Bloginage

So once in a while I like to do a "Bloginage" which is a takeoff of the word "blog" and "badinage." The word badinage, which I learned in a game of cranium, basically means "banter." So I'm just gonna banter a bit, giving some snippets of random stuff...

So about the upcoming leave of absence (or SEEF3M), the analogy I had earlier was I felt like I had senioritis. You know, when all you can think of is graduating and being free from all this homework. Well, since I'm a little over a month away now, I have a new analogy from my college days: It feels like final exam month. I have all this stuff I need to get done at work before I can leave for summer vacation!

I've inched my way out of the dip... The new project I'm looking at trying out is a single use wipe for use on the exterior of cars. It's not a ground breaking idea, but it'll let me learn about selling a physical product. Also, I'm thinking this as an example of a commercial innovation: the product is very similar (if not the same) as an existing product, but you position it in a way so it solves a different problem for the consumer.

I had a short meeting with the wipes vendor and learned about the typical issues with this kind of business model. Minimum order quantity is 50,000 wipes. The cost isn't too bad (in the thosands of dollars for 50K wipes). But then I figured in fulfillment and shipping costs, and I'd prob at best break even if I charged $0.50 a wipe. Adam, how do you make money using this model? :) Next step is some testing with people...

I've gotten some buzz on NotTheBookstore.com, as 3 students have signed up for my mailing list in the same week. The mailing list is invaluable; these are people who voluntarily want to be reminded to buy your product. I haven't rolled out the new site yet, but I've gotten to the point now where I've redesigned one page and have sent it in to my programmer.

I find it interesting that Brad was in "The Dip" just as I was at the same time...

I've always wondered if this blog would ever make money for us. It's been great as a way to get inspiration and meet people similar to you in this journey, so even if it doesn't make me a penny it'll be worth it. But last week, someone bought a copy of the E-Myth that I blogged about. So our first pennies of revenue! Funny how such a small thing inspires you so much...

As usual, things just kinda flow when you just start writing and instead of a bunch of small snippets I end up with a pretty long post!

Bloginage

Way-new collaboration

This is another great video from TED talking about how collaboration is the future of business. I think business is seen as a zero-sum game - if I win someone else has to lose. Well this video argues how that was based on a biological scarcity of resources mindset - and not how business works.

Howard Rheingold talks about the coming world of collaboration, participatory media and collective action -- and how Wikipedia is really an outgrowth of our natural human instinct to work as a group.

Way-new collaboration

I've hit "The Dip"

So as you've probably noticed, I haven't been blogging as much lately. I think I've hit "The Dip"(the concept described by the Seth Godin book). The lack of blogging correlates to the lack of stuff getting done in general on my entrepreneurial pursuits:

Notthebookstore.com - I hired a programmer to revamp the site and add some nice features to it. The guy did an awesome job. I trust him so much that I paid him in full before I launched the site, trusting that he'll be there if I had issues. But now I'm stuck in The Dip, with the old site still up and the new site still to go. I know I want to tweak the new site, put up some content to feature the new stuff. But every time I've thought about it, I've found something else to do.

New project - I took the first baby step on a new product idea I had (it's not new or ingenious by any stretch of the imagination, but I'm afraid to talk about it because I don't wanna jinx it! It does have something to do with cars, so Adam I might be contacting you for advice since you have a lot of experience with Detailed Image). I contacted a supplier, and the person has responded and has asked me for my contact info so we can talk about it. I've procrastinated giving him that info, even though it would be a great next step to keep the chain moving.

So today, instead of procrastinating some more or thinking up excuses not to do something, I've decided I would blog with reckless abandon and not think about perfection or if this post makes sense or not. This is one of those cases where it's better to do something and have it be not quite perfect than to not do anything at all. So here it is! I'm sitting at Panera Bread drinking below average ice tea (hmm, maybe that's a subject of a future blog... how I would design the perfect place to SEEFAD). My goal is to take the next step in the two things I listed above (I've already taken the next step for this blog by posting this!)

I've hit "The Dip"