• I needed to sign some cheques so business could continue in my temporary or permanent absence.
• I needed to contact my family to let them know I loved them.
• I wanted to go somewhere outside [behind the building] so that the arrival of the ambulance did not make a big scene inside the store.  

• experience moderate or severe skin irritation (particularly if not present before use of this medicine)
• flushing
• unusually warm skin and reddening of skin

Read About Scott Fraser

Buckminster Fuller was especially reputed for his geodetic domes which can be observed as a part of civic buildings, exhibition attractions and military radar stations. Their construction is dependent on the extension of the basic principles of constructing simple structures such as octahedron, the close sphere package and tetrahedron. When built in such manner, they are extremely stable and lightweight. He won a patent for his geodesic domes in 1954 which was a part of his effort in the exploration of constructing principles of nature for finding design solutions. 

Previous to his world famous “geodesic dome” design, Fuller built and designed prototypes which he had hoped to be an aerodynamic and a safer Dymaxion car. In order to that effect, he tried out with a fundamentally new approach. Right from 1932, Fuller worked with professional colleagues over a period spanning three years. Based on the aircraft designs, the three prototype cars were all completely different from those in the market. The first point of difference was that each of these vehicles included three and not four vehicles. It included two wheels in the front and one at the rear for steering purposes. Even the engine was situated at the rear part of the vehicle.  

Both the body and the chassis were original designs. The tear-shaped and aerodynamic body was large enough for seating as much as 11 people. Somehow, it resembled the melding of a wingless light aircraft and a 1950s vintage Volkswagen van. In each of its three trial incarnations, the car was essentially a mini-bus. 

Other Significant Contributions: 

Also included in Fuller’s ideas was the Dymaxion map of alternative projection. It was designed for displaying the continents of the earth with minimum possible aberration while printed or projected on a flat surface. 

Although the low-cost and energy-efficient Dymaxion house managed to gather much interest, it never went into production. The term “Dymaxion” is used for signifying a light tensegrity and a radically strong structure”. 

His Dymaxion House is on display in Dearborn, Michigan at “The Henry Ford”. Developed and designed in the mid 1940’s, it is a round structure and has a shape of a flattened bell of jellyfish. In addition, it has numerous innovative features which comprises of a fine mist shower reducing water consumption and a revolving dresser drawers. 

Philosophical Views: 

Fuller was an early ecological activist. He was well aware of the earth’s finite resources and hence, advertised a principle of “ephemeralization” which essentially meant doing more with less. In addition, Fuller also inaugurated the term “synergetics” which is the language used for conveying experiences with the help of geometric concepts long before the term gained popularity. 

Also, Fuller was the first in disseminating “systematic worldview” and researched the principles of material efficiency and energy in the fields of engineering, architecture and design. He stated that the cost of petroleum from the point of view of replacement came to more than a million dollars. Hence, he was of the view that using petroleum as a transportation fuel would result in a huge net loss, when compared to the actual earnings of those people and the net profits of the firm who travel using gasoline. 

What can one person achieve? 

Lets go and find out. 

Read About John Cassidy-Rice

”It is not the critic who counts, not the man who points out how the strong man stumbled, or where the doer of deeds could have done better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood, who strives valiantly, who errs and comes short again and again, who knows the great enthusiasms, the great devotions, and spends himself in a worthy cause, who at best knows achievement and who at the worst if he fails at least fails while daring greatly so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who know neither victory nor defeat.”
Theodore Roosevelt

I have always been a person that would just "jump in and do something" even if I couldn't do it very well at first, rather than be like the guy who waits till he can do it perfectly before he will begin. So I have had many, many failures; some of which seemed devastating at the time, but now seem to be worth a lot. Those failures add to my skills and wisdom when offering help, assistance, or advice to someone.

So I tried something new in regard to promoting an event with one my Wizard Partners, Michael Keesee. It worked out great! 

When I asked Mike to come to Kentucky and speak, he was somewhere on a beach in Mexico. He was licking his wounds and healing from a recent downsizing in the company he worked for and at the same time a recent divorce. 
Finally he answered my emails, texts and phone calls and said “OK, I'd be happy to come to Kentucky”. Then I called him back and asked if he'd stay an extra day and speak twice. Again he said, "Sure". Then I set it up for him to speak also for our local Chamber of Commerce breakfast, and again to the sales staff for  Bristol Broadcasting in Paducah while he was here.

