The List (revisited)

I awoke early this morning... Who knows why we awake at crazy hours of the day (or night)? Certainly not me. But I do have a guess: when I have a goal or mission that demands my attention, I am eager to make progress. So this morning, all of a sudden, it's "up time" (or is that "go" time?) and I am on my way to McD's for coffee and a few minutes in a good book. When I read this chapter on "The Power of the List." Wikipedia offers a couple of suggestions, and my favorite is there: "a list of tasks to be completed." But this morning, that ain't "The List" in question It is the Mailing List Wow. Does that ever bring back memories. Like 1980s memories! Yea, I know. Some of you were not yet here on planet Earth when Ronald Reagan took back our country and restored our faith in our Faith. But I digress... In marketing, one must define a small number of Jeromes (target customers) before one can define a target market. An important tool for Sales and Marketing of any idea: business, political, or personal requires a mailing list of leads. The ones that raise their hands and say, "Tell me more" become prospects. Those prospects that acknowledge a want or need for our offering become qualified and stand just inches (we hope) from becoming customers. Paying customers. So, what does your mailing list look like this morning? Need help adding names to it? Call me. Jeff 'SKI' Kinsey, Jonah (330) 432-3533 www.throughput.us ©2010 Jeff 'SKI' Kinsey. All rights reserved.

Entrepreneurship anyone?

So, how inviting is your backyard for entrepreneurs? What if an area, say Northeast Ohio just as a "what if" statement, said "We want to encourage job creation." Where would you begin? Helping a GM expand? Or maybe help them rehire some of those thousands laid off? Maybe. Me? I don't know how to help a publicly traded company. Why? Too often, it is all about hitting the quarterly numbers. Which shows the wrong focus (short term vs. long range). As Tom Hanks said, "What's the fun in that?" This video helps explain why the America I grew up loving and supporting (and defending) is (yet today) the greatest business environment on planet earth. I have real concerns, but I won't digress at this juncture. I love Moah's quote about MIT:

"We will figure out the money later."

How great is that? Need help getting your business idea off the ground? Let's talk. Jeff 'SKI' Kinsey, Jonah (330) 432-3533 www.throughput.us P.S. Thanks to the Scobleizer for yet another outstanding post. ©2010 Jeff 'SKI' Kinsey. All rights reserved.

Time waits for no one (but SKI)

Coffee with SKI October 2008 Amazing... it has been almost two years since I launched Rhino ISLAND Media and Coffee with SKI. In the midst of the financial meltdown. Just wondering, is it time to pull the project off the back burner? If you are a video production company in Northeast Ohio and want to partner with a producer that delivers content, lets talk. I have plenty of connections that would make for great television. Connections that can help put America back to work. Jeff 'SKI' Kinsey ski@throughput.us The right people first—then flawless execution™ ©2010 Jeff 'SKI' Kinsey. All rights reserved.

Positioning vs. Branding

POSITIONING "The Battle for Your Mind" by Ries & Trout Ever notice how words evolve over time? In some cases almost like fads, the meaning of some words change so fast! This is, as the header of the book cover suggests, a "marketing classic" of the first order. I first bought this book in May 1996 while working as a Business Analyst consulting at Lexis-Nexis just outside Dayton, Ohio. Why? I knew there was more to life than sitting in front of a workstation (even a nice one like the Sun on my desk) in a bullpen with five other consultants. By the way, if anyone cares, my productivity dropped in half when you took me out of my own cubicle and stuck me in the bullpen. But I digress... Within minutes of starting to re-read this book, I was reminded that most business folks should study positioning before they talk about branding. It would clear up a lot of mis-communication. Jeff 'SKI' Kinsey, Jonah ski@throughput.us ©2010 Jeff 'SKI' Kinsey. All rights reserved.

TBD Friday August 13th at 13:00 hours

TDB Friday, August 13,2010 at 1:00pm Hilton Head Island, SC Follow SKI: http://www.facebook.com/consultski ©2010 Jeff 'SKI' Kinsey. All rights reserved.

