14 Lessons From Benjamin Franklin About Getting What You Want In Life

Benjamin Franklin was a man of action. Over his lifetime, his curiosity and passion fueled a diverse range of interests. He was a writer (often using a pseudonym), publisher, diplomat, inventor and one of the Founding Fathers of the United States.

His inventions included the lightning rod, bifocals and the Franklin stove. Franklin was responsible for establishing the first public library, organizing fire fighters in Philadelphia, was one of the early supporters of mutual insurance and crossed the Atlantic eight times. Self-development was a constant endeavor throughout his incredible life.

Benjamin Franklin was clearly a man who knew how to get things done.

Here are 14 action-inducing lessons from him: 

• Less Talk, More Action
  
  “Well done is better than well said.”
  Talk is cheap. Talking about a project won't get it completed. We all know people who constantly talk about the things they are going to do but rarely ever take that first step. Eventually people begin to question their credibility. Taking action and seeing the task through to completion is the only way to get the job done.

• Don’t Procrastinate
  
  “Never leave that till tomorrow which you can do today.”
  This is probably one of the first quotes I remember hearing as a teenager. With an impressive list of achievements to his credit, Benjamin Franklin was not a man hung up on procrastination. He was a man with clear measurable goals who worked hard to turn his vision into reality. What are you putting off till tomorrow that could make a difference in your life today?

• Be Prepared
  
  “By failing to prepare, you are preparing to fail.”
  You need a plan to accomplish your goals. Charging in without giving any thought to the end result and how to achieve it, is a sure way to fall flat on your face. Think like a boy scout. Have a realistic plan of attack and a systematic approach for getting where you need to be.

• Don’t Fight Change
  
  “When you're finished changing, you're finished.”
  Whilst many of us don’t like change, others thrive on it. Either way change is inevitable. The stronger we fight against it, the more time and energy it consumes. Give up the fight. Focus on proactively making positive changes, instead of having change merely thrust upon you. Wherever possible, try to view change as a positive instead of a negative.

• Get Moving
  
  “All mankind is divided into three classes: those that are immovable, those that are movable, and those that move.”
  There’s a reason we use the expression, movers and shakers. Movers are the ones who take action, the people who get things done, while the immovable are sitting around scratching their heads wondering how others could possibly be so successful. Which group do you want to belong to?

• Avoid Busywork
  
  “Never confuse motion with action.”
  We are always running around doing things. We rush from one meeting or event to the next, sometimes without achieving a great deal. At the end of the day, how much of our busywork are we proud of? How much of that running around improves anyone’s life (including ours) for the better? Make your motion mean something.

• Give Yourself Permission to Make Mistakes
  
  “Do not fear mistakes. You will know failure. Continue to reach out.”
  If we fear making mistakes, we become scared to try new things. Fear leaves us nestled in our comfort zone. Staying in your comfort zone rarely leads to greatness. Taking risks and giving yourself permission to make mistakes, will ultimately lead you to whatever your version of success may be.

• Act Quickly on Opportunities
  
  “To succeed, jump as quickly at opportunities as you do at conclusions.”
  Opportunities are everywhere. The trick is being quick enough and smart enough to seize them when they arise. Instead of jumping to the conclusion that something won’t work or can’t be done, allow yourself the freedom to ask what if?

• Continue to Grow
  
  “Be at war with your vices, at peace with your neighbors, and let every new year find you a better man.”
  We all have vices of some description. The key is to keep them under control or preferably eradicate them entirely. Be kind to those around you, whether they are neighbors, family, co-workers or friends. Never accept that you have finished growing as a person.

• Keep Going
  
  “Diligence is the mother of good luck.”
  Have you ever looked at a successful entrepreneur or business person and thought how lucky they are? Most of the time, luck has nothing to do with it. Hard work and sacrifice on the other hand have everything to do with it. Successful people deal with failure. They tackle their demons head on. They pick themselves up and keep going.

• Know Yourself
  
  “There are three things extremely hard: steel, a diamond, and to know one's self.”
  Understanding ourselves is not easy. Sometimes we just don’t want to see ourselves for who we really are. It’s much easier to hold onto a romanticized version of ourselves or to simply view ourselves through other people’s eyes. Start by being brutally honest with yourself. Follow through with understanding, compassion and acceptance.

• Don’t Self-Sabotage
  
  “Who had deceived thee so often as thyself?”
  We spend so much time worrying about other people hurting us, yet fail to comprehend the damage we inflict on ourselves. If you are using negative self-talk, lying to yourself or indulging in addictive behavior you are self-sabotaging. Life can dish up enough challenges without us adding to the mix. Be kind to yourself. Treat yourself like you would a best friend.

• Don’t Give Up
  
  “Energy and persistence conquer all things.”
  Achieving our goals can be downright exhausting. There will be days when you want to give up. There will be times when your energy levels flatline and you wonder why you bother getting out of bed. Yet you push forward, day after day because you believe in yourself and you have the determination and strength to back up that belief.

• Wise Up
  
  “Life's tragedy is that we get old too soon and wise too late.”
  Benjamin was definitely onto something with this one. Who hasn’t had the thought - I wish I could know then, what I know now? Unfortunately there is no time machine; there is no going back. The key is to wise up as early as you can to start forging a life of purpose, achievement and happiness.

 

Hang a Folding Table on Your Wall with Bicycle Storage Hooks

If you have a tiny apartment and rarely need an entire dining table you may want to consider buying a folding table and hanging it on the wall with bicycle storage hooks when not in use.
Home Improvement weblog Apartment Therapy showcases a couple who live in a studio apartment in Washington DC and hang a stylish $600 aluminum folding table on their wall. If you like the idea but prefer function to form you can away with hanging a much cheaper steel or resin table in the $50-100 range on your $6.50 bicycle hooks.
Just make sure the hooks are anchored in the wall securely. Folding chairs can be stored in closets or even hung on the wall alongside the table!

Promotion/Deals for small businesses

Stilomo is – or, rather, will be – a mobile app that allows users to get promotions/deals by sharing them to social media accounts. Founded by Stanley Octavian, Rebecca Agiestha, and Nick Yudha, they are trying to differrentiate their startup from Groupon, LivingSocial or any group buying services by providing small- and medium-sized business owners the virality and traffic to their stores from these shared deals. It has a clear business model, and reminds us of the similar Singapore startup that is doing quite well called GSpot. Stilomo is currently developing an Android app, to be followed by Blackberry and iOS apps later. The beta version of the Android app will be released in May, and the startup will launch to the public around June

