The keyword for 2010 seems to be uncertainty.  Economists are on a sliding scale from optimism to pessimism with  a zillion shades of grey in between.   The data isn’t much clearer.   What is included in it, what isn’t?  The new health plan is just another tax.  But since no one seems to know exactly what is in it, how can anyone say for certain.  So where do you stand in all this uncertainty.

We have stated from the outset that we make no pretense at being GoofProof.  The word was intended as a reminder that being GoofProof is a goal - something to work towards -  something to include in your business plan.  In a planet of uncertainty, therefore, the correct path is to add as much clarity and certainty of purpose to your own small business or professional offerings as you possibly can.   

First, decide exactly what you are giving the public and why.  How does your product or service enhance their security, their status, their health, their happiness, their general well-being?  How does it make them feel? The clearer and simpler you can make this statement, the more your wares  will sell.  Think back to the old Campbell’s Soup’s “Umm-mm good!”  Just two little words that make you feel warm and well-fed.  Or the current Geico’s “Fifteen minutes to save 15%.” 

The less necessary to survival your product or service is, the more important this “feel-good” additive becomes.  Actually it is the basis of all successful advertising.  The closer you can get to fulfilling the basic human desires of being loved, being rich, powerful, admired, comfortable, and secure, the closer to being GoofProof you will be.  Happy New Year!

A  Thanksgiving dinner without Pumpkin Pie?  To many,  that’s unthinkable.   Libby and Nestle are sending bulletins to newswires throughout the land to quell the panic.  “It’s going to be fine!  We are stocking shelves as we speak!  You will have your Pumpkin Pie!” 

Even Bloomberg, ususally the harbinger of more world-shaking events,   sent updates on the crises at frequent intervals on this morning’s broadcast.  Are Libby and Nestle whistling in the dark? Or will grocery shelves really spill over with canned pumpkin for the weekend rush?  It’s a cliff hanger, we admit.

What can you do if you can’t find a pumpkin (fresh or canned?)  Housewives and Chefs are notorious for inventing substitutions for just about anything! Why not for Pumpkin Pie?  The first thing that comes to my mind as I scour the pumpkinless brain is a yam and a butternut squash!

You may be thinking, “Ugh”  but give it a try. I haven’t worked up the recipe yet, but will as  time permits, and by next Thursday, be able to report the result.  To begin, keep it simple; just add the usual eggs, sugar, condensed milk, cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg, cornstarch? - whatever, beat thoroughly, and there you are - a “SubPumpkin Pie.”

Entreprenuerial efforts sometimes work, sometimes not.  This one’s a small risk!

Comments accepted.  And an anti-rainman might be helpful.

Happy Thanksgiving

It often appears that people in the business world who know little or nothing rise to the top like foam in a bubble bath, while the really knowledgeable plod along in obscurity.  We attach labels, like “personality,” “salesmanship.” “luck,”  determination” to the winners but the labels don’t dispel the underlying uncertainty  that those guys know something that we don’t.

The world abounds with consultants.  Are they all experts?  Can they turn a plodder into a Prince?  Can they give you the real “Secret?”  That depends - mostly on the person  recieving the advice.  Are you one of the ones who can turn any advice into Gold?  Then maybe you don’t need the consultant.   or maybe you can profit the most from the advice - whatever it is! 

It is not what you learned - but what you DO with what you learned.  In that context, I’ll pass along a note from Webwire:

Duluth, GA - Internet marketing legends Matt Bacak and Mark Joyner are excited to announce their upcoming seminar Survival Tactics for Tough Times designed to equip Internet marketers with the tools and strategies necessary to build thriving Internet marketing businesses during the economic downturn. Scheduled speakers include some of the industry’s most successful Internet marketers who are expected to provide a wealth of information for seminar attendees. Survival Tactics for Tough Times will take place in Atlanta, Georgia on December 4, 5 and 6. . . .

Bestselling author Mark Joyner is known as the “Godfather of Online Marketing” for his pioneering efforts in the world of Internet marketing. Joyner popularized a number of technologies including Integration marketing and remotely-hosted ad tracking which are some of the foundational tools used by today’s Internet marketers.

Matt Bacak, often referred to as “The Powerful Promoter” is an experienced and well-known Internet marketing leader who has spent years on the international speaking circuit sharing his time-tested and proven Internet marketing strategies. Bacak’s skill at leveraging social media and his ability to teach others how to effectively do the same has enabled him to build a multimillion dollar Internet marketing empire within a few short years.

