#770 Ed McCullough on a Mission

Holding Court at the Office There are few fixtures as enduring (or colorful) as Hilton Head Island's Ed McCullough. Like most of us, not born to the island, he got here "just as fast as he could!" Ask Ed what that serious look on his face is all about... because you are about to see another dimension in revolution that is the evolution of Ed McCullough. A friend, colleague and supreme commander of WHHI-TV's Talk of the Town. -ski P.S. He happens to be using my phone (which I may have to offer to a museum when this is all over), so I grabbed his phone to snap this shot of Ed in his natural habitat, but on a most profound call... for any readers that might not know, this is Starbucks on southend of Hilton Head Island, South Carolina. [Date and time of photo: March 26, 2010 3:40 PM EDT]  ©2010 Jeff 'SKI' Kinsey. All rights reserved.

#769: Job Search Wednesday

Here is another great Job Search post... Speaking of search, anyone know how long it takes google to find your "blog" sub-domain? One of the reasons I am still on blogger five years later is because they index all blogs (on blogger) every day. But I have had this domain specific blog up (using WordPress) for 6 weeks now, and google has yet to discover it. But I digress... Here is a great post (over at RhinoGATOR™) on just one reason (of many) you may not be able to find a job, even though more and more job openings keep appearing (anyone who thinks all job search tools are the same, must not be looking for a job!): http://blog.rhinogator.com/?p=82 ©2010 Jeff 'SKI' Kinsey. All rights reserved.

#768 Beware the Numbers Game

Be careful building a Business based on the "numbers game" There are many examples where sheer numbers were the key to success. Sure, there is always a lot more to the story, but consider AOL back in it's meteoric rise. It turned out that for every so many disks or CDs they gave away, a certain percentage were actually used to create new accounts. And a number of those stuck around long enough to more than pay for the investment in all the disks and CDs. ROI Return on Investment. It paid off "big time" for AOL. But not all numbers are created equal. Did they give the disks to grade school students? I don't believe so. Did they give them to the homeless? I doubt it. I remember getting them in computer magazines. I remember seeing a display in the US Post Office. Yes, the Post Office. How stupid... Kind of like sticking a sign in your window, "Hey, please put me out of business." We know today that the USPS should have been changing with the times and inventing or endorsing a business model that would evolve... but I digress. What numbers are important to your efforts? Hard to say without talking with you. But I can share a hint how to figure it out: check out this post on Eli Goldratt's "P&Q Example" and actually download the exercise and then, wait for it, ACTUALLY do the exercise. If you actually work the numbers, you will understand why business is rarely a "numbers game" and while at exactly the same time, it is nothing more than a numbers game. P&Q Example Jeff 'SKI' Kinsey (843) 564-4754 ©2010 Jeff 'SKI' Kinsey. All rights reserved.

#767 Caught in the act?

What kinds of emails do men send? Talk about viral! This is a great example of using the net's unique abilities to promote and move product from more traditional brick & mortar businesses. Now why didn't I think of that!

#766: Partnerships in the Age of Entitlement

Or, how do we frame the potential? One of my mentor's recently decided to shift his focus away from his blog to other SocMedia environments. I am both sad (at losing a source of inspiration) and happy (for his embracing change). But it gave me pause... As I mentor business owners, I often send them right here, to this blog. Why? To check and see what I have already said on any given topic. Like this morning. The conversation turned to partnerships, and so, I first turned here and performed a simple search. You know the kind, by typing "partnership" in that little box in the upper left corner of this (and every) page. Well bottom line, the two results did not state my position generically enough to be of value for a particular potential client. Hence this post. So be warned, that search will now include this post. Partnerships Just like Adam and Eve, partnerships have (like life) good and bad moments. The biggest problem with a business partnership is often (80/20 rule) they tend to be forged in "good times" and fail to define all the assumptions of each party. That brings me to the reason for this post. Assumptions. As in, they make an @$$ of you and me! I have engaged in results based consulting since November 1981. Computer Consulting until the events of September 11th and Business Strategy and Marketing since 2002. Yea, I know, I must have started when I was 10! {grin} Seriously, partnerships are almost always a bad idea. But if you know that going in (and if you know anything about me, you know I am all about the vantage point), they can be of tremendous value. A great partnership (yea, an oxymoron) can leverage the unexpected for breakthroughs in very short periods of time. It's part synergy and part focus and often yet another part of what might appear to be dumb luck. Enter Constraints Management and the Conflict Resolution Diagram. Also known as the "evaporating cloud" shown here (this one describes the "Manager's Dilemma"): Without explaining the dynamics behind this innocent (yet powerful) construct, allow me to make one point: each "arrow" in the diagram (which might also be thought of as "linkages" between activities or functions depending on the environment) represents a number of assumptions. As we are trying to "resolve" a conflict of some nature, and as each conflict can have numerous possible outcomes, some favoring one partner over the interests of another, it is a "moral imperative" that we flesh out those assumptions before signing on the dotted line. Only then, can we agree on a "win-win" scenario. Now then, what did you hope to accomplish with your partnership? Jeff 'SKI' Kinsey, Jonah http://throughput.us/contactSKI (843) 564-4754 ©2010 Jeff 'SKI' Kinsey. All rights reserved.