Flipboard reinvents the iPad

iPad's killer app: Flipboard

Hotel Industry RevPAR graphic

National Moving Average RevPARChange 2007-2010

From STR and STR Analytics: shows the moving average RevPAR change by STR Tract from 2007 through May 2010. Category: Education Tags: RevPAR STRSTR Analytics

Biz Dev Seminar in NE Ohio

Registration closes in two hours! Event will be held at Walsh University Thursday, July 22nd 8:00am sharp! Featuring International author: Ron Finklestein Seating to this amazing biz dev seminar is limited. Get a seat before your competition does! No cost or obligation. Sign up today! Register online: http://ssmab2010203.eventbrite.com/ Questions? Give me a call. Jeff 'SKI' Kinsey (330) 432-3533 ski@throughput.us

Solopreneur’s Business Growth Seminar

Solopreneur’s Business Growth Seminar

July 22, 2010 — Thursday

7:45am to 10:00am

Walsh University, Canton, Ohio

Are you a small business owner who is trying to grow sales and you feel stuck and not in control of your business? Do need someone to help you but you do not have a lot of money and time to waste on long-term, nonproductive meetings. You want help but you don not know who to trust? Are you tired of going it alone? If you answered yes to any of these questions please read on.

Who Should Attend

1. Business owner with 10 or less employees
2. Home based business owner
3. Professional who must sell themselves
4. Anyone who is responsible for growing sales and does not know how or needs some help

Why You Should Attend

1. Learn and understand the six questions every prospect wants answered about you and your company before they buy from you
2. Understand the nine behaviors successful people implement daily (and why they are important to your success)
3. Learn and address The one critical issue all business owners must address in marketing their business
4. See if you business is at risk. learn the top 10 reasons a business fails and how to avoid this situation

Seating is limited. Reservations required. Register online: http://ssmab2010203.eventbrite.com/ Presenter: Ron Finklestein Ronald Finklestein, President of RPF GROUP INC., is a international author of four business books, speaker, business coach & consultant and facility member with dailysuccessstream.com. Ron has published four books: • Celebrating Success! Fourteen Ways to a Successful Company • 49 Marketing Secrets (THAT WORK) to Grow Sales • The Platinum Rule for Small Business Mastery • Nine Principles for Inspired Action: A New & Targeted Perspective. http://ssmab2010203.eventbrite.com/

Sit down, if you can

The secret of business Charlie "Tremendous" Jones

HHH needs to be 5400 ft.

HHH airport needs to be 5400 ft. Tonight, Hilton Head Island and County Chamber members will debate the lengthening of Hilton Head Island's airport (HHH). Some time ago, I asked a colleague about chartering a flight between Ohio (CAK) and HHH and was surprised to learn that he could not land on the island. So I asked Ryan Stone of Jetpool LLC to explain why this was the case. His letter (shared with his permission) is as follows: ---- Hilton Head residents - you may not know what you don’t know…at least from the perspective of this private jet operator (Jetpool, LLC based in Charlotte, NC). Increasing the runway distance beyond 5000’ may have more potential economic impact than you may realize given the more public focus on adding just 300’ of runway for commercial airline traffic. Most islanders probably do not know that it is virtually impossible to bring charter jet traffic into HHH. The few private jets you see are actually just the tip of your potential iceberg because, for the most part, they are all flown under Part 91 of the Federal Aviation Regulations (‘FAR’) where there are more lenient runway requirements. However, if your runway were lengthened to 5400’, it would mean that most of the FAR Part 135 certified charter operators, plus the similarly restricted Part 91k Fractional operators, would now be able to access your island’s airport with a short-field capable jet. Simply put, the 1100’ extra runway distance you are debating is the difference in runway safety margin needed to permit more widespread Part 135 charter operations. Why is this Part 91 / 135 distinction important? Currently, in order to use your runway, a charter operator has to undergo a very special ‘runway analysis’ with the FAA that is cumbersome and costly (not to mention that even with FAA approval your 4300’ runway still reduces safety margin). What difference does this 91/135/runway analysis gibberish make to you? Well it means that you have never actually seen the number of private jet airplanes and their passengers that you could; the only people flying to HHH on the private jet side are the actual owners of the aircraft under Part 91 flight rule. The much larger segment of the population that can afford to fly charter (but not own a jet) is likely going to a different island destination, in part, because of the inability to fly directly to HHH on a charter jet under Part 135 regulations. What would be the economic impact to your community if you could capture this potential charter market? How many more homes would now not sit vacant because of the new found convenience of flying direct to HHH? Would attracting more people with high levels of disposable income have other positive impacts in your community? Currently, Jetpool routinely turns down about thirty charter customer requests a year to fly directly to Hilton Head. At the same time, we fly numerous charter customers to Myrtle Beach, Georgetown, Amelia Island, and other nearby communities because they all have Part 135 short-field jet accessible runways. While thirty is a relatively small number, we are just one operator. There are thousands of charter operators across the country so it is likely there is a significant pent-up demand for direct charter jet access to HHH. Unfortunately for both us and you, we (plus most of our industry) have been educating our customers on why they can’t legally fly to Hilton Head on our charter jet fleet due to your short runway. I acknowledge that the potential of increased jet traffic may give you concern regarding more jet noise. However, jets are getting quieter by the day with new technologies. In fact, the short field jets capable of using a 5000’ strip are for the most part Stage 3 or, like our brand new Embraer Phenom 100, even Stage 4 noise compliant (i.e. like the sound of a hairdryer in the next room). Ultimately, you face a difficult decision as a community. I write to you as an outsider only to make sure that you make your decision with a fuller understanding of what the extra 1100’ runway length proposal might mean in terms of its positive economic impact and how it might broaden Hilton Head’s appeal. Thank you for listening to this outsider’s view. Ryan Stone Chief Executive Officer Jetpool, LLC 4690 First Flight Drive Charlotte, NC 28208 Work: (704) 359-4674 ryan@flyjetpool.com www.FlyJetpool.com