Matching the Medium with the Message in Word-of-mouth Marketing

It seems only logical that the more interesting a product is to consumers, the more they will talk about it. But the latest research from two Wharton professors suggests that when it comes to creating buzz-worthy advertising campaigns, how people communicate (e.g., whether they talk face to face or over email) is a big factor in determining what they discuss.
In their paper titled, "How Interest Shapes Word-of-Mouth over Different Channels," marketing professors Jonah Bergerand Raghuram Iyengarexplore the relationship between successful marketing and the methods used to spread it. The topic is especially timely in the digital age, when word-of-mouth relies largely on social media.
Berger and Iyengar analyzed two unique sets of data involving thousands of everyday discussions across different conversation channels, then conducted a controlled lab experiment in which they manipulated conversation to examine the effects. The results of all three studies point to a single conclusion: How interesting a product is to discuss matters more when people communicate through discontinuous channels, such as blog posts, texts, emails and online conversations. "The punch line of this paper is quite clean," Iyengar says. "It is one of the first pieces of evidence that we have seen that it is not only the message but also the medium."
The professors draw a distinction between discontinuous and continuous channels. The latter include face-to-face or phone conversations in which there is an instant response. When people speak in this manner, interesting products or brands are not talked about with any more frequency than less distinctive ones because social convention demands an immediate response, the researchers note. "It's awkward to have dinner with a friend in silence, or ride in a cab with a colleague without conversing, so rather than waiting to think of the most interesting thing to say, people will talk about whatever is top-of-mind to keep the conversation flowing," they write. "It's not that people do not have enough interesting things to talk about; rather, they do not have the time to select the most interesting thing."
By contrast, discontinuous channels allow the participant to take time to craft a good response -- or no response at all. It is socially acceptable for a woman to post a link on Facebook about a new pair of shoes that caught her eye, for example, and have no one "like" it. "A really simple way to think about it is the following," Berger notes. "Imagine if you're online and someone sends you something. You don't have to reply. You're only going to share things when they cross a certain threshold of interesting. The option of not saying anything is fine in a discontinuous conversation."
Armed with this knowledge, marketers can be more precise in crafting their campaigns to achieve better results. It's not as simple as blanketing the web with pop-up ads or blasting the airwaves with commercials, Iyengar points out. It's about picking the right medium for the right message. When that happens, marketers can hope that the flames of word-of-mouth will ignite and spread like a wildfire.
"Practitioners often believe that products need to be interesting to be talked about, but our results suggest they are only right for certain word-of-mouth channels," the authors note in their paper. "If the goal is to get more discussion online ... framing the product in an interesting or surprising way should help. Ads or online content that surprises people, violates expectations or evokes interest in some other manner should be more likely to be shared."
The authors point to the example of blender manufacturer Blendtec's series of commercials, which have garnered more than 150 million views on YouTube. In one commercial, a smiling actor in a lab coat and safety glasses drops his iPhone into the blender to answer the question, "Will it blend?" Upbeat music plays as the blender pulverizes the phone into a fine black powder. The actor lifts the blender lid to expose "iSmoke" and cheerfully warns viewers not to breathe in while he empties the contents into a bowl. The amusing ad has generated more than 10 million views and 24,000 "likes" since Blendtec uploaded it in 2007. "It's very smart on the part of Blendtec because it's just a blender. Why would it evoke interest?" Iyengar says. "But they showcased it in an unexpected way."
Finding the Right Cues
The professors used several research methods to support their proposal. First, they analyzed aggregate data collected by marketing research firm Keller Fay Group, which relied on a large, nationally representative sample to avoid bias. The professors examined how often 1,200 products and brands were talked about by 5,690 people who had both online and offline conversations. While word of mouth was more frequent in face-to-face contact, the opposite was true when it came to correlating the level of interest. In addition, more distinctive products were mentioned more frequently in online conversations. The second study broke down the data to the individual level with similar results, suggesting that "the continuity of the conversation channels drove these effects," the researchers write.
To explore their proposition further, Berger and Iyengar conducted an experiment in which participants sat together for conversation. Some were told to expect a pause before and between conversational turns (to mimic a discontinuous style like what they would experience communicating virtually). The professors then measured how those pauses affected the relationship between interest and whether a topic was discussed. Once again, the results were consistent that more distinctive products came up more frequently during discontinuous exchanges.
"The experimental approach is particularly useful because it allows us to test the mechanism we believe underlies the effects observed in the field," the researchers conclude. "People who care more about seeming interesting may talk more online than offline, people may encode or remember interesting conversations that occur over one channel versus another, and some brands may be inherently more likely to be talked about online rather than face to face. Similarly, it may be easier to leave a boring conversation when your conversation partner is not physically there."
Real-world application is at the heart of the research. "Brands, companies, nonprofit organizations, even politicians are chasing word of mouth," Berger says. "It's cheaper and more effective than traditional advertising. What this research shows is how to do it. If your goal is to get offline word of mouth, then interest isn't going to be as important."
That doesn't mean all marketers should rush to create the next viral video. For some products, it seems that offline buzz is more valuable. Berger uses breakfast cereal as an example. It's not the most exciting topic in the world, but it is top of mind, which means it's more likely to be discussed in a face-to-face conversation at the water cooler or the playground. "We get up in the morning and eat [cereal] for breakfast, so there's a good chance that we'll talk about it," he notes.
The professors point to data showing that food and dining are the most frequently discussed product categories in continuous conversation, more so than media, entertainment or technology. "Thus for offline word-of-mouth, considering how to trigger people to think about the product or brand may be a helpful approach to generating discussion," they write.
Another important factor in pitching a product is figuring out how to establish cues for consumers. Again, that differs based on whether the channel is online or offline. Iyengar offers the example of Starbucks, which used an early strategy of market saturation. Multiple stores in close proximity established brand recognition and triggered consumer desire for the product. "What are some cues that people can [use to] remember your product?" Iyengar asks. "In Starbucks, it's frequency. But there can be other types of cues. In an online context, it might be less about the cues but the content itself that is interesting."
Berger cites the example of Doritos commercials that have aired during the last two Super Bowls, an event that has become synonymous with creative advertising. The ads are a good move on the part of the manufacturer because they mainly target offline, face-to-face communication, he says. "What's interesting about that situation is that people watching the Super Bowl are also sitting there talking about tortilla chips, guacamole, seven-layer dip. Those aren't the most exciting things in the world, but [people] are talking about them because they are right in front of them."
Iyengar says he and Berger are considering taking their research deeper by replicating it in a field study, perhaps focusing more on online communication, such as Facebook. The results could further assist marketers in crafting campaigns in the fast-changing environment of social media.
"It's really about understanding what drives people to talk about things on different channels," Berger notes. "If we don't understand why they share word of mouth, we can't make it more likely to get them to share" in this way.

Top 10 Small Business Ideas

 Budding entrepreneurs – to give you some ideas on what business to start this year, here are some small business ideas for you to consider:
1.Online business and make money online

You can tell that this is my personal favourite. I continue to root on online business/make money online because of two obvious reasons: Cost-effective and lucrative. With many industries are going online, the future is darn bright! Online tutoring, online store, website flipping, etc. – all look promising.

2.Personalised products and/or services

Personalisation is trendy. People no longer really want to wear a Mark Ecko t-shirt – you want “YOUR” t-shirt printed with YOUR choice of image; you don’t want a Hallmark greeting card – you want “YOUR” greeting card made especially for you; starting a business offering clients uniqueness and individualistic flavour will give you a best chance to succeed.