Matt Bacak and Mark Joyner will share their combined knowledge, experience and expertise during the Survival Tactics for Tough Times seminar. Other speakers include Ted Nicholas, Joe Sugarman, Bill Glazer, Marshall Sylver, Shawn Casey, Robert Allen, Kevin Wilke, Tellman Knudson, Dan Kuschell, Keith Wellman and Justin Blake.

To learn more about the Survival Tactics for Tough Times seminar put on by Internet marketing legends Matt Bacak and Mark Joyner, visit http://www.survivaltacticsseminar.com/

Read the whole article here:
http://www.businessweek.com/smallbiz/tips/archives/2009/11/what does the c.html

About language:  Almost every business or group category has its own verbal shorthand.  But the internet gang outdoes  them all!  Why?  I suppose because it is made up of very creative visually  minded people who attach appropriate but sometimes unfathomable names to applications, software, businesses of all kinds that thrive on the internet.  Who would have thought that “Google” would end up as a worldwide superstar? 

  And now we have “Cloud” computing. It sounds lovely, doesn’t it? It sounds lazy. It makes you think you can just take a nap on a ball of  fluff and all your work will magically do itself. Well, that’s not too far off!  It means no software - no IT department - no expensive servers - and a whole lot of other stuff.  stuff that we may be using without even knowing. 

If you want to boost your business in the lazyest way possible, read this article!

Starting Sunday, businesses that accept  credit cards will have to take extra steps to protect your personal information on the front end,  and investigate if  they find something suspicious. Federal Trade Commission rules, called “Red Flag Rules” will kick in. Businesses  small and large, must do a better job of verifying the identity of their customers - to keep them from being taken advantage of by identity thieves.

Focus will be on such information as “where they bill you now and you pay in 30 days,” said Miami attorney Luis Salazar, of Greenberg Traurig. “If there’s a red flag, they have to investigate.”

Even the smallest business, if they qualify as a creditor, are  subject to the rules, which were enacted in 2007. The deadline to put the rules into effect was extended to give businesses time to come up with written plans to address identity theft. The red flag rule is supposed to help  by shifting some of the burden from consumers to businesses. Learn more at http://www.ftc.gov/redflagrule.

But you, as a consumer,  should still keep  close watch on your personal information. Here are some suggestions from the Federal Trade Commission:

-Protect your Social Security number. Don’t carry your card if you don’t need it. Ask why someone needs it if it is requested.

-Handle mail with care. Shred documents that contain credit card numbers, banking information and credit card offers. Limit credit card offers: Call 888-5-OPT-OUT (888-567-8688).

-Don’t give out personal information on the phone, via mail or the Internet, unless you initiated contact and are sure of whom you’re dealing with.

-Freeze your credit report so potential creditors and others can’t access it unless you lift the freeze. This has to be done by contacting individual credit agencies: Equifax, Experian and TransUnion. You can learn more about credit freezes at http://www.consumersunion.org/campaigns/learn-more/003484indiv.html.

-Check your credit report for free three times a year at http://www.annualcreditreport.com. You can check one report from each major credit bureau once a year. Beware of sites that have a similar web address as this official site but actually charge for their services or require enrollment in some kind of program. You can also call 877-322-8228.

-Use intricate passwords that don’t involve your mother’s maiden name, birthday or the lst four digits of your Social Security number. 

Identity theft has been consumers’ No. 1 complaint to the FTC for nine years running, with nearly 314,000 complaints in 2008.

“Nobody wants to be overburdened with regulations,” Salazar said, “but they want to do something about” identity theft.

Let’s hope it works!

Businesses of  any size keep an eye on them to ensure survival in good or bad times.  But all seem to agree  that  what we have been experiencing lately is no ordinary good or bad time.  Each month focuses on one or another of  the crucial words but, unfortunately adds little clarity.

The one thing that never changes though,  is the human capacity to innovate - and that capacity increases geometrically with the need to survive - and thrive.  Just check through the articles in your business magazines throughout 2009.  Have they been moaning and groaning about the sad state of  the economy?  Hardly a word.  What is the ONE keyword that has stirred up your brain cells?  CREATIVITY!  And how have thousands of entrepreneurs worldwide harnessed that valuable resource?  First, and foremost, take your ideas seriously.  They are your gold mine.  Then ask yourself :  WHAT can I do with “this?” No matter what “this” is,  if  it interests you, you can do something with it. It will lead you to finding the right partners, the right funders, the right buyers. And that takes care of the HOW! The WHAT  teaches you the HOW.  The WHEN is now.  Right now. Don’t procrastinate. Do it now! And what about WHERE?  Start wherever you are.  Again, the right place will emerge from the WHAT and HOW.  It’s  all built in. 

So dust off your brain cells and look around you - your future is probably right under your nose!

