Should Old Aquaintence Be Forgot...?

We're here at the eve of another New Year, and this has been a good one, hasn't it?

I hope tonight you can be with people you love and cherish, and that you will be able to face tomorrow and all it brings with joy and peace, and with a determination to make those around you better and stronger in the New Year!

Have a safe and fun New Year's Eve, and a wonderfully prosperous 2010!

"I do with blog resolve..."

New Year.

2010.

I always felt like New Year's Day had its own special smell. Kind of the way a new car smells for the first couple of weeks. It's a fresh, optimistic quality that pervades the thinking of people across the globe. It's the concept on "new" that invigorates the soul and spurs action and self-motivation.

Even if it does only last until the second week of February.

We all make them. Those venerable and tradition-dictated self-promises that are so often poorly thought out and seldom achieved. It's an honorable tradition, this writing of resolutions. We ought to do it, we really should. It's so important to challenge ourselves to better achievements, greater accomplishments, and the attainment of our goals.

But where to begin? We often fall into the traps of poor goal-setting because of a lack of direction. And when we fail at what we have promised ourselves to do, we lose the motivation to strive toward that mark. It's a vicious cycle.

So I've thought of a few things that you can do in 2010 that will help you improve your business, better yourself, and build up those around you. Happy New Year!

1.) Make a list of things you want to accomplish in the next ten months.

Goals are the most important element of success. All the hard work and ingenuity and problem-solving in the world is useless if they are not being applied in the pursuit of a specific, measurable goal. So much time is wasted pursuing nothing because the object of the pursuit is never clearly and accurately defined.
Make a point of sitting down and writing a clear and concise list of the things you would like to accomplish or achieve in 2010. Use this time-honored acronym:
Specific
Measurable
Achievable
Realistic
Time-Oriented

2.) Market yourself.

Economic times like those we face often scare people into omitting their most valuable tool for growth. Marketing. It is of utmost importance to be actively marketing your brand and product when the economy is down to maintain a stream of new income, however small. When the economy cycle comes around, you will have built-in income that will allow you to realize true, substantial growth, instead of rebuilding your base.
Do whatever your budget demands, but do something. Goto networking meetings. Build a social media profile. Buy a cheap website. Pass out flyers. Advertise on Craigslist. But do something consistently in 2010 to market your business.

3.) Track your work.

Often, people are unsure of where they are going because they do not know where they have been. Tracking your progress in any given area is essential to being able to move forward down the road. Whether it be your networking efforts, your web presence, or your outside sales initiatives, track your progress. Write down what you're doing and whether or not it works, and use real numbers. Don't just give a blanket "That didn't work out how I thought it would!" Give it real value, however small, so that you can compare it to something else later on.

4.) Help someone else.

People do business with those whom they know, like, and trust. They also happen to send business to the same people. If you do business by referral like we do, then you understand the importance of cultivating vibrant and active referral relationships. The very best way to do this is to find out what the people around you need. After you've done that, find a way to get it for them. You don't need to get paid for this, you shouldn't expect to. You're building a relationship of trust and mutual benefit that will pay huge dividends in the future.

Have a great New Year, and a prosperous 2010!

Merry Christmas

I'm a firm believer in Christmas. I love the season, but more importantly, I love the spirit.

Christmas has always been, and always will be, about the birth of our Savior, Jesus Christ. As a Christian, I'm so thankful for His wonderful sacrifice on behalf of my sins. What a wonderful way to celebrate that gift!

So to you and yours, from my family to your family, and from my heart to your heart, enjoy this time of year however you choose to celebrate it, and have a wonderful, joy-filled, very merry Christmas.

Season of Giving

This is my favorite time of the year. There is no contest. I love Thanksgiving, and I love the Thanksgiving feast. Easter is a special time for my Christian household. Valentine's Day is a special event for my wife and I. The 4th of July is great for the patriotic perspective. But, Christmas? Oh, Christmas. There is no comparison.

Gifts are such a staple of this time of year, and I have my personal gripes with commercialization and such. But it's a fun tradition, and I participate wholeheartedly. I make my lists months ahead of time. I plan and listen for hints about special holiday desires. I try to find out what they want so I can give it to them before they have the chance to ask. I love the look on the faces of loved ones when they tear off the wrapping and find that I've given them exactly what they were looking for.