3.Social media consultant/promoter/marketer

Having an established business website for your small business is no longer effective – you need to go social in your effort to promote your business. Unfortunately (or fortunately?) not all small business owner are “social-media-literate” – this is clearly a gap in the market. Starting a social media consulting business helping small business owners to promote their products and services to Twitter, Facebook and the likes will bring you a lucrative opportunity as demand is very high.

4.Cloud business / cloud working services

The cloud or cloud computing is probably only a buzz word or marketing gimmick, but the benefits are there: Migrating part or all of your business process to the cloud can help you cut costs and increase productivity. Starting a business offering cloud services is a great opportunity to reach huge, untapped market of business owners. What is cloud business, anyway?

5.Small business with a cause

“Do business with us and we will plant a tree on your behalf” is a great small business idea. People basically love to give to others, in many different ways. Some don’t really want to help others directly; they are more interested in getting what they want while doing something worthwhile in the process. Offering your products and services with an embedded social cause(s) can offer you a win-win situation: Happy customers, happy charities and happy business.

6.Crowdsourcing services

Your business is only as good as what your target market think of you. That’s why crowdsourcing makes sense. Offering an opportunity for the crowd (passer-bys website visitors, etc.) to decide what’s best for you can eliminate your need for market research. This makes a powerful business idea: Offering a service to meet businesses with the crowd. Kiva.org is an example of crowdsourcing service – it is a crowdfunding business allowing people to fund budding entrepreneurs with limited budget.

7.Services to Home-based business

Home based business is good, but offering services to those who work at home is terrific. Some small business ideas: An online community for home-based business owners, delivery services for home-based businesses, home office maintenance services, etc.

8.Natural disaster recovery business

There are plenty of floods and earthquakes, including wildfire and other force majeure issues in 2010. The aftermath is devastating for those impacted by the disasters, and helps are much needed in those events. Offering a natural disaster recovery services to the public is not only a noble deed, but also a lucrative one, due to the possible partnership with the Government; the Gov’t will seek for recovery partners and you’d better be there to answer the call! A quick-construction business, amenities supply business, etc. can be both helpful and profitable.

9.Green and organic business

Green energy, green construction, organic foods, organic clothing, etc. make great business in 2011, as people are becoming more and more aware toward the impact of carbon and other non-degradable materials to the earth.

10.Real-time online-off line combo business

Child safety plastic tags that are connected to the GPS and online system to avoid child abduction and interactive restaurant menu with touchscreen are a couple of examples of online-off line combo products/services. Starting a business offering products and services that integrate both worlds flawlessly is well sought after.

Fresh Food Advocate Links Farmers, Doctors, Low-Income Families

It must take a boatload of energy to be Michel Nischan. He owns a restaurant, writes cookbooks and lead the fast-growing non-profit Wholesome Wave, which connects low-income neighborhoods with local, farm fresh foods. WW has doubled its reach over the last few years, linking about 2,300 local farmers with thousands of people.

So we weren't surprised when we sat down for coffee recently with the uber-kinetic Nicschan that he orders his latte with an extra shot.

He was here in D.C.for Wholesome Wave's annual meeting. The last time we met up with him he was teaching us how to create a lovely three-course meal for less than 5 bucks. Here's a sampling of questions was asked him, edited for clarity and length, and the answers.
 
Q: So, tell me the premise behind WW's Double Value Coupon Program: It enables people with SNAP benefits (formerly known as food stamps) to double their purchasing power at participating farmers markets. Is this right?
A: Correct. We have always felt that people in under-served communities want better food choices. We felt that if we created a simple sale, by doubling the value of their food assistance benefits, if they chose to spend them at a farmer's market, that it would prove it. And it has.
Q: How does it work in practice? Do the bonus dollars or coupons vary in value from market to market?
A: Yes, we try to keep it simple. We double up to $10 or $20. So, it's really easy for a SNAP recipient or a WIC beneficiary to understand. They know, if they spend $10 of SNAP benefits, they get $20 dollars in produce.
Q: I've heard you say that a broader mission is to help revitalize local economies via local food systems. In essence, you see this as a win-win for communities and farmers, helping connect them, expand markets?
A: Yes, when we look at the determination of small and mid-size farmers who are fighting against all odds to keep their land in production, we know that they can produce more food if there were markets for it. They're capable of stepping up to the plate.

Q: What's the next wave for Wholesome Wave? I'm hearing about a pilot program, Rx Fruits and Veggies, tell me about it. You're thinking of fruits and veggies as a kind of intervention that doctors could prescribe?
A: Yes, if you're overweight, pre-diabetic you need a significant amount of fruits and vegetables. We thought — What if there were a prescription that could be treated as an alternative currency (to buy produce at farmers markets)?
The question is, do you give a family $120 a month of taxpayer dollars to prevent diabetes in forms of fruits and vegetables, or do you allow family members to become diabetic, and then pay hundreds of dollars a month in medicine?
Imagine if health care insurers were reimbursing for prescribing fruits and vegetables (as part of a broader lifestyle coaching program). And to renew (prescriptions) monthly, people came back to get their weight, blood pressure and BMI measured. We might be able to see a correlation between the consumption of fruits and vegetables and reducing things like type 2 diabetes.

5 ways small biz can attract big clients

1. Lighten the load

Tackle unsexy jobs that big companies find inconvenient or, if they face high labor costs, unprofitable to manage. At Standard Functional Foods Group in Nashville, CEO Jimmy Spradley (right) attracts food conglomerates by offering to make new or smaller brands of foods like granola bars, helping clients avoid small production runs. By consolidating orders from multiple firms, he's built a profitable business and expects sales of $150 million this year.

 

2. Understand how they buy

Aria Systems, a San Francisco tech company, lost an early deal because its sales team didn't know that three departments of the target firm had to sign off. Founder Edward Sullivan (right) says that once his company created separate marketing materials for each group of "influencers" in prospective firms, it won deals from Disney and Ingersoll-Rand. Sullivan is using this approach at his latest startup, which monitors customer creditworthiness.

3. Tap supplier diversity programs

If you're a minority-owned business, big companies will teach you how to work with them. Says George Gendron, a board member at Initiative for a Competitive Inner City, a Boston nonprofit: "They don't just help you find large customers but also help you make sure you have the capacity to deliver to them." A corporation that likes doing business with you may help you expand, offering free consulting services, says ICIC vice president Steven Pedigo.

 

4. Stand out

Aware that big companies keep track of what's said about them on sites like Twitter, Dyn, a 135-person tech company in Manchester, N.H., tweeted out wacky videos, like a musical pitch called "Dyn Loves Expedia," to that firm and five others. It's now talking with four of those potential customers. "It raised awareness about what we do and helped us get a conversation started," says Ryan O'Hara, business development team lead.

