12 Questions to Ask Yourself about your business

I am not sure I agree with all of the ideas suggested in this post but there are some very good and very hard questions to assess your success (or lack thereof). The point I disagree with the most is the need to work on weekends. I am sure the author doesn't mean every weekend and I have had a few weekends where I do work but overall there should be a clear line of demarcation between work life and family life. The one question I really appreciate is "Are you a defeatist." So many of us are negative! We create most of our own problems and blame them on everything else. What are your thoughts? Tweet us @thirstyfishinfo or reply below.

clipped from www.entrepreneur.com Do you love your business as much as your family? Do you take responsibility for every aspect of your business? Do you play golf? Do you work on weekends? Do your workers respect you? Are you aware of all of your customers and their needs? Does your ego get the best of you? Are you clear in your directions and do your employees listen to you? Do you pay for performance? Do you pay yourself well? Are you a defeatist? Are you satisfied?

The old "David and Goliath" Marketing Strategy!

In this article Dan goes on to demonstrate that how this played out with a twitter post entitled: “Twitter plans to Mangle ReTweets.” He sets up the belief structure about how twitter is wrong and so, plays the villian. People identify with Dan and other tweeters as the victim and then act on Dan's request to fight back. The old David and Goliath strategy!

I actually read about this years ago from Guy Kawasaki about the making of software "evangelists" for Apple. He called it "blowing smoke up the nose" or some such thing. Obviously, Microsoft was the nose. Blowing smoke was to get PR and everyone who heard about it became the evangelists for the cause/company.

Who is your Goliath in your service/industry? How can you set up a belief system and use social media to blow the smoke? Thoughts? Share them by retweeting this now!!!

clipped from danzarrella.com Us vs them is one of the oldest, and most powerful marketing ideas. Apple is a quintessential example: from their beginnings they’ve portrayed themselves as the small guy against the big powerful bully. In 1983 it was IBM and more recently its been Microsoft. The company turns customers into evangelists who are more than happy to spread the word about the good fight, but how exactly does it work? If the listener accepts statements S1 through S99 they will act on S100.This is how many religions work, the belief system is the bait and attached to it is an evangelism hook. The letter then explores a more subtle variation based on a simple structure: The villain is wronging the victim. If the listener believes this statement, and believes that the victim deserves to be saved and if the villain is bigger or more powerful than them they will realize that the only way to effectively challenge the villain is to recruit more people to help. The evangelism hook is implicit, subtle and powerful.

Twitter and Blogs = A perfect marriage?

I am reposting this video on how bloggers can use twitter to enhance their reach/traffic. Here's some great ideas from the creator of ProBlogger. Enjoy!

clipped from thirstyfishinfo.amplify.com Amplify'd fromwww.socialmediaexaminer.com Darren also authored the best selling book Problogger: Secrets for Blogging Your Way to a Six-Figure Income. In this video Darren shares why Problogger took off and his great tips on how bloggers should use Twitter. Listen to this interview to find out: How creating a profile in one space can help you to springboard into another space Why blogs no longer look like blogs and how they are changing How to use Twitter to benefit your blog Read more at www.socialmediaexaminer.com

Why you can't trust your brain...

Here is a great article on how your brain uses shortcuts to manage the overwhelming number of tasks and details of life. There are 50 different "Brain Biases" listed here...you will have to click the link to read them all. I clipped the first few and got enough to chew on for some time. How do you conform, unwittingly, to the "group think bias" or the "loss bias", etc.? Share with us on twitter @thirstyfishinfo or leave a comment.

clipped from www.brainbiases.com There's only so much information that can be analyzed by our brains before a cognitive load maximum is reached, and in the lead-up to that load, our critical-thinking faculties get sloppier. That's when mental short-cuts, like the brain biases, are useful. The GroupThink Bias The tendency to do (or believe) things because many other folks do.  The Confirmation Bias The tendency to seek evidence that agrees with our position and dismiss evidence that does not. The Self-Serving Bias The tendency to take credit for desirable outcomes and blame others for undesirable ones. The tendency to underestimate the time is takes to complete a task. The Just-World Bias The tendency for people to believe the world is "just" and therefore people "get what they deserve." The Loss-Aversion Bias The tendency to find losses twice as painful as we find gains pleasurable. The Beautiful-People Bias The tendency for beautiful people to receive more rewards than less attractive people.

Imperfection and Marketing (a Spiritual View)!

