I run this joint. Don’t know where to start? Let me show you around:
Donald Trump decides to cash in on the widely successfully online university model. Due mostly to the success of his show The Apprentice (which I stopped watching after the first season), Trump University will feature short classes on real estate, marketing, and entrepreneurship. No online degrees will be offered, rather, $300 courses that teach practice over theory. I bet this approach will be huge based off his name alone.
Laissez les jeux commencer! Any tennis fans out there? If so, the greatest tennis championship begins today in Paris (yes, it’s even better than Wimbledon). What makes The French Open so unique you may ask? Well, it’s all in the famous red clay. Clay is the slowest of playing surfaces. The ball grips on the sticky clay and bounces high. This slows the ball down and makes for exceptionally long points. The average point is around 17-20 strokes, so it can be very entertaining.
Some of you may like to know how I become a tennis fan. If so, here’s a funny story on how I began watching The French Open, and the game of tennis for that matter.
After graduating from high school, I decided to sleep in ’till noon for a week straight. I never was good at sleeping in, so I altered my plan to staying in bed until noon. The Monday after graduating, I awoke around 10:00AM. I grabbed the remote and flipped on the TV. Immediately I was watching two guys playing tennis on red clay. Now I had never really watched tennis before, so had it not been for my lethargic state I probably would have changed the channel quick like. By the end of the match I was hooked, and one week later a new tennis fan was faithfully watching the final (while still in bed).
The below article is a quick and easy read into 2-step marketing (the idea that you give something freely to your target buyer, then follow up with them). The premise is that you let potential clients build trust with you prior to you’re asking them for the sale. Offer them something of value. If they like it, they’ll be more inclined to hear your pitch.
I just finished watching Star Wars 3. While it showcases John Lucas’ talent as a movie maker, it still lacks the funny overtones and great acting of the first three films. I was really excited because some critics have said it’s as good as the originals. Sadly, I feel this one was a little over-the-top and really had some dry acting.
It’s an entertaining film though, and sheds new light on the series. The ending is done especially well so you should enjoy that. Overall, I give it a flat B.
Websites are a great business tool anyway you look at them. I’ve recently been re-optimizing Griffio’s meta tags and it’s fairly easy with the help of your leading competitors. Whatever it is you sell, Google it, and then see who comes on top. Take the top 5 natural rankings and view their meta data (to do so, click on View, then Source on your browser. The meta tag content should be near the top). See what keywords your competitors are using and apply as needed to your own. This WON’T make your natural ranking leap right up to the top, but it’s a foot in the right direction.
Some of you may have already used this, but RoboForm is a very nice FREE web utility. It easily stores you critical online passwords in a safe and secure manner. To logon to this very blog, I just clicked a drop down box, and selected the site. Wa-la! RoboForm navigates to the page, fills in the password, and submits it. Very fast and a great tool!
Too many people try to think outside of the box, especially when it comes to product design. I guess they think that being outside of the box will automatically classify their efforts as creative. This belief couldn’t be further from the truth. Good design doesn’t always require creativity. Innovation does. So I guess before starting to design a product you need to decide, “Am I’m designing or innovating?” Once you get that down, you’ll be much more successful with your creations.
A quick example of this might be if you were a shirt designer. You might decide to “design outside of the box” by moving the shirt pocket from the left side to the right. The shirt was already working fine though as shirt users expect the pocket to be on the left side. In this case, you wouldn’t reinvent the shirt, just redesign it to make it look better. Maybe try a new pattern or a different color, but don’t try to innovate the already functioning shirt. You have to consistently use common sense to achieve intelligent design.
I have been very excited to see Keane live in concert. Their CD Hopes & Fears has been one of my favorites over the past year. Their is a certain freshness to the album, even given that some of their songs do sound similar. But how do the they sound live? How are they as performers?
First off, for those of you comparing Keane to Coldplay, their is no comparison. Keane has outplayed them with only one record to Coldplay’s three. Haven seen both in concert, I must say Keane brought so much more energy, enjoyment and freshness to their live sound. The lead singer’s voice is one of the prettiest, melodic voices I’ve ever heard. It’s that good. The piano player rocks. He constantly was on the verge of knocking over his piano. The drummer is tight and ads the perfect rhythm section san bass (bass is sequenced on a laptop). The two sure do bring a lot of energy and sound for only having two musicians playing . The light and video was something I didn’t expect, but brought an additional level of ambiance to the already full sound at the lovely Abravanel Hall in downtown SLC. One of the nicest venues I’ve ever been to.
