The Best Ideas are Free by Ben Young

The Best Ideas are

Free

Ben Young

Auckland, New Zealand

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Preface

Welcome. Curl up on the couch, lie in the sun, or sip on your mocha, whatever you are doing, sit back and relax. This isn’t your standard book. It has been written in a conversational style as if I were sitting across from you explaining the concept. If you are looking for the same old book format, move along, for within these covers are 63 snappy ideas to make you rethink the world around you. Each idea can be read stand-alone. Some won’t be relevant to you, others will strike home and when they do, that’s when the magic happens. Feel free to rip out the best ideas and share them (hey it's your book now!). Ideas are better once they are shared, ripped apart, and then put back together again.

Contents

12 Hour Startup 13 12 Hour Startup Follow Up 15 80/20 Rule 17 Are You Made of Rubber? 19 Being Different Where It Matters 21 Blogger Packs 23 Blogging is a Marathon 25 Blog Interruption 27 Bundling Internet Services 29 Cogs 31 Commanding Time 33 Condensing 35 Creating Value (Easily) Through Scarcity 37 Dance with Me, Let’s Do the Zigzag 39 Destroy Something 41 Do What You Love 43 Firms That Need Me 45 Free T-Shirts are So Boring 47 Giving Something Back 49 Great, but not Great Enough? 53 Hidden Inefficiencies 55 I Fail Lots 57 Involve Your Customers in the Process 59

Leadership 61 Leverage Your Existing Assets 63 Life Marketing 67 Marketing After the Fact 69 Mashups: New Terminology For…? 71 Microbusinesses 73 Microfunding 75 One Step Back to Think Two Steps Ahead 77 Patterns 79 Personality 81 Platforms 85 Platforms are about Opportunity 87 Pods 89 Repetitive Behaviour 91 Silence 93 Small IS the New Big 95 Struggling to Innovate? Overcome It. 97 Swear Words 99 Taking a Stance 101 Ten Barriers to Marketing Success 103 Ten Reasons Why I Hate Your Product 105 The ADHD Assumption 107 The Analysis Zigzag 109 The Best Ideas are Free 111 The Infinity Assumption 113 The No Strategy Marketing Strategy 115 The Only Thing Holding You Back is YOU 117 Those That Turn Up 119 Thought Versus Action 121 Time Marketing 123 Turning Customers into Fans 125 Wait, Stop! 127 We Think You’re AWESOME! 129

Which Box are You In? 131 What Gets Measured Gets Managed 133 What’s the Business Case? 135 Who are We Selling To? 137 Work Smarter with Adwords 139 You Can Do What YOU Want 141 You’ve Planted the Seed, Now What? 143

Introduction The Best Ideas are Free came from one of my blog posts of the same title. I believe that the best ideas cost zip, once the barrier of money is stripped away anything is possible and imaginable. From this revelation grew the idea to bring 63 of my best ideas together in a book, in a format that others can read, digest and share. I sincerely hope you get a kick out of this book. It’s arranged in alphabetical order, but feel free to flick through, skimming the ideas that don’t interest you and re-reading those you enjoy. -Ben

Acknowledgements

Many thanks to Esther, Karen, Gary, Helen Young, Gerald, Lesley, Bruce, Ron and Lynette, Ronda, T Man, Stacey and all of you who have read my blog from the

very start. You know who you are. Thanks ever so much for all your support and critical thoughts. They’ve

helped make me, the blog and the book stronger.

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1

12 Hour Startup

What is a 12 Hour Startup? From idea to prototype within 12 hours. Simple. Why? It forces you to focus on simple ideas that can be executed rapidly. The downside and risk are virtually zero. And the potential upside is greater than zero, thus profitable. Commit to a three month trial. Close if crap. Expand if good.

The Best Ideas are Free

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Underlying theme? Give it a go. A thousand ideas are probably going to yield at least ten, or 1 in 100, remarkable ideas that will last. I’m happy to give up 12 hours every week for something like this. Even 12 hours a month would be cool. Idea: Take this concept and apply it to your business. Can your team come up with some new product ideas or extensions, and go from idea to concept within 12 hours?

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12 Hour Startup Follow Up

12 Hour Startups are a great way to bridge the innovation gap between traditional companies and fast-paced new-age companies. This post builds upon my last, by suggesting ways to sell the 12 Hour Startup model to key stakeholders. How can you sell this to management? It’s a marketing decision:

• To staff it says we value your input. Let’s hear your ideas.

• To customers it says we are seeking new ways to help you, and better our service or product for you.

• To management it’s driving strategic direction from sales (using ideas that work).


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Furthermore a 12 Hour Startup helps with:

• The validation of ideas. • The stimulation of innovation and creativity. • “Out of the box” thinking. • Flow-on effects, such as employees maintaining

an innovative mindset over time. Need I continue?

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80/20 Rule There are not many rules I follow. However the 80/20 rule is one that I pay close attention to. The argument is that 20% of causes lead to 80% of consequences. Note: it’s not strictly 80/20, it can sometimes be more like 90/10. Some examples are:

• 20% of streets cause 80% of traffic jams. • 20% of your clients derive 80% of your profits. • 20% of faults make up 80% of your replacement

costs. Smart thinking. I throw this around every few months, to see what else I’m doing wrong or where improvements can be made.


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Some examples I’ve found:

• 20% of our marketing expenditure leads to 80% of our revenue.

• 10% of my calls derive 90% of my mobile bill. • 20% of my clients derive roughly 85% of my

revenue (it fluctuates a little bit). • 13% of our content drove 95% of our traffic.

Once you’ve identified a link ask yourself what you can do to improve your 20%. How can you look after your clients who drive 80% of your profit? How can you modify your call behaviour to lower the 10% of calls that make up 90% of your bill? Give it a shot. It’s not only fun, it’s also quite interesting to see the results.