There are a lot of similarities in customer service, but the core principle is the idea of "GIVE". Our brains are wired to think profit, gain, and revenue. We pursue the almighty black bottom line with fervor and gusto, giving little thought to the effect this pursuit may have on our brand reputation. We factor ROI will all the might we can muster, and we sell, sell, sell!

But what do we give? We assume the customer perceives innate value simply in purchasing a product, but do we demonstrate value in a relationship with us? Why should they buy this product from us the next time they are in the market, and not the next guy? Why should they tell their friends about us? Why should they blog about their experience with us, or update their Twitter with our link, or share their thoughts on our brand with their Facebook throng?

They won't, if we do not give.

People love gifts. It makes them feel special, valued, cared for, important. The exact qualities your customers crave from a relationship with your brand. And what better way to make them feel this way than to offer a measure of value simply because you appreciate doing business with them? I try to make my customers feel like it profitable for them to do business with me. I want them to feel as if they have gained something in knowing me and being associated with me.

There are many ways to do this. You can make yourself a resource for information. You can educate your customers without demanding they buy something from you. You can recognize when a competitor is a better fit and pass along the referral, knowing that the positive experience will benefit you more later on. There are so many ways to give, and all of them result in customers who see inherent value in being associated with you.

Merry Christmas.

What works?

http://thesocialosophy.blogspot.com/2009/10/getting-back-what-you-have-in.htmlThere are so many questions swirling around the social media phenomenon lately. It's the proverbial new kid on the block (although, relatively, social media as a communication function has been in use for a while) and everyone wants to get in on the hype.

But what do we do with it once our Facebook pages are built and our Twitters are tweeting and our connections are growing? Where do we go? How do we know what is a viable course of action for what we want to accomplish? There are a lot of things out there that work and provide good results. While this is encouraging for the growth of the technology and innovation, it makes it difficult for us to narrow down what works, and what best practices are.

However, as with all things, there those principles that, when applied, will point you in the general direction that you need to go. Here are a couple of things that you can be doing right now as you figure out specifically where you want your social media strategy to be heading.

1.) Offer Value.

The people who will engage with you will do so because of what they receive in return. Simply telling your potential consumer base that you make the best widgets in town will not be reason enough for them to spend their money on your product. They are being told the same thing by every other widget maker on the block. But if they know that your widget Facebook page gets them great news on widget technology, offers them specials for being engaged with you, and provides them with unrelated content like X-Games videos and interesting swine flu articles, they will consider you a resource, and you will be the obvious choice for their next widget purchase.

2.) Ask for Engagement.

Good, quality content will generate organic engagement, all on its own. But the guy who sets up a hot dog stand and opens his newspaper will not do nearly as much business as the guy who opens his cart then pulls out a mega-phone and begins hollering about the virtue of his franks. Do not be afraid to ask people for feedback. Let them know that you want their opinions, questions, comments, and queries. They will respond in turn.

3.) Follow Through

If you are going to pull out your megaphone, be prepared for the onslaught, and decide ahead of time how you are going to respond to positive and negative feedback. Then respond. Leave no comment unanswered, no question unacknowledged, and no message unattended. Give people a return on their investment, and you'll see a Return on Engagement.

Set the Example

Ever watch a street performer? I lived just outside of Chicago for a year, and I spent a lot of time in the city. Uptown, on the north side of the city, just of Lakeshore Blvd., there were always a few street magicians, musicians, and assorted other performers, trying to peddle a few bucks from the passers-by. On a couple of occasions, I found myself on those streets early in the morning, as the would-be stars were setting up for the day. I noticed that they all had an interesting habit. They would set out there collection apparatus, whether it be a hat, an instrument case, a plastic bucket, and they would pull a few dollars out of their own pocket and toss it in. As I watched, people would come up to listen or watch, and, before throwing a little change or a few bucks in, they would look to see if there was any there already.

It's interesting how this phenomenon transfers to the world around us, and, particularly, to the world of social media and the virtual market. People are terrified of making poor choices. Often, that fear alone is not enough to deter bad decision-making, but the fear exists nonetheless. Perception is everything to most people, and the thought of contributing a few dollars to a performance that no one else enjoyed is anathema.  So they check.

