s eye view of Rajesh Setty’s (mentor of Active Garage) portfolio of companies. Sanjai explains the concepts of value-net and AIDA Model using Rajesh’s portfolio as a case study. more…

BLOGTASTIC!: Influencing the influencers will produce huge leverage

by Rajesh Setty, Jan 12, 2010

Don’t just be focused on increasing the traffic to your blog. Pay attention to building quality readership to your blog. When a powerful person recommends your blog, you will get a lot more readers. For those powerful people to read your blog, you need to provide a high ROII, because spending time in the wrong places will have a substantial opportunity cost for them. more…

Appraisals for Results

by Guy Ralfe, Jan 13, 2010

This is the time of the year when most companies go through the annual review and appraisal cycle. This process supports the survival approach to objectives, not the fostering, growing and building produced through teaching someone how to do something. In this article, Guy argus that instead of this being an annual affair, we will see better all round results if it is done on a quarterly basis. Appraisals on shorter timeframes help build and foster the individual’s dignity.  more…

BLOGTASTIC!: Care passionately about your readers

by Rajesh Setty, Jan 13, 2010

The business of blogging is different from all other businesses, because your readers may not pay you money. You may never see or know your them and further more, some of them may not even identify themselves as your customers. But they pay you with the most valuable commodity that is always in short supply – Time and attention. So, take passionately take care of your readers. Always remember that caring is a two-way street, on or off the blog. more…

What Are You Waiting For?

by Robert Driscoll, Jan 14, 2010

We all know the state of the economy very well. The days of working for one company for your entire career and the company taking care of your retirement is long gone. Big business continues to squeeze more perks out of their employees to cut expenses. You may be thankful that you have a job and suck it up or you can make a change. So ask yourself, “Am I happy?” or, “Is my career/job fulfilling?” If not, then what are you waiting for to change it? more…

BLOGTASTIC!: Set aside time for your blog fans

by Rajesh Setty, Jan 14, 2010

When you give a public speech, people will come up to you at the end of the talk to ask questions and share their experience. Blogging is no different. Your readers will post their comment and expect feedback. Understand that blogging is much more than a broadcasting station for one-way communication – it is a place for mutual and group conversation. Make sure to set aside time for responding to comments on your blog. more…

Author’s Journey #4 – How to research your book’s competition

by Roger Parker, Jan 15, 2009

Your books should serve your intended reader’s needs instead of your interests or your ego. And, no publisher wants to publish a book that covers the same ground existing books cover. So, it is extremely important to evaluate current competition. In this article Roger describes how to locate competing titles and visually position your book with respect to the competing books. This two step process helped him identify his next book! more…

BLOGTASTIC!: Get used to the critics

by Rajesh Setty, Jan 15, 2010

You cannot please everybody. What’s pure gold for someone will be absolute trash for someone else. There will be people who disagree with you. So, get used to critics. But there are different types of critics. Some of them are perpetual critics who love to point out real and perceived faults. But some critics provide valuable feedback. Be discerning to learn from well-qualified critics which will help you improve your work. Learn not to take to heart criticism from people with questionable intent. Remember that criticisms from such readers may not hurt you, but your response to them could. more…

If it ain’t broken, break it!

by Himanshu Jhamb, Jan 4, 2010

In this post Himanshu reflects on this quote from Tom Peters, one of the contributors to Seth Godin’s recently released e-book What Matters Now. This is a risky proposition because it involves not accepting the status quo and engendering change – and people are resistant to change. Unless you accept this call for action, you cannot escape mediocrity and you will be stuck adjusting, compromising and coping. Make this your new year resolution! more…

BLOGTASTIC!: Slacking has consequences

by Rajesh Setty, Jan 4, 2010

It is your blog. Yes you own it and you can do whatever you want with it. You can choose to leave it idle for a while, but what is worse is to add filler content. But remember, your readers have a choice too – to visit your blog again or never to visit it! So, make each post worthwhile to your readers. In life or on your blog, you can get serious results only when you are serious about producing them. more…