 

5. Stay focused

Avoid getting sidetracked by a big firm's requests to join time-devouring meetings and calls. Focus on numerical goals, like producing 1,000 new customers for the client -- and speak up if you're pulled away from your mission by new demands by executives. "Bring them back to their purpose for bringing you in," advises David Rich, CEO of ICC/Decision Services, a New York City consulting firm. If you deliver results, you'll win repeat business

The Only Three People You Need To Know At A Party

Walking into a large room of strangers alone and having a good time is not always the easiest thing to do. I’ve been doing it for my entire career and flying solo to an event still takes a little mental pep talk. But, with a little strategy and just a touch more hustle than normal, it can be as good for you as it is for them.
Last night I attended the Gotham Magazine party honoring Yankees’ relief pitcher, Mariano Rivera. As I looked out across the room full of strangers, I pinpointed three people that I was on a mission to meet by the end of the night.
The Tall Guy – In a room full of people, you have to pick something that you are going to use as your reason for saying hello. Since I’m tall, I usually go find another tall guy. There is no science to this, but you have to pick something to narrow the field of people that you talk to. I also talk to guys wearing pocket squares, you know they have an extra level of swagger.
The Drunk Guy – There is always someone who likes the idea of ‘open bar’ a little too much. That person is also usually the one who, much to the chagrin of others, has unknowingly met half the people in the room as he consumed his liquid diet. Don’t linger too long for fear of guilt by association, but, the next time he bellies up to the bar next to you, ask him who the most interesting person in the room is and he’s sure to tell you.

The Host – The person organizing the event is always the busiest person at the event. But, they also have the best insight into who else is in attendance. It is extremely important that you don’t try and monopolize their time, but, with a quick “hello” you can thank them for your invitation and ask them “If there is one other person here tonight that I should make sure to meet, who would that be?” They’ll definitely point you in the right direction and your next new friend comes with an endorsement from the host.

Instead of the overwhelming task of meeting 250 people, I just made sure to meet these three people. By focusing my energy on my arbitrary goal, I ended up being in the right place at the right time throughout the night and the room full of strangers turned into a room full of possibilities.

Why Execution (Not Ideas) Will Bring You Success

You know that brilliant idea you have for a new website/smartphone app? The one you're convinced is your ticket to professional and financial glory. The concept that's so special, so profound, you've limited yourself to divulging it to only a tight-knit group of confidants–the secrecy being necessary to prevent muggles from defacing, defiling, or (even more improbably) stealing your earth-shattering brain nugget.

 Sound like you, or someone you know? It has certainly described me at various points in my entrepreneurial development. But here's an even bigger secret than the one you're hoarding: big, powerful ideas are everywhere and the vast majority will go nowhere. So keeping your big idea in stealth mode will likely make no difference to your ultimate success

Think back for a moment to the people you've known in your life who achieved great entrepreneurial success and ask yourself how they reached their professional zenith. Yes, some of you may be fortunate enough to know individuals whose conceptual prowess was their ticket to ride. But for most high-achievers, success comes in places that are decidedly more mundane–the doctor who built a thriving practice over time, for example.

So the logical question becomes, why is that? Why do so few of the people working on the 'next big thing' or at the very least 'a big thing,' ultimately fail to make waves? As it turns out, there is a distinguishing characteristic that unites the high achievers, but it's far less conceptual than practical, namely, brilliance in execution. "Execution" is a broad term; and ultimately, crediting success on it is a bit like saying the key to good business is sell more than you spend: accurate, but not very helpful.

My point here is not to define 'execution', but rather to encourage you to redefine your definition of "business." Instead of thinking of business as an abstract noun, try thinking of it as a verb. When we think of a noun, say "car," we create meaning for that term by thinking of the qualities or attributes that we associate with it. There's a make, a model, a color, a shape, a top speed, etc. Note that these are all fixed, or static, attributes. But when we think of a verb, like "driving," our mental map focuses more on actions and procedures. There's stepping on the gas pedal; steering the wheel; arriving from point A to B.  These are not fixed attributes, but rather dynamic processes that ultimately determine the speed and manner with which we will travel. So if we could only start thinking of business less like a noun and more like a verb, we'd place less emphasis on the static attributes, of which the concept is but one, and more emphasis on the dynamic processes which will be more closely correlated with overall achievement.

Sounds simple, right? And it is. It's also liberating. Many people have had the experience of sharing a new idea only to be told "someone's already done that." Often, this type of moment is deflating, and can serve to dissuade an aspiring entrepreneur from taking the plunge. Don't let that be you! After all, Pepsi existed long before Coke; Hipstamatic preceded Instagram; and who remembers a site called Friendster? In all these cases, entrepreneurs found ways to break through into the consumer mainstream despite the fact that their 'idea' had already been done. Fortunately, their particular mode of execution hadn't. The lesson here is that no idea is good enough to secure the future of a business, and no idea (or at least very few) are bad enough to doom an enterprise to failure from the outset.
So go forth young (and old) entrepreneurs with your hustle; your drive; your faith, and your boring concepts. Should anyone ask you to share the idea you're working on, tell them. Or, if you prefer, say that the big idea that's keeping you up at night is to build a business that simply executes better than anyone else. Then watch that person sulk away in search of another big concept, while the deeper business wisdom just flies straight over their head. If only there was a product to help them understand when they were staring the truth right in the face. Which gives me an idea...

'Pivoting' Pays Off for Tech Entrepreneurs

Technology entrepreneurs of past eras took two years to build a product, hire a staff and figure out whether there was any real market for their service. But today all that typically takes only a few months as founders cycle quickly through different ideas until they find one that sticks.

How did someone go from wanting to build his company to the sky on Thursday to selling it for $1 billion on Sunday? Still, it's hard to say no to a billion. Andrew Dowell reports on digits. Photo: Getty Images.

Kevin Systrom's Instagram, which started out as a virtual "check-in" site and wound up as a photo-sharing service, is a recent high-profile example.

Learn more about whether to pivot or persevere with your business idea in a live chat with "The Startup Owner's Manual" co-author Steve Blank. The 28-year-old Mr. Systrom started a company about two years ago that attempted to put a new spin on the idea of virtually checking in at various locations via smartphones, then broadcasting that visit to one's social network. His company, which he called Burbn Inc., enabled people to leave messages via their phones that could be retrieved by others visiting the same location.

Over the next few months the idea evolved, and soon Mr. Systrom had seized on the concept of a mobile app that would allow people to take photos, alter them visually and share them. That app was called Instagram. Earlier this month, Mr. Systrom and his co-founder sold the company to Facebook Inc. for $1 billion.

 

Mr. Systrom is part of a new breed of entrepreneurs in their 20s and 30s who strategically "pivot"—try out new ideas, shed them quickly if they don't catch on, and move on to the next new thing. Their companies are mostly in the mobile and Web sectors, where it's relatively cheap and easy to tinker with software and create new products on the fly.
Words like "pivot" and the related "iterate" have been used in and around Silicon Valley for several years, generally to describe failing gracefully.
But their use has picked up significantly in recent months amid the broader public's fascination with the entrepreneurs behind high-profile start-ups, some of whom were able to get funding from investors despite significant changes in their original business plans.
Ben Horowitz of venture-capital firm Andreessen Horowitz used the word "pivot" three times in a nearly 800-word blog post earlier this week to discuss the firm's investments in businesses such as Burbn.
Investors say the founders who made left turns are generally more experienced—and less fearful of failure—than past generations of tech entrepreneurs. The founders who change products and markets between one and three times raise more money than those who don't, according to Startup Genome Compass of San Francisco, which tracks more than 13,000 Internet start-ups. In fact, they raised roughly 2½ times more capital than founders who changed products and markets either four or more times or not at all, its research says.