People behave the same way in today's social market. They check to see how others have reacted before they dive in with open wallets and checkbooks. If the sentiment is popular, they feel better about their investment. If it's not, they run scared. The street performers understood this, and they were proactive, investing a little of their own, to initiate a return from others.

We ought to be doing the same. If we are afraid to invest our own resources in what we are trying to sell, why would other people want to get on board. Talking about the virtue of charitable giving, and refusing to join the ranks of givers, come off more than a little disingenuous. Making claims about the incredible value of a particular investment, but not investing yourself, is outright hypocrisy.

People, for the most part are followers. Sales, in any market, is leadership. You can't "boss" people into buying and expect to be successful. That is the reason so many car salesmen have such terrible reputations. You have to lead them to a decision. Leadership is example. Showing them the way, the ups and downs, the benefits and detractors, and showing them through actual performance, gives them the peace of mind that those street spectators look for when peering into a plastic bucket or guitar case.

How do you sell by example?

Friday Blogwatch

Happy Friday! This a Mashable! Blogwatch. Enjoy, and have a great weekend!

A Guide to Mobile Web Design Tips and Tricks
- Some very helpful pointers in getting you started, or helping you improve, your organization's web presence. Kudos to Christiana Warren for putting this together!

Remindo: Social Web Collaboration for Business
- A great idea, a nice user interface, and a well-thought platform make this very interesting, indeed! I'll be trying it out this month! Let me know what you think! Thanks to Christina Warren for this as well!

HOW TO: Use Social Media to Find Deals this Holiday Season
- We can all use a little savings this year. Use your social media outlets to help you do it during the holiday crunch! Thanks, Sara Dunham!

Me Marketing

I'm a pretty big fan of myself. I mean, I ought to be. I've been with myself for a good while now, and I don't foresee a parting of company with myself in the very near future. So appreciating myself makes the relationship a little easier.

There is a secret to marketing yourself, and it may not be what you think.

Think carefully about why you make the decisions you make. The basis for our foundation always boils down to the Like-Want-Need model. You buy, eat, consume, purchase, watch, enjoy, etc. the things you do because you either like, want, or need them. But, further, for the deliberate consumer, you make those choices based on a value proposition. You make the choices you make based on the inherent value that you perceive in your selection.

When marketing yourself, this really is the key to making yourself likable, desirable, and necessary. You have to make yourself valuable. Now, it is human nature to perceive ourselves as inherently valuable at the outset. None of us wants to be worthless. But, the value which we perceive in ourselves may not be perceived by our consumers. So we often have to create it.

I sincerely believe that the key to this is making it more than worthwhile to do business with you. Your consumer ought to get more than what they expected to get. People expect to get what they pay for, but if you exceed that expectation, you will have made yourself more valuable than the others who simply deliver what is expected.

Many are afraid serve their customers in this way because they feel like they aren't being profitable if they do. It is up to you to decide what you deliver to your customers that will exceed expectations. Often, good customer service and friendly interactions will suffice to surprise and delight your customers. That doesn't cost you anything.

As you market yourself, the best thing you can do is to deliver on your promise of over-delivery. Build a culture of exceeding expectations within yourself and your organization, and let the product, the value speak for itself.

Pick your sandbox.

Remember junior high school? The first week was full of stress and anxiety, not because of classes or homework, but because of lunch. The table to which you would find yourself relegated had the potential of changing the face of your entire socio-academic career. It was never a decision you could make for yourself, at least, that was the case for most of us. Our peers, those who had come before us, they chose our table. It was all a matter of waiting, wondering what would happen, what would THEY think of us?

The social media phenomenon feels a lot like a junior high school lunch room, especially for those who are getting on board at this relatively late stage in the game. There is so much to learn, to process, to formulate and make a decision on, it seems just a little simpler to let someone else decide for us at which table we should sit. After all, we don't have time to spend worrying about all of this do we? There is too much else going on. Isn't there?

The question you ought to be asking yourself is whether or not you truly understand what is happening. If you don't, you have to be up front and honest about that. And then you have to educate yourself. The difference between this new media landscape and those smelly lunchrooms is that nobody here wants to be your friend. They want the money that your consumers would otherwise spend with you. And they will pick your table for you. They will relegate you to that table in the corner where people who don't meet the acceptable standard sit.

