Leif's Biz Talk posts

Branding your business -big changes, big news

Are you in the process of defining your business' brand or trying to decide how to best communicate your brand? Wherever you're at with your brand, you'll not want to miss (today's) interactive interview with John Gerzema of 'The Brand Bubble', it should be a fascinating conversation.

I hope you can join us at 10a PST, Wed Oct 5th. And if not, as with all shows so far, you can listen to the archive at the above link.

From the editorial reviews about the book:

Companies today face a dilemma in marketing. The tried-and-true formulas to create sales and market share behind brands are becoming irrelevant and losing traction with consumers. In this book, Gerzema and LeBar offer credible evidence--drawn from a detailed analysis of a decade's worth of brand and financial data using Y&R's Brand Asset Valuator (BAV), the largest database of brands in the world--that business is riding on yet another bubble that is ready to burst--a brand bubble. While most managers still see metrics like trust and awareness as the backbone of how brands are built, Gerzema asserts they're dead wrong--these metrics do not add to increased asset value. In fact, by following them, they actually hasten the declining value of their brands.

Using a five-stage model, The Brand Bubble reveals how today's successful brands--and tomorrow's--have an insatiable appetite for creativity and change. These brands offer consumers a palpable sense of movement and direction thanks to a powerful "energized differentiation." Gerzema reveals how brands with energized differentiation achieve better financial performance than traditional brands have. Plus, Gerzema helps readers develop energized differentiation in their own brands, creating consumer-centric and sustainable organizations.

What do you think? What's up with your brand?

NeuroMarketing and the science of why we buy...

If you haven't heard the Buzz about 'Buyology', the book by Martin Lindstrom, you'll be hearing about it soon. His findings are fascinating and sometimes shocking. (Let's just say you might want to cut the product placement budget and start adding some fragrance to your business cards ;)

Sandwiched between the Today Show (yesterday) and ABC news (tomorrow), we get to talk with him on our own Biznik Live show --so come join the conversation Wed Oct 22nd at 10a PST.

See you tomorrow! -Leif

Timothy Ferriss on Biznik Live next wed

This next wednesday (Oct 15th, at 10a PST), I'll be interviewing Timothy Ferriss, of 'The Four Hour Workweek" fame. Like the first Biznik Live show, you'll have a chance to call or text-chat your questions to Tim. More information will be on the site soon.

If you don't think you'll be able to listen live, feel free to leave some questions here in the comments and we'll see if we can get 1 or 2 of them in.

Subscribe to Biznik Live for free in iTunes

In preparation for the next shows, I'd also love to get feedback on the first show. Were you able to listen live or to the archived show? If you were listening live, did you not ask questions because you were shy, because you didn't have any, or ? What did you think of the show overall? Was it helpful and relevant information? How could it be better?

Thanks, you guys rock! -Leif

PS, exciting news for those of you into sustainability and the bigger issues related to business/economy/worldview: I'll be interviewing Van Jones, author of 'The Green Collar Economy", on October 29th. Stay tuned for more info!

New Biznik Live Call-in Internet Radio Series

What is Biznik Live?

This month Biznik is experimenting with a weekly series of call-in Internet radio shows. I'll be hosting interviews with nationally recognized and highly relevant business authors. The series will focus on how us 'free agents' can survive and thrive during times of economic uncertainty.

Each show will run 30 minutes, and will follow this format: the first half will introduce the author and the book, with me asking them a few questions. The second 15 minutes are your turn to ask your own questions - you can call in OR text message your questions using the BlogTalkRadio platform (more below). You may also send in your questions via Google chat to biznikcatalyst@gmail.com.

How do I listen to Biznik Live?

You can listen live to each show, or to recordings of past shows, at the BlogTalkRadio BiznikLive page: http://www.BlogTalkRadio.com/BiznikLive

You can also subscribe for free in iTunes.

How do I ask questions of authors?

Questions will be taken from callers from 10:15-10:30. You can simply call 347-884-8009 or create a free account in advance with BlogTalkRadio to use their web-based audio application, which allows you to interact with the show via chat. You may also use Google’s chat client and ask questions to BiznikCatalyst@Gmail.com

Confirmed Guests & Dates

Shows will be every Wednesday at 10 am PST during the month of October.

