As a child, I found it amusing that my father, who upon learning a new fancy sounding word, would try to find every possible excuse to then use that word, even if it was mildly inappropriate.  “Hey, you need to fastidiously clean your room!”, “I thought my point was perspicacious….”, and so on.  When we learn something new or exciting, it seems to be natural to then want to share it with others.  The problem is that what is new or exciting to us may not be new or even relevant to others.

Many people, after having read a new book or attending a seminar, especially if they learned something important, will then take every conversation for the next couple of weeks and frame it within the context of that lesson.  Here is an obvious and absurd example:

Victim:
“I am really tired lately, I haven’t been sleeping well”

Well-Meaning Person Talking to Themselves:
“I just went through a course on organization.  Maybe if you did a better job of prioritizing your day you would sleep better at night”

Victim:
“I am pretty sure my sleep problems are because my family died in a car accident”

Well-Meaning Person Talking to Themselves:
“Well, maybe… but you should really try this course.  I can’t tell you how much it helped me sleep once I organized my schedule.”

We all need to “think out loud” from time to time and bouncing ideas off of others is healthy, the point is to be aware of when we are doing it.  Talking to yourself in a business negotiation, developing a new business relationship, or just while explaining your business to someone can be disastrous.  When we talk to people we have to be aware of what people need to hear more than what we need to say.

If you are still skeptical about this being a problem.  Just keep in mind, I have been talking to myself through this whole article….

To “cut” implies resistance, which is the origin of the expression “cutting-edge”. People dedicated to cutting-edge ideas are going through the pain of changing the status quo. Products and ideas that are truly cutting-edge are not ready for the general public. Cutting-edge ideas are rough, expensive to produce, and lack the volume to manufacture profitably. Even in software and IT, when people use new or developing technology, businesses are in for a nightmare of troubleshooting if they are the “first” to use the latest… anything.

Build It and Bust

Businesses that make money aren’t the ones to use cutting-edge ideas, but ideas that are flushed out and polished. History is full of ventures that died only to set the way for someone else to do the same thing later and make a fortune. Here are some examples of great “cutting-edge” ideas that didn’t make money, but later hit big:

Magnetic Tape – Remember eight tracks? They bombed, but Sony later came out with the Walkman and made a fortune. The Sony Walkman and cassette tapes were the iPod of the 80s.

The Mac Cube – Apple’s artsy-fartsy cube computer met with awe and criticism. It got a lot of attention but didn’t sell well. A little bit later, and voila!, the Mac Mini is born and sells like hot cakes.

The SEGA Channel – If you remember The SEGA Channel, then you are a true video game connoisseur. SEGA launched an online video game subscription services in 1994 when the Internet was still in the womb. While that venture saw an early death, it paved the way for modern day online content like X-Box Live, Playstation Network, and even the iTunes App Store.

Cars – Everyone thinks of Henry Ford and the Model T when we think of the first cars. Henry Ford didn’t invent the car, not even the gasoline powered car, he just invented a way to build them profitably. Heard of Charles and Frank Duryea? I didn’t think so.

Sharper Image – A entire retail store dedicated to cutting-edge products… R.I.P.

So what is an entrepreneur to do? No one wants to be “Johnny come lately”, you want to be the one on top of the next big thing.

The Hidden Commodity -> Practical Insight

People who have a practical understanding of ideas and their applications are who take the cutting-edge and make it profitable. Apple didn’t invent the smartphone, Steve Jobs just understood how to make them accessible to the general public. Thomas Edison did not invent the light-bulb (as some think), he just made the first commercially practical light bulb and was able to make LOTS of them. Ben and Jerry’s didn’t invent ice cream… well, you get my point.

It is people who understand the consumer and the processes needed to take an idea from the prototype to mass-production that make the money. THOSE are the people who earn you a return on your investment. They are the “ambassador’s of progress”, taking the new and making it accessible. Nothing “cutting-edge” makes it off the shelf without them.

Dunkin’ Donuts is a business that, when it is working well, becomes a part of a consumer’s day-to-day life.  As such, it finds itself appearing in the vast stream of consciousness of Twitter.  By being active on Twitter, Dunkin’ Donuts can keep a pulse on how they are being perceived by their target base.  They are able to converse with their customers, and have another FREE venue for announcing promotions and new products.

Almost any end-consumer business can benefit by this example.  While Twitter is still not a good way, in my opinion, to grow your base or reach a lot of new customers, it is a great way to connect with and cultivate your current base.

Geeks everywhere have logged their protests at the iPad lack of revolutionary technology. It is criticized as an oversized iPhone, and an less functional netbook. I think the point that people are missing is the iPad isn’t a new toy for geeks, it is a computer for non-geeks. The iPhone has gained so much popularity because it is so easy to use for the average consumer, so it just makes sense to expand that platform to a larger platform.

The fallout from the iPad won’t be felt right away, but it will be something we look back on in 5 years a monumental shift in consumer technology to the same degree, if not more so, that we now look back on the iPhone as a breakthrough for smartphones and PDAs. Once consumers get their hands on the iPad, and start using it for Internet, email, and multimedia, they won’t ever want to go back to traditional computers ever again.