You have an opportunity, much like you had when you were much younger, to pick, not which table you sit at, but which sandbox you play in. As a child, you simply brought what tools you had to the sandbox and built your own castle. Social politics aside, he who could build the biggest castle was king. So bring your tools to the sandbox and start building. Learn, educate, discover, and adapt. Make yourself organic, growing with your surroundings, and changing as is necessary.

Social media provides the single greatest opportunity to date for effective communication with your consumer audience. They crave interaction from you, and will gladly spend their money with you when you meet that social need. The old rule to live by was "Pay to Play." You're not effective anymore unless you are willing to actually play. No more arm chair quarterbacks with fat marketing budgets. Now you've got to put on the pads and make it happen.
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The wonderful thing about this shift socio-economic dynamics is that it puts you in control of your own destiny. You finally get to pick your own table. And guess what? You get to bring your sand castle.

Improvement

Personal. Organizational. Social.

How do you define it?

The smartest people in the world focus on improving themselves, then make a genuine effort to tell other people about how it worked.

Personal Motivation

Motivation has been a big theme on my linkedin.com profile this week. I've been asking people how they motivate themselves and other people? How they stay motivated? How they keep others motivated? It's a big question. Motivation is the impetus of accomplishment.

Isn't it?

I think motivation-personal, social, organizational-really boils down to purpose. I've talked about this before, but it everything we do, whether it be in our personal lives or in our professional lives, is guided and directed by the underlying purpose, or lack thereof, we have for what we are doing.

I motivate myself by keeping my purpose clear and recognizable, and by keeping myself reminded of it. I carry 3x5 cards that have several purposes written on them: my purpose for loving my wife, my purpose for serving my clients, my purpose for keeping my faith. As I continue to remind myself of these things, I am motivated to accomplish my purpose. I am reminded of my goal, and urged on to achieve it.

So how do you motivate yourself? How do you keep yourself, and those around you, pressing toward the mark?

Dynamics

I love this word. It comes from the Greek word dynamos which means "power" or "massive energy". It's an extremely descriptive word, especially when applied to unorthodox contexts. Most of the time we associate the word "Dynamics" with personality or character of an entity. Seldom do we actually consider it a viable quality to be learned and applied.

We all function within the framework of and structure of organizations, which, for the most part, are three-dimensional, working models of the business plan. The plan was crafted and created with the intent that those who actually provided the manpower and resources necessary to bring it to life would understand and embrace the values upon which it was founded. This is all well and good, except that, in most cases, those working within this framework are not empowered to see beyond its limitations and stagnation results. This problem does not stem from unconcerned or indifferent employees, it stems from their inability to create a better environment.

Too often, managers are afraid to facilitate the betterment of their subordinates. When we take off those limitations, however, good, intelligent people are free to create, to suggest, to experiment with their environment and requirements, and they begin to evolve their organization from the inside out. Those companies and organizations that are truly successful, are truly leading their industries understand this principle of inner dynamics, and they encourage, even promote, critical insights from within in order to improve the outward performance. This requires a measure of trust on behalf of the facilitating tier, but more so, it requires an organization to give the people involved a vested interest in the organization itself. People are ready and willing to invest themselves and their ideas into an organization that will benefit them as it gets better.

For example, Starbucks offers stock options to every single employee. They essentially become partners in the company for which they work. The organization even goes so far as to refer to every single one of its employees as "Starbucks Partners".

This kind of an organizational investment into the people who involve themselves with it is exactly the kind of dynamic promotion that sets some organizations apart from others. When a coffee-making barista approaches her work with the mindset that her success as an employee affects the success of the company, which in turn affects her success as a person, she is personally motivated to find ways to make her environment better and more productive. This is dynamic motivation.

How are you motivating your people? Have you modeled inner dynamics in your organization? If so, how? and what were the results? How is your organization dynamically promoting effectiveness within a given environment? are those environments friendly to effective change and outward evolution? And lastly, what is your organization doing to dynamically motivate your people? how are you enabling your people to invest themselves into the organization?

Friday Blogwatch

I know it's been a while. My wife and I found out we're pregnant and it's been a little bit of a whirlwind these last couple of weeks! It's an exciting time for us and we're just thrilled about starting a family.

