Dec
8
What’s the power of a blog?
Filed Under Technology, Utah Real Estate
Earlier this year, when considering buying a home in Utah, I posted a blog about an experience I had at a presentation about B.I.Y.D.S.. They offered to help me build my own house with tons of equity. It sounded very good but I wasn’t in a position to take their offer.
Later, Google did it’s job and my blog came to the top of the search results for BIYDS. That page began to draw traffic and Jeremy Firth commented on his horrible experience with BIYDS. ” Take it from one who knows: do NOT sign a contract with BIYDS. You will kick yourself every day after that.”
As others came, they commented. Steve said “I’m very glad I stubbled across your comments about BIYDS. I’ve been calling people and trying to get a feel for their company and system. I was literally hours away from signing with them.”
Now, I’m not speaking for or against any person or company, I’m just pointing out how powerful blogging can be to empower the people to inform themselves on decisions. I encourage anyone reading this to start a blog. There are a lot of free blog services out there.
Dec
8
BigZoo is going out of business?
Filed Under Business Ideas, Resources, Principles, etc., Technology
I have used BigZoo since 2001, at an attractive $0.029 per minute. Though the quality wasn’t perfect, the service saved us quite a bit over those three years. They’ve announced they’re phasing out their service. We’ve been using Skpe a lot lately. Maybe we’ll switch completely to them.
Dec
8
Paul has posted a list of powertools for entreprenuers. I’ve use many of this list. It’s a great list and I’m posting it for future reference.
Dec
6
Unforgettable Biography with Beautiful Hard-Bound Books
Filed Under Genealogy to Family History to FamilyLearn
At FamilyLearn, we’re constantly progressing and adjusting our business for what people want and need. We just released a new version of the Unforgettable Biography with a beautiful, tangible component and we’re very happy about the outcome. This product will make a great gift and will help the Personal Historians in their businesses immensely.
The Unforgettable Biography has always made it easy to write a biography using the power of the Internet. Now it makes it easy to publish a biography as a gift or beautiful addition to your coffee table or bookshelf. The goal is to get it where people will learn from it.
Dec
2
Google – What makes it tick?
Filed Under Technology
What Google has created and will yet create is awesome, in the true sense of the word.
Over 2000 PCs in a cluster and over 3000 clusters.
Dec
2
An Evening of Friendship
Filed Under Home, Family and Church
Fuller Theological Seminary president and Beliefnet columnist Richard J. Mouw apologized to Mormons for evangelicals’ tendency to distort the truth about Latter-day Saints’ beliefs. This article has really jump started a discussion between a good friend of mine from Penns, who is evangelical, and me about our beliefs. It’s strengthened our friendship. Thank you for the apology Richard J. Mouw. That was a very Christian thing to do. I will, as a member of the LDS church, strive to show the same courtesy and understanding to you and your faith.
Nov
18
The Bootstrappers Bible by Seth Godin Captured
Filed Under Business Ideas, Resources, Principles, etc., Favorite Books, Free Book Summary - Online
Seth Godin has rights to an ebook he wrote and he’s giving it away for free. I downloaded a copy and thorougly enjoyed the entire book.
THE JOY OF SMALL
Advantages of the big corporations
1. Distribution – they have huge, established distribution chains.
2. Access to capital – these guys are big and can borrow big bucks. They use this money to beat anyone out if they can.
3. Brand equity – Nike can command a pretty penny and has built a reputation.
4. Customer relationships – established customer relationships are a huge advantage. It’s hard to lure customers away.
5. Great employees – big companies, with their security and famous reputations, attract amazing people.
But the underdogs can play many things to their advantage:
Advantages of Bootstrappers
1. Nothing to lose – HUGE. While the big company’s beauracracy fumbles to make decisions trying to protect their old ways of doing business, you can move on the market and embrace new territory.
2. Happy with small fish – the first animals to die in the ocean are big fish because they need soooo much to eat.
3. Presidential input – the pres can actually positively influence the entire company.
4. Rapid R&D – Sometimes bigger teams doesn’t give a company an advantage.
5. The Underdog – Others are willing to help you out with discounts. Big companies are always charged full price.
6. Low overhead
7. Time – you aren’t forced to do things at certain times because you’re not answering to public shareholders. Big companies don’t have that luxury.
