Sugata Mitra: The Child-Driven Education - AWEsome Talk!

Education scientist Sugata Mitra tackles one of the greatest problems of education -- the best teachers and schools don't exist where they're needed most. In a series of real-life experiments from New Delhi to South Africa to Italy, he gave kids self-supervised access to the web and saw results that could revolutionize how we think about teaching.

Steven Johnson: Where Good Ideas Come From

People often credit their ideas to individual "Eureka!" moments. But Steven Johnson shows how history tells a different story. His fascinating tour takes us from the "liquid networks" of London's coffee houses to Charles Darwin's long, slow hunch to today's high-velocity web.

Sheena Lyengar On The Art Of Choosing

Sheena Iyengar studies how we make choices -- and how we feel about the choices we make. At TEDGlobal, she talks about both trivial choices (Coke v. Pepsi) and profound ones, and shares her groundbreaking research that has uncovered some surprising attitudes about our decisions.

Excellent talk.

Will's Wisdom From Will Smith - Excellent Message

What is Zappos?

http://www.zappos.tv/ We think our ten core values give you a good indication of who we are!

Get to know this company for what you can learn to make your business rock! Get the book Delivering Happiness - A Path To Profits, Passion, and Purpose by Tony Hsieh, CEO, Zappos.com, Inc.

Video from Jeff Bezos: The Short List To Success!

This is a wonderful short video with insights to a successful enterprise from Jeff Bezos, founder of Amazon.com.

When A Customer Enters Our Store . . .

"When a customer enters my store, forget me.

He is king."

-- John Wanamaker

"The golden rule for every business man is this:

"Put yourself in your customer's place.""

-- Orison Swett Marden

Having been a consumer for a very long time now, and in addition being a business owner, and having managed businesses in the past, I've had a lot of input about customers and how they relate to business. It's almost as if we think we can separate the two. I don't see how that is possible. Without the customer, there can be no business for very long.

Then I have seen businesses who weigh their customer based on the value they bring to the business. You know, the good customers and the bad customers and the in between. That very judgment could be a self-fulfilling prophecy.

I've seen the most lethargic responses--and even no responses when I have entered as a customer or potential customer. Some businesses I have just left, feeling that they must not desire my business.

Then, I have also been treated well and with enthusiasm and care. They are rarer and stand out as a result, and that seems to be true from other writers and other consumers I've talked with.

Why in the world would we open a business and then either ignore, or mistreat our customers?

So, I could go on with a long list of reasons, but you know what? It doesn't matter!

Here's the deal: If you want to improve your business without spending a single additional cent, and if you want to do some of the best advertising in the world without spending a single additional cent, then treat your customer--each and every one of them--as if they were royalty showing up at your house. Ratchet up your service to the nines. Better service doesn't cost money, it makes money. Raising the level of service consistently raises the profits consistently. The best service wins every time.

Chris Anderson: How YouTube Is Driving Innovation

A most excellent talk and worth the time to enjoy! See much, much more at http://www.ted.com/

Seth Godin: This is broken | Video on TED.com

Seth Godin: This is broken Video on TED.com

Very funny and enlightening at the same time.

Standing On Tradition Or Wiping My Feet On It

"I'm content to stand on tradition.

I'm even more content to wipe my feet on it."

-- Aaron Allston

 
 
How does one create a tradition? Do something many times on a regular basis. Regular can mean any time frame, like per year, per month, and so on. Just do a thing over and over for a while and it is then a tradition. If we do it long enough, it becomes our heritage.
 
Many things we do in business become traditions. Take an event for example. You think of an event, promote it and it works, so you make it an "annual" event or some such. Maybe a certain sale, teaming with a charity, tying an event to another local event.
 
What happens next? It gets old and drags on people. It becomes an obligation. People try to take time off during that event, or vacation, or some other excuse to miss it. It's dead, but we are wary of burying it and being done with it.
 
This train of thought had me remembering an annual event that we used to have where I worked. I was there for the first one. The wonderful man I worked for was very good at making the event special, had plenty to see and do, live music, small shows for entertainment, food, and so on. He promoted the heck out of it. Made a big deal of it. And, it was a huge success. I watched and learned from a master.
 
He left us all too soon, and another manager took his place. He decided to keep the event and so we did it again and again each year and each year it lost more of its pizazz. It was boring and people didn't want to participate as they did. It wasn't promoted, there wasn't anything special happening, no shows, cheesy music, lousy food.
 
Now move ahead and over 25 seasons later, I see the event is still going. . . poorly. No one wants to participate, it is a pain the the behind to almost everyone involved. It is not promoted at all, so the traffic is almost non-existent. Why in the world do we keep doing it? Tradition. It's the 26th year, and we had one year repeated 25 times, but certainly not done the same way. It has become an anchor.
 
