739: It was about time!

Is Disqus up to the challenge?

I have tried enabling comments on this blog several times over the last four years. There have always been spammers willing to ruin the experience for everyone.

Perhaps Disqus will manage that issue

I have been using it to comment on other blogs, and decided to give it another college try. So, if you are legitimately looking to comment on my posts, you now have the chance. However, it will only take a few bozos to have the tool removed.

Anyone care to share their experiences with allowing comments on their blog?

Semper Fi Jeff 'SKI' Kinsey www.throughput.us/contactSKI (c)2009, Jeff 'SKI' Kinsey. All rights reserved.

Let us Give Thanks

Thanksgiving Day 2009 Every year, there is more to be thankful for, but even more things that I wish would have turned out differently. Wishing rarely makes anything so. Now faith, that is another subject. Thank God. I have faith that every cloud has a silver lining.

Finally, brethren, whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honest, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of good report; if there be any virtue, and if there be any praise, think on these things. —Philippians 4:8

Enjoy the day, but then lets get back to work. America needs us. More than ever. Until we put this country back together, giving proper place (respect and diligence) to our Christian heritage, we cannot be effective over seas. In other words, it is time to put our own house in order. Semper Fi Jeff 'SKI' Kinsey www.throughput.us/contactSKI (c)2009, Jeff 'SKI' Kinsey. All rights reserved.

737: Vantage points come and they go

Dream Building NASA Style Today (Sunday) is a great day for dream building and I have mentioned that fact on several (if not many!) occasions. In fact, the local Cadillac dealership has a new Red 2010 CTS on the lot today. Even more interesting, the Sunday newspaper has an advertisement for leasing the CTS for just $399/mo for 48 months. But I digress... Consider the importance of one's vantage point. In the photo above, how long did it take you to notice that it is planet Earth rising over the moonscape? For most of us, at least fully a second, maybe two. Why? Great question! It is outside our experiences. Only 12 men have been afforded the opportunity to see an Earth rise from our Moon. So, you, like me, need to "think outside the box" so to speak to appreciate this vantage point. Note too that those men only ever had the privilege once. A few more were promised the chance, but "stuff happens." Which of your dreams are going to come true? First and foremost, most likely only the ones that you plan for, scheme for, loose sleep for... and even then, it might not happen. Another 12 visited the Moon but never landed. And that ain't all bad! What is your dream? Can you see the world around us from that vantage point (of having achieved the goal)? If not, you probably won't even break Earth's orbit. Me? I have no plans to leave the good olde US of A... but there are a lot places I have yet to visit right here in my own country. However, a HondaJet might come in handy... Semper Fi Jeff 'SKI' Kinsey www.throughput.us/contactSKI P.S. Need help dreaming larger dreams? Maybe I can help. www.xr.com/mentor (c)2009, Jeff 'SKI' Kinsey. All rights reserved.

736: Decade of the Steve

CEO of the Decade: Steve Jobs I consider Jobs a mentor, but from a distance. There are a rare few that seem to always know what is cool, and what would make something even cooler still. Day in and day out, year after year. Almost singlehandedly (with a huge supporting cast; how is that for a dichotomy?) Jobs saved the music industry. Not to mention Pixar and of course, Apple. The iPhone has captured market share just as he expected, when the critics all thought he was overreacting. Who could have predicted the success of the iPod? Steve. I must have three of four other "covers" around the office with his face plastered boldly from top to bottom and side to side. My favorite is still NeXTworld. You might know the NeXTstep operating system by its current name: Mac OS X. Congrats Steve. Again. Semper Fi Jeff 'SKI' Kinsey www.throughput.us/contactSKI P.S. Need a mentor (but Steve's schedule is a little too full)? Maybe I can help. www.xr.com/mentor (c)2009, Jeff 'SKI' Kinsey. All rights reserved.

735: LinkedIn goes all Twitter

Just one more reason to love Twitter and LinkedIn Although I am in the top 2% of all folks on twitter, I have yet to break that magic 2,000 followers. Of course, I have yet to break the 500+ ceiling on LinkedIn. Not to worry... If you are like me, you hate having an out of date "status" message on LI. Your worries are over. LI has added support for twitter. Not only that, but it adds value! Simply include the hashtag #in in your tweet, and if you have added your primary twitter account to your LI profile, presto chango, your LI connections see a new status message. Thanks. It is appreciated. Semper Fi Jeff 'SKI' Kinsey www.throughput.us/contactSKI/ P.S. Oh yea, me on LinkedIn. (c)2009, Jeff 'SKI' Kinsey. All rights reserved.