Thanks to your feedback, we have requests out to a number of popular business authors, including Timothy Ferris, Guy Kiyosaki, and more.

Oct 8th: Michelle Goodman, Seattle author of "The Anti 9-5 Guide" and the just released "My So-called Freelance Life". Link to her show page.

Please feel free to suggest authors or ideas that would make this a valuable program for you. We look forward to hearing you on Biznik Live! Mark Your Calendar!

How to Share Your Needs & Fulfill Other's Needs on Biznik

The question of how to share your needs and how to find and meet the needs of other Bizniks comes up frequently. In future versions of the site, sharing and finding business needs will be much clearer. But for now, here's a few tips (#3 is key!)

1. Post a current need in the 'What Do You Need' section of the 'About You' on your profile. You may need help finding a CPA, you may need another independent contractor to collaborate with you on a project you're bidding on, or you may need an office space.

2. PLEASE DON'T use this as a place to simply write "I need someone who wants to hire me" - as a small business owner on a networking site, that's kind of stating the obvious. You can always promote yourself in the 'Promotion' section of your profile or in the promotion forum on Biz Talk. (All recent promotions can be found here.)

3. Did you know you can quickly see all needs recently posted by other Bizniks, as well as search all posted needs, by going to the Members/Needs tab - or simply by clicking here.

So, get to it - let's start meeting each other's needs! ;)

If you could ask questions of any famous Biz author...

If you could listen in on an interview, and then ask your own questions, of any well known Biz-related author/speaker, who would it be?

Cheers, Leif

(Yes, I am planning on contacting some of these authors/speakers for a Biznik live show interview, open to Biznik members)

Biznik Buzz Ninjas -are you game?

So, I've got some really fun and attention-getting ideas for getting Biznik some more attention (online and offline), and I'm wanting to form band of 'Biznik Buzz Ninjas' who love Biznik and would be willing to occasionally enlist themselves in an adventure.

Here's how it would work: 1. Tell me in this forum and/or in a private message whether you're game to be on a general 'adventure alert' list. 2. I'll create a contact list of emails, phone numbers and other details (like twitter name, if you have it, because one of my experiments involves twitter, etc.) 3. When I come up with an quest, I'll email the list and see who is willing and/or able.

We'll go from there! As an added incentive, you should know that many of these adventures will get you and your business attention as well. Those of you who know me know that I seem to have (for better or worse) a knack for getting attention... ;)

So, who's game and has Ninja Buzz skills?

Wordia: A cool example of innovation...

Have you heard about Wordia --imagine a dictionary site where users submit videos explaining the definition of words. What a fun and innovative idea. I love it.

What is the #1 step you've taken this year to grow your business?

I'm curious: there are so many 'good ideas' out there for growing your business. What have you done this year that REALLY has brought tangible growth for you business.

1. What was the #1 top step/action?
2. What SPECIFIC results did it bring?
3. Keep it real and honest, no schmooze. ;)

I think this could be interesting, fun and inspiring to learn from each other. Please just keep it as concrete as possible though.

(Sept Only) Free 15 Min Breakthrough Brainstorm Session

Are you feeling creatively stuck as to what next steps to take, marketing ideas, new services, etc? I'm offering a free 15 minute call, till the end of September, to any Biznik members who want to a have a fun brainstorming session that is guaranteed to help them move forward. It'll be a fun experience, and there's no catches, no post-call marketing pushes, nada.

The only condition is that you keep an open mind. Simply email me and we'll set up a time and identify if your priority is to:

• Get to a more positive state of mind
• See new possibilities, think outside the polygon
• Narrow down ideas and identify best options [less]

Biznik SandBox

Hi Bizniks, Leif here.

As most of you know, I like to experiment and play with new social media tools. As most of you are also aware, the number of new services popping into existence is astounding - its hard to keep up.

As Biznik's Community Catalyst, I want to find ways to enrich our experience here, as well as spread Biznik beyond our borders. So, until we decide on a better place to host this sandbox (possibly within the site), I will be letting you know of new experiments here in this 'Biznik SandBox' thread.

This will be a fun way for you to find out about new social media technologies as well. And of course, I'd love your feedback as to which ideas you'd like to see more regularly here.