Instead of setting up one big meeting, we did four smaller ones.  Michael gave the Pendulum Presentation 4 times in 4 different locations in two days and we had 80 attendees. (In the Wizards on the Road in Denver Co we had about that many, and about 100 in Nashville, Tn ) We handed out the sheet of questions about any of the problems they might be having in their business, and had about 12 of those filled out, and got about 20 more sign-ups for my Wizard Times Newsletter.

We planted many good seeds, and talked a few potential future clients. Michael is such a gentleman, and was so professional and so great to work with and he made me proud to be a Wizard of Ads Partner. Many people remarked, "Your friend is such a good speaker and he is brilliant." It is really cool to hang around brilliant people. But most important of all Michael and I have become good friends,  and a man always needs a few good friends.

Many thanks again to Michael Keesee.

Read About Clay Campbell

It's waaaaaay too early in the morning and I'm sweating up a frenzy on the stairstepper.  It's all about the oxygen and seratonin.  I've got a thing for it rightaboutnow.

Approaching sensory overload from the eight different plasma televisions in my field of vision here at Planet Fitness, I'm feeling a bit like Ozymandias.

Ozymandias, you say?  As in the character depicted in the 190 year-old poem of the same name from Percy Bysshe Shelley (he of "look upon my works, ye mighty, and despair")?

While that would be apt and applicable, I'm not in the mood to piss and moan about all that's wrong in the world. Not today anyway.  We'll get back to solving all the world's woes tomorrow.

The Ozymandias I'm tagging today is one of the superheroes from the Watchmen graphic novel (and imminent movie blockbuster), the brainiac who must retreat to his mission control-like lair stocked with a wall of TVs he uses to process the rhythm of the world intuitively in order to attempt to save it.

And it's not that I have a superhero complex (although I do, like a lot of people, have Watchmen on the brain).  And in re-reading the graphic novel this weekend (for the umpteenth time), I was struck by the powerful metaphor the character has to offer anyone in business, or the creative arts (or anyone looking for a neat parlor trick for that matter).

In Watchmen, the Ozymandias character feels the pulse of the universe and then lets intuition take over to parse out the answer to the day's most difficult problems.  It's a powerful technique that one can use to "riff" on difficult problems, and it may just make you better at "The Six Degrees Of Kevin Bacon."

See, if you want to get outside the box, really, the easiest way is to just relax and allow your right brain to tap into a well-spring of idea-flow.  Six televisions tuned to different channels will nurture this mindset. I'm a big fan of coupling this with a sustained heart rate of 150+ bpm.  Some people use drugs and alcohol for a similar effect (which may explain why so many writers are alcoholics).

The goal here is to abandon linear thought and just let your right brain take over.  If you resist the urge to regress to the logical left brain, to linear thought, your brain can achieve this zen-like stasis and at some point you'll have that aha moment...what some would call a moment of clarity...and it's all the result of righty's penchant for pattern recognition.  It's what Malcolm Gladwell wrote about in Blink.

And the really neat thing is that it will feel entirely accidental, but there's nothing accidental about this technique.  We have those lightbulb moments when we tap into the power of metaphor, what neuroscientists call symbolic thought, which is the most powerful type of thought.

What I call "scatterbrain synesthesia" is a powerful tool that anyone can use in the quest for creativity.  You're more likely to gravitate toward this technique if you prefer the intuitive spectrum of thinking. But even the more logical and methodical among us can get in the game.  In fact, I believe they are especially good candidates to grow through this technique, because they are less inclined to go there inside of their natural preferences.

Wikipedia defines synesthesia as a neurologically based phenomenon in which stimulation of one sensory or cognitive pathway leads to automatic, involuntary experiences in a second sensory or cognitive pathway.

The guardians of the world rarely engage in this style of "riffing."  But employing this strategy can yield powerful results in a myriad of ways.  In the world of entrepreneurship, it works very well if you are looking to forge an innovation model in your industry (what we call "business topology" in the Wizard Of Ads vernacular).

And speaking of Wizard Of Ads, this is exactly what my business partner Roy H. Williams uses for such dramatic effect in the rabbit hole of his weekly Monday Morning Memo.

Bouncing from one idea to the next like a renegade pinball...letting the right brain go on a fishing expedition...eventually you'll come to the intersection of the hoodoo and the mojo.  That's the plan anyway.

And sometimes it feels like a convoluted mess.  A fool's errand, seemingly.  Diarrhea of the mind.  Not unlike this blog-post, perhaps, which I am hopefully using to demonstrate the idea of which I speak.

And that's the whole point.  If you don't make and take the time to give your right brain a serious, sweaty workout, then you're really only using half of your brain.  Or more accurately, you're only using one of your two brains.

