The Kismetic Strategist

Red Bull does not contain anything from a bull.  Taurine is also found in infant formula.

Jagermeister does not contain elk blood.

That chain letter where some large organization is donating money is not true.

I am pleased to announce I will be moderating the first Bootstrappers Breakfast San Diego.

Starting a company can be a lonely experience; many entrepreneurs are focused on their product, and don’t have the time to go to networking events full of MLM and Real Estate types.  Bootstrappers Breakfast strives to be different; our format allows you to discuss your challenges, candidly, with other lean startup entrepreneurs.  We won’t help you get VC funding, but we will help you get your product to market, find a counterpart to complement your strengths, and discover a community of people like yourself.

The first breakfast will be Tuesday, January 26, 2010; thereafter, they will be the fourth Tuesday of every month.  If you want to come but aren’t a member of Meetup, feel free to contact me to RSVP.

More info about lean startups, courtesy of Eric Ries:

Permission Marketing is a relatively new idea: evangelized by Seth Godin, he defines it this way:

Permission marketing is the privilege (not the right) of delivering anticipated, personal and relevant messages to people who actually want to get them.

Search Advertising is a large market: Google is set to post revenues of more than $4 Billion this quarter alone. So it is understandable that many companies, including AOL, Microsoft, and Yahoo, want to take some of this money away from Google; as a good capitalist, I can understand.

My complaint is with their methods.  Recently I updated my Yahoo Messenger; after completing this, I found Yahoo had installed their toolbar without an obvious location to opt out.  They also attempted to change my home page and default search; to this, Google’s toolbar fought tooth and nail, resulting in a dialog box war.  When I removed the toolbar, Yahoo actually added a menu with links to their pages, where my favorites menu previously lived.  This is not unlike a door to door salesman offering a free sample, then redecorating your kitchen with his branded wallpaper.

Today, I updated AIM, and the default installation included much of the same: they wanted to change my home page, default search, etc.  To their credit, the opt out was visible and easily accessible.  Again, however, this is not creating a permission asset, but attempting to meet a quota for users by force.

Search Advertisers should intuitively understand permission marketing: the act of clicking on an ad because it is relevant to your search query is a foundation to permission marketing.  Why,  then, are they attempting to change my entire web experience because I chose to download one tool?  If Twitter or Facebook did this, they would suffer from a significant PR nightmare.  Search Engines, please stop seeing your free tool as leverage to control my lens of the web; while audible banner ads are annoying enough, this is simply intolerable, and will result in a loss of market to open platforms such as Meebo.  [end of rant]

As I explore starting and building a company, I have become acutely aware of the choices people make. From my perspective, there are five ways to choose a name:

1. Name + Type of Business (in my case, “Moody Web Redevelopment”)
2. Name (just “Moody”)
3. The Disney strategy (”Analytics World”)
4. A completely new word (Moodeedalytics)
5. Unique Selling Proposition (Fast Web Analytics)

Looking at these options, #1 seems to be very common with small business owners, as well as #2; for many, putting their name “up in the lights” is a bigger motivation than creating a thriving business. The question, though, is “so what? who are you?”

The Disney strategy, similarly, is common for retailers: create a name that aligns you with a tribe, while emphasizing your size. If you build a Skirt Land, the thinking goes, every consumer of skirts will want to visit. See also the Field of Dreams approach.

The completely new word is a solid strategy; web companies, in particular, benefit from a unique word by purchasing an inexpensive domain name. So Flickr, Digg, Omniture, and Semphony, for example, created value in a bargain location. This is also great if the new word reflects your tribe; Flickr evokes pictures, Digg evokes “digging” through the web, and “digging” things you like. At the least, these names should tell a story; drop.io, for example,

Another great strategy is the unique selling proposition (#5). If your business is beach photography, A great name would be “Sea Breeze Photo“; in real estate, a similarly positioned name might be LandByTheSea. In signed memorabilia, a great name might be “Authentigraphs”.

Some might disagree; the top ten law firms in the U.S. are all surnames of partners; this is similarly true for accounting, and incredibly typical in consulting, and real estate. But this still applies to the Unique Selling Proposition: if you are a law firm, an accounting firm, or any other company that requires a high level of trust, a personal name connotes security and trust.