"You pivot as many times as you can, as fast as you can, until you run out of money," says entrepreneur Evan Kuo, a 27-year-old University of California, Berkeley, engineering graduate. He's currently working on a site he calls Curios.me, now in its second iteration.
Patrick Chung, a partner at New Enterprise Associates, a Menlo Park, Calif., venture-capital firm, says that what he once might have described as "failed seed investments" he now calls "experiments." And he's backing more of them. Just two months ago, NEA launched the Experiment Fund at Harvard University to invest in very early stage companies in the Boston area.
Many of the new breed of young guns have made mistakes, all the while gaining the seasoning and experience that may increase their chances of succeeding with their next idea, investors say. Like Mr. Kuo, Mr. Chung says, they may fail at one start-up idea but "don't just go away with their tail between their legs. They go on to do something else."
It has become easier to do this thanks to the rise of social-media platforms like Twitter and Facebook and the advent of stores that distribute mobile "apps," or applications. These advances have sharply reduced the cost of distribution, making it cheaper to get products into the marketplace fast.

“'You pivot as many times as you can, as fast as you can,' says one entrepreneur.”

"Pivot to me is not a four-letter word," says Tony Conrad, a partner in the early-stage venture capital firm True Ventures. "It represents some of the best methodology that the Valley has invented. Starting something, determining it's not working, and then leveraging aspects of [that] technology is extremely powerful."
The start-ups in the tech incubator Y Combinator, whose acceptance rate is less than 3%, change products and markets so frequently that the idea they applied with is often irrelevant to the final product, says founder Paul Graham. That prompted Mr. Graham to launch a program targeting groups that don't have an idea yet. It will begin this summer in Silicon Valley.
Even after what seems like a failure, an ability to quickly adapt is considered a key skill among founders. While Mr. Kuo was at the tech incubator 500 Startups, he founded the Facebook fan-site network CrowdRally, which had 40 million viewers. He says he decided to close it after Facebook lawyers contacted him. Facebook confirms its legal team flagged certain CrowdRally uses as inappropriate, but says it didn't shut down the start-up.
Keeping the same team intact, Mr. Kuo was able to stretch the $150,000 that 500 Startups invested in CrowdRally across eight months of experimenting. He tested a handful of ideas before deciding to create a version of question-and-answer site Quora.com for college students.

 

He built a prototype for Curios.me in four weeks, launched it, got student feedback and then presented the working idea as a company to NEA, which promptly invested $400,000.

"Everything could be wrong or everything could be right, but you don't know until you get it to consumers," says 33-year-old Mike Ouye. He worked at three start-ups before he launched his first product, a mobile social-gaming app for smartphones, at Red Robot Labs, which he co-founded. The app was just 40% complete and he wasn't happy with it, but he says he went ahead anyway because he needed feedback on his initial thesis before seeking funding.
Mr. Ouye collected player data and used the suggestions to tweak the product. About five months later he secured a $2 million seed round for his company.
By pushing ahead, Mr. Ouye says, he benefited: "I've learned how to apply metrics to products, iterate quickly and make decisions without overthinking it." In September, he raised an additional $8.5 million, and he got $5 million more last month.

10 Internet Startups That Thrive By Mail

When you think of Internet startups, snail mail isn’t one of the first words that comes to mind. Yet, a number of startups are making bank the good old-fashioned way, with stamps and packing peanuts galore.
While the Internet is a fun place to hang out, people still crave participating in the physical world — holding objects, tasting treats, trying on products. And you can’t beat the feeling of getting a beat-up package filled with goodies in the mail.
So it’s no wonder startups are turning to the mailbox, rather than the inbox, in this latest round of ventures. There’s even a startup out there called Member.ly that helps would-be entrepreneurs build their own subscription-based programs.
The following 10 startups have combined the ease and convenience of the Internet with the pleasure and nostalgia of snail mail. From beauty and crafting to food and feminine hygiene, these startups are tackling a number of industries.

1. Birchbox

Birchbox is a subscription-based service in which subscribers receive a monthly delivery of high-end beauty, grooming and lifestyle samples.
The New York-based startup, founded by Katia Beauchamp and Hayley Barna, has attracted more than 100,000 subscribers to its monthly beauty kits. Following the success of its women’s kits, the company launched Birchbox Man, for all of the jealous boyfriends and husbands out there.
Beyond the business of selling kits, Birchbox does a great job of creating a content experience around the arrival of its latest beauty samples in the mail. The Birchbox team creates video tutorials and how-to posts on how to best use the samples. And users even post their own reviews and how-tos across the Internet.

2. Quarterly Co.

Quarterly Co. is a subscription-based service that “enables people to receive physical items in the mail from influential contributors of their choice.”
In other words, you can pick from a list of awesomely creative people — like Michael Karnjanaprakorn of Skillshare and Maria Popova of Brain Pickings — subscribe to them, and receive packages of goodies curated by them.
If you can’t find a Quarterly Co. contributor that fits your fancy, maybe it’s worth checking out Umba Box. While not based around tastemakers, it is a subscription service that offers up handmade goods — jewelry, accessories, home supplies, you name it — on a monthly basis.

3. TastingRoom.com

TastingRoom.com enables wine lovers to try top wines before they buy full bottles. The site offers an ever-changing list of samples, each containing six 50ml bottles. Current offerings include samplers of California Zins, Sweeter Wines and Wines of Balance handpicked by award-winning sommelier, Rajat Parr.
Samples tend to range from $20-30 and come in varietal, regional, celebrity and single winery sampler kits.
After trying a six-bottle sampler, users can log on to TastingRoom.com to buy their favorite wines by the bottle.

4. Craft Coffee

Coffee-obsessed city slickers are going to love this one — Craft Coffee delivers artisan coffees on a monthly basis, starting at $19.99 per month. Each month, 12 ounces of hand-selected samples from three different roasters make their way to each member’s home, complete with expert tasting notes and suggested brewing instructions.
There are a few more coffee subscription services out there, too, including Kopi and Intelligentsia Coffee. If you’re more of a tea drinker, there’s also Steepster to get you going in the morning.

5. For the Makers

Craftsmen and craftswomen looking to expand their skills may find a friend in For the Makers, a New York-based startup that sends out materials and tutorials for DIY craft projects.
Priced at $29 per month, the subscription includes hand-picked supplies for creating four to six unique projects, along with online tutorials. Of course, subscribers can also choose to go it alone with the materials and make their own crafts willy-nilly.
For those of us lacking artistic talent, there’s always Art in a Box, which lets subscribers receive a new piece of art each month, based on how they describe their taste in art.

