Guy's free marketing books

From Guy Kawasaki: To celebrate the New Year, you can get four of his books for free. Please spread this link as far and wide as you can. http://www.yousendit.com/download/WUJZZUNndWNlaFRMYnRVag The books are: What the Plus!, The Macintosh Way, Database 101, and The Computer Curmudgeon. Happy New Year!

RE: tippy toeing toward a conversation of Global Small Business (proactive? reactive?)

[from MM]
   On my humble opinion, companies in the US will continue to endure high cost in employment and regulations impose by the goverment when overseas is not an option. Unemployment as we all know is affecting MNCs products or services, we just need to search for the automotive industries and we will see that those companies offering smaller and greener technology are surviving this economic meltdown.
   I work closely with human resources professionals dedicated to recruit for global companies, and we all agree that high salaries and benefits offered by MNCs companies are greater than domestic companies. However, when sending an employee overseas can be cheaper as they get compensated according to the standards of the country in which the employee will be working. But still a good option for MNCs to continue to send employment overseas.
   Your approach to proactive and reactive reasons as a matter of survival, well said.

   Thanks M-. By focusing on the smallest of business I was looking to find businesses that just went Global ... and then got sidetracked. It's still a worthy pursuit, but the direction of the consideration proved meaningful enough anyway.
   However, when dealing with, as I used for an example, a business as small as a start up ad firm, or even an individual freelancer, there's little chance that one will outsource anything. In the instances when one does so, profit taking is not the motivation. At this level the planet truly becomes borderless!

tippy toeing toward a conversation of Global Small Business (proactive? reactive?)

   By this writers presumption, the “who has not expanded beyond our borders” question tends to target large corporations. Therefore, to the midsized businesses I went.
   “HSBC's International Business Survey found that the portion of U.S. executives planning to increase their overseas sales targets rose sharply to a survey high of 72%, up from 49% in 2008 and 56% in 2009, underscoring the rapid globalization of the core of America's economy” (Staff, 2010).
   In terms of going overseas for the first time ever the challenge to find recent examples doing business in foreign countries drives my focus to small companies. Naturally, the presumption here is the first time ever part.
   “Among the companies that have recently sent jobs overseas are Hewlett-Packard Co. (NYSE:HPQ) in Palo Alto, CKE Restaurants Inc. in Irvine and Hilton Worldwide, the McLean, Va., hotelier that maintained a reservations center in Hemet employing 295 people” (Lee, 2010).
   So if we lift the first time ever consideration we find that companies that already have a presence overseas continue to pursue sending yet more employment overseas. A review of the rationale is without surprise: it is cheaper. This is nearly always the reason.
   Would there be a point to pushing for first time examples, contacting the SBA or SCORE, etc? The thought is there is no point to such a pursuit. However, is there a rationale for pursuing small business expressions in particular; yes. At the very least, it personalizes the dynamic.
   So on to the question at hand: proactive and reactive postures.
   There is an e-commerce fulfillment business called Shipwire that recently did its own internal study of its international orders; this being an expression of import and exports. Revealed is that 75% of global merchants were making use of this, compared with only 13% of US merchants. This may be why Pres. Obama announced the National Export Initiative (NEI) this past March; with the intention of doubling exports within five years (Watters , 2010).
   Such an acknowledgment may be long overdue. Since the 1980s, the US economy has flipped, and we have experienced more than a quarter of a century where we are importing more than we are exporting. Nonetheless, while we may point to reasons, such as the recently challenging economy, there seem numerous reasons to both be optimistic and hopeful.
   As regards small firms, Americans have never earned or spent more of our income than we do today globally. In 2009, American exports topped 1 trillion for the first time. American small businesses are successful as exporters; and this includes with China. Small businesses benefit from imports, access to global capital and demonstrate that they can thrive in the global marketplace (Griswold, 2007).
   Consider the global business language is ostensibly English, that e-mail to Skype (along with machine translation) is globally free and readily available, and the innumerable business models, where low or no inventory is available (as well as other relatively comfortable business models). Then consider how we used to have to build into markets just yesterday (from regional to national, etc., first). Micro-multinationals have been possible for a few years now. These are small businesses born directly global.
   In a 2007 Small Business Trends article, they note the substantial number of antique dealers on eBay selling globally. This would have been impossible a half generation ago (Campbell , 2007). As long as one is willing to do the homework, (employment regulations, shipping importation, etc.), it becomes a question of why not.
   In this context, the reasons are both reactive and proactive; it is a matter of survival. Being proactive and reactive are equally important, and would only be more or less so on a case-by-case basis. Now that the world is flat, new players on the scene are legitimately reactive in the face of whatever else is possible. On the planet Earth, anywhere else is possible. Therefore, why grow one's business when one can be born, proactively, globally.
   As an industry wide small business expression, I cannot think of an applied visual art that does not have a capacity to upload into a global cyberspace ones portfolio and take entrepreneurial responsibility for forwarding one's own fiscal results. Growing oneself as a brand, a business in one's own right may seem daunting by the moving parts to consider. The consolation is a planet wide universe wealth of opportunity.