And if you'll recall, it was sweat that got me on this path in the first place, way too early this morning.  I'm going to see the Austin premiere of the Watchmen tomorrow night, which was another amino acid in this exercise in scatterbrain synesthesia...about scatterbrain synesthesia.

Read About Ray Seggern

If you own a restaurant, this article might be of interest.   Wonder why these menu moves are working?  Ask yourself which level of Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs they address.

Restaurants Bulk Up Sales with 'Barbell' Pricing
(Source: Nation's Restaurant News, 01/26/09)

Discount and premium items appeal to both ends of consumer spectrum

McDonald's credits its Dollar Menu with helping the chain produce a string of same-store sales increases. But while McDouble burgers and McChicken sandwiches attract some customers, Dollar Menu sales comprise only 14 percent of the chain's sales, says Danya Proud, spokesperson for the Oak Brook, Ill.-based chain.

Premium products purchased by other patrons produce that share and more of its total revenue, she adds.

The Dollar Menu "is a big deal, but it would be a mistake to think that's the only thing driving the business," Proud says. "It's important to look at it holistically, not just at the Dollar Menu. There's balance there, and value is seeded throughout our menu."Finding that balance isn't easy, operators say. Properly priced quick-service menus tend to offer equal amounts of bargain and premium offers -- known throughout the industry as a "barbell" menu strategy. If disproportionate weight is given to one, you risk alienating some customers, says Lynn Liddle, executive vice president of communication and investor relations at Ann Arbor, Mich.-based Domino's Pizza.

"You have to have something along the continuum for each customer type," Liddle says. "You can't be a one-trick pony and just do bargains. There have to be more things going on."

Liddle admits Domino's hasn't nailed the perfect pricing formula, so the 8,000-unit chain supplies a broad range of choices and price options. She says profits are made when Domino's hooks customers with affordable specials and steers them to buy add-ons.

"They'll start with three medium pizzas for $5," she says, "but then we can upsell them. Somebody orders two or three extra toppings, an order of Cinnastix and a [soda], and it goes up from there."

When Au Bon Pain in Boston introduced its Portions line last March, prices ranged from $2.99 to $3.49 -- $2 to $4 less than most of its other items -- and that initially made some executives fearful ticket averages would drop. But marketing vice president Ed Frechette says the opposite occurred. Customers bought multiple Portions for a meal, or one or two as add-ons to larger items.

"Our ticket average has held, even in this economy," Frechette says. "People are not trading down because of Portions; they're not substituting them for more expensive items."

ABP's check average is about $8.50, Frechette says.

Still, he insists, Portions' low prices provide a great entry point for those consumers trying the brand for the first time and for variety seekers.

"It gives them choices, which is exactly what we intended to do," he says.

Rob Poetsch, spokesman for Irvine, Calif.-based Taco Bell, says the chain's Why Pay More menu -- items are priced from 79 cents to 99 cents -- does draw hard-core bargain hunters. But a larger number of customers treat the menu's items much like side items.

"The bulk of our orders have more than four items on them…and more than two-thirds of our customers buy menu items off the Why Pay More menu," Poetsch says.

The fact that Taco Bell sells 2 billion Crunchy Beef Tacos annually prompted it to add the item to the Why Pay More slate for 89 cents.

"By moving that onto the Why Pay More menu, the majority of our orders now [include] a Crunchy Beef Taco," Poetsch says.

Not all chains have adopted a barbell menu strategy, however. Brad Haley, executive vice president of marketing for Hardee's and Carl's Jr., the two quick-service brands owned by Carpinteria, Calif.-based CKE Restaurants Inc., insists those chains won't play the deep-discount game, despite their competitors' success.

"We can't position ourselves as serving high-quality food and sell it for 99 cents," he says.

Both brands' Six Dollar Burger lines appeal to customers who believe they're getting a value for the money, he adds.

Haley says both chains offer occasional bargains, such as two burgers for $3, but they rarely promote them beyond window posters in hopes customers will forget about them once they're inside.

"Those items aren't even promoted on the menu board because we want them to see our premium items," Haley says. "We don't have a lot of things you can get for a buck, but we do have some good items at two for $3. Other than that, we stick to what's worked."

Read About Jane Fraser

FTC Urges Food Makers To Take Care With Under 12 Demo
23 September, 2008 12:51:00
 
 In testimony before a Senate panel, FTC Chairman Jon Leibowitz recommended a proactive approach from food manufactures when marketing products to children under age 12. Self regulation now, he suggested, may head off government regulation tomorrow. He made five general points, starting out with joining the Council of Better Business Bureaus Initiative to adopt high nutritional standards when marketing to children, and added that such efforts should not be limited to television and radio marketing, but should include all media used for promotional purposes.