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Are You Made of Rubber? You need to be. Especially if you’re operating on the edge, in a startup, paving a new path, or pushing to achieve your own goals. There are no rules at the edge, you make them, and often there are speed bumps and friction slowing you down. There are times when things go sour and it all falls apart, you’ve hit rock bottom. No you haven’t. This is just a part of the process of getting to where you need to go, you’re made of rubber, so you need to bounce back, harder, faster and higher than before. Then keep at it.


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Being Different Where It Matters

Being different is not always best. Some things should be the same. But choose one area where you will be different. Be different where it matters. Sitting in a cafe last week for a meeting I happened to gaze at the beverage fridge. Glinting at me from the corner were three rows of bottled water. The Waiwera Water bottle caught my eye: it was shaped round like a raindrop. Amongst the competition, Waiwera offered a visual experience. Their bottles stood out amongst the others. I


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knew that if I had wanted water, I would have grabbed Waiwera Water. Waiwera proved that being different where it matters works. Water is a commodity, but the packaging doesn’t have to be. The Waiwera bottle is different at the right place (in cafes) and at the right time (when you think “I want a drink, but not something sugary”). Bang. Other waters have no chance. So think about it. Are you different where it matters? Are you the change management person with a blog? Are you the courier man who smiles at every customer? Are you the consultant who is on television? Be different WHERE it matters.

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Blogger Packs

Traditionally the media is given Press packs, which supply journalists with all the background information they need to report about a business or product. Currently I think there is a huge lack of Blogger packs. In fact I haven’t seen any. I find it frustrating as a fan of a product to have to rip logos from sites, put them through Photoshop, and then find my own quotes. So I am building my own Blogger pack at the moment. Kind of a social media press release. I figure that if someone is going to blog about me, then why not give them free stuff to help them, such as:

• Photos • Quotes


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• Background information • Graphics and a logo • My contact details and social networking

profiles The idea behind Blogger packs is to let your fans talk about you easily, and to give them material that they can format in their own way. This is great for your fans that might want to set up communities, Facebook pages and groups around your brand. Help your fans help you.

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Blogging is a Marathon

Blogging is a marathon. There are hills, dips, long stretches. The environment changes… Keep your eyes on the end goal and keep taking step after step. Momentum in blogging is valuable, you need to maintain it. To gain it back is just like starting running after you’ve stopped: painful. Just keep taking steps even if they’re baby steps. You can do it! Working towards a long-term goal? Marathon, blogging and goals. Different context same application.


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Blog Interruption

Blogs are supposed to be an awesome new strategy to get in touch with your audience. Some firms are doing it successfully. When done right it is great no-interruption marketing. Users love it. However, if your blog isn’t consistent and focused, you will interrupt your audience. For example, if I launch a new (but irrelevant) product, and mention it on my blog, I am interrupting my audience. When my blog comes up on their screens, they are expecting another great marketing post, not a piece of shameless self-promotion. Stop interrupting me. It’s annoying.


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Bundling Internet Services

Flick Pro/Basecamp/Hosting/Skype credit. They are all very fragmented. Payment and bundling is still very standardised and I think there is a huge gap available for innovation. Especially when internal processes at internet companies are so much more flexible than their traditional counterparts. Why doesn’t someone bundle services into packs resulting in a 5, 10 or 20% saving per month? Say:

• A Freelancer’s Pack: Solo Basecamp + Amazon s3 + Hosting account.


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Or:

• A Small Business Pack: Basecamp + Hosting + Yammer.

You get the idea? There is a lot of overlay in services. Why not reward those customers who use multiple products? Then take it a step further: Build a platform so I can make my own bundle… And save some dollars. Let me share it on my blog and with my friends, family and networks. Let others sign up to it. Imagine if Michael Arrington had his own personal service plan on his blog. I’m sure hundreds would buy it.

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Cogs

Cogs are old school. Here is our business it runs automatically. Its parts (employees) are cogs in a big system. I hate the idea of cogs. I know that’s a strong word but I do. People go into the workforce excited, motivated and enthused, you see them six months later, doing another day at the office. Sigh. They have become cogs. Sad thing is this transpires to the rest of their lives. Lower ambitions, less happy, have the blinkers on. Wake up! We don’t need cogs anymore. If you need cogs I suggest you are doing something wrong. Do a double take.


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There is potential for each and every employee to become a thinker in their own right. Thinkers innovate, thinkers are happier, thinkers impress your customers. Think about it.

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Commanding Time

How much time do you command? Since launching this blog two months ago I have garnered: 59,746 seconds of attention, or 991 minutes, or 16 and a half hours of focused attention. Wow! What would you pay for 16 hours of focused attention from the influencers in your industry? I’ve paid:

• 1.5 hours/week. • A morning setting up this blog. • A few hours preparation. • Maybe 20 hours all up.

Now imagine over the long run as my audience increases. My investment remains relatively flat.


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Look at that return on investment versus that fax flyer campaign you just paid for. Oh and I’ve had something else in return too: interaction! I have received 13 comments and 20 or so emails. Compounds things a little. What is that worth to you?

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Condensing

As I discussed in a prior post about the 80/20 rule (back on pg 17), roughly 20% of causes create 80% of consequences. It was upon this rule (amongst other things) that the 12 Hour Startup idea came into fruition. The idea that in a condensed time frame, you can stimulate causes that in the long run will drive massive consequences. We all know stories of condensed time frames and their ability to create something marvellous: The student that stayed up all night to complete an essay and got an A, the business person who did a proposal at the last minute and presented something remarkable. The idea is that if we apply ourselves properly, no matter what happens and how much time we have, we always seem to always slide it in in time. My thought is to encourage this more often, by saying “we are going to build this product by next week”, or “I


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am going to finish that job by Monday as its been sitting around for far too long”.