SKI vs. ELI

It has been an amazing six years! When I wrote the Purple Curve Effect, I suggested that I wanted to help make a difference in the world. On page 79, I suggested that you might want to keep an eye on my efforts via google. Nothing official, just a healthy metric designed to poke fun at myself and a crazy idea that I might ever reach any significance in the Constraints Management (CMM/TOC) arena. Well, I took a look today. See the hits? Imagine my surprise: I have more references on google than Eli Goldratt! I also have more references than Eliyahu M. Goldratt. However, if you combine all the variations of his name, Eli still wins. But this was a major victory for my ego today. Maybe, just maybe, I am making a difference. Jeff 'SKI' Kinsey, Jonah ski@throughput.us P.S. Need help with your marketing efforts? ©2010 Jeff 'SKI' Kinsey. All rights reserved.

New Biz Advisory Board forming

The Solopreneur’s Sales & Marketing Advisory Board™ forming in Canton, OH

• Learn the six questions your prospects want you to answer before they buy from you
• See if your business is at risk
• Learn the eight reasons businesses fail
• Understand the single issue you must address and overcome in your marketing to stand out

Check out the write-up on PRlog ©2010 Jeff 'SKI' Kinsey. All rights reserved.

A Simple Answer

The simplest answer is to act. Ever get a bad case of the yeabuts? "Yes, but [insert_your_favorite_excuse]." Les Brown was the second person I ever heard say, "If you think you can, you can. If you think you can't, you can't." Brushing away the spider webs of the dark recesses of my mind, I believe it was Earl Nightingale that first brought this simple truth to light for me. For every business owner waiting by the phone for that good news that never seems to come, I have a simple message:

Do something!

Even if it is wrong. You cannot steer a vehicle that is not moving. D'oh! All too often in the application of the Constraints Management Model (CMM), otherwise very intelligent business owners will argue with Jonahs that know how to produce results. Look Mister Widget Producing Man, we are happy to "give you your due" when it comes to building Widgets. But business is a lot more than building a better mouse trap. Often, the problem is even worse: those same Jonahs will argue with the business owner! You can lead a horse to water, but you cannot make it float on its back. Honest. Guess what? You cannot create lasting results without trust. Not gonna happen without mutual respect. You should despise the phrase "buy in" as much as I do... it is as wrongheaded as the phrase "closing the sale." Or as wrong as Ronald Reagan's favorite expression to highlight the "out of whack" national mess he inherited from Jimmy Carter, "I'm from the government, and I am here to help." Fear of failure Zig Ziglar claims it is the greatest motivator. More so than the desire for gain. In my experience assisting hundreds of business owners over the last twenty years, I can assure you that it is a fact. Fear has a way of stopping even the bravest of us all. The best defense? Do something. A moving target is much harder to hit. What if you "do something" and it is wrong? Wait for it... "at least NOW you know it was wrong." The amazing thing about the application of CMM is this: it works 100% of the time. Just like the law of gravity. A very long story short: if the business owner "wins" the argument with a Jonah over the true weakest link, within days, the true weakest link will become painfully obvious to everyone in the organization. How is that for a process improvement tool? If I can help, reach out. Jeff 'SKI' Kinsey, Jonah ski@throughput.us http://throughput.us P.S. I forget to mention that you are just ninety days from real results. Results that you can take to the bank. ©2010 Jeff 'SKI' Kinsey. All rights reserved.