The resulting canvases are interesting in that they resemble looms;  large frameworks filled with vertical strings through which weavers work strands  of  wool or silk or any other fiber,  resulting in a piece of cloth, or rug, or whatever  the weaver fancies.  Here, the vertical strings are composed of  the drippiest of the pigments, dropped at the top, running straight to the bottom.  The less drippy drops traverse only a part of the canvas, resulting in the resemblance to the unfinished woven artwork (yes, a rug or a cloth is an  artwork.)

 ”The Remembrancer,”  as the networked robots are called,  was installed by Alberto Gaitán,   and will be on display until November 1st.  The creator describes his work as “highlighting the  ultimate meaning of  loss in an age of  information.”    Gaitán says, “Nobody has the capacity for total information awareness so we relinquish big chunks of our understanding to black boxes of knowledge whose provenance we don’t fully understand. We make important decisions and base stacks of assumptions on these. Our memories are rife with inaccuracies, and forgetting or ignoring becomes a significant aspect of remembering.”

Two centuries of  Psychologists have  arrived at virtually the same conclusions by methods available to them in their time.  By whatever method used, the conclusion is still that only a small fraction of  the information poured into our brains is remembered;  much is distorted by what is already there,  and much is denied or delibrately forgotten.

So don’t despair if you can’t remember where your socks are.  Your brain has relegated the location to a black box!

Last week we celebrated Advertising Week in NYC:  A time for Optimism if  there ever was one.  If  you have read the Fall catalogs or visited a mid to high end retail store in the last few weeks, you’ve noticed a tremendous shift toward “spiffing up,”  even elegance emerging in all departments.  This is  great news for the consumer  and should happen every year or so.  The lure of  shiny new goodies and never ending ways of making ourselves  richer, more beautiful, and more desirable is a powerful undertow. 

But the great American, and now worldwide, consumer can’t consume without cash, credit, or both.  Does he have it?  The  “Theys”  of this world say there is a great deal of cash sloshing about.  Oh?  Everyone agrees that credit is scarce and, where it exists, is very expensive.  It’s true that the stock market has risen from its lows of  a few months ago.  But that’s speculation.  It’s true that people still buy a ton of lottery tickets.  But that’s risk-taking with a capital R.  And horse-racing, etc., etc., etc., . . .?

All this circuitous thinking eventually brings us face to face  with the fundamental question:   What is the basis for the sense of  optimism and is it related in any sound way to increases in productivity? Judging by the statistics coming out of  the same media broadcasts, one can only repeat, “bad is up from horrible.” Housing prices are still falling but at a slower rate. Unemployment is still rising but at a slower rate. etc.,  etc.  Those stats mean exactly what the words convey; nothing more.

Certainly people are happier and more productive (not staying home from work because of a headache) if they look forward to a bright future.  But is the current wave of  ”Optimism” just wishful thinking?   Will it become another bubble? Is an intangible bubble potentially more dangerous than a tangible one?  Houses and mortgages can be bought and sold, at whatever price conditions warrant.  The price may give you a headache, but you will eventually pick yourself up and survive. 

States of  mind are intangible assets, supposdly belonging only to the people who possess them.   We’ve all heard of  Rainmakers, Con Artists, Ponzi Schemers, Card Sharks, and another long list.  What are the assets these fellows buy and sell?  Your States of Mind, nothing else.  Their so-called tangible assets are as intangible as the wind but as destructive as a hurricane.  Before you jump on the Optimism bandwagon, ask for a few relevant FACTS.  has your income increased in the last six months?  Have you been promoted in your present job? Is your new small business thriving?  Is your old one growing?  Do you have more cash to spend on the things you want?  If you answered “yes” to at least two of the above, fine - be optimistic.  If you answered “no” to all of them, beware.  Either you are goofing somewhere, or economic conditions are not quite what is peddled. 

Don’t let anyone steal your head.  It may be  your only tangible asset.

In a weird way, many of  us enjoy this challenge.  It’s our one and only opporunity to leap over a chasm on a motorbike  or walk a tightrope in  a circus.   However we perceive it,  to each of us it presents a different dare.  If we can pull through, we win and potentially raise our stakes to a whole new level.  If we lose, we’re done.   End of  story.  Repetition of  what has failed in the past  is  not an option. 

For the more conventional ones among us,  those who are not quite ready to toss centuries of business wisdom into the trash, the September issue of The New York Enterprise Report  presents a couple of  interesting articles on hidden risks and mitigting risks in  daily business life.  Even the daredevils could benefit from a small dose of tried and true  methodology. See  nyreport.com,  article numbers 367 and 592.