Tags |
|
|
Links |
|
|
Actual for You - How Can You Be Innovative?
Money can now be made by sharing one’s opinion. Is this a joke? No it is for real. This is because blogs are one of the things people love to look at these days when surfing in the web.It is not that hard to make a blog. A user can download a template and put the content there or make one up using wizard.The trick to making money is being able to find a niche market. This means finding something relevant to talk about that people can relate to that can be done through research.When the blog site is ready, it is time to do one pre-flight check to make sure all the systems are working. It is such a huge turnoff when it is not user friendly enough to the public.The only way to get people to see the blog is to advertise. This means coming up with important keywords that someone will normally type so that the website will appear in a few seconds.There are many search engines on the web. The person should not be afraid of paying a small
Elegance can come in all kinds of packages however - think about what your appearance says about your business or organisation or clients, how you communicate, how you live your life, the list is endless.
Emotive: Innovation is about creating brand loyalty - people need to develop an emotional attachment with what you do. Remember people are more likely to do business, with people they know, like and trust.
Tip No5 Don't worry, be crappy!
Kawasaki says that "Realistically we live in a marketplace where you never have to say your sorry. It's a fact of life that you ship first and test later".
I'm not so sure if I totally agree with this, but I think I understand where he is coming from. If we wait until our product or service is absolutely perfect, we will probably never get it off the ground.
Life is a journey full of learning experiences. It doesn't ma
The toll free number is an indispensible part of doing business today. Toll-free numbers allow consumers to contact your business without having to pay for the call themselves. Toll free numbers can be a powerful sales and marketing tool and consumers have come to expect companies to have a toll free number for their customers to reach them. Many times, a toll free number will also give you more benefits than a local number service.90% of Americans report using a toll free number and studies show that using a toll free number in your advertising increases your response by 30%. Other research shows that when faced with a choice of several similar businesses, consumers are much more likely to call a business with a toll-free number than a business with a local or long distance number. The reason for this is two-fold. One is because, right or wrong, people see a company with a toll free number as being larger and more stable. Secondly, they don't want to ha
One good thing that came from it was meeting up with Suzy Rogers of the Women in Education Network - she is someone I met many years ago when I helped her organisation to successfully apply for Lottery funding. Suzy invited me to speak to her organisation at one of their dinners and this I did a couple of weeks ago.
Back to innovation...
I recently read about renowned entrepreneur, Guy Kawasaki who outlines 10 Tips for Successful Innovation.
Tip No1 Make Meaning
One of the most important keys to innovation is to make meaning - to develop meaningful products, projects and services for long term success. Innovation is about improving people's lives and making them more productive.
The secret here is to plan where you want to be in the long term not just about looking for ways to make money fast. You need to think about why you want to do something, consider the starting point, what you are good at and what might get in the way of your success.
Tip No2 Make a Mantra
A business or organisation's mantra shouldn't consist of a superfluous mission statement, as these are often too long or not memorable or indicative of where the focus lies. Instead you should come up with a few words that simply explain why you exist. I'm blowing my own trumpet I know, but "Moving from dreaming to action", really does sum up what the Enfys Acumen is about.
For stodgy mission statements you may as well use the Dilbert Mission Statement Generator - it's free, it's quick and it requires no meetings or awaydays to create. Kawasaki's philosophy is:
"Mantras not mission statements. Mission statements are bull!"
Tip No3 Jump to the next curve
Don't limit your innovations to incremental changes of what you already do, look ahead and think about what kinds of problems could be solved or needs met by new ways of doing things. Think outside the box. As an old Scout, I stress the need to Be Prepared.
Tip No4 Roll the DICEE
Kawasaki has come with this acronym:
Depth: Great products and services are deep and will grow with you along the way. He gives the example of the Reef Fanning Sandal which has a bottle opener built into the sole - it serves more than one purpose: it covers your feet and opens your drinks. "That's what" Kawasaki says "makes a deep product."
Intelligent: You have to actively anticipate the products and services people will need. Panasonic invented a torch that will work with three different kinds of batteries. They recognised a common problem - people routinely have batteries and torches, but not the right batteries for the torches. So Panasonic developed a torch that accepts different battery sizes in anticipation of the dilemma.
Completeness: Look at some of the brands that give you a quality service or product. What makes them so good? It is not just the item is it? It is all the other things that come with it - customer service, ancillaries, add-ons, the little things that add value to the purchase.
Always remember that it is the little extras: making people feel special, the willingness to go the extra mile, the follow-up call that are huge.