You should try it. Put some pressure on yourself to complete more of the important things in condensed time frames. You’ll be surprised at how often you nail it. This is exactly how my blog (and this book) came about. I spent April of 2008 doing a road trip around the South Island of New Zealand, writing blog posts as I went. Upon returning home I gave myself a 24-hour deadline to get the blog up and running with my first post. Wham. Bam. Done.

So what do you have in progress that you can condense and get done? No better time than the present. And then you can move on to the next mountain!

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Creating Value (Easily) Through Scarcity

How can my friend, who is a one-man band, charge $175/hour this year and only $50/hour two years ago? Simple. He created scarcity. He has manoeuvred himself into a unique position where he is the “guy to get”. We all know that scarce resources cost more. His clients are obviously happy to pay more as they realise how scarce he is… So think: how can I become scarce in my industry? Some ideas:

• Be the best.


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• Be a unique mixture i.e. social media in the public sector.

• Build your personal brand. • Limit availability… I am only available to work

20 hours a week and can only have a maximum of five clients.

• Be different. • Do something no one else will EVER do i.e. be

transparent in a walled garden industry. I’m sure you can come up with a few of your own. (Remember that it’s all about the story you’re telling by being scarce.)

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Dance with Me, Let’s Do the Zigzag

Diversification versus consolidation. Every business framework goes through these stages. Stages of expansion and fragmentation of markets.

Then they go through mass consolidation. Think of these two tacking back and forth like a yacht. Zigzag. Think social networks fragmented into many markets. Then Open Social comes along trying to consolidate all markets. Think Google Adwords versus verticals. Think news outlets versus blogs.


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Viewing your market through the opposite of what it is doing will provide huge insight into growth opportunities. What is your market doing now? Is it fragmenting or consolidating?

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Destroy Something

Sometimes you need to destroy, abolish, smash or obliterate an idea or a project, just so you can unlock new possibilities. Retaining old systems, structures and ways of thinking hinders movement forward. Thinking inside the square harbours limited thinking and lower horizons. If you have an idea or something you want to move forward with, and there are barriers in the way: get rid of them completely. Destroy them. Remove them from your systems.

I am constantly destroying something. That didn’t work? Flag it.


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Be dynamic and keep moving. I regularly delete old blog drafts as it frees up space for new posts and directions, and allows me to unlock those brand new possibilities.

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Do What You Love

In this day and age you should be doing what you want. Life is so much more rewarding when you are doing what you love. Find out what your passion is. What is it that makes your heart soar? If you do what you love, it’s much easier to motivate yourself and create a balanced life. Hard work pays off in magnitudes. Given the recent economic changes, now is the best time to get into doing what you love. Weaker competitors will be knocked out of the market thus leaving room for you to dominate. So if not now, when?


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Firms That Need Me

Firms that need me know me. This should be your objective. In your niche do the firms that need you know you? If not, why not? If they do: Gold.


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Free T-Shirts are So Boring

First off: they’re free. This establishes low value, so we’re not actually likely to wear them at all. Then given the cost, I suspect that getting us to wear them is not the key part. You want us to discuss your product because we received a freebie with it. Let’s change this. How about you hire a designer off Threadless to make an awesome t-shirt that may or may not feature your brand and give it away. You then provide us with two opportunities for conversation:

1) “X company gave me freebies.”


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2) “Hey I like your t-shirt where did you get it from?”

You will allow us (your target market) to actually desire to wear your t-shirt versus throwing it out (and thus allowing for greater opportunities for discussion every time it’s worn). Give it a shot, why not? We all know everyone throws those t-shirts out anyway.

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Giving Something Back

Global philanthropy in the past has been limited to individuals and huge companies with mass wealth. However everyone does their bit to help one another out locally. We view philanthropy as out of our reach… for now… maybe we will be able to do something later in life. All this is being changed by causes such as Kiva. Kiva provides a platform for people like you and me to provide funds to microfinance companies in developing and third world countries, in $25 USD increments. So we can all engage in helping others around the world. With Kiva you choose a project or business to invest in. In return the operators of the business provide you with


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blog updates on their progress and pay you back your loan. Yup, you get every cent back. And you get the knowledge that you’ve had a direct hand in helping someone else out. Once the loan is repaid you can choose whether you would like to reinvest your money back into other loans or not. It’s a win/win situation.

As a bit of a hobby economist, I find this concept awesome. Using the multiplier effect (how additional investment will flow in an economy), I can find out how many times my investment will flow through the economy of my borrower. Simply put, the multiplier effect is this: 1/percentage of savings. For example, in Peru the savings levels are 17%, so 1/.17 = 5.9. Meaning my investment of $25 will add ~ $125 to the GDP of Peru. That’s only on a very basic level. There are even more flow-on effects i.e. assisting local leaders who in turn inspire (and invest) in others.


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So my idea to you is:

• Create a philanthropic focus in your company by committing some money to invest in projects like Kiva.

• Let your employees pick the companies to invest in. Then they will be more likely to take an interest and follow the progress of your loans, maybe even lending some money themselves.

• Take it a step further and match any lend your employees place in Kiva.

• Get your family together and place a loan in a business.

• Get your workmates together and all join in to support one business.

• Your local group such as Rotary, the Lions or your church could support causes. Get your members involved and keep them up-to-date with what is happening.

• Help Kiva out with their operational costs by sending them a donation.

So jump online (you can check out Kiva at www.kiva.org), lend some money, and help make a direct difference to the world. Wait and see what happens both to your business and to someone else’s. Your marketing decision can help others too.


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Great, but not Great Enough?

