When do you market:

1. You market your self to your employers when you’re looking for a job.
2. You market your offering to your customers when you’re trying to sell a product or service.
3. You market your leadership to your employees when you’re trying to build teamwork and sell a vision.
4. You market your personal attributes to your co-workers when you’re trying to build consensus.
5. You market your productivity to your boss when you’re looking for a raise or increased responsibility.
6. You market your business to your investors or bank when you’re raising money.

When you market you need to know who you’re talking to, what they want and need, and how to communicate that you’ve got the goods. This analysis is the driver of all your business.

Check out the blog, it’s got some great stuff. I’ve published a first video in an infinite part series on How to make the Mac not suck for power users and I’ll continue to produce video and blog posts.

Also, if you are a Mac enthusiast and want to share tips and technology, contact Adam, he’s looking for more authors!

With an online economy driven by advertising demand and not necessarily demand for your product or service how do you plan and compete?

Check out the article: 

http://www.emarketer.com/Article.aspx?id=1005997&src=article1_newsltr .

I’m the guy in the center accepting the award. This is Las Vegas in 2005 when I was CTO of WebRaiser Technologies.

If you’ve read a lot of books and articles on business and “how to win,” or “the top ten attributes of successful businesses,” or “how to execute” you’ll notice that you get somewhere between a couple morsels of applicable information and zero. Maybe you’ll pick up the latest buzz words.

So why do we read all these books and articles if what we get seems to be very little? Well, it’s to fill gaps, to build confidence, and to reflect. There is a lot of good information out there, it’s just sometimes the context of the writer doesn’t match the context of your business.

There is a lot of context missing from business advice. What is a priority for a company, group, or individual not only changes by individual but is also a function of change over time. Funding is most important, now it’s people, now it’s a sales strategy, now it’s protecting IP, now its [fill in the blank], etc., etc.

Take time to regularly evaluate where you stand. It’s easy to get caught up in the flow of things. Every week or two take some time to slow down, sit back, and think critically about where you’ve come from, where you’re at, and where you want to be. Give yourself some context, try to recollect all the advice you’ve gotten, and then modify your plans.

And, if you find yourself needing some advice, just remember to translate all that you hear and read into the context of your business.

1. Entertainment
2. Planning
3. To Generate More Information

Blogs serve the purpose of entertaining, this includes all the jokes and humor, updates about the next gadget, horror stories about failed companies, gossip, or even just news about local events. This is information that we consume for our own sake. It doesn’t get past a few conversations or an internal emotional response.

Blogs serve the purpose of informing so that people can plan. This includes product releases, events and announcements, technology reviews, etc. Information that people use to get things done. About how to plan a vacation, a day, a career, an education, a business.

Blogs serve the purpose of generating moreblogs. Weird. Blogging serves bloggers, as well as other media outlets. Blogging is viral and information is consumed for the purpose of regurgitation, editorials, or adding facts. Posts beget posts. Information generates more information.

Unfortunately, I don’t think blogs are as grassroots as we think. The blogosphere is not set up to be egalitarian, it is set up for competition. The blogosphere is a competitive landscape between publishers, viewers, and advertisers. These elements are common with traditional media; media many consider corrupted. And it’s these common elements that will lead to the corruption of the blogosphere. And it’s already begun.

A few of the problems:

• Blog searches use voting systems of pingbacks just like PageRank. These systems cause certain sites to bubble to the top and stay there.
• Pay per post services. These services pay people to write content and to link to other pages.
• Advertisers paying for product reviews. Self explanatory.
• Advertisers driving content, indirectly. Write the correct content, key words and key phrases and you’ll get popular ads on your sites.
• Search Engine Marketing. Again, write the correct key words and key phrases and you’ll get better search engine placement.
• Advertising networks that have sprung up to join blogs under a single banner.

The better the advertisement optimization the better for everyone. Advertisers get a better bang for their buck. Publishers see higher revenue streams. And the advertising network sees greater click-through revenues.

This new venture I’m working on focuses on that segment, advertising optimization… but in a new and unique way. Yeah, just like everything else, I know. Today advertising is optimized by contextual placement, pattern recognition, social activity, and recommender systems.

Well, I think I have a new way to optimize advertisements that compliments existing methods. Today the team, technology, and financing is coming together to execute it.

Stay tuned, this is the CEO’s blog and I’ll be keeping you informed about the goings one here.

It’s about taking all those tragedies that are summed up in a simple number, making them personal, and sending those stories in mass by fax, email, or any other way to government, activist groups, corporate execs, celebs, and anyone else of influence. It’s not that “18,000 die every year from lack of health insurance” it’s about the 18,000+ stories of family members and friends and the *real people* behind that cold, simple number.
 
Here’s a paragraph that sums it up: “Josef Stalin had a quote, “a single death is a tragedy, a million deaths is a statistic.” This seems to sum up politics today: 47 million people are uninsured 1, 10 million children are uninsured2, there are 18,000 deaths a year from lack of health insurance3, and on, and on. Ownpolitics.org is a place to make the statistics human, to bring awareness to the tragedies, and to demand change.”
 
Please take a look, the web site is at http://www.ownpolitics.org. Please help us make a difference! I hope you find the concept interesting and you sign a petition and find ways to get involved; it’s all pretty to do. If you have any questions or feedback, please get in touch.

