Are we innovating or playing catchup?. . .

It seems we’re more interested in knowing what the other guy’s doing, so we can improve on it. Seeing that this has become the norm it leads me questioning whether people want to be innovative at what they do or just want to be better than others.

The “real entrepreneurs” seek to outdo themselves not anyone else, which only begins by doing what you do. I might be opening a can of academically flawed but intellectually sound worms. Companies that lead in their market don’t do so by following a concept spearheaded by their competition, but design products and offer services that are better than their last.

Maximize your online outreach

Most small businesses we've discovered don't utilize all the online resources available to them, some of the few who do find tend to themselves with a small network. And at times there isn't a place that provides directinformation on how to become effective by yourself at this.

I was speaking to Lantz a few moments ago and thought we should organize a course/tutorial entailing online content management as well as blogging resources. This will increase marketing outreach while providing information on managing your blog and keeping track of traffic. The web serves as a viable method of keeping/making contact withprospects and placing yourself strategically ensures that you attract relevanttraffic.

What are your thoughts around this? Is this an event that can be viable for you as a business or individual? We haven't yet confirmed a date for this event, will be inviting somebloggersand possibly a blog/web directory.

The value placed to marketing. .

. . . . is proportional to the clients a company has. However in the world of open source and new internet - as defined by Seth Godin, this value can be equated to the time spent in making a strategy work effectively.

Why do some brands spend millions on marketing, endorsements and being on every billboard, while their contemporaies lag behind? I'm discovering that there's whole host of resources out there that make small companies more noticeable.

Consider spending sometime doing reasearch on how you can change your company's general public perception.

We tend to forget. .

We tend to forget - or at least I do - why we started our search for growth. It was through repetition that you arrived where you are now, and constant repetition that was.

With time we become so comfortable with our last accomplishment / award / breakthrough that we no longer repeat the same set of steps or behaviours. Last night we had an interesting discussion at home that led me to saying I always raise the bar on myself, the last time I did it no-longer counts.

Create inspiring days at all times. . . It starts with the imagination and we all have this.

Everything is learnt through imitating

was one of the things mentioned in Justin Cohen's talk last week. I've been contemplating this post for 8days now, not knowing how it fits here, but I guess the proof is in writing.

He was really passionate about it and it wasn't the same as everything else I'd been to, where the speaker tries to motivate you, where it actually looks like they want a confirmation from you. It was exciting sitting there watching - as part of a very small audience - and feeling like jumping off my seat to work on things. Which is why it's so appropriate to write about this now after a week of his talk. It added value and if you work first from the basis of adding value as the purpose for any service, then it makes sense for people to use it.

I must say that I'm a wee bit sceptical about many speakers as it's really becoming an old tactic - yes a plot - to get people to listen things that wont add any real value thereafter.

The same mind that was grunting like an ape put Neil Armstrong on the moon, is writing this post and also reading it. Did you ever meet someone so exceptional at what they do, that want do it?

Design the events for your progress

aQuaNova is an events design company where we put in place occurences for the development of entrepreneurs. I've realized that there are events, occurences, incidents - call them what you will - which happen at any point in time and these grow you as a person. Don't you often think that at some point there were so many things that happened in a short space of time, which shaped the person you are? In my seeing this I realized how much had to accelerate my growth and that of my network, hence my previous post.

If we were to meet as little as 2 new people a week that make a 2% improvement to our business and us to theirs, then we'd have a profitable year. So, with this in mind I have resolved to design events that cause such, if not more, change to businesses.

People can lead you to:

1. More business prospects.

2. Ideas they've had in the past which imrpoved their businesses.

3. Marketing links and resources.

It's not external resources that we need most of the time, but the ability to peform with more effeciency once new knowledge has been acquired.

Manufacture Your Luck . .

. . . a post by Thom Singer in which he mentions that in order to have luck one has to build it through their nerwork. In fact I've come to know lately that the quality of people you know improves drastically the life you lead. This is true in business and your personal life as both elements tie into one another. Click here to read the post.

Wordpress is by far the most effectve. . .

. . . open source content management application on the web, their stats and websites that use it prove that. Have a look at their website on www.wordpress.org to form a personal opinion.

If you have a busines to run and have limited time - do you really read all their content before getting into it? It was a long read for me and as I write this post am a bit reluctuctant to use it- there seems to be a lot to know, especially if you're not tech savvy and realize the internet is one of your bases for marketing. On the one hand open source is great but it seems you need spend a lot of time reading through stuff and having someone implement it for you anyway.

It sort of takes away the fun of having done every single function in your comany including the website. When I have 4-hours to read, probably another day to implement Wordpress and some time to read through their forum regularly - I look forward to doing it. It just wont be soon though.

There are go to guys and then there’s Lantz Mattinson. . .

I met Lantz Mattinson through an enquiry I made with DataPro and must say this was a much postponed errand. The experience I had with IT specialists had been flawed with coding and software I didn’t have. . Or care to acquire. . With the many sources of online advertising available it is worthwhile to select one that works in your context - both financially and with usability.

Lantz made a few recommendations - still does - based on my enquiry and noted that I should be consistent with my weapon of choice. Getting web traffic can be made easy through consistency and improving the mode selected. His expertise in developing and suggesting implementation plans have been the source of most of our online marketing mediums.

He is my "go to guy" who always offers new suggestions on what is slowly becoming the old web. Do you find it exciting being online? It just tends to feel like work at times if the routine doesn’t change. But if you know someone who makes it exciting to do it, then it just gets better all the time.

Technology for small business – and probably business in general – becomes another department on its own. But if you have a new business to run with a busy schedule then diverting your focus might be of more detriment than good. So who’s your go to guy or do you even have one?

Facilitated networking. . .

. . . is a decision made after quite an interesting January at aQuaNova as we're planning our long awaited launch seminar which will be hosted on the 28th of February. This promises to be highly inspiring in fact my speakers are very eager to share their insights on networking as a marketing effort. We have decided to reduce our tickets from R325 to R250 so we can reach as many young businsses and entrepreneurs as we can.

More will be posted about the seminar as more value and developments are added. But very briefly the seminar will be about marketing for you and your business. After numerous meetings and debates with the speakers we have concluded that people want to connect with other people even at buisness level.

Have you ever been to a seminar and thought you'll meet a lot of interesting people, but didn't have the nerve to introduce yourself to more than 10 individuals? Well I have . . . And the first few times I went to networking events I was lucky if met people in 3 other tables except my own. Both the speakers and myself will ensure that people make an exchange with a minimum of 15 people.