I am roughly halfway through my September blog challenge: to post a blog each and every business day. The reason behind the blog challenge was that a lot of the gems in my catalogue were being pushed back each week. Through the blog challenge, I have made a commitment to engage and dedicate more time to providing content. Surprisingly, (and yet at the same time, not surprisingly), I am left with the same problem. The amount of content has spiralled upwards. I now have more gems than I started with, but to be honest I don’t think many will ever see the light of day.


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They are great, but not great enough when it comes to the crunch. That is the key. When it comes down to it, ideas can be great, but are they great enough? You decide.

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Hidden Inefficiencies

Google is a multi billion-dollar company. They got there by wrapping up two inefficient markets: search and advertising. Google shifted the market from an inefficient state to a much more efficient one. Other examples would be YouTube, Ebay, iTunes… The first step to shifting from an inefficient state to an efficient one is to identify “hidden inefficiencies”: inefficiencies that exist, yet a solution hasn’t been created to build a business around solving them yet. We all hear about ideas that are so simple but the opportunity was missed, as we weren’t involved in that niche industry. So my idea is for a business to simply spend all its time aggregating these inefficiencies and presenting them to


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entrepreneurs to solve, thus taking the information market for these from inefficient to efficient.

Imagine being able to have access to 1000 industry-wide problems in 1000 totally different industries. I wonder how much overlay would exist between them. How many issues could you solve at once? (Think about how much it would improve each industry). Now that would be awesome! Don’t you think?

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I Fail Lots

Well, I do… At least two to four times a month. However this also means that I learn two to four things a month that don’t work. I only recently realised that. I have become so accustomed to failure that I bounce back virtually instantaneously.

Weird but awesome! This means I am willing to give anything a go. Chances are the benefits of doing it outweigh the costs of not… Plus every now and then I come up with something brilliant!


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This book being one of them ;) So go ahead.

Try some crazy ideas, fail lots and win sometimes. Believe me, you’ll soon forget the failures, learn the lessons and win overall! And you’ll get better at minimising risk and limiting the downside. (Oh, and once you’re no longer afraid of failure the world truly is your oyster.)

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Involve Your Customers in the Process

Think Orange County Choppers. You get to see the whole process from:

• Product research to • Idea creation to • Mockups to • The final product.

You get to capture the whole story of each individual bike. Orange County Choppers don’t need to market their bikes once built. They have already done this through their TV show.


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The only question for fans is how much the bike will cost.

How can you involve your customers in your processes? And importantly, how can you involve not just one customer but also potentially thousands of customers? Through a blog or video or crowd sourcing or…?

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Leadership

Leadership is powerful. Pioneering, revolutionary, inspiring. Magical. However leadership is lonely. You are at the front, carving out a new path, and have to endure the flak. It’s a hard, hard battle. You need to persevere through hurdles to create change. Obama will be reflecting today (and realising) that:

Perseverance is genius. And THIS is what leadership is all about.


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Leverage Your Existing Assets

Leveraging is great. Get your existing assets and use them to leverage your profit. Here’s my idea: Say you’re a mechanic/doctor/lawyer/tattooist. Anyone who supplies a service. Your existing assets are your clientele. What is the biggest selling point for new clients? Referrals.

You could go away and build recommendations into your site and ask your clients to jump on. Might work. Requires effort.


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What I suggest is to jump on to LinkedIn.com. Create an account. Set up an account for your organisation and each of your individual service level staff. Instead of sending clients emails, ask them to add you as a connection on LinkedIn. Customers who have great experiences with your company will send through recommendations. Lesson: Go where your customers are. Make sure you set your profile to public. Then search engines will be able to pick it up. New clients “googling” you can then find you and all your recommendations. Take it one step further. Create a networking group on LinkedIn i.e. PBC & Son Networking Group. Allow your clients to network with your other clients. Help them (help you). All of this only takes a few hours to set up. No fee. So what are you waiting for? For the naysayers:


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• What if I get bad reviews? Deal with it. Buck up. It will provide a balanced view.

• Not doing this loses potentially 100 people this

year who have had a fantastic experience with your company.

• By going where your customers are, you break

down the barriers between you. This will mean that you will get more reviews.

• Would you go to a doctor or a mechanic that has

had no reviews, or the one that has 50 reviews in the last six months from satisfied clients?

• No money down.

Just another idea for you. Chucking it out there. As usual those who are motivated will reap the rewards.


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Life Marketing

Let’s connect three ideas: Great but not Great Enough + The Infinity Assumption + Do What You Love. Creating content that is great enough, assuming that it will be available forever and is about topics that you love. This is what life marketing is about. Content you create is going to be out there for life, sure you can control it, but in all likelihood your great great grandchildren could just as easily read it.

So think about it, does my online image not only represent me professionally but also personally? This is doubly, even triply, important these days.


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Marketing After the Fact

Marketing after the fact should be consistent. Case in point: I recently cancelled my storage unit at a local storage firm. As we held a bond and I had prepaid a month in advance, my account was in debit. Awesome. At this point in time I was happy with the service and helpfulness of the company. They were on my recommend list. Six weeks later and my account still had not been settled, even after numerous emails. Finally the storage company posted a cheque to my old address (even


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though I had explicitly stated when I finished up that my address had been changed). Now they offer to deposit the money into my account. That’s fine. But ... From my perspective you have wrecked what was otherwise a positive customer experience. Do you think I would recommend them again? Doubt it. Marketing continues after the exchange. It is the sizzle consumers receive at the end of your relationship. Do not burn a customer because they have switched brands or ended the relationship. That way they will never come back or recommend you.

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Mashups: New Terminology For…?

Mashups: two pieces of information that aren’t typically associated with each other. Mashups are old hat. Rice. Seaweed… by themselves, eww boring. Together = Sushi. Yum! Music and shoes? No way. Ipod + Nike’s = Exercise info. Give me it now! Maps with Traffic? Huh? Analytics + Maps = Business Intelligence. Can’t get enough of it! These days mashups are just the same old creative out-of-the-box thinking…

Same game, different name.