Continuing like this gives pain to all involved. So there are two clear choices to me: One, kill it and be done with it. And, two, GET EXCITED ABOUT IT! Change it up. Promote the heck out of it. Blog about it, Twit it, facebook it, tumblr it and generally get the word out. Next, create some draws. Why would people want to come? Why should they? What will they miss if they don't come? Make it exciting and interesting and change it up year by year. Create a bit of suspense. Add to the event. Create more going on. Get more people excited and involved. Make it a happening! In other words, take it away from tradition and the resultant obligation, and turn it into a brand new event every year.
 
An event is what we make it after all.
 

More Problems, Please. . . Running Low Over Here! Please Hurry!

"Each problem has hidden in it an opportunity so powerful that it literally dwarfs the problem. The greatest success stories were created by people who recognized a problems and turned it into an opportunity."

-- Joseph Sugarman

Having experience many thousands of problems, I have come to a better conclusion: they aren't problems. They're opportunities. Where I used to say, "Oh shoot, what will we do now?" I usually say now, "this is great. Here is a grand opportunity." Or something like that. Maybe it's not quite that cool sounding yet, but I do now see opportunities, not only in every problem, but everywhere. I can tell you that this is such a great place to get to and it only took me most of my life.

When a team player doesn't work out, don't worry, fret, fuss, or cajole because a far better team player is just outside the door waiting to waltz in and dazzle you with their brilliance. When a customer is upset, angry, unhappy, complaining, and the like, don't join them in their emotional journey, praise the situation because the solution that will make them not only a lifetime customer, but a lifetime fan is right there ready to connect.

Or not. It could be a trauma, with extended grief, disoriented team players, jealous office staff, disinterested clients, cash flow nightmares, and a hundred variations on these themes. Maybe.

Of course, the choice is always yours. Why? Because it is your individual outlook that drives the outcome. It's not what happens to us, but how we think about what happens to us. We get to choose--always. Begin choosing to see a different reality--see opportunities, see solutions. The problem is a good thing.

What a difference this will make in your business.

Upward Trend Welcomes The Vacaville Total Home & Garden Show As A New Trend Setter Package Client

Upward Trend is pleased to announce that JN Productions, Inc., owners of the Vacaville Total Home & Garden Show have become our newest Trend Setter Package clients.

The Vacaville Total Home & Garden Show was a huge success last year and was combined back to back with the Solano Wine & Food Jubilee. They will be back to back in the same location for the new show on April 15, 16 and 17th, 2011. This is a big show and there is a great deal to prepare for. Upward Trend will be building a website, blog, email newsletter campaigns, Facebook, Twitter and other social media, and SEO seach engine optimization as well. The Facebook page is already up and running: Facebook Page. The website should be online by the 15th of September along with the blog and other social media points.

Welcome JN Productions, Inc and the Vacaville Total Home & Garden Show! It is a pleasure to have you as our valued clients.

Doesn't Anyone Around Here Have Some Initiative?

"Initiative is a rare skill, and thus a valuable one."

-- Seth Godin

Having worked in many different jobs and many capacities from ditch digger to general manager to business owner, I have seen so many ways that manager's and business owners kill initiative. The most common method is micro-management. The second most common way is by excessive rules, regulations and standardized procedures. Yet, at the same time, I have heard so many managers and owners complain that they can't find people who just go do the job without having to constantly guide them. They say they want initiative, but they kill it at the same time. It sounds strange and is a dichotomy in action, but if you've been in the business world for very long, you know exactly what I'm talking about.

Isn't that just the way it is sometimes: we see it happening, we want something different, but we don't do anything different, and we expect a different result. Or, is that like growing up hearing, "don't do as I do, do as I say?" So, what can be done?

If you're a manager or owner, my first recommendation is to start looking for what works instead of what is not working. So, go find sincere ways to compliment your staff and catch them doing things well. Praise each and every indication of initiative no matter how small. You will find that there is absolutely nothing so powerful and encouraging as praise. If you feel a strong need to correct a behavior, or action, do it in private after you have pointed out several positive aspects of what they do and then do it matter-of-factly and explain your reasoning so they start to see the plan rather than just the "way we do things."

In other words, encourage initiative! There's no better way to get more of this than through praise and encouragement. You will be amazed what this will do for your team and it will do it in a very short time.

What A Waste Of Time, Energy, and Brand Name Association

I just read an article that shows how small a company can get in their efforts to get larger. In this case, it has to do with 2011 truck emission systems and what they're saying is "we have the best way to do that, they have a different way and we don't like it or think it is a good way because they aren't doing it fairly, and we think they should do it our way because our way is the best way and their way is flawed. They shouldn't be approved because their way has flaws."