But, life keeps moving and there is so much happening. This issue of Friday Blogwatch is dedicated the new and improved that is out on the market now. You should be checking these things out!

http://bit.ly/2dwEtV
Have you tried Windows 7?
The new Microsoft product is on the market, and, at least at the outset, people seem to be excited about it. Sales were 234% better than Vista at it's debut. Those are significant numbers. Microsoft needs the good press, too. With Apple really stepping up the Apple/PC advertising, there is certainly a point to be made in the Microsoft camp. We'll see if W7 is the product to make it.

http://bit.ly/3Bvh7K
Google helping out with Twitter Lists
Twitter's new List functionality is helpful, efficient, and smart. And Google, true to form, has stepped up to make it easier to use and manage. Google will alert you about activity in your TwitLists, allowing you to keep doing whatever it is your doing instead of constantly surveying your tweets in fear of missing something important. Good job, Google.

http://bit.ly/2hHOv8
Finally, Dislike in Facebook
How many times have we watched a stupid video, listened to a terrible song, or put up with our friend's annoying status, yearning for the opportunity to tell them what we really think. Well, if you're a Firefox browser, now you can. There is a new plug-in for Firefox that allows you to Dislike any item on the News Feed. One major drawback is that other users must also have the plug-in in order to see your unfavorable opinions, but the plug-in does work within Facebook and not a separate party program, which many FF plug-ins have been known to do.

Have a great week-end everybody!

Getting Back What You Have In

Remember the days of books and pencils and graphing calculators and stressful group projects that was business school? Remember the endless lectures and charts and situational problems that gave us nightmares and made us wonder why we hadn't just chosen an art major instead? It was there amidst the dark halls and windowless classrooms and dreams of power suits and corner offices that we were instructed, nay indoctrinated, with the search for the grail of ROI.

Return on Investment.

The catalyst of success. The denominator of power. The fascinating and elusive factor that would make or break our fragile careers.

But the game has changed, has it not? The rules are different now. Somehow, the world of structure and order that gave us so much security while we dreamed of it in our dorms and studio apartments has been over-run by a society that relies on word-of-blog advertising and social networks for news. People don't care as much about the ads we spend millions to create as they do about what their favorite blogger has to say. They figure that if Mashup! isn't talking about it, it must be passe'.

So we changed out game. We built our Facebook pages and started our Twitters and launched our blogs and it was all exciting and fun and new and wonderful.

But then...silently and ruthlessly, a thought crept into our minds. We ignored it for a moment, tried not think about it for another. But we could not shut out the voice, the nagging fear in our minds. In a world where communication is the agent of marketing, where we build and cultivate fluid, non-contractual relationships, how will we track our ROI? How will we know if this, this juggernaut of change, is working? Where are the numbers? How do you put Twitter into a spreadsheet?

Quiet your worried minds and silence your irrational, community college-driven fears. I believe that we are looking at the problem from the wrong angle. It is not investment that we are gaining a return on. Much of the new media is free. The investment made is time. And time, like furniture and telephones and carpeting, is not an item we expect an ROI figure from.

The calculable factor is relationship. We have to start finding our Return on Engagement. As we invest time into building relationships with our consumers and their networks, as we build our brand and create an atmosphere and an expectation around that brand, as we make it easy and productive for people to engage us, we begin to see profit, we begin to see a return.

Ask the right questions. Has my social media straetgy over the last six months grown my virtual networks? Has user-generated contribution risen since my latest addition? Has my brand awareness grown in the extended networks of my consumers?

Change your glasses, open the windows, and leave the halls of lower learning for the open fields of the New Social Market.

Friday Blogwatch

Here's a new staple for The Socialosophy. These are the things I think you should be reading this week! Enjoy!

http://bit.ly/U366t
Digital Tonto
- Great article on why companies fail. Worth checking out. We all need these kind of reminders now and then. Tonto has good information on a variety of subjects.

http://bit.ly/13zBVy
Elainegantzwright
- Elaine explores how non-profits and charity organizations are using social networking to promote social change. In this article, she explores Seth Godin's condemantion of non-profit's resistance to social media and the new methods of communication we see springing up all around us. A very introspective article. Kuddo's, Elaine.

http://bit.ly/2zv4CB
NuReach Global
- Good article on "social media netiquette". Do's and don'ts for the noobs.

http://bit.ly/hCrvs
Jennifer Van Grove on Mashable!
 - Really practical article on social media policies. Having problems with your employees and their Facebook? Read what she has to say, and see what you can steal! ;)

http://bit.ly/6uuOp
Michael Brito
- Michael talks about new search engine LeapFish. Apparently, he likes it...