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Microbusinesses

I think we are at a tipping point where contextual factors tip the scales in favour of microbusinesses. Kind of like small is the new big. What am I talking about? I believe the future is in microniches, dominated by microbusinesses, run by one or maybe two or three people. It fits in with a few other trends I have noticed:

• The desire of Gen Y to “do what you want”. • The rise of bootstrapping startups. • Lower technology costs, which mean anyone

can start a business for nothing. • Handy’s Doughnut Organisation discussions,

which suggest a shift to project-based work. • The current financial crisis, which is forcing all

businesses to remain agile.


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• Slashies trend: people holding many roles, teacher by day/DJ by night.

• 12 Hour Startup mindset, which is a great way to stimulate innovation.

The fundamentals of microbusinesses:

• They are small and designed to be agile. • They garner enough income to live off, but have

big upside potential. • People will typically have at least one core

microbusiness, but be involved in three or four. Microbusinesses could be the trend that may become Web 3.0. Buzzwords aside, I think all the contextual factors are in place for this to really take off. Think about it. How many people do you know have multiple projects on the go, or have a full-time job and a venture on the side growing? The time is now. What business ideas do you have that you know would make money and have virtually zero set up costs? What’s stopping you? Go out and start them, learn from them, build them and most of all, have fun.

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Microfunding

Here’s a free idea. You can take it and run with it. Microfunding. Microspends. Micropayments. Whatever you want to call it. Take the concept of the “long tail” and apply it to spending online. Imagine the long tail of small purchases. You could blow this wide open. Here’s $0.05 for that interesting PDF on your website. $0.10 for the YouTube video I loved. $0.25 for that podcast that entertained me for an hour.

Doesn’t sound like much does it? But imagine that 1 in 100 of your fans is a loyal fan that will contribute $0.10/view. Now 10,000 regular visitors translate to: $10/day. Soon adds up.


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Current ad rates are ~$1cpm. Equates to: $0.001/visitor. If you could convince, on average, every visitor to contribute $0.01 you have increased revenue ten fold! Ok. Now imagine you are the company that facilitates all these micropayments.

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One Step Back to Think Two Steps Ahead

Are you planning ahead? Or trying to create something new? Quite often during this process I will say stop. Take a step back. Take an overview. What happens next? What are the next steps? Are we doing our best to make that happen? Yes or no? How can we make sure Step 1, sets up Step 2 and 3 in light of the bigger picture? For example, I am involved in a joint venture to do a series of workshops.


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We wanted to come up with our selling point so I took a step back and said, “what is the conversation that’s going on in our target audience’s mind?” What are they going to say to their boss that makes their boss say, yes I will pay for that? Stop. Take a step back. Think two steps forward.

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Patterns

Patterns are heuristic shortcuts. Patterns are what experts have. They are how doctors can sum up a patient’s state in a glance, or how you can make snapshot judgments. Patterns are all around us, in our clothing, our behaviour, how we interact. Quite often the same patterns are everywhere. We build new patterns through experiencing and learning, and identifying patterns yields greater understanding. Even doing something that makes you uncomfortable or afraid also builds new patterns. You should always seek new patterns!


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Use patterns in your strategies. They will make your strategies more creative and more remarkable than you ever thought possible. Remember innovation is the application of patterns in new contexts.

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Personality

What is personality? If you Google “definition of personality” you will be returned with “the complex of all the attributes: behavioural, temperamental, emotional and mental that characterise a unique individual; their different…” Essentially personality is what makes us different and unique. Big businesses try to stamp out personality to keep regimented systems for franchises, to reassure customers, to get the right cogs doing what they need to. Yet more often than not the loyalty between organisations is between people, not between brands.


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It’s people who are behind every company and every interaction with its stakeholders. Naturally with people come their personalities. We shouldn’t shy away from this, we should embrace it. Ask yourself, what are the personalities behind your business and how can you leverage them (and in turn keep them happy)? I was thinking this as I bought a coffee from Cafe Monet in Newmarket. I wandered in and three people were in there. They all greeted the barista, “hey Anton”, “morning Anton” and so on. This meant I instantly became aware of Anton the barista. Anton looked up and said, “hey buddy” to me, and carried on talking to various people. Within 30 seconds you could tell he was the personality behind the cafe and the reason people kept coming back. It was like everyone was friends. There was a real sense of community. I daresay his 10% extra effort with every customer leads to 80% (or higher) return rates.


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I’ll definitely be going back to say “hi” to Anton and grab a coffee (which isn’t half bad either). The question is: what personalities do you have? And how can you embrace them?


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Platforms

Platforms used to be something you stood on while you waited for the train. Platforms are now shaking up industries. A platform for users to buy any book they want: Amazon. A platform for businesses to sell anything they want: Ebay. A platform for any business to advertise to anyone: Google. Question is: how can YOU deliver a platform in your specialty?

How about:


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• Product design: imagine the efficiencies you would gain by providing a platform for product designers to meet with clients.

• Electricity supply: what if you could provide a platform for any/everyone to generate and sell their own electricity?

• Doctor’s visits: hard one. But not impossible.

What are your thoughts? Remember, a platform is a framework that provides a catalyst for interaction.

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Platforms are about Opportunity

Platforms are about opportunity. Using Fonterra (a milk co-operative) as your platform means you can suddenly reach unreachable markets. Using Facebook as a platform means you can engage with your customers in new ways. Using Basecamp as a platform means you can organise your business easily from any location. I have written about platforms before, but I’ve been chewing them over more so recently.

How can I turn our systems into a platform for others? (and consequently operate as Software as a Service)? Some ideas I had are:


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• Turning my productivity system into a platform

for others to use. • Turning our research writing systems into a

service for other organisations wishing to collate information.