6. Dollar Shave Club

For just a few dollars per month, the Dollar Shave Club empowers men to stop buying crappy razor blades at the supermarket and start receiving quality shaving goods by mail.
The company features three razor types, all at different price points of $1, $3 and $9 per month, plus shipping and handling.
CEO Michael Dubin‎ stars in a hilarious promotional video for the company (embedded above), which uses humor, social media and authenticity to appeal to viewers. With nearly 4.5 million views, the video has been a success, and since its upload in March, the video has garnered its fair amount of buzz for Dollar Shave Club. The company’s attempt at going up against the big guys in the shaving market has also earned it a number of notable headlines.
Dollar Shave Club isn’t the only razor-focused startup, though. Raz*War is another contender in the space — based out of Brussels, the company offers three of its own razor options and worldwide shipping, though pricing varies.
For the men out there who couldn’t be bothered to even shop for their own clothes, let alone their razors, there’s also Trunk Club, which enables men to get full outfits delivered to their doors. And for the ladies, there’s Cake Style.

7. Swaggable

Though it’s not subscription-based and doesn’t even make its money directly from those who receive its mail, Swaggable is a startup that I couldn’t leave off this list.
Swaggable hooks consumers up with free products that they want in return for a product review on its site, which marketers, of course, are dying to read. Reviews aren’t mandatory, but the Swaggable team says that users that don’t leave reviews are less likely to receive invites in the future.
So far, the site mostly features food and beverage samples, including snacks, teas and soda. But more types of products are set to be showcased, such as electronics, clothing, books and music.
Without good ol’ snail mail, though, this company wouldn’t exist.

8. Blissmo

It seems like new organic and eco-friendly products are released every day, and trolling the aisles of Whole Foods isn’t always the best way to find out about all of them. Blissmo could be a solution for learning about the latest hippy trends, though.

For $19 per month, Blissmo sends its subscribers a box full of eco-friendly products, all with a monthly theme, such as “morning bliss,” “fair trade favorites,” and “afternoon fuel.” Though the boxes tend to be heavy on the food offerings, beauty supplies are also included from time to time.
Conscious Box is another offering in the eco-food space worth checking out, and if gourmet food is your thing, Foodzie might be right up your alley.

9. Citrus Lane

For $25 per month, Citrus Lane sends subscribed parents “care packages,” each packed with four to five “best of” products. The packages are based on the child’s age — the site can accommodate children from newborn to three years old.
The boxes include anything from food and toys to bathing products and books.
Citrus Lane doesn’t have a monopoly on the baby subscriptions, though. If Citrus Lane’s care packs aren’t enough, parents living in New York City — Manhattan or Brooklyn, specifically — can order a subscription of farm-fresh baby foods from Farm to Baby. And Wittlebee lets parents “put their kids’ clothes on auto-pilot,” from birth to five years old.
For parents with toddlers and young children, Kiwi Crate is the next step up — it provides a monthly crafting kit for kids to get creative.

10. Trinkets

For some women, one of the most embarrassing moments of the month is purchasing feminine products. After all, the boxes are big, pink and oh-so-obvious.
UK-based Trinkets lets women forget the shame walk in the tampon aisle and enables them to get those puppies delivered right to their doorsteps.
The tampons are “chlorine free and use natural cotton, eliminating irritable materials and making our products hypoallergenic and 100% irritation free,” the site claims. They come in up to three sizes and can be purchased with or without applicators.
Not too shabby, eh?

Entrepreneurial venture of Gaurav Jain offers simple food & savvy returns

Necessity is the mother of most entrepreneurial ventures, and it was no different for me. In 2005,while I was working for Wipro in Bangalore as a strategic marketing manager, I faced a big problem when it came to meals.
I was a north Indian and could barely make tea for myself, which meant that I had no alternative but to eat out on a regular basis.
Though the city had enough restaurants serving north Indian fare, they were either unhygienic, or expensive, or too spicy for daily consumption.

There was a glaring shortage of simple, affordable, authentic and hygienic options. This got me thinking about starting an eating joint that would plug the gap. However, the idea stayed on the backburner for few months and, in the meantime, I was sent to Sydney, Australia, for a work assignment.

This was fortuitous because on this trip I found the conviction to turn my dream into reality. During my stay in Australia, I discovered that a lot of restaurants dished out simple, home-made food as opposed to lavish or exotic fare, and their success proved that my idea, which was on similar lines, had the potential to succeed.
So, in March 2005, I quit my corporate job to start focusing on the restaurant.

It was a completely alien field for me since I had been in marketing from the time I finished my MBA from IMT Ghaziabad in 2000. I started as a business development manager at Planetasia in Bangalore and, after a couple of other jobs, landed at Wipro in 2003.

After quitting, I immersed myself in research for the next 11 months, hashing out a business model, deciding on the intricacies of running the place, the vendors to be contacted, the venue and, of course, the brand name. For this, I conducted a small opinion poll.

I had always liked the name Mast Kalandar, as it had a very north Indian and Punjabi feel to it, but I gave my friends and family a number of options and called them after a week. Interestingly, most of them seemed to remember Mast Kalandar, so that's what we decided to go with.

Figuring out the location for the restaurant proved to be far more challenging. I was very clear that the place would have to be large and spacious, but not very upmarket or exotic, as the idea was to make people feel comfortable.

Getting such a place in the main part of the city would have proved expensive, so I rented a 3,000 sq ft space on the Banerghatta road on the outskirts of Bangalore.
It was 2006 and the place wasn't as developed, but it worked out well for me.

What turned out to be the biggest asset and advantage for me during this crucial period was the unconditional support of my wife, Pallavi.
In fact, she quit her job at TCS as a business analyst to join me in setting up the place.

While this meant that we didn't have a regular income to run the household, it also translated into two heads working on Mast Kalandar.
During this period we survived on our combined savings. Expectedly, it was easier said than done.
Not only were we starting a venture we had little clue about, but were putting all our savings-Rs 18 lakh-into it.
We also had to understand everything about the working of a kitchen, from the sourcing of ingredients and food storage to the menu.
The work that Pallavi put in, from fixing the menu to the daily running of the place, has probably been my biggest strength. We finally opened Mast Kalandar in February 2006.

We served a mixed cuisine, including food from Punjab, Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh, Bihar and Delhi. Our USP was home-made food, so freshness was a vital factor. I was clear that the food had to be cooked fresh every day, and we continue to hold true to this concept.
I've also kept the menu strictly vegetarian. This is because a vegetarian place attracts both vegetarian and non-vegetarian eaters.
The food is transported in imported temperature controlled boxes, which can keep food from spoiling for up to 10 hours.
We also try to be as authentic as possible in our sourcing of ingredients.

For example, the papads come from Rajasthan, pickles from Meerut and Jaipur, the jaggery is sourced from Uttar Pradesh and curry masalas from Kumaon.

