Six months ago, I put together a workbook that would help Linchpin readers ship.
After testing it out on hundreds of people, it's now ready for retail sale. [UPDATE on 9/2--yesterday, the workbook was so popular it went to the top 10 of all books on Amazon. And they sold all the warehouse could take. So it's sold out... I have shipped more to them, but they probably won't go on sale until the 8th. I'll update this post then. Thanks guys.]
You can find details here, or jump right to the buy page. The goal? To make you uncomfortable at the beginning of a project (and successful at the end).
Here's the core idea: it's weird to write in a book. When you do, you're making a commitment. You're combining the open-mindedness that reading brings with the physical action of writing. If you do that at every step in a project--and if your co-workers do too--the seemingly slippery decisions that get made appear a lot more solid.
The ShipIt workbook is designed to be worked on in groups (hence the five pack) and it delivers. If you can confront the mechanics or the fear that's slowing down (or even killing) your project, it's easy to fix it now, before it's too late.
There's no digital version, because without writing things down, it can't work. But there is an mp3 interview that will help you get your arms around how each page works. I'm pricing this first batch at $3.20 each in a pack of five just for the launch. [PS Amazon is having trouble shipping to Canadians right now. It may take a while to figure this out, and all I can do is apologize...]
I hope you'll give it a try.
Most of the time, particulary in b2b and luxury sales, the competition is nothing.
"I will buy this treat or I will buy nothing, because I don't really need anything."
"I will buy your consulting services, or I'll continue doing what I'm doing now on that front, which is nothing."
None of the above.
"I will vote for you or I'll do what I usually do, which is not vote."
"I'll hire you or I'll hire no one."
While you think your competition is that woman across town, it's probably apathy, sitting still, ignoring the problem... nothing.
Stop worrying so much about comparing yourself to every other possible competitor you can imagine and start comparing yourself to nothing. Are you really worth the hassle, the risk, the time, the money? Or can't the prospect just wait until tomorrow?
Many people struggle at work because they want more authority.
It turns out you can get a lot done if you just take more responsibility instead. It's often offered, rarely taken.
(And you can get even more done if you give away credit, relentlessly).
The details are right here. Created by Vook, based on the hardcover.
Includes new video and interviews with some interesting folks...
The long tail challenge of the iPad store is getting more and more obvious to people. The ratio of "shelf space" to inventory is about the worst of any retail experience in the world. There are more than 24,000 apps listed in the iPad store, and yet the front window (equivalent to the window of a bookstore) shows the user six choices. The spotlight coverflow up top shows another sixteen, fairly randomly. Meaning there's a little worse than a one in a thousand chance that your app will appear in front of someone interacting with the store at the first level.
I have no doubt that as Apple sees revenue increase from this source, they'll do a much better job of crosslinks and browsing. But, once again, the lesson of the long tail is this: you can't count on the gatekeeper to do your promotion for you. Getting picked feels like a needle in a haystack, and the value of permission, of connecting directly to people who care instead of ceding control to a middle man, is at the heart of building an asset. Someone is going to be the gatekeeper, and it should be you.
There isn't one.
Corporations don't have a conscience, people do.
That means that every time you say, "It's just my job," or "My department has a policy," or "All I do is work here," what you've done is abdicated responsibility--to no one.
It's convenient and even comfortable to blame the anonymous actions of many working in concert on a evanescent brand or organization, but that starts you on an inevitable race to the bottom. Organizations have more power than ever before. They are better synchronized, faster, and possess more tools to change the economy and the people in it than ever before. And the only option available to the rest of us is for individuals to take responsibility (it's not given) for what they do and how they do it.
The very same tools that permit organizations to synchronize their efforts are now available to you and to me. I guess the question is: will we use that power to humanize the systems we've created?
PS It's not just about being a good citizen: when bad behavior comes back to hurt the company, it hurts you, too.
If you want something done, perhaps you would ask a professional to do it. Someone who costs a lot but is worth more than they charge. Someone who shows up even when she doesn't feel like it. Someone who stands behind her work, gets better over time and is quite serious indeed about the transaction.
Or perhaps you could hire a passionate amateur. That's a forum leader doing it for love, not money. An obsessive in love with the craft. A talented person willing to trade income for the chance to do what he loves, with freedom.
Please, though, don't hire someone who just thinks it's a job. This category represents the majority of your options, and this category is what gives work a bad name.
The airport in Minneapolis is expensive and reasonably thoughtful in its design.
But the signs are monochromatic. As a result, the tired traveler wanders in circles, looking for her destination. Imagine how much easier it would be to find out where you were going if every sign with the word TAXI on it had it in yellow instead of white. Once you knew the color of where you were going, you'd just naturally scan for it.
Google and our text-based low-res online world seems to argue against color as a signal, but it's extraordinarily powerful. You don't need to make a big deal of of it, subtle is enough. Make the button you want pressed green on every page. Soon, your users will naturally gravitate to green buttons...
This works in Powerpoint presentations and even contracts. A little goes a long way.
All those devices in your bag make it easier than ever to stay in sync.
You can reap what you sow in Farmville, keep up with your email, know what's going on on every important blog, be in the right room at the right time earning badges, etc. You can synchronized at all times.
And if you get a little out of sync, just a little, it's painful. One more reason you might want to stop reading this and check your feeds.
Building your success on being more in sync than everyone else is a sharp edge to walk on. You'll always be near the edge of perfect sync, but never there.
The alternative is to be a lot out of sync.
People who are way out of sync with the digital maelstrom of the moment aren't always bad followers. They might be great leaders.
Every year the statistics show that online learning (in all its forms) continues to grow at a double digit pace. As of this Spring, 4.6 million college students took at least one class online – that number is expected to increase to nearly 19 million in four years. 96% of traditional universities offer at least one course in an online only format. At the Techonomy conference earlier this month Bill Gates stated that in five years the best education will come from the web (we recognize that comment can be a bit self serving for Mr. Gates but still….)
So why is it that the vast majority of internet users have never taken a class online? It seems there are two hurdles for most people: fear that the technology is hard to use and a belief that classes taken online aren’t as interesting or effective as offline teaching sessions.
At Yamisee, part of our mission is to dispel these myths and bring online learning to the masses. We know, as do the growing number of Yamisee teachers and students, that live online learning is easy, fun and a great way to learn on your terms. So put aside your fears, sign-up for a class and jump in – we know that once you’ve experienced it you’ll be back again and again!
As the amount of inputs go up, as the number of people and ideas that clamor for attention continue to increase, we do what people always do: we rely on the familiar, the trusted and the personal.
The experience I have with you as a customer or a friend is far more important than a few random bits flying by on the screen. The incredible surplus of digital data means that human actions, generosity and sacrifice are more important than they ever were before.