Business Valuation for the sole practitioner in divorce: Watch out for Double Dipping

by Steve Popell, Jan 5, 2010

Excess Earnings Method is the most commonly use approach to valuing a sole practitioner’s practice in family court. Unfortunately, an often substantial portion of practice earnings is counted twice in a court settlement: first, in the valuation of the practice and, second, in determining support payments. In this article Steve illustrates this through and example and explains how to avoid it. more…

BLOGTASTIC!: When you stare at a blank screen..

by Rajesh Setty, Jan 5, 2010

Bloggers are writers too. So, it’s common to have writer’s block. When you are in this situation, you may be tempted to post create sub-standard content. Don’t do it. Instead you can ask up-and-coming bloggers to do guest posts, interview authors about the topics of their books, etc. Realize that if you are not contributing to the signal, you are contributing to the noise. more…

Important or Urgent First

by Guy Ralfe, Jan 6, 2010

This post is inspired by a quote from Henry Kissinger about how governments should prioritize their work. The same holds true for management too. Always evaluate tasks on these two dimensions which produces four categories. Once you put your tasks in these four buckets, you will be able to prioritize work and further more it will help you identify pure time wasters! more…

BLOGTASTIC!: You can get carried away

by Rajesh Setty, Jan 6, 2010

Ideas are easy, but execution is difficult. When you start blogging, you will have a ton of ideas and you may go overboard by creating multiple blogs – one for each area of expertise, for each book, etc. Many who do this lose steam in a few months. So, before you get carried away on the multitude of blogging initiatives, think about your personal capacity to keep up the work. more…

Author’s Journey #3 – What should you write about?

by Roger Parker, Jan 7, 2010

You should write about what you are passionate about. But at the same time you should also consider what your ideal reader’s desired change is. Ultimately your market is your market that determines your book’s success. Read this article about Roger’s 3-step process for taking your choice of book topic to the next level. more…

BLOGTASTIC!: Blogging can seem like a thankless job

by Rajesh Setty, Jan 7, 2010

In spite of you mastering the 3R rule (Recurrently provide Remarkable and Relevant content), you may not get any tangible returns. Your readers may not even be giving you feedback – Think about how many times you have provided feedback on blogs. In order to be thanked for your blog, your posts should not just be good – they need to be outstanding. Also remember, once your blog reaches a tipping point you can expect disproportionate results. more…

The Difference Between Balance and Harmony

by Robert Driscoll, Jan 8, 2010

Everyone wants balance and harmony in their lives. How is that possible? Forrest Gump said “Life is like a box of chocolates. You never know what you’re gonna get.” Reflect upon it for a minute. You cannot avoid challenges in life. The way to achieve harmony and balance in your life is to quit fighting or dealing with opposing forces. But instead embrace it. Accepting the challenges that come to you in life and working to improve the areas that bring you joy in life will open up the space for new possibilities  which in turn will make your life more fulfilling. more…

BLOGTASTIC!: Attracting and maintaining reader attention

by Rajesh Setty, Jan 8, 2010

You may resort to certain tactics to increase traffic to your blog. This may include creating a viral video, making a controversial statement, etc. But the effects of these will be short lived. In order to have a large readership on a sustained basis, you need to build an identity that is very powerful through your accomplishments outside of blogging and provide valuable information that is of high relevance to your audience. more…

Entrepreneurial lessons from Amritsar

by Himanshu Jhamb, Dec 28, 2009

While on vacation in India, Himanshu visited the holy city of Amritsar. Himanshu’s meetings and interactions with Mr. Ajay Kapoor, owner of the hotel he stayed in was educational. One of the biggest secrets of Mr. Kapoor’s success is that Relationships matter big time! By providing individual attention and putting care and love into every interaction, Mr. Kapoor has been able to establish a competitive advantage. The adage for entrepreneurs should be “Love your customer like you love thyself!” more…

BLOGTASTIC!: Timeless content produces disproportionate returns

by Rajesh Setty, Dec 28, 2009

Producing timeless content is difficult, but that’s how you can distinguish yourself from other bloggers and ensure the longevity of your blog. Blogging about fleeting moments is natural, but spend time to think about the underlying “message” and uncover the insight. What’s hot now is a trap and avoid it at all cost. Creating timeless content provides you ways to “re-use” the content – create e-books, wrap into published books, create speaking topics, etc. more…