With no money for advertising, we relied on word of mouth and are surely doing something right going by the success of the restaurant.

Within one year, we not only managed to break even but were able to open another branch at Indira Nagar in the city. The turnover after the first year of operations was Rs 25 lakh.
Today, we have 600 employees and operate out of 35 outlets in four cities, starting with the Chennai outlet in 2008, followed by Hyderabad in 2009, and Pune in 2011.
So far, all our outlets are company-owned, but we may soon get into the franchisee model. I expect a turnover of Rs 50 crore this year and am gunning for 100 outlets in the next few years.
In the initial years, we faced a tough time financially as we had to stop costly purchases and trim expenses to the minimum. I had been a corporate employee and while the feeling of working on my own project was great, it entailed many sacrifices, the main one being the lack of regular income.

It wasn't until 2008 that I paid myself a salary. However, the quick and sweet success of Mast Kalandar has made it worthwhile.

For $20 A Month, This Former VC Wants To Change The Way You Snack

Gautam Gupta, 26, was an overweight kid who struggled with obesity for years. So when he left his job as a VC at General Catalyst Partners last year to found his own startup, he decided to focus on building a company that would help people control their weight.

The result is NatureBox, which aims to change the way people snack by sending them nutritionist-approved healthy snack options and access to content about nutrition and making healthier snacking choices.
For $20 a month, subscribers receive a box of snack foods that are branded by NatureBox. The company works directly with farms and manufacturers to keep prices low; each box contains $25 to $30 worth of food, Gupta said.


"Our customers don't necessarily live near a Trader Joe's," he said. "This is convenient, plus we provide content to change the way they behave when they snack."

Snack boxes change monthly, but this month's included dried pears, sea salt-and-pepper pistachios, smoked pumpkin seeds, and a few other items. Customers can order more of their favorite snacks through the company's website

Right now there are two target audiences for NatureBox's products: office workers who want healthy alternatives to the chips and candy in the pantry, and moms who are packing lunch boxes for their kids. The company hopes to reach around 25,000 subscribers by the end of the year, and eventually hopes to help people with unique dietary needs to find foods that work for them.

Unlike many VCs who start their careers by founding their own companies and later move into the world of investing, Gupta started at General Catalyst as an intern at age 19. During his 4.5 years with the company, he started the firm's Palo Alto office and worked closely with e-commerce companies.

"I was always interested in how people diet," he said. "So I put my knowledge about investing in e-commerce companies into my own company."

General Catalyst is an investor in NatureBox.

How Great Leaders Create Game Changers

At one time or another all great leaders experience something so big and so impactful it literally changes the landscape – it’s what I call a “Game Changer.” A game changer is that ah-ha moment where you see something others don’t. It’s the transformational magic that takes organizations from a slow idle to redline. In today’s column I’ll provide you with a blue print for manufacturing ah-ha moments. I hope this piece is a game changer for you…

Ever wonder how people come up with the proverbial big idea? They work at it. Put simply, the best leaders proactively focus on looking for game changers. They’re never satisfied with the ordinary or mundane. Richard Branson, Jeff Bezos and other CEOs recognized for their big ideas didn’t just get lucky – they were/are committed to the constant pursuit of game changers. They aren’t just dreamers – they are doers.
One of the things wrong with today’s marketplace is there’s far too much rehashing of old ideas spun as new. Great leaders aren’t copycats – they abhor me too business methodologies. Leaders who pursue game changers have no patience for the status quo – they focus their efforts on shattering the status quo.

Leaders who create or inspire game changers are nothing if not aware. Not only are they self-aware, they’re aware of the emotions and needs of others, and they are also clearly aware of what will be embraced in the market. They possess the perfect blend of intrinsic curiosity and extrinsic focus.
Take the qualities I’ve mentioned above and apply them to the following framework and you’ll find ah-ha moments a bit easier to come by. The following 6 steps represent my personal process for finding and implementing game changers – I call it SMARTS© (Simple-Meaningful-Actionable-Relational-Transformational-Scalable):
Simple – While not all game changers are simple, the best ones usually are. It was Albert Einstein who said, “If you can’t explain it simply, you don’t understand it well enough.” In most cases simple can be translated as realistic, cost effective, quick to adopt, and fast to implement. Don’t get entangled in complexities – become heavily invested in simplicity.

Meaningful – game changers meet a need, solve a problem, serve an existing market, or create a new one – they are meaningful. Most leaders get sucked down into the weeds and spend too much of their valuable time majoring in the minors. If it’s not really meaningful, if it’s not a game changer, why do it? Ideas, products, services and/or solutions that focus on value creation fare better than those that don’
Actionable – It’s not a game changer if whatever “it” is never gets off the drawing board. If you cannot turn an idea into innovation, if you can’t put thought into practice, then it’s not a game changer. By definition game changers happen, they exist, they have life. They don’t lurk in the shadow-lands of the ethereal and esoteric, they become reality.

Relational – I have found game changers enhance, extend, and leverage existing relationships, as well as serve to create new ones. When you get down to brass tacks, all business boils down to people (employees, customers, partners, investors, vendors, etc.), and people mean relationships. Real game changers understand the power of people and relationships, and they embody this in both their construction and implementation. If you forget the people, you cannot have a game changer.
Transformational – I have yet to see a static game changer. By definition, a game changer causes change. If nothing changes, if nothing is created, if nothing is improved, if nothing is transformed, then you don’t have a game changer. A lesson that I learned long ago is that you simply cannot experience sustainable improvement without transformation.
Scalable – if it’s not scalable it’s not a game changer. An idea that offers no hope of a future will more often than not turn into a nightmare rather than fulfill a dream. True game changers are built with velocity and sustainability in mind. The best thing about real games changers is they build upon themselves to catalyze other accretive opportunities.

So there you have it…now that I’ve shared my thoughts on creating game changers, my SMARTS if you will, it’s your turn to share. Share an ah-ha moment, an experience, an observation or thought, but share. This piece can be a game changer to many people if those who read it are willing to share their collective wisdom. Go…

Social Media is here to stay- Embrace it

The best way to stay ahead of the fast-changing social media and digital-marketing ecosystem is to embrace its  full potential



 Social is here to stay. Every executive stated the same thing -- social is just getting going and if you're not on it in a meaningful way already, that's sad. The speakers gave examples showing that even companies with sensitive disclosure issues could apply social to their marketing. For example, a bank can comment on financial trends, rather than attempt to predict outcomes in the markets. The more sensitive the industry or content, the more trained should be the individuals who host the dialogue. And Google+, which many attendees thought was socially irrelevant, proved otherwise: it will soon deliver ads to users at the point of purchase intent, capitalizing on search data that tells Google + what users are interested in buying before they swipe their credit cards. Brilliant!

Agencies had better get skilled at creating meaningful user app experiences. According to some venture capitalists I spoke to, Steve Jobs figured out -- and research has revealed -- that people spend more time navigating on their favorite apps (2 minutes, 30 seconds on average), compared to less than 25 seconds on a website. Apple is leading the way in this ecosystem, since the closed-end architecture allows developers to control the user experience, and consumers report higher satisfaction on the Apple platform. Mobile devices on the Android platform, which have open architecture, deliver a similar number of users as Apple's mobile devices, but forfeit control of the user experience, allowing a variety of hardware manufacturers to dictate how apps need to be developed.