Elegance: Look no further than the iPod Nano! MP3 players have been around for years, loaded with buttons, but Apple designed one wheel to serve the same functions - making the iPod far more elegant.
Elegance can come in all kinds of packages however - think about what your appearance says about your business or organisation or clients, how you communicate, how you live your life, the list is endless.
Emotive: Innovation is about creating brand loyalty - people need to develop an emotional attachment with what you do. Remember people are more likely to do business, with people they know, like and trust.
Tip No5 Don't worry, be crappy!
Kawasaki says that "Realistically we live in a marketplace where you never have to say your sorry. It's a fact of life that you ship first and test later".
I'm not so sure if I totally agree with this, but I think I understand where he is coming from. If we wait until our product or service is absolutely perfect, we will probably never get it off the ground.
Life is a journey full of learning experiences. It doesn't mat
If you own or operate a business in California or another state that is besieged with complex business regulations and a burdensome tax system, you may wish to consider relocating your business to Incline Village. Nevada offers a much more business friendly environment than virtually anywhere else in America and there are no corporate or personal income taxes payable at the State level. The tax savings alone can make it beneficial to relocate a business to Nevada and purchase a nice home in many communities.One of the primary benefits of relocating to Northern Nevada and Incline Village in particular is that we have a very safe community in which to live and work. We also do not suffer from traffic congestion, air pollution, gang violence or many of the other problems afflicting urban areas. This feature is extremely attractive especially to workers who currently live in urban areas in California, New York and other locations where you would find a simil
Back to innovation...
I recently read about renowned entrepreneur, Guy Kawasaki who outlines 10 Tips for Successful Innovation.
Tip No1 Make Meaning
One of the most important keys to innovation is to make meaning - to develop meaningful products, projects and services for long term success. Innovation is about improving people's lives and making them more productive.
The secret here is to plan where you want to be in the long term not just about looking for ways to make money fast. You need to think about why you want to do something, consider the starting point, what you are good at and what might get in the way of your success.
Tip No2 Make a Mantra
A business or organisation's mantra shouldn't consist of a superfluous mission statement, as these are often too long or not memorable or indicative of where the focus lies. Instead you should come up with a few words that simply explain why you exist. I'm blowing my own trumpet I know, but "Moving from dreaming to action", really does sum up what the Enfys Acumen is about.
For stodgy mission statements you may as well use the Dilbert Mission Statement Generator - it's free, it's quick and it requires no meetings or awaydays to create. Kawasaki's philosophy is:
"Mantras not mission statements. Mission statements are bull!"
Tip No3 Jump to the next curve
Don't limit your innovations to incremental changes of what you already do, look ahead and think about what kinds of problems could be solved or needs met by new ways of doing things. Think outside the box. As an old Scout, I stress the need to Be Prepared.
Tip No4 Roll the DICEE
Kawasaki has come with this acronym:
Depth: Great products and services are deep and will grow with you along the way. He gives the example of the Reef Fanning Sandal which has a bottle opener built into the sole - it serves more than one purpose: it covers your feet and opens your drinks. "That's what" Kawasaki says "makes a deep product."
Intelligent: You have to actively anticipate the products and services people will need. Panasonic invented a torch that will work with three different kinds of batteries. They recognised a common problem - people routinely have batteries and torches, but not the right batteries for the torches. So Panasonic developed a torch that accepts different battery sizes in anticipation of the dilemma.
Completeness: Look at some of the brands that give you a quality service or product. What makes them so good? It is not just the item is it? It is all the other things that come with it - customer service, ancillaries, add-ons, the little things that add value to the purchase.
Always remember that it is the little extras: making people feel special, the willingness to go the extra mile, the follow-up call that are huge.
Elegance: Look no further than the iPod Nano! MP3 players have been around for years, loaded with buttons, but Apple designed one wheel to serve the same functions - making the iPod far more elegant.
Elegance can come in all kinds of packages however - think about what your appearance says about your business or organisation or clients, how you communicate, how you live your life, the list is endless.
Emotive: Innovation is about creating brand loyalty - people need to develop an emotional attachment with what you do. Remember people are more likely to do business, with people they know, like and trust.
Tip No5 Don't worry, be crappy!
Kawasaki says that "Realistically we live in a marketplace where you never have to say your sorry. It's a fact of life that you ship first and test later".
I'm not so sure if I totally agree with this, but I think I understand where he is coming from. If we wait until our product or service is absolutely perfect, we will probably never get it off the ground.