Social media in 2010: Relationships matter more than ever before

by Deepika Bajaj, Dec 29, 2009

Roll up your sleeves and get ready for a really SERIOUS year in social media marketing. The environment and structure is in place that will allow better utilization and management of marketing strategies and resources. So, you will see more marketing dollars pour into social media. What is significant for you is to realize that you need to take SOCIAL in social media seriously.  Ultimately it all boils down to people and relationships. This year, make it your goal to become competent in listening on social media, keep your promises to your customers and build long term relationships. more…

BLOGTASTIC!: Your blog needs tipping points

by Rajesh Setty, Dec 29, 2009

Unless you are a celebrity, you cannot achieve instant success in blogging. It takes a lot of work and it takes time. In order to build traffic to your site over time, your strategy should include creating tipping points at regular intervals. But there is no surefire method to create tipping points and so you have to try, learn, change and execute again. Read this article and learn from the expert’s own path to blogging success. more…

Making Expensive Sales or Lucrative Relationships

by Guy Ralfe, Dec 30, 2009

Every individual in the sales team must realize the impact of social media. Sales organizations cannot continue to view each transaction in isolation. Because of the power of social media, any interaction could potentially have global and long lasting impact. In this article, Guy narrates the travails his friend had to go through while trying to get possession of a new car. Because of the bad experience, his friend has committed to not going back to the dealership for any service which is loss of future revenue from a single customer. More importantly, he is going to provide negative reviews about the dealership on online forums. This means loss of revenue from potential customers in the future and also adversely impacts the entire network associated with the dealership for as long as the review is online! more…

BLOGTASTIC!: Older blog posts go dead fast.

by Rajesh Setty, Dec 30, 2009

Blogs age and decay pretty fast, unless you create timeless content that stay relevant for a long time. Once you do that, you can give new life to your older posts in several ways – you could publish a book of collections of posts, categorize and highlight most popular ones, publish an e-book, etc. Like in life, you can use age to your advantage. If you are one of the first to write authoritatively on a topic, you will gain many links. On top of it, if you bring real thought and insights to the conversation through and early post, you will be regarded as the go-to expert. more…

Are You A Partner or Opponent In the Marketplace?

by Robert Driscoll, Dec 31, 2009

The marketplace is highly competitive. Common thinking is that only the strongest survive. This may breed the thought process where we are are always in the “adversarial” mode. We think constantly about beating up our opponents and being aggressive. This may help you survive, but may not produce the most beneficial outcome for you and your customers. Changing our mindset from an opponent to a partner can help in making you a trusted advisor to your clients as you seek to create solutions that are specific to their concerns. more…

BLOGTASTIC!: You don’t have to fight this alone

by Rajesh Setty, Dec 31, 2009

You can leverage ideas and insights from others to strategically add great content to your blog. Here are five specific ways:

1. Interviews with Experts

2. Write Book Reviews

3. Host Blog Carnivals

4. Host Blog Tours

5. Invite Guest Articles

Of course, you can come up with a dozen more of your own. But always ensure that whoever gives that help gets more than what they give. more…

Should we fear change or embrace it?

by Vijay Peduru, Jan 1, 2010

Fear of change is part of human instinct. It was necessary for survival of the primitive man and it is stuck in our genes. Avoiding change is detriment to our progress. So, how do we embrace change? Can we be audacious to make it enjoyable? The answer is Yes. Just like any other skill, we can learn to do it by a technique Seth Godin calls Zooming. It is a practice where you deliberately introduce change in your everyday life – listen to different topics, eat different foods, meet somebody outside of your area of expertise, etc. As you imbibe this practice, you will begin to be less fearful of change and may even start enjoying it. more…

BLOGTASTIC!: Sustainability – Blogging is easy to start but hard to maintain

by Rajesh Setty, Jan 1, 2010

Millions of people have blogged, but very few have the staying power. There are not too many people who have over 1000 posts to their credit. There are a number of reasons for this, but basically it is because blogging is difficult. The flip side is, you will have less competition in the long run. If you are in for the long haul, think of yourself as a CEO of the blogging business venture. This will help you strategize and organize the components necessary to make your venture a success. more….