Plenty of companies are successfully using social media to drive awareness and sales. Dell, Lilly Pulitzer, IKEA, Whole Foods and Comcast are prime examples. Take Lilly Pulitzer, a brand that used to invest several million dollars in traditional media to build brand image but never knew what it got in return. It embraced social media early, built a following on Facebook (and now Pinterest) of over 400,000 likes -- customers who love the brand of brightly colored women's clothing. Lilly Pulitzer regularly introduces new styles on its Facebook page, with a link to buy. According to its senior management, social media now leads the company's marketing and sales efforts. Comcast was a pioneer in solving customer-service problems on Twitter and Facebook, building a staff of more than 25 people who tweet and respond to hostile customer rants by addressing the problems head-on. This model was so successful at improving customer satisfaction ratings that other companies such as Citibank have copied it. Agencies like mine consult for some of these companies and guide them on effective messaging and outreach.

Beware of the hashtag. According to the folks at Twitter, they may soon replace the URL in ads, because hashtags take you right to the conversation. That's profound because it allows prospective customers to establish a quick dialogue and learn about your products via first-hand testimonials from existing customers (and other informed consumers), or get questions answered by a company's customer-service team. No rumor, no innuendo -- just word-of-mouth recommendations and facts -- the things that drive purchases.

The leading social-media platforms still are focusing resources on consumer brands. While many B2B companies are successfully using social, I thought I'd see more. For B2B brands, social media are highly relevant; it's just a matter of how to best use it. SAP is an example of a company wisely deploying a social component into its marketing mix. SAP took a conventional approach to social until it decided to provide an analytics solution to allow colleagues to automatically report on their success via an infographic. This helped establish SAP's approach as the "right way" to measure success -- instead of just counting the number of Followers on Twitter or amount of tweets generated, it measured the level of engagement. Small agencies are uniquely poised to help guide B2B companies build a productive social ecosystem, augmenting typical tools such as trade shows, collateral, traditional sales calls and webinars.

The old-fashioned resume is dead. According to LinkedIn, job applicants will post credentials online at sites likes theirs. LinkedIn remains the No. 1 platform for business people to speak to each other.

In the end, it was apparent to all CEOs in attendance that there are no true social-media experts -- merely a lot of smart people using it effectively, with expected trial and error. For small agencies, the power of the social tools will continue to help us make even an bigger impact for our clients if we approach them with the growing level of creativity and accountability that clients need.

Cheap eats at warehouse stores keep customers coming back

McDonald's and other fast-food chains have some stiff competition when it comes to drawing hungry, budget-conscious people on the go. Big box destinations such as Costco, Ikea, and Home Depot are making it easy for customers not just to pick up a new couch, but also grab a bite to eat. After all, shoppers navigating the crowded parking lot and enormous warehouse can work up an appetite.
Costco operates a food court at all but six of its 592 warehouses around the globe. They're generally just outside the checkout lines and before the exit from the store. In keeping with the warehouse store's no-frills décor, the seating area has picnic tables.
"You don't need to go through a drive-thru," said Michelle Bates, an 18-year-old college student, who was enjoying a slice of pizza and a berry smoothie at the Costco in Danville, Calif. "You just pay at the checkout, and grab and go on the way out."
Besides the simple convenience of the meal, the price can't be beat. Costco members can chow down on a quarter-pound hot dog and guzzle a 20-oz. fountain soda with free refills for just $1.50 — the same price since it first appeared on the menu in 1985. For $1.99, they have their choice of cheese, pepperoni, or a combination pizza slice. The ever-popular chicken bake costs $2.99, and a hot turkey and provolone sandwich or a chicken Caesar salad is $3.99.
Still have room for dessert? There's the churro for $1, a large cup of non-fat yogurt for $1.35, or three scoops of gelato in a waffle cone for $1.50.
Jessica Strange was having lunch with her almost 2-year-old and 4-year-old boys at Costco in Danville. Eating at Costco or Ikea is a treat for the family, she said. Her children look forward to the trip, and the hot dog or pizza at the end.
"They're always happy to come," she said.
Bob Collins, Costco's director of operations for the food court and bakery, said the company expects to sell more than 300 million hot dogs, pizzas, and other items at its food courts this year. Despite the low prices, it sees a "modest profit" from food court sales.
Costco's food court has such a dedicated following that bloggers have waxed poetic about it online, fans have reviewed their experiences on Yelp, and foodies have posted photos on Foodspotting.
Ikea's restaurant draws a similar reaction, with the added distinction of its European flavors. The Swedish home and furniture retailer offers Swedish meatballs and smoked salmon at its cafeteria, as well as hot dogs and frozen yogurt at its to-go food counter at the exit.
"You cut the meatball in half and dip it in the lingonberry jam and gravy," said Nancy Flynn, a mom in Berkeley, Calif. "It's a savory, sweet, creamy combination."
When her mother visits from Manhattan, they make an effort to have lunch there, since her mom doesn't often get to the housewares store. Tthe closest Ikea to Manhattan is across the Hudson River in New Jersey.
"When she comes to town and we have errands to run, she'll ask, 'Is it near Ikea? Can we go to Ikea for lunch?' " Flynn said.
As anyone who has ever shopped at an Ikea knows, shoppers are subtly forced along a serpentine route through the store, carefully laid out so you won't miss a thing. That includes the cafeteria.
Furnished, of course, with Ikea tables and chairs, the cafeteria is located at a halfway point of the store. The one in Emeryville, Calif., has an airy, open feel, with floor-to-ceiling windows looking out at San Francisco Bay— that is, if you look beyond the freeway.
"It's like a cross between a restaurant and cafeteria," said Alfredo Botello, co-owner of two bars in Oakland. "I can imagine meeting a friend here."
At another table, Russ Lee, a tax and recruiting consultant in Oakland, said he timed his trip to Ikea so he could have lunch there. "It's convenient multi-tasking," he said. "I can get light fixtures and eat lunch, too."

This Guy Snatched Up 14,962 Domain Names In 24 Hours And Generates $400,000 Every Month

A 45-year-old Delaware resident, Mike Mann, became a multi-millionaire by being an obsessive, compulsive, domain buyer.
Last week he acquired 14,962 domain names in less than 24 hours, reports CNET. He sells them shortly after purchasing for hundreds, sometimes thousands, of dollars.
"I'm just really greedy," he tells CNET. "I want to own the world."
His domain kick started in the late '90s, when he paid $70 for Menus.com and was offered $50,000 to sell it.
Mann has since made a multi-million dollar business out of snatching up domains. He created BuyDomains and sold it to Highland Capital in 2005 for $80 million.
His newest domain business, DomainMarket.com, generates $400,000 every month.  Mann buys roughly 300 domains per day.