References

Campbell , A. (2007, July 25, 2007 ). Go Global Without Waiting to Grow Up [Web log message]. Retrieved from http://smallbiztrends.com/2007/07/go-global-without-waiting-to-grow-up.html

Griswold, D. (2007, June 13, 2007). Individual Liberty, Free Markets, and Peace. The Large Stake of U.S. Small Business in an Expanding Global Economy.. the CATO Institute, (), . doi: Retrieved from http://www.cato.org/testimony/ct-dg06132007.html

Lee, D. (2010, October 6, 2010). U.S. jobs continue to flow overseas. Los Angeles Times. Retrieved from http://www.aarp.org/work/job-hunting/news-10-2010/u_s_jobs_continue_to_flow_overseas.html

Staff (2010, Wed June 30, 2010 12:24 pm). More US mid-sized companies look at expanding international revenues, reveals HSBC study. BI-ME. Retrieved from http://www.bi-me.com/main.php?id=46771&t=1&c=35&cg=4&mset=1011

Watters , A. (2010, May 3, 2010 4:00 PM). Study, Government Initiative Point to Small Businesses Expanding into Overseas Markets [Web log message]. Retrieved from http://www.readwriteweb.com/start/2010/05/study-government-initiative-point-to-small-businesses-expanding-into-overseas-markets.php

a gaming possibility

   One of the ongoing issues with technologies is the persistence of control. My parents are in their mid-70s, and while they don't even have the capacity to figure out how to "steal" music online, I think I would have to support them 100% if that was something they chose to do. Why? Because in their lifetime they have gone through piano rolls, 75s, LPs and 45s, eight tracks, cassettes, CDs ... and now they have an iPod that I gave them last Christmas with what likely represents most of the music of their lives (it took me all year to collect the music) and the sad thing is they have no idea how to use it. How many flipping times that the music industry really expect people to have to wholesale replace entire collections of music?
   I know this is not directly related, but it's a metaphor. Video games, like guitar hero, and activities designed for the Wii are likely proprietary constructs. And I can appreciate the argument that technology is ever changing; consequently, those who have the base technology can roll out incremental changes without making themselves available to people coming in, and expressing competition.
   The issue I'm trying to get at is that once a genre, of any kind, is established, then the generic code should be made available. Why? Because while the more muscular brand name may be able to add bells and whistles, in their greed to be the only player they are shutting out an enormity of small business at the fringes.
   Imagine being a video game designer, who is either in or has friends who are in some Indie bands. How sweet it would be to package a CD of music with a CD that could be acted out through gaming platform. There is no reason why this shouldn't already be available to us. In fact, I imagine the only way we will see this sort of thing is if [a] a music company buys up one of those gaming companies, and (hello Sony? Not profitable enough for you? Might be profitable enough for dozens of smaller players) [b] they can somehow create a construct by which they rake in the lion's share.
   So where does that leave us? Well, with regards to this particular example, some enterprising game designer might create a generic platform (lifting the big boys business model), and gaining traction, while using nothing but some of the best indie bands out there. Eventually other game designers would pick up on this... it would only add to the repertoire.
   And, gee, what a boon for some of those indie bands that might get discovered through such a platform.