The evening was a blast! The music was even better. Very good show! A+
According to Slashdot, Google will start combating how those gimmicky SEO (search engine optimization) companies use artificial link inflation (i.e. spam). Apparently, Google will revamp how PageRank takes into account the freshness of a webpage as well as some other features.
This proves yet again, that if you build your business on gimmicks, it will only last for a short time. (Think trendy weight loss products and you’ll have a good understanding of how most SEO companies work.) Not that there aren’t good SEO companies to help a site’s performance, but it is getting harder and harder to do because of saturation. I propose Link Optimization (LO) instead of just SEO. For example, who are the most important bloggers in your industry with the most traffic? Post thoughtful comments on their blogs and watch the traffic roll in. I’ve recently experienced 9 times my normal traffic because of the above strategy. It works!
I got a call this evening from a good friend of mine in Seattle. He is a businessman by birth and was instrumental in helping me take the entrepreneurial leap a few years ago. He got me thinking about what it is to be an entrepreneur so I did a little research and thought I’d share my findings with you.
The word entrepreneur is Old French for “undertake” or engage. There are two things I feel define a true entrepreneur. One, an entrepreneur assumes risk. That is, they take a chance. While not everyone is meant to be in business for themselves, risk takers aren’t afraid to be creative. They put themselves on the line. Sometimes you fail and learn how to better yourself. Usually you’ll succeed and learn from your success. Second, an entrepreneur has a strong desire to make something better. They can either start a new company to feel the void, or propose a new way of doing something at work. Entrepreneurs are individuals that find greater enjoyment in life by exercising risk and being passionate about making a difference. If you can do that in whatever it is you do, you will find immense purpose in your craft.
It takes guts and passion to be an entrepreneur. The greater the passion, the higher quality of work. It can be intimidating, but what a feeling to give it your all and see where it takes you. Speak up in your workgroups. Share your ideas. Start a new company. Take a stand for something you believe in. All are forms of “preneurs” or undertakers. All are ways of adding enjoyment to your workload (and maybe even your pocketbook).
This post is a tribute to all the great mothers in the world. First and foremost to my mother Cathy Snow. Thanks mom, I love you. Secondly, to all the other mother’s I’ve known in my life: Lindsey, Annette, Rhea, Colleen, Cami, Summmer, and Lucky. Happy Mother’s Day! You really make the world go round, and are great models of love, charity, and responsibility that the world needs more of.
Lindsey and I just finished watching Million Dollar Baby for the first time. It is really one of the best movies I’ve seen this year (right up there with Hotel Rwanda). For those of you who haven’t seen it, you’re missing out. It’s a boxing tragedy about guts, chutzpah, and endurance. Heck, I almost even cried at one point. Clint Eastwood has proven himself one of the best writer/director/actors in Hollywood. Very creative, very well-done, and an excellent story. A-
I have a very talented younger sister. She is currently a student at the prestigious School of Visual Arts in Manhattan and has just partially launched her personal website. It can be found by clicking here.
Lexia offers a simple yet sometimes skewed perspective of art. Her style is very enjoyable and refreshing to look at. For those of you who enjoyed the intro to the Napoleon Dynamite movie, Lexi’s been creating that style since before the movie was released.
Nice work.
Griffio has been selling databases and websites since the summer of 2003. It was a lot tougher back then to find new work. In the short period of time since then, we’ve been fortunate enough to have the number of referrals and repeat-work greatly increase. Just over the past two weeks I’ve received several emails from people saying they’ve heard about us and would like to talk. And I’ve received two requests for repeat-work from existing clients in as many days.
Networking is all about genuine friendship. If you are someone that is trustworthy, meaning you are true to your word, people will find you. They will reach out to take advantage of what you do well. While the effects might not be immediate, they will eventually become evident if you remain persistent in your efforts.
Speculation has been spreading on the internet that Google might one day offer free web hosting. It makes sense in that it could allow Google to capitalize on “content control” which they seem to be going after. This very blog is hosted free on Google servers. By offering free web hosting, the company could control the site content. The better they do that, the better they can protect their search technology and profitability.