Don’t play the big companies’ game or you’ll get eatin. Play your strengths.
Id became famous for Castle Wolfenstein. The 4 guys who built it decided to follow their own rules against the big boys. They built Doom, gave it away for free, and millions loved it. Then in stage two they offered a deluxe version with more levels, more monsters, more everything and sold it directly by mail order. Id redefined the business and won.
A GREAT IDEA CAN WIPE YOU OUT
“What’s a great idea? Something that’s never been done before. Something that takes your breath away. Something so bold, so daring, so right, that you’re certain it’s worth a bazillion dollars.”
Stick with things that have worked before, in other industries. If it’s been done once, it can be done again. Get a real business model.
Key elements:
Distribution – Where is it sold to the customer?
Sales – Who is selling it for you and how will they be compensated?
Pricing – What do wholesalers and retailers and consumers pay?
Production – How do you make it?
Raw materials – Where do you get what you sell?
Positioning – How do the ultimate users position the product in their minds?
Marketing – How do consumers find out about it?
Barrier to entry – How will you survive when competitors arrive?
Scalability – How do you make it bigger?
First off, start the right business.
1. Profitable.
2. Protectible
3. Self-priming
4. Adjustable
5. Exit strategy (optional)
Decide whether you’ll be a free-lancer (skills) or an entreprenuer (for business models’ sake).
Great bootstrappers find an existing business model and embrace it.
1. You can be certain it can be done.
2. You can learn from previous mistakes.
3. You can find a mentor.
4. You’re not alone.
Look at the value chain in looking at a business model.
1. Who’s going to buy your product or service?
2. How much are they going to pay?
3. Where will they find it?
4. What’s the cost of making one sale?
Take an extra month to get the business model right. Don’t plan too much because you’ll never get out and do it.
DOING THE MATH
A few pointers on debt:
1. Don’t, unless it’s professional.
2. Only get into professional debt when it’s to make money.
3. It’s better to save the money than to go into debt for it.
4. When you borrow from family and friends, spell it out very well.
The most important things is that you sale. You have sales. You can do almost anything.
1. Sell something that people want to buy and know how to buy.
2. Own the sells process.
RINGO WAS THE LUCKIEST BEETLE
Rule 1. Find people who care about cash less than you do.
Rule 2. Survival is success.
Rule 3. Success leads to more success.
Rule 4. Redo that mission statement and business plan every 3 months.
Rule 5. Associate with winners (customers, employees, vendors, and peers)
Rule 6. Beware of shared ownership (or, why Ringo was the luckiest beetle) Try 5/5 and split the other 90 over time according to performance.
Rule 7. Advertise! Spend regularly as investment, Persist, be clear, test and measure
Rule 8. Get mentored.
Rule 9. Observe those birds that clean the hippos’ teeth
Nov
18
The BBC has a whole section of their site on family history now.
Nov
9
In Smart Mobs: The Next Social Revolution, Howard Rheingold travels the globe observing the trends of societies that embrace mobile technology. India’s cell phone users just passed their traditional lines.
On a similar topic, Skype founder Niklas Zennstr??m has confirmed that Skype will be moving into the mobile PDA and pocket PC.
Oh, I’m looking forward to dropping my phone and long distance bills with only an Internet connection. Niklas believes that this is where voice communication is headed.
“The phone companies are clinging to old business models rather than transforming themselves into services companies and reducing operational expenses by using the Internet. Soon, most of us will be using the Internet for voice communication, and the idea of charging for that makes as much sense as charging for email or for using a Web browser. ”
The future looks so promising.
Nov
9
Firefox taking over Explorer users
Filed Under Business Ideas, Resources, Principles, etc., Search Engine Marketing
The Internet Explorer population has dropped from 95 to 92 percent from July to October alone. Some US computer security organizations have recently called for Internet users to switch to a safer browser.
I’ll bet Firefox will do similar things to Explorer that Explorer did to Netscape. The momentum is just beginning to build. Given the enhanced features and security, let it keep on growing.
Just last week I helped an older couple download Firefox and they were so happy about the security and popup blocking it provided. I personally never use Explorer except to test websites on and I encourage all readers to download FireFox and use it instead of Explorer. It’s safer and once you try tabbed browsing, you’ll never want to go back.
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