Fr. Richard Rohr is one of my favorite spiritual writers. In today's meditation he looks at how we deal with imperfection in life. This is applicable in any area of our lives, especially work. You may not see work as spiritual but you do have to deal with your own attitudes and beliefs about imperfection. Fr. Rohr hints at the faulty ideas of dualistic thinking: Believing you are either all perfect or never perfect. One extreme of the other. That leads to paralyzed effort in my experience. What are your thoughts?

clipped from thirstyfishinfo.amplify.com Question of the Day: How does one incorporate imperfection? In a Navajo rug there is always one clear imperfection woven into the pattern. And interestingly enough, this is precisely where the Spirit moves in and out of the rug!  The Semitic mind, the Eastern mind (which, by the way, Jesus would have been much closer to) understands perfection in precisely that way.  The East is much more comfortable with paradox, mystery, and non-dual thinking than the Western mind which is formed by Greek logic. Perfection is not the elimination of imperfection, as we think.  Divine perfection is, in fact, the ability to recognize, forgive, and include imperfection!—just as God does with all of us.  Only in this way can we find the beautiful and hidden wholeness of God underneath the passing human show.  It is the gift of non-dual thinking and seeing, which itself is a gift of love, suffering, and grace.  In fact, this is the radical grace that grounds all holy seeing and doing.

Do you love your job?

I have a bad habit of complaining about little things. I think there is a part of me that believes I shouldn't something too much so that I doubt get hurt or disappointed.I don't think I am alone in this attitude, am i?

There truth is I really do live my job. Loving it makes all aspects of it easier and more fun. This is one of the reasons I love marketing. If you don't like to market yourself you might want to ask yourself if you really like what you do. Do you?

Is life really a game? Not if your emotions have a say!

Image by AndyWilson via Flickr

One of my fav reads is "The Frontal Cortex". Today's post is by Johan Lehrer. He is a contributing editor at Wired. He's also written for The New Yorker, Seed, Nature, and the New York Times and is a contributor to Radiolab. He's the author of Proust Was A Neuroscientist. His new book is How We Decide. He takes a look at our common assumption that life is a "game" or more specifically the application of "game theory." Many marketers and business folks use this metaphor to describe themselves and the fields they are in. But is it a true understanding about competition and performance? Yes and No says Lehrer. Games have rules and rules are rational. Our emotions over rule the rules causing a strict application of games to work and life to be inadequate. Read on...

clipped from thirstyfishinfo.amplify.com One of the lingering questions in decision science is the extent to which game theory - an abstract theory about how people can maximize their outcomes in simple interactions - is actually valid. It's a lovely idea, but does it actually describe human nature? As usual, the answer depends. With few exceptions, lab tests of game theory find that real human beings sharply deviate from the predictions of game theory. We don't maximize gain, often because of misperceptions about risk. But people have actually performed better in the field. Wouldn't natural selection want to endow us with a mind capable of maximizing competitive outcomes? One possibility is that failing at game theory is the price we pay for having emotions. an inexplicable feeling - a judgment of risk we can't justify - interferes with the rational calculation emotions might lead us to do many silly and stupid thing also amazingly effective tools when it comes to quickly evaluating the world Amplify'd fromscienceblogs.com

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• HOW WE DECIDE: mind-blowing neuroscience of decision-making (boingboing.net)

What's the Buzz about NEW Google Buzz?

I know, here's another social media network. How many could you possible join or have time posting too? Right? Well, that is true but we are talking Google here folks. As in mega giant Google. The one who controls most of the search online. Maybe it is something we need to consider if we want to stay on top of the social media marketing game. Share with me your thoughts...

clipped from thirstyfishinfo.amplify.com Google held a press event to announce the most "buzzed" topic of the week - Google Buzz. This is Google's new product, which is being compared to social networks like Twitter and Facebook. It is integrated with Gmail and other Google products, and appears to be one of the missing links in tying Google together as a social network, a concept we've discussed repatedly. Google says Buzz has five key elements: 1. Auto Following 2. Rich, Fast Sharing experience... 3. Support for public and private sharing.... 4. In-box integration 5. Just the good stuff... Watch the video below to get a general idea of what Buzz does. Google launched three new mobile products for Buzz: 1. The ability to use Buzz from www.Google.com on iPhone/Android 2. Brand new app at buzz.google.com 3.  Maps Update for Nokia Symbian/ Android. Search Implications Buzz posts get indexed by search from the page that its posted to (the Google Profile page), just like anything else on the web. Read more at www.webpronews.com

Learn how Super Bowl Ads Fumbled...