FTC Chairman Jon Leibowitz before Senate Appropriations subcommittees: “A useful first step would be to join the CBBB [Council of Better Business Bureaus] Initiative. In other words, all companies should take measures to limit their food and beverage promotions directed to children to those for healthier products.

“Second, given the integrated nature of most marketing campaigns, the Commission also recommends that these nutrition-based standards be extended beyond television, radio, print, and Internet advertising, to cover the full spectrum of marketing activities to children, including product packaging, advertising displays at the retail site, premium distribution, celebrity endorsements, and other promotional activities.

“Third, the Commission also recommends that all companies stop in-school promotion of foods and beverages that do not meet meaningful nutrition-based standards. In addition, all companies that sell ‘competitive’ food or beverage products in schools (outside of the school meal program) should join the Alliance for a Healthier Generation or otherwise adopt and adhere to meaningful nutrition-based standards for foods and beverages sold in schools, such as those recommended by the Institute of Medicine.

“Fourth, the Report contains many other specific recommendations for the food industry, which address the nutritional profile of product offerings, nutrition labeling, healthy messages, and marketing in schools.

“Finally, in light of the character licensing and extensive cross promotion of foods with films and children’s televison programs, the Report also recommends actions by media and entertainment companies. Included among these is a recommendation that media and entertainment companies should consider instituting their own self-regulatory initiative and working with the CBBB in this endeavor.”

Read About Jane Fraser

"A man is LOVED not for how tall he stands, but for how often he bends to help, comfort and teach."

                                                                      - Hallmark Cards

Enjoy the world of chaos, third gravitating bodies , the omni-dimension and ......unconditional love.

Happy Father's (and Mother's) day.

Coach Scott

Read About Scott Fraser

I came across an interesting statement last week: "Over the past 45 years, Consumer spending went up -- not down -- during each economic downturn." Source: DDB Needham Worldwide, “Advertising in Recessionary Times,” October 1990 updated subsequently.

Consumer spending goes up in uncertain economic times? That certainly runs contrary to conventional wisdom. However, Joel Libava offers an explanation in his blog post of January 23, 2008, “The R Word and Economic Woes — The World Will Go On”

He says: “It’s hard to deny that we’re in (or going in to) an economic downturn. During this economic downturn, the world won’t stop spinning, consumers won’t stop spending, and people will still go into businesses of their own.”

Joel provides an example of a real out-of-work couple, considering purchasing a franchise, and discussing their own feelings about downsizing, concluding “Once a great and meaningful service is provided to a consumer, it is really hard for that consumer to give that great and meaningful service up. Yes, consumers will tighten their belts, and back off from some extravagant spending. But when it comes to time saving products and services such as house cleaning, you will be hard pressed to find folks willing to give it up. Really.”

The reality is that people will continue to spend during a recession, but its more important than ever to persuade them to spend those dollars with you.  Where do you start?  "Great and meaningful service" sounds right to me. 

And, don't forget, any gains you make in market share while your competitors are hunkering down and waiting for things to get better, will be multiplied when the economy does improve.

Wouldn't you spend a few dollars more promoting your business for a bigger slice of a smaller pie now, when it will ensure a bigger slice of a bigger pie soon?

Read About Chuck McKay

As a marketing consultant working exclusively with owner-operated companies, I'm always looking for people who are good at what they do and just need a little help telling their story.  It also helps if they've actually got the mojo to grow a company past the length of their own shadow.

In The E Myth, Michael Gerber contrasted true entrepreneurs from "technicians" thusly (and I'm obviously paraphrasing):  just because you're good at fixing crappers doesn't mean you can grow a substantial plumbing company.

So, yes, give me those 'natural' entrepreneurs who understand that running a company requires a whole different skill set than merely doing the deed. 

If you fall in that category, I strongly recommend you spend some time in "Kauffman" land.  Named for serial entrepreneur Ewing Kauffman, the Kauffman Foundation is a non-profit all about giving entrepreneurs the tools they need to increase operational efficiency and innovation in their business.

See, it makes it easier for us to tell your story...if you have some kind of story worth telling.

As a head's up, the Kauffman universe runs wide and deep, so I'll suggest you start with FastTrac, a practical, hands-on business development program designed to help entrepreneurs hone the skills needed to create, manage and grow a successful business.
 

Read About Ray Seggern