What is pretty common in the business world is hearing that a company or its products are better and why and the competition doesn't measure up. But, this is much more silly and time wasting than that. In this case, this company has gone to the State of California and the US EPA (Mommy and Daddy perhaps) to tell them all the bad things that all those other companies are doing and how we have the only way and they shouldn't get to play because they're not nearly as cool as we are--and we are just the coolest. Can I get a witness? Can I get some judgment? In our favor? Please? 

Any person or company who tries to move ahead by taking others down is wasting time, energy and brand name association. There are two ways to have the tallest building. One, become known as a builder, and two become known as a destroyer. Which one does this article indicate to you?

They might be suing in court if they had a leg to stand on, but that would be even sillier. Just think of all the time (time is money), money, energy (people running around doing filings, etc), lawyers (money) that can get expended on this kind of project, many of which go very long. This is the cost of destroying the competition (or trying to). Now think what can be done with the same volume of money, time, people, energy to build the tallest building. Which one would you choose?

I recommend building. . .

The Value Of A Dollar Is Social

"The value of a dollar is social, as it is created by society."

-- Ralph Waldo Emerson

The value of a dollar is entirely subjective. Pricing is less a science and more a guessing game. What people pay is entirely based on how they perceive the value of the item. The value of an item can be expressed in many ways and it can also be perceived is as many.

I have an online business through eBay selling used books mostly and also music and movies, mostly VHS. It is not a big business but I have over 10,000 items on eBay and half.com at the moment. Some things may be online without a sale for years. I started this business in mid-2004, and by mid-2005 had amassed quite a bit of inventory. Much of it is common, but I have done pretty well with a certain strategy.

There is a series of books I had quite a few of called, the Chicken Soup For The Soul and miscellaneous titles as such. Book dealers trip over themselves to sell these for .75 each, but what's the point of that? So, I listed them for $5.95 plus $3.50 shipping. Well, you know, I've actually done pretty well with that kind of pricing because I had a photo of the actual book and a large selection of things, but I full well knew I was pricing myself out of this market. But, I did nothing and several years later, I still had these books.

One day a couple of weeks ago, I was looking at them in the warehouse and decided to try something. So, I priced them at $3.95 with FREE shipping as a test to see if I could sell one, otherwise I would just take them offline and throw them away as a lost cause. By the way, it's not the value of the books as reading material, it is that there were so many millions printed!

The day after I changed the price one sold. The next day another, then another and another. So, there ya go. I still got a great deal more than those tripping over selling them for 6 bits, and found a price that customers felt value at. Win-win. Shipping cost me about $2.50, so it is all good, and the experiment paid off. I wouldn't call it EUREKA, but it is a positive change.

So, there's a story of value and price in a nutshell. I love the eBay business because it teaches me so much and I get stories to tell to boot. Win-win.

What makes you smile? What changes your mood? Your attitude?

A video article from Jeffrey Gitomer

We Welcome Our New Trend Setter Package Client: FITBODIES I.N.C.

Upward Trend is pleased to announce our newest Trend Setter Package client, FITBODIES I.N.C. (Individual Needs Customized), owned and operated by Robin Boubelik at 97 Dobbin St, Suite C, Vacacille CA 95688. You can reach FITBODIES I.N.C. at 707-628-5600.

FITBODIES I.N.C. was created with over 17 years of experience and continued education in the fitness industry by Robin Boubelik. She uses an application of personal and professional knowledge in weight training, teaching a variety of classes and managing. She has one important goal: to give each person individual attention and quality instruction.

Keeping in mind that variety and consistency are important for an effective lifestyle of fitness, FITBODIES I.N.C. has a variety of different group and private sessions available to meet individual needs. All sessions are limited in size to give more attention to each client. Robin says, "I take pride in what I do, and it is very important to me that each and every person who comes into my studio feels they are getting the very best out of what they are doing. I want you to leave feeling healthier and happier than when you came in."

I Partner Inc - How To Grow Your Business Effectively

"I believe that you can get everything in life you want if you will just

help enough other people get what they want."

-- Zig Ziglar

"Win hearts, and you have hands and purses."

-- Lord Burleigh

One thing is clear about our companies. We partner with a lot of other people and companies and it has proven to be one of the best things we could possibly do.

Many businesses think competitively and that idea is based on lack. It is based on the assumed fact that there is only so much business in a certain area for a certain product or service and that the goal of the business is to maximize their share of that business, or think of it as a pie and trying to get a larger slice of the same pie everyone else is trying to get a slice out of. This idea is flawed from the start because it is so limiting in its scope because it is totally based on lack and limitation--there's only so much and no more.

The reality is that this limitation is not fact. It is just an idea of the way things are. It is a point of view; albeit, a negative point of view. Yet there are so many businesses who are working to cut their "competitor" out of as much business as possible so they can have more. Price wars, advertising wars, and the fight goes on.