Funny how their motto is “Don’t be evil.” Isn’t that bound to happen the larger a company gets? (greater bureaucracy = greater amount of evil?) I sure am glad I’m not in the hosting business.
by Mark Butler (Guest Contributor)
Next time you squash a bug or make a nasty comment to someone, think about the repercussions that your actions will have upon yourself and the world around you. Sometimes called Interconnectivity or Systems Thinking, there is a new paradigm shift away from Darwinism (survival of the fittest) toward Interconnectivity (we are all in this together). Street names include Karma, intention, and duality. Mom Butler used to call it, “you made this bed, now lie in it,” and “you reap what you sow.”
The basic principle states that by projecting a positive energy and attitude toward life, good things will happen to you in return. By controlling the ego, shifting your thoughts and beliefs away from low energy sources, and tapping into the positive energy around you, you can somewhat “co-create” a positive, stress-free, and successful life.
Some excellent books that I highly recommend that touch on the subjects of Systems Thinking:
– The Power of Intention – Dyer
– Manifest your Destiny – Dyer
– Power vs. Force – Hawkins
– 7 Steps to Genius Everyday – Gelb
– Think & Grow Rich – Hill
– The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People – Covey
My wife and I are planning a trip to Seattle in June. She is from there but this will be the first time I’ve been. We plan on doing the tourist stuff, and especially catch a Mariner’s game, but if anyone knows of some fun locations and restaurants, let us know.
There is a plethora of business books out in the world claiming to reveal the next big thing to make money or better run your business. Some are good, most are bad. There are books on management, sales, and even customer service. The last one I think is laughable. Customer service is equivalent to how you cordially serve your customers to make them happy. If you don’t understand that, I don’t know how you would be in business.
I therefore present Griffio’s “corporate policy” on customer service. It’s rather simple and is based on one thing: accountability. Be responsive to those you interact with. Here’s how:
Reason being: customer service is about character not dollars. It’s something that is hard to teach although it can be done. The two above items should help your efforts in showing your customers that you care enough to respond to them. They have been the only formal customer service policies we follow and have taken our company a long way in being one of the most responsive firms in our industry. Sure beats reading a long, boring business book on customer service.
Stealing some of the thunder from Apple’s new OS (Tiger) that comes out this Friday, there is already a widget program for the PC. A widget is a mini application that runs on your desktop behind your open windows. I currently have the local temperature, calendar, search bar, local movie times, and my appointments running on my desktop. Other widgets include a real time stock ticker and live traffic cams. Very helpful indeed and much better than having to load a website for a little tid-bit of information.
Download the program now by clicking here.
Some of you may like to know: exactly how does Griffio go about solving our clients’ business challenges? Well, we’ve loosely documented but rigidly followed the below ideology. (It applies to all sorts of problems and not just how to make web-based business software.)
Hopefully, this will help or add to how you approach problems. The idea is to use these steps or a derivative of them in solving just about anything. If you come up with any areas that this might not work (i.e. marriage) please let me know by filling out our quick and easy comment box.
Tim Ormond
And the winner is…
(Thanks to Tim for submitting this)
Today I had the opportunity to meet with two potential clients in Salt Lake City. These meetings were “first contact” and are only second in enjoyment to “closing a sale” meetings. I really take pleasure in sitting down with people and seeing how our company can help improve their businesses. It’s a pleasure to discover their backgrounds; where they’re from, what they do, and what makes them tick. I think that’s why I like business so much. Lots of psychology invloved. Hopefully my Father’s PHD in Psychology along with his wise influence on me as a boy can help me in that respect.
Robert, my partner and close friend, have really enjoyed this past year since formally graduating. Although we started Griffio while still in school, this day marks a full year in which we have been working full time for ourselves. We’ve learned a lot about failure, success, and have met literally hundreds of individuals. Large ones, small ones, funny ones, boring ones, rude ones, kind ones, fast ones, slow ones, shady ones, and sincere ones. The work we do is a blast. But it wouldn’t be worth anything without the people that work strives to serve.
Even if you’re not in the business industry, take every opportunity you can to meet someone new. It doesn’t take much, but the positive effects will carry you a long way.
(Sorry for the sermon.)
Boy, the Snow Family sure loves a good word fight. My diction problems aside, words sure do move a lot faster than they used to. Webster didn’t have “blog” on file in 2003, although the word had been in existence since the inception of the World Wide Web in ‘95. In 2004, the reference publisher had to quickly add it to their online dictionary because it was the most searched word of 2004 along with incumbent and insurgent.