• Turning our marketing systems into SaaS.

Stop and think about your existing systems and/or services. Which could you rebundle into a platform? Should you? Maybe just critically thinking about this platform idea will help you manage your existing resources or platforms better.

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Pods

We all exist in little pods/groups/communities/tribes. I prefer the term “pod”, as it describes the structure of our existence better. Separate distinct pods. Here are some pods I belong to:

• Last.fm • Twitter • Facebook • This blog

There is some overlay between my pods, particularly between my twitter account and my blog, however they are all separate from each other. Offline I belong to other pods like separate families and other groups.


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We have always belonged to pods, but as our interaction platforms change, from say meeting in a pub to meeting online, the number of pods we belong to has increased. I wonder if over time we are going to exist in more and more pods? What would happen in a crisis like a natural disaster?

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Repetitive Behaviour

Looking for an idea? Or maybe you are looking to crack open a whole new industry. Look at behaviour. Behaviour is changing constantly. Identify new repetitive behaviours and then innovate. Better yet: create a new repetitive behaviour.


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Silence

Is scary huh? People pause. They don’t know what to do. There is a void. You instantly think you need to fill it. What if you didn’t? What if you bought 30 seconds of ad space during peak time and had nothing? Absolutely nothing. People would be in the kitchen during the ad break going “who turned the TV off?” Others would look up to see what was going on, they might even tune in. Silence is polarising. We are so used to noise we have no idea how to react to silence.


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Small IS the New Big

I keep hearing it more and more. “We launched with 50% of what we wanted, we could have launched with 10%”. “Scale down, smaller is better”. “We went to the absolute minute niche we could find, and now dominate it globally”. Just some of the errings. They’re all right. Seth Godin discusses it in his book Small is the New Big. Big ideas start off small and are run by small teams. Go small, focus, and be big.


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How can we deliver with less? Less features, less resources, less employees… less everything? Guy Kawasaki’s aim was to just have a couple of guys and make a cool $1m/year (Truemors). Now magnify his concept by 1000, 1000 microbusinesses run by a couple of guys dominating their tiny niche globally. Small is the new big.

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Struggling to Innovate? Overcome It.

Innovation is the application of a model or pattern in a new context. But how do you innovate? Easy. The formula for innovation: Immerse yourself in your field. Live it/breathe it/dream it. Then take yourself to the exact polar opposite of your field and immerse yourself in it. Return to your field. You will see whole new angles and connections you’d never have seen before.


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Swear Words

Swearing is a short cut. Jerry Seinfeld said swearing is a short cut for comedians to get a laugh. So he didn’t swear during his acts. They are also a short cut for expressing yourself (some call it lazy), and getting your point across. You will not hear me swear much, if at all. On the odd occasion you may, when I really want to drive a point home. It keeps people on their toes and lets them know when I really mean it.


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Taking a Stance

What do you do? What do you offer? Is this clear? It should be. You should be taking a stance. This is who we are. This is what we are about. People love to talk about firms that take a stance. We are all about flowers. We are all about art. Take a stance NOW.


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Ten Barriers to Marketing Success

Having worked with a number of internet startups over the years, I have experienced these barriers firsthand:

• Marketing viewed as an expense. Start/stop. • Companies wanting full control of content and

making users subscribe to access it. • The thinking that every search engine ad needs

the company brand in it. • The idea that marketing is advertising and we

don’t do that. • People thinking that voice-overs are a great way

to engage (scare off!) users. • The thought that instant results are the best. • The thinking that all communications must

include a sales pitch. • The mindset that marketing is a mechanism to

boost the entrepreneur’s ego.


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• People beginning conversations with “If only….”.

• Entrepreneurs afraid of success. To break down these barriers I suggest that:

• Marketing is an investment. Treat it as such. Continual investment yields the best results. (Ever heard of compounding?).

• Marketing is in every interaction in your business. Some companies market by focusing all their energy into making one great product: think Google.

• If you’re holding the business back maybe it’s time to step aside.

• Trust in the marketing firm you’ve hired. If you can’t trust them then find a firm you can!

• The cost of lessons learnt from mistakes is often less than the cost of indecision.

• Barriers restrict engagement. • Accept that you were never in control of your

message. It’s time to rethink marketing.

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Ten Reasons Why I Hate Your Product

1) Your product breaks. 2) Your product doesn’t boost my status. 3) Your product isn’t better when my friends use it too. 4) It’s too hard for me to write about you on my blog: give me some material. 5) Where’s the social component of your product? 6) I’m a loyal fan, what have you got to offer me? 7) Why can’t I easily tell all my friends about your product? 8) You ripped me off by selling me a product that isn’t the experience you sold me on.


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9) You don’t offer upgrades or a warranty. 10) If I need help with your product I have to find it myself. You can view these reasons however you want. I will leave you with this Churchill quote: “A pessimist sees the difficulty in every opportunity; an

optimist sees the opportunity in every difficulty.”

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The ADHD Assumption

Assume everyone who reads your content has attention deficit hyperactivity disorder. Which means:

• Keep your message clear. • Break it into small digestible bites.

This will increase your readership, the retention of your information, and the number of referrals. Success. I don’t need to tell you that attention spans are growing increasingly shorter… as you’ve probably already stopped reading by now. (See what I mean.)


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The Analysis Zigzag

We all zig zag between over analysing and conversly glossing things over Sometimes you need to. It’s called paying attention to detail. Paying attention to the details can be the perfect marketing tool. Customers notice your efforts and you feel great. They can tell immediately that your work is polished and perfect. So how can you tell when you’ve gone too far into detail? Or how can you tell when you are not going far enough? Questions I would ask myself: How do these details relate to my objective?


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What level of effort will I have to exert to nail those details? Now double it. Is the payoff still worth it? Will the customer notice or notice the lack thereof? Things to think about…… (Maybe a little, maybe a lot, haha).