How to Create a Group in Facebook

(Reposted from WikiHow)

How to Create a New Facebook Group

from wikiHow - The How to Manual That You Can Edit

Have you just joined Facebook and discovered the wonder that is a personalized group? Follow these easy steps to create your own piece of Facebook reality.

Steps

1. Come up with an original idea for a group.
   
2. Login to Facebook or create an account if you don't have one yet.
   
3. Type some key words for your group idea in the "Search" box in the left hand column. You'll want to see whether or not you've actually had an original idea before you create your group.
   
4. Click Profile at the top.
   
5. Click Info from your profile.
   
6. Scroll to the bottom and to the right of Groups, click See All.
   
7. Click "Create a group" at the top of that page.
   
8. Give your group a name.
   
9. Choose a network.
   
   • Will your group be accessible only to those in your region or school? If so, choose the region or school from the drop down list of networks to which you belong.
     
   • Will your group be accessible to everyone on Facebook? If so, choose "Global."
     
   
   
10. Describe your group in the "Description" area. Be specific, as keyword searches will match anything you have written in this text box.
    
11. Choose a category and sub-category. Once again, be specific, as those who are browsing will find your group only if it is in the correct category.
    
12. Fill out the contact information such as a street address, country and website.
    
13. Choose your privacy settings.
    
14. Click "Create group".
    
15. Click "Browse" to upload a group image. Keep copyright rules in mind when doing this.
    
16. Click "Upload picture" or "Skip this step" if you prefer to add a photo later.
    
17. Invite your friends by selecting them from your current friend list or typing their name into the box that is provided.
    

Tips

• Be original, invite your friends, and have fun !!!!
  
• Inviting friends to a group is okay once in a while. Beware of "spam-viting"--that is, creating many groups a day and inviting every friend to each one. Instead, take your time and think about who might actually want to join your group before you send them an invitation.
  
• Only fill out personal information if you are SURE you want the group to see personal information - like your street address.
  

Related wikiHows

• How to Make a New Facebook Account
  
• How to Quit Facebook
  
• How to View Your Facebook Notifications
  
• How to Check Your Message Inbox on Facebook
  
• How to Avoid Getting Caught on Facebook
  

Article provided by wikiHow, a wiki how-to manual. Please edit this article and find author credits at the original wikiHow article on How to Create a New Facebook Group. All content on wikiHow can be shared under a Creative Commons license.

SCE TV Show

North by Northwest

I met with Tom Fulmer of Space Coast Entrepreneurs this morning to record a podcast for his show, "Extra Mile Radio". It was a really great time with a lot of good insights and information. We discussed social media, its role in the modern marketing mindset, and the affect it is having on the new way we do business. He asked me an interesting question, "What do you feel is the greatest need of small business owners in today's economy?"

The answer, to my way of thinking, is simple.

Direction.

Our world is full of ideas. I find that most business-people I come into contact with are doing everything they can just to keep their head above water in the deluge on information, technology, and applications. They have all the tools, many times without even knowing what they are for. They just have them because someone has told them that they ought to.

But what they need, what will really allow them the freedom and security and confidence to plunge ahead with their new-found armament is direction. When my wife and I got married we took our honeymoon in the mountains of Tennessee. For a beach boy like me and an L.A.-born city girl like my wife, the winding roads and rolling hills of that beautiful state were fairly daunting! Fortunately, my parents were nice enough to loan us their Garmin for our trip, and we found our way. That little gadget, with its monotone, female voice and brightly-lit LCD screen, gave us something that, without it, would have made our trip just terrible. It gave us direction. It guided us through unfamiliar territory, taking the pressure of left and right turns off of our shoulders and allowing us to focus on enjoyable things like where to eat and what shows to see!