Drew Whitman is often called the Ad Surgeon for his knowledge about what words sell and what does not. Here, he talks about how the Super Bowl Ads fumbled in a big way. Personally, I only watched the game for the ads. I only like a couple of them. What about you? Do you agree with Drew's thoughts?

Read more at www.prlog.org

Share by tweeting us @thirstyfishinfo or leave a comment.

clipped from thirstyfishinfo.amplify.com While this year’s Super Bowl advertisers demonstrated a knack for humor and entertainment, they also set a money-wasting example for struggling small business owners trying to make their own cash registers ring, a study found. California-based advertising consultant Drew Eric Whitman—author of CA$HVERTISING (Career Press)—said nearly all of this year’s Super Bowl commercials ignored all three of the foundational principles of creating effective advertising: 1) highlighting the product’s benefits, 2) distinguishing it from the competition, and 3) driving people to act. small businesses owners often take their cues from what the ‘big boys’ are doing. It’s a disastrous recipe to follow. Whitman explained that the classic advertising-success formula, “AIDA”—get Attention… stimulate Interest… build Desire… and ask for Action was largely ignored by Super Bowl advertisers with the recession mercilessly battering businesses in most every industry, ads need to focus on sales, not entertainment.

Have you Ego Surfed? This is essential to branding...

Have you ever ego surfed? You know, where you type in your own name into google and see what comes up? Hopefully, it was something appropriate. In the rise of the social media world, transparency is more and more the reality for you and your business. What people say about you has become real time and really important? It is literally changing marketing strategy on a global scale. Read and listen to this lesson from Hub Spot on how to use free tools to build your brand (you) by monitoring what is being said about you.

Did you like this post? Share your thoughts by tweeting us @thirstyfishinfo or leave a comment. Hey, why not retweet it too...

clipped from blog.hubspot.com Do you find yourself overwhelmed by the enormous volume of information on the Web and the daunting task of organizing it all? If you answered "yes," don't worry! There are a slew of free tools to help monitor your brand on the Web, and learning how to use them will save you time and alleviate stress. Check out this video for a comprehensive introduction to some of the most widely used and effective brand-monitoring tools, and start monitoring your brand today! 1.  The speed by which online comments travel multiplies their impact. 2.  The collection of individual comments gives you a more objective overview of prospects' and customers' perception of your products, and may help you improve them. 3.  These tools also help you stay up-to-date with new trends that you can integrate into your product design or marketing strategies for your existing products. new challenges such as staying focused in the midst of information overflow.

Should a Therapist "Friend" a Client on Social Networks?

When I talk to therapists about marketing via social media this is one of the biggest concerns that arise. It is a good concern! Dr. Zur does a great job explaining how to manage this issue. Additionally, my answer is that dual relationships is a problem in all contexts. Social media is just one more area that caution and boundaries is needed.

clipped from thirstyfishinfo.amplify.com How to respond when clients send “Friend Request” to their psychotherapists or counselors on Facebook, MySpace, LinkedIn, Twitter or other social networking sites Most therapists with Facebook or MySpace profiles cringe at the idea and dread the moment when a client posts a Friend Request. They wonder whether it is ethical to accept such a request, and they are concerned with the clinical and relational ramification of ignoring it. Questions for therapists to consider before responding to clients’ Friend Requests What is on the Facebook profile? Did the therapist use privacy controls to control access? What can a client view on the therapist’s profile? What is the Context of Therapy? Who is the client? Why did the client post the request? What is the meaning of the request? Where is therapy taking place? What does being a friend with this client mean for the therapist? What is the potential effect on other and potential clients? Read more at www.zurinstitute.com

Have you flipped? Well, it is time...

clipped from blog.hubspot.com The days of controlling your marketing message and interrupting your prospects to tell it are over. Today, your message is what your customers and prospects say it is. And the marketers who win are those who listen to and empower their customer base to evangelize their brand. That's exactly what Joseph Jaffe talks about in his new book, Flip the Funnel. I had a chance to sit down with him at the MarketingSherpa Email Summit last month and talk about the ideas in his book. Below is the full interview, along with a few highlights. Customer retention is the new acquisition. Empower your customers to become evangelists. Flip the funnel. Embrace new media in order to communicate with customers.

Your Not That Different