Everyone needs an Alice. Everyone needs a who?
Alice.com is new company whose value proposition is simple: “Never run out of toilet paper again (and lots of other things too)”
In the TechCrunch article about the company, they are described as being an,
“open, online retail platform for consumer packaged goods, focused primarily on linking manufacturers of essential household stuff like tooth brushes, toilet paper, trash bags etc. to end consumers directly.”
The company has not yet fully opened but you can a great feel for the kind of service you will get and what kind of company they are by reading their website, blog, and tweets. There are a lot of indicators you can look at to predict a companies success and a lot of great advice out there on the most important things to do when starting a company, these are just some thoughts I have on why Alice.com is a winner.
Reasons why I think Alice.com will be a great company:
They are already providing value.
Go to the Alice blog where they are talking about their company and their industry. I am a bit early on this as there is not a lot out there yet, but I see this growing into a helpful resource for savvy consumers. I think this will turn into something like the blog over at Mint.com.
They understand the value of loyal fan.
This ties into providing value but I have liked how Alice.com is using giveaways to create fans of their service. They are equipping everyday people to be the marketers for their brand. To enter one of their giveaways you need to tweet about the sweepstakes or blog about the contest. (I am not currently trying to win a contest.)
Traditionally when a company wants to give something away they make you give them your contact information. This way, they can contact you in the future hoping you will buy a product or at the very least, they can sell that information to a third party marketer. I appreciate how Alice.com is taking the road of consumer-centered promotion and providing a way for normal people to promote Alice.com to the people who trust them. This demonstrates confidence in what you are offering.
They are leveraging great people.
Alice.com was founded by Brian Wiegand and Mark McGuire who are proven entrepreneurs. The only reason I know about the company is because they hired Rebecca Thorman who blogged about her job switch.
I don’t know any of these people outside of having read their blogs and followed their tweets but they seem to be the kind of people you really do want to have a beer with, talk life and business with, and of course get a deal on toilet paper from.
3 Keys to Start Up Success – An Alice.com Case Study
- Create value.
- Nurture and equip loyal fans.
- Leverage great people.
My prediction is that Alice.com will be the website you will wish your friends told you about sooner.
Have you checked out Alice.com? What do you think?
What does it look like for our real lives, as opposed to just our work lives, to be directed by predetermined goals or priorities?
Most people set goals at work. For a lot of people, their bosses actually make them set goals and report on their progress in scheduled performance reviews. Companies in general set goals and public companies in particular have been in the financial news lately for reaching or failing to reach those goals. It seems that goal setting is pretty common in people’s work life.
But what about the bigger picture of our lives in which work is just one component? Do we set goals and priorities outside of what we want to accomplish in our careers?
I think we do set goals and determine priorities at the macro level of our lives but I think we miss out on massive amounts of personal progress by not applying the same principles to our lives in real-time.
At the macro level, we make goals to get married, have a certain number of kids, graduate from college, etc. We also identify with set of core principles and priorities. This is wonderful and really has an impact on the trajectory of our lives. However, the pace at which you move in the direction you wish to be going is determined by the goal setting you do in real-time.
Real Time Goal Setting
Real Time Goal Setting occurs when you are mapping out your present instead of charting your future. You know where you want to be one day but have you spent the time to figure out how you are going to get there?
You need to have a plan and a way to measure your progress and determine if a change of plans is ever needed.
I don’t know the best way to do this but here is what I am going to try to do:
- Step back and look at your life. Take stock of what you have going on in your life and all of the things that comprise your “whole life”. Think about the relationships in your life, the job you have, the hobby you love, the possessions you have, etc. Just take some time to become more self aware and be grateful for where you are in life.
- Review your macro-level goals and priorities. Where do you want to be in 5 or 10 years? What do you want to have accomplished by this time next year? What things do you really want to make sure you do before you die? Pick the few you really think focusing on now will pay dividends later in life.
- Create Short Term Goals. There is no magic number, but you need to set a certain number of things you are going to focus on for a certain amount of time. Example: I am going to focus on 3 things for 3 months. You might focus on 4 things for 8 weeks. (Bill Hybels talks about this strategy in his book Axiom: Powerful Leadership Proverbs
.)
- Review Yourself. After your predetermined time period, take a step back and evaluate how things went. Some time periods will go better than others and you should give yourself the freedom to have not done so well so that you can learn more about yourself.
- Keep Pressing. After each set amount of time, you should reevaluate what priorities need to be on your short list. Some of them will carry over and some will fall of the list. Celebrate when you see yourself making progress and share what you learn along the way with the people around you.
I think people who focus on setting real time goals and having priorities for themselves in the present will see themselves grow much more quickly than they would have had they only generated a list of long term plans.
Do you set goals? How would you change these steps to get better results? Do you think real time goal setting like this would result in getting burnt out too quickly. I am really interested in what you think about this strategy and any other personal development strategies out there.
The book Smart Couples Finish Rich by David Bach was originally published in 2001 or 2002. I was reading back through it earlier this week and was struck by what David titles an Important Note, which adds context to a powerful financial lesson.
I won’t “reveal” David’s financial lesson, you have to read the book for that, but I will quote the Important Note:
“The job market has changed drastically in just the last year since Smart Couples Finish Rich was released in hardcover. We’ve gone from the “dot-com” boom to the “dot-com bust.” Companies have laid off thousands of workers. As a result, it’s really easy in this slowing economy to be told you are just “lucky” to have a job. Don’t fall for it. The single hardest part of any business is finding good people. Good people who work their tails off and add real value get job raises in bad economies. In fact, employees that survived the layoffs of 2001 are now finding themselves in many cases with better jobs and more pay in 2002. What about you? Don’t let this economy or a recession slow down your progress.”