#765: There are places to be

I awoke knowing one thing... there were places I would rather be Long story as short as I can make it: I need a HondaJet. You?

#764: on being digital at RhinoGATOR

On oldie, but a goodie I would suggest that Nicholas Negroponte is one of the sharpest minds on planet earth. I get the sense that he has never, ever had a linear thought. Yet I am sure that if he did, he would admit it post haste. I have owned his book, being digital for years. Skimmed it a time or two. Mostly when he pops up on my radar screen. Like during the press coverage of One Laptop Per Child. But the truth is, I never "got it" — the message that is, until this morning. Sure, I might be a poster boy of sorts for "being digital" based on several of my adventures since launching a full-time consultancy back in the day (1998, to help clarify the time line) that was 100% virtual. And yes, my time at Lexis-Nexis moving a number of projects from "atoms to bits" as Negroponte might say were also big on digital as the internet came to the forefront of numerous otherwise analog business entities. But I digress... What was different today? I started at the beginning. Of the book; you know, with the Introduction. How novel. At least it is for me. My backlog of books that need read is simply too large to be manageable. Plus, they must compete with all the books that I re-read as I navigate through various projects, seeking answers to specific queries. Another interesting dynamic is in play this morning: the book is copyright 1995. Why does that matter fifteen years later? Exactly. Too subtle? Negroponte makes a number of predictions, some of which he suggests are 25 years away (like the competition of Cable with Telcos for your home digital requirements) that are just now, today, true. Only 15 years into his future. Turns out that I did myself a favor by waiting until today to start this landmark book. As I love to quote, "When the student is ready, the teacher will appear." One of my favorite and oft turned phrases during my mentoring sessions... but absolutely "spot on" this morning. So what led to my picking this book out of the pile? A digital conversation yesterday with a fellow entrepreneur about my beloved RhinoGATOR™. He was explaining (once again) why the ship has sailed on Job Boards or Job Search web sites. I am happy to give him his due in his field of study, but in our brief conversations, I am unwilling to explain the breakthrough that makes us different from every other site. So he somewhat believes that he is doing me a service by alerting me to the pitfalls ahead. And for that, I am grateful. One more reason to "measure twice, but cut only once" as the carpenter might suggest. But the principal that was reinforced in my reading today (among others) was the section on "The Economy of Sales." In my words, not all data is created equal. As Negroponte queries in this section, "Are some bits worth more than others?" Most definitely! He tells of his brokerage account that is "affordable" for him and other non-professional traders because the feed is delayed fifteen minutes. Professional stockbrokers pay a premium for the real time feed. In the world of marketing the value proposition is a leverage point worthy of much study. Which dovetails nicely into one of the concepts that Jack Welch learned from Peter Drucker. Jeff 'SKI' Kinsey http://RhinoGATOR.com (843) 564-4754 ©2010 Jeff 'SKI' Kinsey. All rights reserved.

That's why they call it Job Search

Job Search 101 Over on the RhinoGATOR Blog —Check it out. www.RhinoGATOR.com (843) 564-4754