734: Perfect Veteran's Day Gift

My wife always wonders... This year: Give the gift of Boyd This is the perfect Veteran's Day gift. For that hard to shop for guy or gal that still remembers fondly "pick up" at boot camp when they met their new best friends: Their Drill Instructors. Okay, it was the worse day of my life. But it was a pivotal event that shaped my abilities more than any other single day in my life. Three months later, I was sad to be leaving Marine Corps Recruit Depot Sand Diego. Yea, a "Hollywood" Marine... but I digress. Check out the podcast: Business RadioX, Atlanta Semper Fi Jeff 'SKI' Kinsey www.throughput.us/contactSKI/ (c)2009, Jeff 'SKI' Kinsey. All rights reserved.

Sneek peek at the Sales Funnel for TSP

"It's not to scale" —Doc Brown I love the first and third installments of Back to the Future starring Michael J. Fox and Christopher Lloyd. It is tough to beat a visual model (to scale or not) for making one's point. From my White Paper on TSP (Throughput Sales Process), allow me to share a draft of the Sales Funnel. With my explanation of the steps and players for application in a high tech environment. Yes, it is simplistic. But as we say, "It ain't easy to implement".

We talk in terms of the leads (every business in a target segment); suspects (only those businesses willing to give us permission to share an overview of our offerings); prospects (businesses who "raise their hands" and ask for more details); and customers (businesses {or Jeromes, as Geoffrey Moore might say} that pay us for our goods and services)...

So, if you look at the diagram and remark to yourself, "clueless", then so be it. However, if you come back to it tomorrow and say, "Hey, this guy might have something", then great. Drop me a note and suggest we talk about applying TSP to jumpstart your Throughput. Get the SKI team working on your behalf. Today. Jeff 'SKI' Kinsey www.throughput.us/contactSKI/ P.S. In case you are wondering, this model scales like you cannot imagine! (c)2009, Jeff 'SKI' Kinsey. All rights reserved.

732: Prime the Pump

prime the pump:

"to do something in order to make something succeed" —the free dictionary

This concept is at least as old as America. Probably much older. I recall as a kid (not yet a teenager), having to prime the old fashion water pump at the "Lower 40" as my granddad called his get-away along the Tuscarawas River. There was a little bucket of water next to the pump, and to get fresh water, you had to pour a little bit of water from the bucket into the top of the old fashion pump as shown above. It would cause a seal to form that allowed as you pumped the handle, the pump to extract water from the well below. Much like seed corn to a farmer, if you had no "prime water" you were out of business. Without a little water left over from the last time the water was flowing freely from the pump, you could not prime the pump next time. Without seed corn, there can be no harvest. Kind of like tithing... but I digress. This principal can be very important for your business. It is better known as bootstrapping. Take a small project for a very aggressive price that requires what you already have on hand, in order to generate some much needed cashflow. Use that small cashflow to bid on larger and larger projects. Build an empire and retire to Florida. Or not My post yesterday (Always be closing) struck a chord with a few folks. Great. Now what?

1. Determine the Weakest Link
2. Craft a simple yet Dynamic Strategy
3. Execute with Precision & Passion

Recall that the CEO and Founder of most any small business is always too busy. There will always be more fires than buckets with which to fight them! Just as you hand off many accounting tasks to trusted advisers, it is important to find qualified help for some of the other business functions. Ring me up and lets talk. I am fairly well connected to key players that know that which I do not. Of course after 20+ years working with hundreds of entrepreneurs, I know a couple of things in my own right. Again, I am as close as your phone. Or fax. Or email. Twitter. Skype. Maybe even Carrier Pigeon (for you Ghost Dog fans out there!). It costs nothing but a few minutes to see if I can help. Jeff 'SKI' Kinsey www.throughput.us/contactSKI/ P.S. Ghost Dog is a crazy yet entertaining film. Note however: "Rated R for strong violence and language." It is not for everyone. (c)2009, Jeff 'SKI' Kinsey. All rights reserved.