Principles of General Patton

Charlie 'Tremendous' Jones on Patton This video is Part 1 of 4 Part 2 of 4 Part 3 of 4 Part 4 of 4

6-Pack of Persistence

"It is not the critic who counts: not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles or where the doer of deeds could have done better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood, who strives valiantly, who errs and comes up short again and again, because there is no effort without error or shortcoming, but who knows the great enthusiasms, the great devotions, who spends himself for a worthy cause; who, at the best, knows, in the end, the triumph of high achievement, and who, at the worst, if he fails, at least he fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who knew neither victory nor defeat." —Teddy Roosevelt

Where do you get your inspiration? I was reading this morning that people fail from lack of inspiration. Furthermore, we can become less than inspired when we allow the cares of this life to block our view of the promised land. Or in the short term, when we loose sight of the goal or mission that seemed "so sure" just days or weeks ago. Allow me to share of a couple of sources (six actually) of inspiration that help me in my vigil to be more persistent:

1. Teddy Roosevelt
2. Les Brown
3. Charlie 'Tremendous' Jones
4. Colonel John Boyd
5. USMC
6. Kimberly Kinsey

I would hope the first five are obvious to even the casual reader. Number Six will not be much of a surprise to those that know me on a personal level. My wife taught me the value of determining the "payer source" in any project that I launch and when I fail to explore this component of the business plan with enough detail, it always (not sometimes, not occasionally, but ALWAYS) comes back to bite me. She is like Steve Jobs in this sense; Jobs has margins that everyone in the tech world would love to emulate. In other words, it takes money to make money. If you fail to get this component right in your project, little else matters. You simply won't be able to tread water long enough to breakthrough. Those of us driven to make a difference in the world too often forget Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs! Rushing in "Where Angels fear to tread" is a part of my DNA, so it takes a conscience effort on my part to explore the payer component of any "next, big adventure!" So I am privileged to have a true helpmate in this arena. But the other five are available for use on your next project. Might I suggest that you consider me to complete your 6-pack? Jeff 'SKI' Kinsey, Jonah ski@throughput.us www.throughput.us P.S. I recently added a Press Room to the "new & improved" Throughput.us web site. Check it out. ©2010 Jeff 'SKI' Kinsey. All rights reserved. Teddy Roosevelt photo is in the public domain.

How to buy Throughput

Easy question; not so easy to answer In a recent "sharpening the saw session" as Covey might say, I heard a phrase that was profound:

"Don't try to sell people, teach them how to buy from you."

That shows wisdom Better yet, it is much easier to accomplish. Why? No one likes to be "sold" anything. No one needs a 1/4 inch drill, but we may need a 1/4" hole. Said another way, what needs might I satisfy that meet the requirements of another? People. Ideas. Execution—in that order™ That is not just a mantra, that is my approach to solving each and every business challenge. I am amazed at the otherwise intelligent professionals (me included; if you can't say, "Amen", say ouch!) that get a great idea then try to find people to help execute the biz plan. My adventure with RhinoGATOR taught me a number of valuable lessons, chief among them, look to your network first, then find an idea that "has legs" so to speak, then using the Logical Thinking Process, execute. The other major lesson learned (repeatedly) is that if I cannot pull it off in 90 days, I should drop it. There are a very small group of very talented individuals that know the power of the "90 Day Execution" methodology. I have had most (if not all) of my successes in just 90 days. Okay, for TOCreview magazine it took 95 days. Bottom line: pick up the phone That is how you buy throughput from me. I am sorry to have made this simple process so complex over the years. You have goals to accomplish, I have the tools for accomplishing those goals. Within 90 days. Think about that statement for a minute... how long have you wrestled with that challenge? Maybe it is lost sales? Or, maybe you lost a major client? Worse yet, what do you do if your employee turn over is 200%? No worries Call me. Today. In 90 days you will look back on today and actually laugh out loud... with a tear of joy in your eye that what appeared overwhelming and perhaps insurmountable was so easily corrected. By first applying the right people. Jeff 'SKI' Kinsey, Jonah (330) 432-3533 ski@throughput.us ©2010 Jeff 'SKI' Kinsey. All rights reserved.