It today's technological wilderness, we often need a Garmin to guide us. What so few people realize, however, is that often they have it within themselves to find that direction and guidance. Proper planning and goal-setting coupled with a little education on how new technologies are being used will help clear the smoke and allow you to find your path. If you already know where you want to end up, and the achievements you want to make along the way, you simply need to learn how those goals and plans sync with the tools you have aquired, and suddenly you will find that all of this "Internet stuff" isn't as hard as you thought!

The Socialosophy

Ever hear of a paradigm? Stephen Covey's book 7 Habits of Highly Effective People covers the paradigm principle in wonderful detail, and in that book, Mr. Covey relates the concept of a paradigm shift. A fundamental change, due to circumstances or previously unknown information, in the way we look at the world. It is a phenomenon that occurs every single day in each of our lives.Have you ever driven past a fast food establishment with no intention of a purchase, until you noticed the marquee that advertised 2 for 1 of your favorite snack? Suddenly, you're hungry and ready to eat! Your perspective has been completely altered, and you make a choice based on that persepctive.

In most cases, these shifts in our views happen involuntarily and with no thought or planning. They sneak up on us, take us by surprise, and force us to adjust our thinking and decision-making accordingly. However, the prepared and intelligent individual takes stock of the world around him or her, sees the trends that are growing, and self-adjusts his world paradigm to match the situation he will find himself in. In this way, he is ready for the challenges that will come his way and is able to meet them head on.

The world we live in has changed fundamentally. It is not changing. It is not going to change. It has already happened. People in today's economy work, act, react, and think differently than they ever have before. Before the introduction of the printing press, the concept of widely disseminated information was myth and dream. Mr. Gutnberg, however, could never have imagined the speeds at which we communicate today, nor the volume of information we pass along to one another.

This video, by Socialnomics.com really illustrates the effect that today's method communication, social media specifically, has affected our mindsets:




Times have changed. This sensation is not going to go away. It is not a fad. It is the way the world now works. You have the opportunity to fundamentally change your philosophy of communication, or you will have it changed for you.

The Socialosophy is a mindset, a paradigm for communication, marketing, networking, and building relationships. It is embracing the revolution of social media and making it work for you. I want to help you do that. I want to show you how to not just make money or increase revenue, but how to communicate effectively across a medium that is largely new and untested. If you're willing to jump in now, you will be miles ahead of the pack when the rest of the boys and girls finally realize there is a party going on.

So, here's the question: Are you ready to embrace The Socialosophy?

It's All in the Approach

Social media is taking over the marketing landscape of the modern business world, and there isn't really anything that is going to stop the revolution. Just as industrial progress was a rolling mammoth that obliterated all opposition from 1750 to nearly 1850, so will Generation Y and Z see the transformation of the modern business landscape and it will be powered by the social media phenomenon.

So what is the businessperson supposed to do with this new technology? Should the old ways be scrapped in favor of this new methodology? Should we rise up and fight the winds of change no matter the futility?

I think either extreme is excessive. In fact, there has to be a healthy and informed approach to this new perspective on business or the extremes will win and you and your organization will be left behind, wondering what happened. If you approach these new methods, this new philosophy, without the proper preparation, you won't know how to function within a culture that has very rigid structure and very specific expectations.

It's time to indoctrinate yourself with the Socialosophy.

What's your perspective?

Welcome to Business @ Now, the official blog of the e-marketing department of The Gall Group, Inc.

There are so many philosophies out there regarding the best practices in business, and whether or not, and to what degree, we are all following them. The passive-aggressive approach would be to say that each of us should find what works for ourselves and then enjoy our separate individual existences in harmonial bliss.

But the truth is, and this is always a rub, there is what works and what doesn't. And if what doesn't is what you find comfortable, you will be a very comfortable loser.

The world of business is changing. Instant gratification for the consumer has reached a new level, a new definition, of demand in the marketplace. People communcate at the speed of light, and they expect the markets where they invest their money to keep up.

Are you?

There is no question that doing business by referral is the best way to do business. But the approach to relationship marketing is radically different than it has been for the last twenty years. Today people create relationships without ever meeting one another, they get married after having been introduced, not by a friend or family member, but by a website. These relationships are real and viable.

It's time to jump in and change the way you see the your world of business. Want to do Business @ Now?