Life is a journey full of learning experiences. It doesn't ma
Years ago I used to focus on the worst members of the audience. The ones who crossed their arms and legs, never smiled, hardly said a word or took a single note throughout the day. I felt the need to ‘win them over’ to prove my ability as a speaker and a trainer.I’ve learned something over the years: Some people do not want to be won over – and that’s OK.Now I focus on the audience members who do respond with smiling, nodding, taking notes, asking questions and laughing along with my stories. This gives me a lot more energy when I work, and also makes those participants feel appreciated.And guess what? By the end of my presentations, most of the tough nuts have cracked themselves. Even tough nuts sometimes want to join the party – but they don’t want someone else to do the cracking.This can be equally true with members of your staff or service team. Some people inside your organization can be real tough nuts, sticks-in-the-mud, fuddy dudd
For stodgy mission statements you may as well use the Dilbert Mission Statement Generator - it's free, it's quick and it requires no meetings or awaydays to create. Kawasaki's philosophy is:
"Mantras not mission statements. Mission statements are bull!"
Tip No3 Jump to the next curve
Don't limit your innovations to incremental changes of what you already do, look ahead and think about what kinds of problems could be solved or needs met by new ways of doing things. Think outside the box. As an old Scout, I stress the need to Be Prepared.
Tip No4 Roll the DICEE
Kawasaki has come with this acronym:
Depth: Great products and services are deep and will grow with you along the way. He gives the example of the Reef Fanning Sandal which has a bottle opener built into the sole - it serves more than one purpose: it covers your feet and opens your drinks. "That's what" Kawasaki says "makes a deep product."
Intelligent: You have to actively anticipate the products and services people will need. Panasonic invented a torch that will work with three different kinds of batteries. They recognised a common problem - people routinely have batteries and torches, but not the right batteries for the torches. So Panasonic developed a torch that accepts different battery sizes in anticipation of the dilemma.
Completeness: Look at some of the brands that give you a quality service or product. What makes them so good? It is not just the item is it? It is all the other things that come with it - customer service, ancillaries, add-ons, the little things that add value to the purchase.
Always remember that it is the little extras: making people feel special, the willingness to go the extra mile, the follow-up call that are huge.
Elegance: Look no further than the iPod Nano! MP3 players have been around for years, loaded with buttons, but Apple designed one wheel to serve the same functions - making the iPod far more elegant.
Elegance can come in all kinds of packages however - think about what your appearance says about your business or organisation or clients, how you communicate, how you live your life, the list is endless.
Emotive: Innovation is about creating brand loyalty - people need to develop an emotional attachment with what you do. Remember people are more likely to do business, with people they know, like and trust.
Tip No5 Don't worry, be crappy!
Kawasaki says that "Realistically we live in a marketplace where you never have to say your sorry. It's a fact of life that you ship first and test later".
I'm not so sure if I totally agree with this, but I think I understand where he is coming from. If we wait until our product or service is absolutely perfect, we will probably never get it off the ground.
Life is a journey full of learning experiences. It doesn't ma
Come on, admit it. Do you envy people who are doing work that they love?Many of us do. We grind away tolerating work environments and colleagues out of step with our values, interests and skills. Yet we hang in there for a variety of reasons -— most prominently our paychecks.But our situations can improve. Abraham Maslow, psychologist and father of the humanistic psychology movement, shifted the tides in his field by insisting that we start studying healthy people to learn what they were doing right so that those who weren't so healthy could adopt more effective strategies.In the same way, if we look at people who love their work - we can identify principles, ideas and strategies to incorporate in our own lives so we can learn how to love our work too. As a certified professional business and personal coach, specializing in working with people with career issues, I'm always on the lookout for ideas to make work more enjoyable for my clients.nks. "That's what" Kawasaki says "makes a deep product."
Intelligent: You have to actively anticipate the products and services people will need. Panasonic invented a torch that will work with three different kinds of batteries. They recognised a common problem - people routinely have batteries and torches, but not the right batteries for the torches. So Panasonic developed a torch that accepts different battery sizes in anticipation of the dilemma.
Completeness: Look at some of the brands that give you a quality service or product. What makes them so good? It is not just the item is it? It is all the other things that come with it - customer service, ancillaries, add-ons, the little things that add value to the purchase.
Always remember that it is the little extras: making people feel special, the willingness to go the extra mile, the follow-up call that are huge.
Elegance: Look no further than the iPod Nano! MP3 players have been around for years, loaded with buttons, but Apple designed one wheel to serve the same functions - making the iPod far more elegant.
Elegance can come in all kinds of packages however - think about what your appearance says about your business or organisation or clients, how you communicate, how you live your life, the list is endless.
