What is the speed of trust?

I routinely integrate the subject of Ethics into every thing that I do.  A person's true character eventually will always show through in the manner in which they conduct themselves in every aspect of their life.  Personal integrity is all that a true man has once the thin veneer of a surface showmanship is stripped away.  Yet it is this reality that many fail to truly grasp as life's bumps pierce the thin veneer of their life exposing the character beneath.

Covey says that the Speed of Trust is one of the most powerful forces of life.  Stephen Covey does an excellent job of discussing the life effect of one's ethical charcter in his book titled "The Speed of Trust" available at Amazon.com.

In his book, Covey talks about how trust flows throughout our lives and directly impacts our relationships in everything that we do.  I consistently choose to live by the rule that integrity, ethics, and honor are the root character of who I am, and that those characteristics are demonstrated in the actions and successes that I experience.  Covey argues that this essence is integrated into your personal and professional life and is largely responsible for your succcesses and failures.

Covey adds the variable of "trust" to illustrate this impact in business success.  Covey states that business success is traditionally illustrated with the formula:

Strategy x Execution = Results

Covey illustrates the role of ethics or trust by adding Trust as a variable to that equation:

(Strategy x Execution) x Trust = Results

The illustration drives home the point that no matter how good your strategy and execution may be, if you are missing that personal characteristic of ethics and trust - your life successes will be reflected in diminished results.

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Today, national news reported on a card marketed by Hallmark to benefit aids in Africa.  But the news report didn't cover the benefits and contribution Hallmark is making to help people living with aids in Africa.  8% of the net wholesale proceeds from the sale of their new (Product) Red line are contributed to the Global Fund to help fight aids.

So what was the focus of the news report today?   A greeting card!

The outrage reported is about a card that appears to be offering a glass of wine with the following message:

Front Message:  Pardon Me

Inside Message:  Would you care for some Liquid Clothes Remover?

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Would you like to know who the Top 5 sites are who are sending 280,261 people to watch your competitor's video?

Video is one of the hottest new viral marketing tools that we use to drive traffic to our websites.  For every video that we create for use on one of our websites, we also create a second version that we publish on YouTube.  If you can create a unique and entertaining video, it quickly can acheive a viral marketing effect as friends share it with their friends.

YouTube is giving you the referrer stats to your competition's top referrer's …

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As an entrepreneur, I have always had to focus on street logic.  And on the street, new product development concepts are a natural part of our street logic.  I am not talking about Wallstreet and corporate america, but rather the way business really works on mainstreet in the real world.  I recently finished graduate school to get my business degree which was a delightful experience meeting and working with executives across a variety of businesses and industries.

One of my favorite professors was focused on new product development.  The course was an exciting course with a lot of theoretical concepts - concepts such as how to create product innovation teams, cycle time, customer fit, etc. - as well as an emphasis on controlling development costs (we will get back to this often overlooked topic).

The typical "theoretical" NPD development cycle is as follows:

1. Idea Generation
2. Idea Screening 

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US Entrepreneurship and small business represent the third largest global economy.  Today, small businesses with 500 or fewer employees employ more than 50% of the all employees and produce approximately one-half of the total private non-farm GDP.

If we were to compare the size of the small business economy with the rest of the world, the US entrepreneurship and small business economy would rank third in the world behind the US medium and large business economy and Japan.

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Obama will win the Iowa democrat caucuses tonight.  The fascinating factors are the overwhelming number of first time voters brought into the process by Obama.  45% of the voters in my precinct were first time voters - having never registered to vote before - the Obama Factor.

The Iowa Caucuses are begining to wrap up and the Obama factor is driving Obama to a win.

Statewide Obama is getting 37% … but in precincts where the Obama factor kicked in drawing stunning numbers of new voters into the process, Obama won 50% of the votes.  A powerful factor that can not be ignored as the canidates move to New Hampshire and beyond.

Disclosure:  I did not vote for Obama.

While reviewing some preliminary study materials for a consulting call with Alex Mandossian, I stumbled upon a quote that was quite insightful!  Is your marketing message based upon how you see your market as?  Or is your message based upon how your market sees themselves as?

The quote is from Anais Nin:

We don't see things as they are.  We see things as we are.  
                                                               Anais Nin (1903 - 1977)

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Jonathan Ledger has recently posted a new case study to evaulate whether obtaining links from Blog Comments is valuable or not.  I think his case study will be VERY successful!  And I look forward to reading his results.

Let's take a brief look at his case study.  Jonathan has built an adsense site with 11 unique articles.  To promote the site, he is going to post 600 comments on blogs that do not (*DO NOT*) use the "no follow" attribute.   The goal of the case study is to learn whether links obtained through comments posted on blogs have a positive impact on search engine rankings.

For example, my blogs (including this one) allow you to earn a link 
back to your site simply by posting good and valuable content in 
your comments. 

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The Kenyan Ambassador to the United States recently stayed at our house.  It was a delightful privilege and honor to host Ambassador Ogego and his wife Rose.  I grew up in Kenya, under the leadership of President Kenyatta.  It was fascinating to discuss the economic transitions from President Kenyatta to former president Moi to the current President Kibaki.

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A Serial Entrepreneur

A recent study released by the federal government's Small Business Administration stated that the regulatory cost per employee for small businesses with less than 20 employees is $7,647.

It can be reasonable to assume that this number is not an "under-estimate."  Which makes the release of this number especially troublesome.  What is the impact of regulatory costs on entrepreneurism? On new job creation?  On job retention?

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$4,900 - Sold

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Abstract:

Massive expansion in China's infrastructure and cities has created a country-wide construcion boom. New roads, buildings, and public works projects have caused increased demand for construction equipment, especially for multi-purpose vehicles such as a wheel laoder. Quick, and capable of performing a large variety of tasks, the wheel loader is must-have on any industrial job-site. As such, the growth of the market has been tremendous, and there are many manufacturers (both old and new) jockeying for a piece of the action. Caterpillar and other wheel loader manufacturers (such as Komatsu and Volvo) are in country, and have equity positions with domestic wheel loader manufacturers. Working with their business partner, Cat has set aggressive sales goals, but has found the Chinese market resistant to the charms of their brand. In China, the wheel loader buyer bases purchasing decisions on price, and does not value durability, parts availability, used equipment, rental eqiupment nor program financing - all of which are the key elements of Cat's global success to date. With this project, Caterpillar hopes to gain a better understanding of the China wheel loader marketplace, and the market potential for new, used, and rental equipment.

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I will always put customers first. In this way I know that my business will last.
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I will strive to continually educate myself to become an expert about the products and services that I offer so that I may provide increased value to customers and visitors to my online business. 
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I will strive to find newer and better ways of presenting my products and services to make it easier for customers to do business with me. In this way I shall gain customers trust, confidence and continued patronage.

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Technorati Profile

Technorati is considered the #1 authority site on the internet for blogs.  One of the features they offer is the ability to "claim" your own blog.  This allows you to create and administer your blog profile on their site.  This includes the ability to maintain your bio, profile settings, and even add a photo.

 Greg Watson