(inspired by an old article - not a direct connection, however):
Boom in music video games helps original artists
By RYAN NAKASHIMA, AP Business Writer Ryan Nakashima, Ap Business Writer – Sun Dec 21, 1:16 am ET
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20081221/ap_on_en_mu/music_video_games_4
retrieved 12/21/2008 8:00:57 AM

AVA Academia

(of Subtler Cultural Communications will continue soon)

   Applied Visual Arts publishing, based in West Essex, UK, had rep exposure in Tampa today. Met with Managing Director, Caroline and Editor in Chief Ellen. Great meet.

   Reviewing a series of their publications. Looks and sounds like the best fit for the textbook I'm intending. Will be sending the outline likely tonight. Ellen seemed authentically jazzed.

   Sounds good, we'll see; and I'll keep us "posted".

http://www.avabooks.ch/

Inbound marketing

  This is a quick little review of an audio book by Brian Halligan, and Darmesh Shah.
   I found the book to be a wonderful resource, very comprehensive, and something I'll probably look for in print just so I have a ready resource that I can actually open up. However, I emphatically do not recommend the audio book. The narrator, Erik Synnestvedt, had such a postured affectation that I could hardly push my way through listening to it all.
   I likely will not pursue much more of this technology than I already have; primarily because at this point I would probably need to have my own business or be an ad agency to push the technologies much further than I already have.
   So all in all, good reference, even worth pursuing if you're business or agency, but buy it in print - do not try listening to it.

the Fundamental Global Business strategy

   Ultimately a business strategy rarely comes down to much more that giving one’s customers or client what they want. Often this becomes a problem if one needs to hunt to determine what that is, presumes what that is or in some other way the communication has been mangled, compromised or otherwise has been diluted.
   This happens often with small start up businesses who have not done their homework thoroughly. It’s not enough to have a driving passion to open a storefront dedicated to all things Star Trek. But has the proper research been done to see if the community could sustain such “an enterprise”, is there competition, etc.
   This happens with larger corporations as well. American Apparel recently found their strategy and practices out of synch with, at least, the economy and cultural shifts of the day; seeing deep cut backs, store closures, potential investigations and that their very survival is in question.
   As challenging as managing a, or an aspect of a, business may be, the right personnel is just as challenging; for they are the face of your business. For your foreign customers, alliances or whomever you may be interacting with in another country it is not enough to simply buy the ticket, fly over and introduce yourself.
   This calls to mind the image of the foreign traveler who, when confronted with someone who did not speak English, began repeating what he had just said slower and louder; embarrassing his colleagues and missing both the opportunity and the point.
   Are you as a company or you as an employee in a position to take advantage of acculturation trainings; similarly, the question of language training? If you are not making an effort to learn the language, at least honor your potential hosts by learning key phrases. It will be appreciated that some effort was made on your part. Likewise, expose yourself to as much about the people and their customs as you can. For example, if you’re doing business in Italy you’ll need a clothing allowance; likely more so than anywhere else in the world. Italians expect current fashion from a professional. After all, this is the country that gave us Gucci, Prada and Versace (to name a few). There seems no greater amount of ritual associated with business cards than with the Chinese. This is not akin to disingenuous agreement. This is a matter of honoring the other; thee fundamental international strategy. Don’t loose that important account just because you don’t know how or when to shake hands (or hug, kiss, bow, etc.)!

invention / innovation: the sticky note cube calendar receptacle

   I’ll be working on more textbook modules today, and I had this thought come to me this morning; so I’m offering up this sketch. Effectively, the plug in units for this as yet un-offered product are already in existence: the 3-M company makes post-it cubes. They’ve pre-printed them in the past as well. What this as yet unrealized product would need is 31 cubes pre-printed with each number in a limited choice of colors that would fit into a custom crate that hangs on your work space wall (with color coordinated blank cubes to fill the excess). The days of the week would be actual cubes in matching colors. The months, as well, would follow such a consideration (though they’re not represented in the sketch).