Using the word “consultancy” in the about me section of this blog is kind of fancy smancy on my part, but it is in fact an established business term. Just Google or Amazon it and you will see. Just because Webster’s takes a little longer to catch on, doesn’t mean that the term isn’t a commonly accepted word in the English language. Wanna a faster dictionary/encyclopedia? Try Wikipedia.
Now if we can only get “Strateegery” into the dictionary…
More on the entertainment side of things (I’ll get back to business postings soon enough) I’ve recently been enjoying a band called Royksopp. Their album Melody A.M. is quite the delight. Go check it out!
Smooth Harold? Is it I? Who is Smooth Harold? Let me hastily post the short version of how the blog’s name came to fruition.
I was good friends with a Michael Komenda years back in Brazil. He is like a skinning living version of Chris Farley. Anyway, he had a band called Smooth Harold in high school. I asked him where he got the name from, and he said he once saw a kid wearing a green shirt that said “Smooth Harold” on the back. I liked the name and Komenda had stopped using it, so I took it for myself.
Commenting on the name, my good friend Josh sent me the following text message: “U little blogging son of a gun! I love [the name] – long live King Harold.”
Back at you Tubby! Or should I say, Art Vandelay?
I just came across an excellent amateur pianist that has recorded very professional renditions of Mario Brothers, Zelda, and Sonic the hedgehog themes. All solos on the piano. This guy is very talented. Go on, take a trip down memory lane…
Download the album here.
You can sign up for a free subscription to CMO Magazine by clicking here. The magazine is filled with good marketing advice and has some of the thickest/nicest paper this side of the Mississippi. Just fill out the request form and you’ll be on your way.
I usually despise free internet offers, cause they tend to sell your information, therefore never making the offer free. This one is worth the pickup though.
John C. Dvorak, a good but rather quirky writer at times, has a great article on why disruptive technology is just a bunch of business rubbish.
Disruptive technology is a term coined by Harvard Business School professor Clayton Christensen. He claims it to be an innovation that comes in cheaper, and is better than current technology. The disruptive technology then supposedly replaces the older technology. Only problem is, there is no real evidence supporting this idea.
Quote from Dvorak: “There is no such thing as a disruptive technology. There are inventions and new ideas, many of which fail while others succeed. That’s it. This concept [of disruptive technology] only services venture capitalists who need a new term for the PowerPoint show to sucker investors.”
Can we stop with the cliches and false ideas as to how to make more money in business? The equation is simple:
Consumer Need + Quality Product + Great Service = Happy Customer. That yields happy profits. (more oversimplied business equations coming soon!)
It’s funny how many businesses forget the first ingredient in the equation…
Okay, i’ll take it easy on the Griffio promotions, but in the meantime, download our new delicious desktop wallpaper for your enjoyment.
I get asked now and then how I came up with the name of my company, Griffio. Here’s the answer:
In the summer of 2003, Dave Andersen (my first partner) and I were trying to decide on a name for our new web company. We created a long list of prospective words. Some good. Some not. Some flat out silly.
Anyhoo, I was reading an article one day by an Italian author named Griffo. At that time, I was also mentoring with a gentleman from Experio (now known as Hitachi Consulting). I liked the “io” in Experio and the “g” in Griffo. So I experimented with the two words until Griffio came out. The name stuck. Armed with an art degree, my sister Lexia told me to emphasize the “g” in the logomark. That stuck, too.
So there you have it. That’s how Griffio came to be.
Yeah, yeah, yeah, i know. Steriods this, steriods that. But despite the cheating of several star players, it is still a great game. Nothing beats eating chilly dawgs smoothered in brown mustard at Turner Field. Anyway, the point of this posting is the excitement I have for a close friend of mine from middle school, Matt Holiday.
He made it to the big leagues last year due to an injury of another player. He started hitting well (even some HR’s and a grand slam) and just like that, he’s now starting for the Colorado Rockies in left field. The wife and I watch him play every now and then on Fox Sports as I muddle under my breath, “shoulda been a baseball player…” But hey, I love my job and the people i work with, so no complaints.
PLAY BALL!!!
Okay, this might be somewhat of a dated topic, but should biased, opinionated web loggers enjoy the same protection as so called “non-biased, but they really are biased” journalists? Apple Computer seems to think not in wake of their recent litigation against bloggers who got the computer company ruffled when they took the steam out of their new ipods and imacs.
Let me know your thoughts on this one… Do bloggers deserved to be treated as new amateur journalists of the new era? As for me, it is yet to be determined. (Sara, this goes for you too!)
“PFG – pretty freakin good”
Here we go…