Computers today do one major thing wrong… they do everything. When you buy a computer you presented with an open environment upon which the computer demands that you figure it out from there. Having a “customizable” operating system is just another way of saying “your on your own”. For geeks, like me, this is great. There are no rules, and we can make our computers do whatever we want. For consumers, it sucks. They stare blankly at a screen full of options, icons, and artifacts until their brain pops and they call me asking me to come over and set their computer up for them.

The iPad, like the iPhone, works the moment you turn it on and guides you, ever so cheerfully, through whatever task you are trying to perform. The only buttons you see are the ones you need to see, and there is little room to get lost. Beyond that, Apple has a done a great job of encouraging (read “forcing”) developers to mimic their user-friendly design when making new apps. All this making each task simply a new button on your screen, all working with a touch of your finger.

So three decades after the first so-called “personal computer”, Steve Jobs has given us the real first personal computer with the iPad. As “that guy you call when your computer breaks” I personally can’t wait to replace every computer my friends and family own with an iPad. I look forward for 5 years from now when only geeks and developers like me actually buy open platform computers, and the everyday consumer finally has a no-hassle window to the Information age.

Social Media COJONES!

SCEA (Sony Computer Entertainment of America) runs the blog (http://blog.us.playstation.com/). They do just about everything right. First, they have great regular posts that both take advantage of current hot topics, but also have great personable content. All blog posts are credited to actual authors, who often flow up by responding to comments. They also allow users to not only comment but also to whine, rant, and complain about whatever they think SCEA is doing wrong. I, myself, have complained more than once and have never had a comment rejected. Yes, SCEA puts their flaws out for everyone to drag through the mud.

Everyone is afraid of the negative press they will get in the untamed wilds of social media, but SCEA isn’t phased by it. Whatever pain this may cause is far outweighed by immense amount of traffic and exposure their products get. Their Facebook page has over 700,000 followers at the time of posting this. That is over half-a-million users they have free advertising to at any point in time!

Social Media Common Sense!

It takes more than just COJONES, SCEA also has the best common sense approach to managing the chaos. SCEA only responds to users who are asking questions, or posting reasonable complaints and issues, but just let’s the whiners carry alone. This is very smart, because it trains their users to be polite. Fans know they have a better chance of being heard if they don’t just rant and rave. The point here is that they DO RESPOND, just in a very methodical fashion that builds a great fan base. Second, more often than not, other fans will just come to SCEA’s defense without them having to lift a finger. And again, all this just builds great traffic.

SCEA also does a great job of re-posting and re-linking all their own content. On weekends, SCEA posts a “recap” listing all their posts from the previous week, as well as a “what we read on the web” which is, of course, a listing of their best press across the web. This also helps their web strategy by encouraging other sites wanting traffic to be positive toward SCEA products.

Even if you don’t care about Sony (or hate them), it is worth following their social media for a while, just so see some real pros at work!

SCEA Blog: http://blog.us.playstation.com/
Twitter: http://twitter.com/SonyPlaystation
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/PlayStation

1) Don’t apply rules of reason to unreasonable people. resist the temptation to assume everyone is like you. They are not.

2) To the one who understands, no explanation is necessary. To the one who doesn’t, no explanation will suffice.

3) A prudent person sees trouble and seeks refuge. The simple keep going and suffer for it.

4) Stop finding reasons why something won’t work and start looking for reasons why something will work. Life is WAY more fun if you think like this.

I hope you enjoyed these. Please share any great thoughts, ideas, quotes you might have with me.

FileMaker, a long-time database software developer, has two products you should know about.  FileMaker Pro, which has been around for a long time, is a powerful visual-database creator like Microsoft Access.  It is a little advanced, but easily picked up and learned by anyone even remotely technology-savvy.

The other product, which is still very new, is Bento.  Bento is a drag-and-drop, dead easy, database maker.  It allows you to create your own database and visual interface with the easy of an iLife program like iTunes and iPhoto.  Bento can be taught to just about anyone, and is very fun to use.

Most internal software needs in business are just custom-database solutions.  For those needs, using the right FileMaker product can help you save a fortune over hiring a software firm to build you an application from scratch.  It also saves you from being married to the firm that designs your software.  While not for everyone, if you are a business owner with a need for custom software, give FileMaker a look.

FileMaker: http://www.filemaker.com/

Bento: http://www.filemaker.com/bento/

A lot of businesses need to keep up-to-date on what their team members are doing, and what their progress is.  The solution for this is usually a complicated and time consuming project management software package.  These project management programs often require users to go through many clicks and menus just to post an update on a project.

Why not just tweet instead?  Many companies buy their employees company cell phones, and most cell phones can now run a twitter program of some sort (or heck, can just send text messages to Twitter).  Instead of using complicated software, just setup a group of private Twitter accounts.  This way, team members working on a project can just “tweet” short updates from their cell phones whenever they have a spare moment.

While some business need more information than what Twitter can provide, most do not.  Most project managers or small business owners just need a way to check in and see what everyone is doing.  Instead of waiting money and man-hours on complicated software, Twitter may be just what you need!