   Alterations to the basic sketch might include a sizeable hole in the back of each cell to push cubes out when necessary. And the individual vertical cell walls might slant at an angle from the top back to the bottom front; also for ease of use.

   The value of this is for folks who make notes on their calendar, then feel compelled to transcribe them to post-its as small carry-around to do lists.

   I don’t mind including this idea for a product design on the blog since it embraces a number of tag lines already established here: applied arts, business, etc.

   So tell 3M – maybe they’ll pay me some desperately need moola!

Happy 234! [some follow through]

   It’s only been a couple weeks, but I guess from time to time some follow through is in order. Seems a quarter of the posts have had further development, so some quick comments on these posts:
• the hope for the Kyrgyzstani roller coaster - Global, Business
• Defining Terms - Applied Arts, Business, Marketing
• Eighty Year Old Fonts - Entrepreneurship, graphic design (applied arts)
• the BCRS - Web Design, Marketing & Business - e-commerce, Marketing, web design (applied arts) and its related post the BCRS presentation is complete (ahhhh) - e-commerce, Gulf Beaches, Marketing, web design (applied arts)
   Yesterday Roza Otunbayeva was inaugurated as president of Kyrgyzstan, becoming the first female head of state in central Asia. I have since heard from a friend within Russia on this. Honoring our own long held détente he resisted taking position, and I was warmed that he, too, was hoping for the best for the people of the region. No surprise, and always a nice confirmation. Still, I imagine there is more to come.
   I trumped my own definition for Applied Arts the other day, acknowledging that culinary indeed qualifies (nonetheless, it is unique among the rest). It should perhaps be noted that I’m fully aware that there are derivatives I had not outright mentioned. An example of this is Architecture. I do mention CAD artists, yet chose Interior Designers as the example. I also want to note that I ignored the written arts wholesale. The range of expression covers everything (from poetry to ad copy to a myriad of aspects beyond screenplays for cinema and broadcast). So, while specifics of research will focus on the applied visual arts, I herewith acknowledge large exceptions for which abstractions may be translate-able but likely will not be addressed directly. By the way, I consider fireworks a craft.
   The Font post is, so far, the only one that has garnered a comment. So far the only way I’ve found to show the comments doesn’t make sense; it’s away from the original and visually distracting. There are a few mechanics I’ll pursue here; this foremost. Thank you, Matthew, for the contribution!
   The BCRS had garnered, inspired by our good work, tens of thousands in grant money while we worked on the project. That was critical to spare it from expiring this September. I’ve since learned that the site is now in line (again, in no small measure because of our effort) for a grant exceeding one million. I know my teammates all received “A’s” for the class; I received a metric of 500 of 500. Perfection rarely happens, so I’m sharing it.
   That catches me up for now – may your fireworks be lit by someone else, and be inspiring!

Eighty Year Old Fonts

   Interesting, doing some goofy work for a friend associated with the recovery community. I cannot find the matching font to their slogans! Has me now wondering if all the associated (to AA) fonts are "endangered or extinct".
   Is this a "business opportunity" (to recreate the fonts)? Is there a quintessential font repository? If this font, and any others (classically used by such an enormous network - especially the historic fonts and adornments) cannot be found, then at a minimum they need to be re-created. But here may be a collection opportunity as well! 
   You gotta figure one of their founders was a sales guy, so marketing was not an insensitivity. Some real thought went into their marketing material. Founded in the '30s, there's probably some post aesthetic / post deco period etc. Apparently I was looking for a German black letter font (thank you Barbara Nicolazzo). San Marco™ Cyrillic Roman comes closet; but it’s hard to pay for something (a font in this case) when it’s [a] just goofin’ and [b] still not exactly what you need. Anyway, the left is an "original" - the right is the just for fun parody. So, yes, there likely is a business opportunity here.