Conclusion? Think twice before sticking your surname on your business card and calling it a company. If your value is trust, this is a great strategy. If your value is something else, figure out what that is and weave it into your name in such a way that creates a story. If your primary marketing will be online, finding a new word may be an effective method.

In my early adult years, I was an IBO in Quixtar, now Amway Global.  Like so many before me, I failed, staying in only because of its cult like qualities. But I digress.  I want to discuss the great lessons I learned from the great MLM giant.

1. Sell people on the vision, and focus on the emotions. In those living rooms, the discussion started on the dreams of the prospect; by focusing on, and unleashing, this passion, we were able to associate our company with these aspirations; this despite lacking any evidence of real success (financial statements, anyone?)
2. Identify the real decision maker. The ideal prospect is a young couple: some of the reasons include their optimism, the doubling of efforts, and the effect of partnerships on business success.  But the biggest reason, in my opinion, is the ability to target the more emotional one: if the couple consisted of a breadwinner and a more emotional caretaker, targeting the aspirations of the caretaker made it more difficult for the breadwinner to refuse.
3. Look at the resources you have. The first thing a new Amway IBO did was make a list of 100 contacts.  What is interesting here is how many people we know: often a new Amway IBO would deny knowing many people, only to slowly realize they have a lot of weak ties (link to benefit of weak ties).  Applied to business, most of us probably don’t want to turn all of our friends into clients, but it is a great example of looking for gems in our own backyard (link to Jim Rohn?)
4. Help others first. Focusing a sales presentation on the dreams and aspirations of the prospects is a little conniving, but it also directs your own goals toward others: by encouraging and aiding your underlings to move toward their goals, you eventually improve your own position.  This is a fundamental idea in the book Never Eat  Alone, and it has guided me in most of my dealings.
5. You are a reflection of your associations. I resisted this idea for a long time, but in hindsight it was very accurate: spending many evenings with the same few business partners, I picked up some of their quirks.  Fortunately, I was mentored by someone who had a lot to offer, beyond his interest in Amway.  Applied to the real world, you should associate with those with whom you want to mimic: if you want a career in acting, why are you hanging out with those finance folks over there?

Overall, it was a valuable experience: I didn’t create my dream of financial freedom, and I burned some bridges, but I learned a number of lessons that continued to serve me later in my career. 

Readers: have you ever had an experience (Amway or otherwise) that failed at its intended goal, but taught you invaluable lessons?

“Smart” seems to be a key position these days: Smart Water offers an intellectual beverage, Smart cars are perfect for the urban dweller, and Smartphones are cornering the market for cell phones.

This is a logical extension of the trend to favor smart in our society. Gone are the days when honor, valor, or strength was the treasure of society. Today we reward those who are smart. So what other products should come out with this moniker?

Smart wallet: As a typical white person, I don’t carry cash: I need a wallet just big enough for a credit card, my ID, and an emergency $20. Better yet, I want this to be hidden in the cover to my iPhone. The ultimate convergence device: a SmartWallet.

SmartShoes: Nike has taken a stab at the idea, if not the name, but they focused on the athletic side. What about some Smart Dress shoes? Perhaps these shoes would adjust traction to the type of floor, much like the average floor sweeper. This would allow you to golf 18 holes, then meet friends for a night of salsa dancing.

SmartCoffee: Coffee infused with essential vitamins. Never eat again!

SmartChair: A chair at the SmartCafe which remembers your preferred height and angle preferences, via your smartphone.

Readers: Are there any other items you would like to see smarter?

Welcome to my blog; I plan to write 1-2 insightful posts a week, as well as responses to the blogs I follow.  I hope you, the reader, will offer your opinions.

Topics in the pipeline:

• Business Strategy
• Philosophy
• Dating
• Debunking classic proverbs
• Marketing
• Lessons learned from awkward places

Most posts will be less than 200 words in length, and will cause you to think at least as much.

If any of the above interest you, please add me to your RSS Feed.

Cheers,

Steven