That seems like pretty timeless advice right there. I think in any economy, you should count your blessing, and employment is certainly one of them. However, I agree with David, in that despite rough economic times, employers should be working hard to retain their employees and the people who are providing real value should assertively and respectfully seek out opportunities for advancement.
Leah and I like wine and after enjoying one of our perennial favorites tonight, I thought I would right up a review of sorts to let everyone in on our big secret. The Winery even has their own Facebook page: Red Truck Winery | Facebook Fan Page.
This is a relatively inexpensive wine that goes well with most everything and has actually earned some great reviews. At regular price, it will set you back $9.99. Never pay regular price because 6 days out of seven you can find it for 7 or 8 dollars.
I would describe this as the perfect wine to have on hand or bring to a casual dinner party. It seems to appeal to most wine novices who enjoy red wine.
The Seattle Times says it,
“This…red is …reliable when it comes to taking a comfy ride down
a road well paved with fruit…”
I would love to hear what Gary Vaynerchuk over at Wine Library TV thinks of this wine. I am by no means a wine expert but sense I enjoy the wine, I would be really interested to see what a relevant wine expert thinks. @garyvee, any chance for a review?
What are your favorite wines? Do you have any “go-to” bottles that you like to have on hand?
I am starting to read The Five Dysfunctions of a Team: A Leadership Fable
today and was just wondering if anyone had opinions on using fables as a tool to teach and communicate. There have been quite a few business books lately that use fables and legends to communicate leadership principles and I have enjoyed some and been disappointed in others.
Do you have any favorite fable stories or thoughts on fables as a good/bad communication tool?
Normal people have Facebook accounts and LinkedIn profiles. (Or at least they should.) More and more normal people are starting to blog through services like WordPress and Blogger. Twitter is growing in popularity but is still dominated by the very tech-savvy user while the normal person finds themselves signing up, not really getting it, and giving up.
I wanted to offer normal people some tips on how to get hooked on Twitter and once hooked, have fun using it normally.
A explanation on what I mean by normal and why I think its important to talk about.
Much of the tips and tricks associated with Social Media is directed at the power users and the, frankly, geeky people who love cool new websites and technologies. I consider myself a geek by this definition but I hang out with a lot of non-geek people (normal people) who could really use some tips on how to leverage what little time, interest, or knowledge they have to get maximum results.
5 Tips Normal People can use to Get Results and Have Fun with Twitter
- Sign up and search around.
- Signing up is easy, so go ahead and click here to get started.
- Search for things you are interested in. This could be stuff that is relevant to your job, your hobby, truly anything that you would be interested in talking with people about at a cocktail party.
- Start following people.
- When you find people who are talking about the stuff you are interested in, you should follow them. You don’t have to know them before you follow them. When you click that follow button, just see it like @garyvee describes it as, shaking a hand and introducing yourself.
- ReTweet the things you think other people should read.
- ReTweeting is ultimate compliment in the Twitter world. It is also how information gets around. Be both liberal and selective in your ReTweeting. Think of yourself as a gatekeeper of a great content to the people who follow you. Be good to them by only ReTweeting content worth reading.
- Start “tweeting” out information you think is interesting.
- The people you follow at this point will probably find what you are tweeting pretty interesting. Be confident, be yourself, and have fun with this.
- Stay with it for 30 Days
- Twitter can be tough to “get” in the first few days or weeks of jumping in. If you stick with it though, you will develop a network or really interesting people and exposure to some of the Internet’s best content.
There is a lot of material out there about how to become a power user of Twitter. I hope this gets you started and helps you get the most out of Twitter as a normal person. Leave a comment and let me know how your Twitter adventure is going. If you are a veteran Twitter user, how did you get started and what tips do you have for the newcomers?
I went to my first New Media Cincinnati meetup last weekend. The three questions you should be asking yourself now are:
- What is New Media Cincinnati?
- What is a meetup?
- How could I benefit from either New Media Cincinnati or a meetup?
What is New Media Cincinnati?
From the about page of their website:
New Media Cincinnati is a group of people passionate about and interested in social media and new media technologies, including, but not limited to
I discovered the group via Twitter and through a fellow tech-enthusiast Joe Budde Jr. The general idea here is that its a group of people who are all interested in web-based tech stuff.
What is a meetup?
A meetup is an event where a bunch people who are interested in the same things or pursuing the same goal all get together and talk about it. (That is not the official definition.) A more official definition and incredible useful service can be found at Meetup.com.
How could I benefit from New Media Cincinnati or a meetup?
In terms of the New Media Cincinnati group, it obvious, if you are interested in this type of topic – you should attend the events and networks with the community. I intend to continue going to the events and really look forward to meeting more people who have the same interests as I do.
Regarding meetups in general, you need to get plugged in to at least one of these things. Pu yourself out there and meet people who are interested in the same things you are. I want to take the meetup plunge soon and try out a few of the events that catch my eye over at meetup.com. This is a great networking opportunity but more than anything, it fuels the fire you have for your hobby or profession.
If you are even just a little bit interested in any of this:
I would be really interested to hear about your experience with a meetup you attended. I think attending one of these events for the first time can be daunting. Leave a comment and let us know how it went or how you think a meetup could improve its “first-timer” experience.
Future business deals, friendships, and marriages have all been postponed or even missed due to poor first impressions. The first few minutes of an interaction is crucial to the future return on that relationship. First impressions are like investing when you are young, if you make an effort, your payoff will be exponentially greater in the end.
How do you make a great first impression?
Great first impression can be broken down into 3 components:
- Body Language
- Active Listening
- Others Centered Speaking
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