Emotive: Innovation is about creating brand loyalty - people need to develop an emotional attachment with what you do. Remember people are more likely to do business, with people they know, like and trust.
Tip No5 Don't worry, be crappy!
Kawasaki says that "Realistically we live in a marketplace where you never have to say your sorry. It's a fact of life that you ship first and test later".
I'm not so sure if I totally agree with this, but I think I understand where he is coming from. If we wait until our product or service is absolutely perfect, we will probably never get it off the ground.
Life is a journey full of learning experiences. It doesn't ma
Back in mid-October of 2002, my husband Andy borrowed my Ford Taurus to drive to work. His truck was in the shop for the day, and since I stayed at home with our baby, I relinquished my car to him.Andy’s everyday route to work involves a short stint on the New York State Thruway, and the toll for this ride is twenty cents. Lucky for him, the benevolent Thruway Authority provides something they like to call E-Z Pass, wherein you place a sensor square on your windshield and are given permission to proceed through a special toll lane, sans human operator. A machine reads the sensor and charges your account, ostensibly saving the Capital Region’s commuters time by allowing them to glide through the lane (at a leisurely 5 mph) without stopping. Andy has one of these sensor squares stuck to the windshield of his truck, and every morning he habitually drives through the E-Z Pass lane.My car, however, is not equipped with a sensor square, since I rarely ventur
Elegance can come in all kinds of packages however - think about what your appearance says about your business or organisation or clients, how you communicate, how you live your life, the list is endless.
Emotive: Innovation is about creating brand loyalty - people need to develop an emotional attachment with what you do. Remember people are more likely to do business, with people they know, like and trust.
Tip No5 Don't worry, be crappy!
Kawasaki says that "Realistically we live in a marketplace where you never have to say your sorry. It's a fact of life that you ship first and test later".
I'm not so sure if I totally agree with this, but I think I understand where he is coming from. If we wait until our product or service is absolutely perfect, we will probably never get it off the ground.
Life is a journey full of learning experiences. It doesn't matter what road we are on, if we just sit in the middle of it, sooner or later we will get knocked down.
Tip No6 Polarise people
Don't be afraid to polarise the consumer base. You need to be clear about the market your in. Just think of the most successful business out there, they frequently generate polarity. If you were to stand on a street corner and look at all the different makes and sizes of cars that go past - they are all generally quality vehicles, but BMW has a different market to the Ford Ka.
Tip No7 Let a hundred flowers blossom
Even if the wrong people are currently your customers in large numbers, you still don't have a problem, according to Kawasaki. You have to plant flowers everywhere, because you don't necessarily know who your next or best customers will be.
Innovation is about going to the people that are buying your product or paying for your service and find out why. Ask them what they like and follow those leads. Just because your product is popular with people you did not expect it to be popular with doesn't mean failure. You might just have to shift your ideas a little.
Tip No8 Churn Baby Churn
Part of being an innovator is constantly living in denial. You can't listen to people that say "you can't do this" or "you shouldn't do that" or "you can't launch until you have such and such". When you have been delivering your service or selling your product for a while, then you can identify shortcomings or recognise future features or aspects that would be desirable to the consumer.
Tip No9 Niche Thyself
When you aren't unique, but offer a valuable product or service, you have to compete on price. If you have a unique product or service, you have a corner on the market, but nobody wants what you offer. So obviously you want to offer a unique product that also has high value.
Kawasaki gives an interesting approach to maximising this when you make a presentation to a funder or investor about your service or product. He suggests the 10/20/30 Rule:
- 10 - the optimal number of slides in a PowerPoint presentation
- 20 - the number of minutes to present 10 slides as getting set up will normally take 40 minutes
- 30 - often the optimal size font for presentation slides: find the oldest person in the audience and divide his/her age by 2 to find the optimal font size
You have to ignore the Naysayers when bringing you innovation to fruition. Kawasaki says there are usually two types of bozo: the loser an the well-to-do, slickster rich guy, the latter being the most dangerous.You can't assume someone is smart just because they are rich.
As an innovator, the words "can't" and "shouldn't" have to be expunged from you vocabulary.
HTTP = HTML link (for blogs, profiles,phorums):
<a href="http://www.actual4u.com/article/16648/actual4u-How-Can-You-Be-Innovative.html">How Can You Be Innovative?</a>
BB link (for phorums):
[url=http://www.actual4u.com/article/16648/actual4u-How-Can-You-Be-Innovative.html]How Can You Be Innovative?[/url]
Related Articles:
How To Write A Resume - 3 Things You Need To Make It Work For You
Customers - What They Really Want - 6 Secrets of Customer Service
Bookmark it:
|