business

"If you don't fail now and again, it's a sign you're playing it safe."-- Woody Allen, Director

You're not taking enough risks in business. 

This statement just sounds wrong when you hear it. How can you afford to take anymore risks? Especially in this economy?

Business leaders will drone on and on about 'mitigating risk' to all who can stand to listen to them, but most of the time they just want investors to feel safe or to protect their jobs. Their constituents echo this same tune even though it chains them to cubicle hell. 

So how can you afford any more risk? Isn't it funny to know that you'd rule out this risk before even knowing the upside of the reward?

That's the way your brain works - and it can get you in trouble in business if you let it.

Right or left brained?

A productive first step for the creative process is to hunt and gather, to compile the data and fruitful findings of the market landscape. This method of collection is essential to innovation.

Our brains need to be showered with information and then, from the subconscious, many ideas begin to take shape, simply from asking the right questions.

Much has been made of the right and left side of the brain over the years. What little we know, however, is very helpful when studying the creative process.  

Nobel laureate Roger Sperry is best known for helping us understand these general applications of the

Do you run a small business? Want to connect with your users on the device they use the most?

There's an app for that - and now you can create it without breaking the bank.

Not only are there iPhone apps to help you run your own business, but the price of app development has dropped considerably, so now your company has a great opportunity to establish a presence on this incredibly important platform.

I've outlined some advice below for app development that I've accrued at Guideas over the past year or so.

In addition, here's a link to an interview I did for an article on MainStreet.com about app development for small business back in December. 

1. Have a plan

Having a strong, strategic plan is marketing 101. These same fundamentals apply to the world of app development as they do for any other marketing effort. 

Make sure to answer questions the following questions before you even begin thinking about getting started: What do we want to accomplish? How much are we willing to invest? Can we make this app interesting enough for users to share? How important is it to include social media?

2. Carve a niche

With well over 150,000 apps in circulation broken into a handful of categories, the whole goal is to be embedded in a niche as much as possible and own search term keywords. Examine the core reasons why a user would even want your app in the first place.

Facebook might rule the world. Zuckerberg and company are counting on you to get them there.

Is this a conspiracy? Well, unless you feel threatened to login, update your status or play Mafia Wars, you're okay - for now.

What's safe to assume is that, upon reading this article from the Guardian, we can conclude that Facebook is going to be bigger than anything we've ever witnessed thus far on the internet, thanks to you.

CNN president Jon Klein's statement is definitely not void of fear and respect for Facebook as a vehicle for news and media: 

"The competition I'm really afraid of is social nets. We want to be the most trusted source. But on Facebook, people are depending on their friends as news sources.

"I'm more worried about the 500 million or so people on Facebook versus the 2 million on Fox"

The golden nugget in Klein's statement is that he is fully aware that both you and your network's active participation in all things Facebook offers poses a major threat to CNN's business model. The fluid, transfer of news via citizen journalism is having major effects on how information is transferred. I had an interesting discussion with Ted Koppel about this very subject last year.

Social networks like Facebook operate with one commitment from their users interaction. Feedback and sharing are encouraged, still somewhat passively, in exchange for a free profile to do whatever you please with. 

 So much is written about leadership, about teams, and about the  importance of both. 

Sometimes we choose the path of leadership and sometimes it chooses us.  Most leaders will tell you that to be a good leader is to be a good follower.

We follow a vision, a mission, a plan.  And thru our words and actions others may choose to follow us.

Have you given thought to who or why you follow? Everyone follows someone and something at different times of their lives.

But the time will come for each of us when we are called forward to lead. 

Recently I had the chance to connect with some amazing women at the Society of Women Engineers.  When I was sharing ideas with them during the dinner keynote one of the questions from the day came back to me.  The question was ....could women lead and be recognized as leaders.

Here is what I had to share...