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The Best Ideas are Free. Think about it. They are. Why are the best ideas free? Free ideas have no obligations. They don’t need to fit your objectives, they don’t need to be held accountable, they are created with essentially no barriers. No barriers = maximum potential creativity. That’s my ideas post for the week. Take it away and enjoy it (it’s free). The Best Ideas are Free.


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The Infinity Assumption

“Content is king” is the age-old adage of internet marketing. It still is. We are still telling stories right? However is your content scalable? Have you maximised the opportunity for it to spread? If not: you’re wasting time. Build some systems now to leverage all your content. Make the infinity assumption. Think: my content will be out there for infinity. Surely I should put some systems in place now to leverage the time component.


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Some systems you can put in place:

• Share your content via a blog. • Share your content on scribd.com. • Integrate social bookmarking (making it easy

for friends to share your content). • Destroy any barriers in the way of accessing

your content. • Get your content syndicated.

I’m sure you can come up with a few of your own, remember it’s all about leverage.

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The No Strategy Marketing Strategy

Every now and then I meet a company who say they have no marketing strategy (and therefore don’t do marketing). You’re wrong. You do. You have the No Strategy Marketing Strategy. Every transaction your organisation engages in involves marketing. Why? Because you are communicating. Each of these interactions results in a story being told. This is a story about you. Is this bad? Not necessarily.


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However, if you are already doing something (even if you don’t realise it), surely by providing a focused strategy you can deliver more value. Sun Tzu’s famous strategy quote: “All men can see these tactics whereby I conquer, but

what none can see is the strategy out of which victory is evolved.”

Everyone can replicate the tactics of your No Strategy Marketing Strategy… So flag your No Strategy Marketing Strategy and get to providing a focused strategy!

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The Only Thing Holding You Back is YOU

It’s true. Really, you can do what YOU want. But chances are it’s you holding yourself back. You’re saying, “no it’s not Ben, it’s this and this”. Many will say it’s time. Stop making excuses. You can make time. Start with five minutes a day. Work up to 60 minutes.

Look at how you can reduce the time other tasks take, by prioritising and only doing what you really need to do, and so on.


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Believe me you can find enough time to start doing what you really love. Some will say money stands in the way of them doing what they want. Money can be a barrier, but it’s not infallible. For under $100 you can:

• Write a book using self-publishing. • Drive your favourite super car. • Learn how to fly a plane. • Start your own online TV show.

These days the barriers to virtually everything are being destroyed, and the chances for excuses are getting less and less. If there is something you really want to do, bite the bullet and jump in the deep end. Do not let yourself or anybody else talk you out of it.

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Those That Turn Up

Woody Allen said:

“Eighty percent of success is showing up.” However, when you go to turn up you get a sudden fear, a feeling in your stomach so you stop. That’s why free events have a high RSVP/low turn up rate. Rather than endure the feeling in your stomach you just don’t go. No pain if you don’t go. You are only letting yourself down. You need to stop. Ignore those feelings and dive in.


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Been contemplating blogging? Building a website? Learning a new hobby? Always let this pain stop you? My advice is to learn to love the pain, to thrive on it. Throw yourself into it, and scare yourself. Some call this throwing yourself in the deep end. If you’re not scaring yourself you’re not pushing yourself, so scare yourself and turn up. And that’s where success is hidden.

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Thought Versus Action

Take a look at this graph.

The Thought versus Action curve represents the theoretical sum of attention, time and work. We all shift up and down the curve, usually due to external pressures like stress.


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If you shift more from left to right it is suggested that you are more strategic in your approach. If you follow from right to left then you have a more emergent strategy. The trouble for entrepreneurs is that quite often they spend too much time at the left, and suffer from a lack of action. They need to find their sweet spot. Find the right mix of thought and action in order to get the desired results. What is the best mix for you?

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Time Marketing

Wake up! I am busy. You are busy. Let’s face it, everyone is busy. We are even busy when we sleep.

Surely you realise by now that you are marketing for (people’s) time: time to try your product, time to enjoy it and time to use it.

Time is becoming more and more valuable. Your product should too.

Make your product fun and enjoyable. Make us all long for the day to pass, so we can enjoy it.

That’s a magic position to be in right there.


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Turning Customers into Fans

This is on the tip of everyone’s tongue at the moment. How do you turn your customers into fans? Fans will rave about you. Tell their friends. Sell your product for you. There is no perfect mix, but some questions I would be asking myself are:

• Who are the key influencers that use my product?

• How can I excite them about my product? • Why am I excited about my product? • Is my product the best? Or the worst? (Either

way pick a spot at an extreme and make a stand.)


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• Am I selling the sizzle? Do customers know what the sizzle is?

• Have I provided a platform or catalyst for my customers to become my fans?

• Have I provided tools for my customers to become my fans, (Blogger packs, graphics, competitions etc)?

• Is my product actually making their lives better? Am I helping them?

Do these things and make it easy for your customers to become your fans. Help them help you.

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Wait, Stop!

The bus driver can’t hear you. He has already driven away. He couldn’t care less. You should have been on time. You should have been there when he cared, when he had time to give you attention. Damn. Oh well. The next bus is ten minutes away. Wrong: it could be five minutes away or 25 minutes away. You don’t know. You know it’s coming, but when? The point is: in the meantime you’ve missed out.


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The communications industry is rapidly changing and has been doing so for years. The communications bus has come and gone many times, and each time it has, you’ve missed out! So when are you going to be on time, and able to jump onboard and give it a shot? One day it’s going to be lonely at that bus stop.

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We Think You’re AWESOME!