Based on this kind of thinking, a business would be very skeptical of partnering with this so-called competitor, yet, I highly recommend it. It has proven very successful for our endeavors and it builds relationships and helps our business expand while theirs does the same.

Think of partnering as making a bigger pie. Instead of trying to get a bigger piece of a smaller pie, we just make the pie bigger and everyone gets more. What a concept! But can it be done? Absolutely! We do it every day.

We have partnered with many and even some of them at no charge over a long period of time, helping to grow their business and we find benefits in that. You just never know how something you do for someone else may come back to you. You may be rewarded from a completely different source. Of course, we don't really do it looking for a return, but we also know that the law of compensation will bring us compensation from somewhere. We figure, we were going that direction anyway, we might as well bring some friends!

I could give example after example of how this has worked and proven itself effective, and I will most likely write on this subject more because I think it is not only interesting, but worth sharing. We partner often and we highly recommend it.

Sales Skills and Presentation Skills To Consider From Ford Fusion Video

A virtual test drive in the 2010 Ford Fusion Hybrid! This video comes from YouTube CompareFord and http://www.comparefordsocial.com/.

Now, I hardly ever put anything in this blog about cars, but I was very impressed with this video. Since I spent most of my life in the automobile business and I've been a sales manager in one form or another since 1975, training to do presentations has always been a focus. Here's why this video impressed me from a sales perspective--and this applies to almost any kind of selling:

1. The greeting was excellent, real and in good spirits.
2. The vehicle was brought to the customer at the customer's convenience.
3. This is a familiar area for the customer, so they are much more comfortable.
4. THERE WERE ONLY A FEW KEY POINTS MADE. Some salespeople just love to talk about all the features, benefits, this and that and the other. People don't need that many things to make a decision. Frankly, the more you talk, the further the sale gets from you in general.
5. The demonstration was completely in flow with the rest of the conversation--and, this is key: it was conversational.
6. He treated the customer as a friend, yet not too personal. He was comfortable and that flows easily to the customer.
7. This was obviously not the time to close the sale, so there was not attempt to do so. This was a demonstration and effectively serves as a taste, a sniff, a social get together. As this, it is effective as a convincer of the sales person, the dealership, the product, and the experience.

I want to say, BRAVO! Well done. I know it was staged, but it was very well done and I would highly recommend this approach and please keep in mind not to tell too much. People have a hard enough time trying to decide and more information is usually not the deciding factor.

My Economic Indicators Are. . . Good!

"If you keep on saying things are going to be bad,

you have a good chance of being a prophet."

-- Isaac Bashevis Singer

It is interesting to hear many business owners say how bad things are and how they are going to get worse before they get better, and then proceed to itemize a list of the reasons and justifications for their conclusions. I am a swimmer, but I have learned from long and hard experience that it pays for me to swim upstream with people just a few strokes before I let them keep those thoughts for themselves.

I really would like to say to them that it can be better right now by just changing those thoughts and conclusions and that this would not only feel better, but actually create more prosperity. I would like to offer proof and options to show how it can be done, but they cannot yet hear me. They have become prophets. They have been proven right (such an easy thing to achieve, yet is entirely subjective). They stand on their proof (the news, group opinions, talk radio, TV, statistics--you know--facts). So, within a few minutes, I have to stop swimming and float downstream and let them have their prophetic creation to themselves.

So, if you've read this far, you must not be the person I'm referring to, so let me give you some thoughts to ponder on this subject.

What if the current economy, economic conditions, state of business, and your life in general was normal? How different might you feel about it? People might think it is bad now, but the word bad is a relative term indicating a position away from good. What if now was good? What if bad wasn't actually bad?

I know this is sort of trippy, but give it some careful thought. What if, in order for things to be bad, it would have to get far worse than it is now. Here's another way to approach it: What if there were no past? What if there were only today and the future? We might have to get rid of the word bad entirely, for it wouldn't have much value without the past, would it?

Some of the best advice I've ever heard came from Theodore Roosevelt: "Do what you can, with what you have, where you are." In other words, just do your best. Great advice in any economic condition, and if we're going to be doing the best we can do with what we have and where we are, it sure is going to help the outcome to believe there will be one. In other words, believe in yourself, your services, your business, your value, have a positive outlook in general. It is amazing what a difference that will make once it is an allowed thought.

So, here's a toast to today being good. Maybe it wasn't good enough, but that would only be if you didn't give your best. If you give your best, there isn't any better, so it will have to stand. Find things to be thankful for. This always helps me tremendously. Once you get your mind on that path, you will find many, many things to be thankful about, and your gratitude will change your demeanor, your attitude, and believe it or not, your results.

Today is a good day. Life is good today. Every day is a good day. Thank you for this day.