New developments in the Sandbox:

• Biznik member video interviews: -posted on the Biznik blog

• A new Biznik YouTube channel (as YouTube has a short video limit, we'll put more informal, fun, interviews, etc. on this site. BizJam sessions can be found searching in Google Video or at bizjamseattle.com)

• An experimental 'WorldTV' channel (an experiment in aggregating all Biznik related videos to a simple, clean 'channel')

• A Biznik friendfeed account that gathers together all Biznik streams (flickr, twitter, Biznik content, YouTube, etc.)

• Added the ability to reply to Biznik blog entries via a video reply (using Seesmic)

Enjoy!

Where else do you hang out online (biz wise)

While we all know that Biznik is the best community to grow your business, I'm curious what other sites people spend time on to either learn about business, get support for their business, connect with other indie folks, etc.

What Leif will be doing as Biznik Community Catalyst

If you haven't heard yet, I'm excited to report that I've joined Biznik as an employee, starting this week, under the title of "Community Catalyst". Thanks to each of you who've sent a congratulatory or encouraging note -what a fun, vibrant community to be a part of!

Most of you found out the basics from last week's Biznik blog interview, but if not, give it a read if you want to know more about me and how/why this has come about.

There's a number of details not covered in the interview that some of you may be wondering about, so I thought I'd post a few notes here:

• First of all, this position is 'beta', meaning it will evolve over time.

• I also want to also make it known from the start that I believe that the real 'community catalysts' are each of you Biznik members. Its your unique energies that makes this community such a powerful, fun, authentic, creative online and offline community. I'm just taking the title to give a few areas of Biznik a bit more focused time and attention.

• While I'll be taking on a number of roles and projects with Biznik, my main focus is to expand and enrich the biznik community --both online (this site and external sites) and in real events. Like you, I love and believe in Biznik's manifesto, and want to see our membership grow globally and exponentially.

• This means you'll be seeing me much more active in discussions on the site, as well as more present in live events. Don't worry (or do), I'll still be my same silly self. Biznik is not the kind of place I'd need to hike up my 'image-management' now that I work here.

• Any tips for enriching community on this site, or suggestions for external indie biz 'hubs' I can spread the biznik love to, are totally welcome. I plan to also share about Biznik through new social media tools and popular social networks, as well as spark some fun 'attention getting' schemes. Stay tuned...

• If you're new to Biznik, please feel free to ask me publicly or privately any questions about how to make the most of this site or how to connect more deeply with the biznik community.
  

• Lastly, for those who have been trying to catch me in real time, I plan on being in Seattle Mon-Wed, probably shifting down to Mon-Tue after Sept. I'll usually be working from Dan & Lara's in Fremont or Office Nomads on Capitol Hill. I look forward to finally seeing many of you face-to-face more frequently, and coming to events on Mon or Tue nights!

I'm grateful for this opportunity to serve Biznik, as well as for each of your friendships and professional support. Let me know, here or privately, if you have any other questions about my new role as Biznik Community Catalyst.

Warmly, Leif

Biznik discussion categories

I don't know about you, but my default forum for posting and reading in biztalk is this one -'Community-wide general discussion'.

I'm curious, do you like having a general forum like this to catch 90% of the discussions, or would you rather there be more (or better defined) forum categories?

Tip for remembering network connections on Biznik

I've heard a number of people express a wish that the mechanism for accepting/rejecting network connections was a little more effective (and it is coming soon). At core, the complaint is that once you deal with a network invitation, the original comments sent along with that invitation are then lost (unlike regular messages).

So, my tip until this is remedied: (Its really simple, but wanted to spell it out as members vary in their tech experience).

When you first get the invitation: 1. Copy their text 2. Select the down arrow next to their name and 'send a message' 3. Type your response/greeting/thanks/etc. message. 4. Type something like "re:" 5. Paste their message

Now you've got it in your 'Sent' box in your messages ;)

Leif's in Seattle (mostly Ballard) for the week

Hey Biznikkers, I'm here in Seattle for the rest of the week (though Thur is mostly full) and would love to see some of you. If you've been wanting to get together and talk about social media or sparking fun/connection in other ways, please give me a ping and I'd love to get together.