Remember when you dined at a restaurant and everything was great? The food was great, the service was great, the atmosphere was great. You loved it. You told all your friends. Remember the thrill you got after going on a jet boat or doing a bungy jump? Or the thrill of an unforgettable travel experience? You loved it. You told all your friends. This is what I like to call the “We think you’re AWESOME!” feeling. Do your customers think you’re awesome?!? Why/why not?


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Which Box are You In?

It is human nature to put things into boxes. We need boxes so that we can relate and understand something in relation to everything else we know. Which box are you in? Which box have others put you in? Are you happy with the boxes you are in? Identify some of your boxes… Wait. Why do we need to be in a box? Isn’t our name enough? We need Ben Young. We need Nike. We need Alibaba.


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Build a brand and let that be what defines you. Avoid boxes, build your brand instead.

You need to think about building your company brand so that people ask for your company, not your box.

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What Gets Measured Gets Managed

It’s the old adage Peter Drucker came up with:

“What gets measured gets managed.” It’s very true. The trap we all fall into is an addiction to metrics: this metric proves our success better, or this metric is more interesting. The two questions you really need to ask are:

• What are the real objectives we need measured? • What is the one metric that shows the progress

and success of each objective? Ignore all other metrics.


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If one metric dictates your objective, focus on that. When you stop and review you can look at others, but do not let them distract you while you are in the trenches. Once you focus on measuring your objectives, you will notice Drucker’s quote. “What gets measured gets managed” will drive your success.

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What’s the Business Case?

I hear novel ideas all the time. They are neat: fun, unique and likely to spread. I love them. Yet I often ask, “what is the business case?” What is the value? Where is the monetisation (directly or indirectly)? Cash flow is key to survival. Otherwise your idea’s not going to last in the long run. (And that’s not a cool idea).


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Who are We Selling To?

Simple question. Hard answer. Every fortnight or so, someone will approach me and say, “hey Ben, I want to pick your brain.” We have a marketing budget and want to do something online. What do you think we should do? Hang on. Stop. Who are you selling to first? What is the objective of the marketing? Sure, internet marketing is new marketing, but the fundamentals are still the same.


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So take a step back and ask, “who are we selling to?” (Next question: why are they buying?)

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Work Smarter with Adwords Here is a freebie strategy I use all the time. It seems obvious, but it quite often gets overlooked. This is the simplest way to increase sales online while also decreasing costs (over the medium to long term). I like to call it The Adwords Long Tail Strategy. It’s simple, quick and effective. After running your Adwords campaign for a decent period of time (say three months) you need to do a Long Tail analysis of impressions. How?

• Get keywords and total impressions over the time period and put them into a graph.

• Find the head of the graph. • Target those keywords via SEO. • Cover the rest with Adwords.


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Results:

• You will be able to decrease acquisition costs by gaining visitors you already know convert.

• You will be able to increase traffic to your site.

Proof: I have increased traffic at organisations while decreasing their acquisition costs by up to 75% with this simple strategy.

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You Can Do What YOU Want Here’s just a list of all the cool things you can do:

• Run your own TV show. Check out Wine Library TV.

• Host your own podcast. • Be an author through Lulu or Createspace. • Become a rock star by using iTunes + Myspace

+ Last.fm. • Build your own entertainment network by

syndicating YouTube videos. • Build your own Facebook-like network with

Ning. • Design your own products (virtually anything)

through Ponoko. • Brand your own products: drinks, beds, jeans…

by sourcing products through Alibaba. • Design your own t-shirts with Threadless.


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• Become an expert in your area through blogging.

• Talk directly to anyone. Skip their secretaries and connect via Twitter, Facebook or LinkedIn.

It’s awesome! The world literally is your oyster if you take the step and turn up. Creativity is set to soar over the next five to ten years. You can dabble in one or five of these. Why not try your hand at writing, building your own product or creating a podcast? It’s all very very exciting. What else would you add to this list? (The list contains only a small fraction of the possibilities.)

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You’ve Planted the Seed, Now What? Keep sowing. Keep meeting new people, keep blogging, keep the conversations going. The return will come. New marketing isn’t about create x, get y. It’s not a strict formula. You need to keep investing, and the rewards will come. Like your investment they will compound. This week, as a result of conversations had around my brand some neat things have happened:

• I was referred as a candidate to become a


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mobile content provider (with no work having to be done on my behalf).

• I heard of another project that I have secured before the official word has been put out.

• I’ve been offered a speaking gig. You think your favourite bloggers or entrepreneurs gave up after a few months? They kept going for years and years before they got to where they are. So keep sowing.

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Encore Reviewing the book again a few months after I’d put it together, I had a moment of regret. Oh crap. Am I really going to do this? Yes I am. These ideas have picked people up when they were down. Convinced others to quit their jobs and pursue their dreams, provided others with ways to think critically about their businesses. Most importantly they have stimulated discussions that wouldn’t have happened otherwise. You see, whether it is right or wrong, merely getting someone to second-guess an assumption is all the reward I need. I wish I could embed a video in the book right here, right now. Unfortunately till technology dictates, I will have to type out my closing thoughts. They are best summed up in a quote from some of my most recent writings: “I have to literally pinch myself, it does hurt, but maybe

not enough? I am still a bit suspect, is this real? I suspect it is. I am in flow, my strategy is to keep


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pushing forward, make myself man-up in all aspects, keep my business growth strong, keep challenging the norms, and leverage my learnings through the blog,

video and books.

So what really is my ultimate goal? To keep living the dream, and by doing so, inspire others to seek out their

own.” Before this encore ends up being longer than any of my other chapters, I’d better wrap it up. Thank you for reading. Thank you to all my supporters. Thank you to all the legends that have taken an idea (or spurned a new one) and ran with it. For without you the world would be a dreary place. Perseverance is genius, - Ben

You’re so good looking! Email [email protected] with

this in the subject line to get the hidden Easter egg.

The Best Ideas are Free by Ben Young

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