Current plans: Tue: Hanging out in Ballard Tullys, busy 3-4 Wed -I'll be spending the day at Office Nomads, but with time to meet Thur -Mostly busy Fri -Mostly free

Social Media Experiment & BizJam Session Teaser

Hi guys, for those of you who have time and the tech capability to watch a 1 minute video -- check out this little teaser video I just created (feel free to respond here or via video, if you can...)

Also, I thought I'd share my basic outline for those who are wondering what I'll be covering in relation to 'online community' and business.

• A short intro (2 min)
• Jump into some thought-provoking interactivities that demonstrate the upcoming ideas (10 mins)
• Presentation: (20-30)

  -What are the dimensions and qualities of community?
  -Can true community happen online? Where is it already happening?
  -How does online community benefit business?
  -Case Studies, Stats & Quotes
  -Upcoming Trends: Rich Media, Live Media, Status & Location
  -Potential Pitfalls in the Social Media Future
  -Best Practices & Strategies for Building Community around your biz.
  -A Few Sample Platforms
  

• Small group brainstorm and strategy sessions (15-20)

I look forward to seeing many of you tomorrow at Bizjam in general, and at my session on "Raving Fans: How to build rich online community that supports your business" in particular!

Membership or Open Doors to Access Full Site?

As a social media consultant and developer, I had the 'duh' idea a couple months ago of using my business site as an example of how to create an online community that supports your business, and as a way of showcasing various social media tools. (We'll talk more about this at Bizjam.)

Until today, I've only allowed folks to see the welcome page and first page, after that --to see videos, enter discussions, and access other resources, you had to become a member. (Part of the reason is that I wanted to get some activity going there first). Well, today I've decided to experiment by opening access to the whole site.

Questions: I've gotten over 60 members who trusted me with their contact info, etc. I wonder, would I have more or less if I'd been fully open with the site? Why haven't more people started discussions? Too cluttered? (I just made them more organized today, hope that helps) Too busy? what? Would you become a member here? Why, or why not? What would you like to have there? Was it a good idea to switch it open, or not? * If you check a member page (or become one), you'll see that I leave a personalized video on each page. While a few folks have really liked this greeting and been 'wowed' by it, most haven't even commented. What do you think of this approach?

Anyway, I'd LOVE to have some more bizniks there, and especially if you could join in a start or reply to a discussion thread to warm the nest there.

Check it out at www.SparkSocialMedia.com

Thanks!

Time to Stop Wasting Time, A blunt confession & request for advice

I considered posting this in my 'confessions' thread, but as its still a live issue (thus not yet funny) and I have a hunch a convo around it could benefit me and many others, I'm starting this new thread.

Confession: I probably 'waste' 50% of my work time during an average week.

Not every day, nor every week, yet, red-faced, most often -ouch. It's a Fact (rescuetime has confirmed it) and the only way for me to change is to 'come into the light' ;)

Now, I know that much of my 'wasted time' (social sites, trying new apps, reading feeds, etc.) will end up having payback and is a necessary part of me keeping up in my industry (social media), but the fact is, I am not intentionally doing this kind of learning, research and connecting -and I don't feel good about it. I want to schedule that kind of time, not drift into it by default.

So, I've come up with 'plans' to help --things others have suggested, or I've tried, or I've recently brainstormed. Things like "start the day planning your day, away from the computer" or "no email until early afternoon" or "set up a reward/consequence system", etc. And I think these are great ideas....but I still have to "do" them.

Challenge: When working by oneself, what are some healthy ways to keep accountable to one's work plan when one struggles with self-discipline and is easily 'fuzzified' (distracted, less creativity, zig-zagging, etc.) when in front of the computer? Basically, How to be more intentional?

What do you think? Any empathy, advice and particularly stories of success and transformation in this area, would be greatly appreciated?

(Professional disclaimer: When I'm working for a client, I'm really working and get the job done. It's the 'other time', when procrastinating or needing to focus, find more work, that things go awry.)

Heading to Seattle Podcamp -a free social media blast

Come join me for a full free day of social media, marketing, and other helpful info: http://podcamp.pbwiki.com/PodcampSeattle