We have a lot of work to do yet, but some people have found the site already even though it’s not officially been publicized. Here’s a few very interesting stories that you should read:

• An Entire Year Alone – This year alone is unique.  It is our first deployment of the Iraq war, having spent the first three years of the conflict in Recruiting.  Before that, the war didn’t exist and there were no fears of separations besides the short term schooling he was to attend.  Our world shifted slightly when the war started…
• The San Diego Firestorm, Staying Behind to Protect Home and Community – On Sunday we first saw… and smelled smoke. It’s O.K. to see smoke, but when you smell it in the wind driven conditions… it is coming at you. On went the TV… and the monitoring began…
• The Heirloom Duck Lamp – While I was growing up, everywhere we moved we had this lamp, my parents had received it as a wedding present. A carved wooden duck as the base, an oval lampshade, and three metal-and-wood cattails “growing” up from the base and visible above the top of the lampshade. If we ran or stomped past the lamp, sometimes the cattails would rattle against the metal parts concealed by the shade. When Mom and Dad got divorced, they both loved that lamp, so they found a solution…

Thank you to everyone that’s been helping with the project and everyone that has come across our site and shared an experience. This resource is about all of us, including you. Please contribute to the effort and make yourself known at The Human Known Project.

There are two things I want to cover in this article. One, a list of specific types of sentences that can help you be more concise and powerful in your delivery. Two, is a list of more general tips and suggestions that can help your writing in general.

Powerful Sentence Structures for Business Communications

There are five types of sentence structures I recommend in writing business copy.

1. Definition
   • This is a pretty straight forward sentence. It’s a simple definition of a term. Defining terms, concepts, or ideas concisely in a single sentence demands less of your reader. You should not expect your reader to remember an entire page in order to define a concept that supports a greater message.
   • Example: The HelpAide program provides affordable healthcare to lower income, uninsured families by offsetting costs through charitable contributions.
2. Relationship
   • This sentence is used to define how two separate items or concepts are related. It provides context so your reader does not have to draw assumptions themselves. Relationships also assist in furthering definitions.
   • Example: HelpAide is similar to existing HMO and PPO coverage plans but are targeted towards emergency medical care.
3. Cause + Effect + Reason
   • The structure of this sentence is defined in it’s name. Western culture follows the philosophy of cause and effect. Use it in your writings. In a sentence you should give a cause, effect, and reason for that effect. This provides a complete understanding very quickly and very concisely. By stating the entire relationship in a single sentence readers don’t have to have long term memory or figure out that your reason was in support of an effect five sentences previous.
   • Example: Healthcare costs are at an all time high and therefore unreachable to a growing number of citizens due to increased demands on the healthcare system and a discrepancy between low income families and cost of living in general.
4.  Claim
   • The claim is a direct statement of what you’re trying to convey. Don’t let your reader have to try and tie everything together and draw a conclusion, no matter how logical you think it is. Make your claim. Make it clear and without vagueness.
   • Example: HelpAide is the best solution for fixing the current healthcare accessibility problem for the poor.
5. Direct Request
   • The direct request is similar to the claim but is usually only necessary if you’re asking for something or attempting to persuade. Just as the claim should be very clear, so should your request. If you are looking for an action, ask for it. Don’t make your reader guess what you want.
   • Example: I’m asking you to make a donation to the HelpAide organization so we can reach more families in need. 

These sentence types are a general guide for how to structure clear and concise ideas in your business writing. Of course there are others. Of course you will not always need all of them. But if you are looking for a way to state something, one of these sentence structures or a combination thereof can probably do it.

Some General Business Writing Tips

Here are a few general tips to improve your business communications:

1. Know Your Audience
   • When writing your business communications you better know your audience. The terms, tone, and details you give will vary from audience to audience even if the ultimate message and goal you wish to achieve are the same. If your audience is not technical, leave out the jargon. If your audience is uninitiated, give more information and don’t assume knowledge. If your audience is in the know, don’t repeat information they already know. This is a general tip, one everyone says. It’s important, just reflect back when you’re proof reading and put yourself in the shoes of your reader.
2. Be Conversational
   • Don’t try so hard! You don’t have to try and sound business-like or professional. Other people are just like you. You can be more conversational in your tone, you don’t have to try and be formal. Formality isn’t necessarily what business communications is about. You want to be short, clear, and to the point. Time is money and writing conversationally can make it easier for your reader to understand what you’re saying. Just know your context, sometimes formality is warranted.
3. Anticipate Questions
   • Anticipate what your reader will ask you… then give the answer! If you’ve communicated the idea before and have received questions, go ahead and answer them. If you can see that your writing leaves some natural questions open, address them. Don’t leave the reader hanging, you’re supposed to be giving information and this isn’t a marketing piece.
4. Draw The Whole Picture
   • This tip is similar to “Anticipate Questions” but it is more about what comes before you write than the questions that come after. As much as possible, it’s best if your documents can stand alone without the need to reference other information. Don’t assume too much knowledge, always err on the side of caution and give extra information. You never know who the document will be passed to next. Make sure your concepts are complete with details.
5. Short and Concise is Better
   • Keep it short. As I’ve mentioned, time is money, and the faster a reader can read your document the more appreciative the person will be. Short and concise improves understanding. Don’t make your reader have to remember too much. Don’t make your reader have to understand long-winded explanations for concepts.
6. Use Fewer Words
   • Similar to “Short and Concise is Better” but more specific. This is about removing those filler words that are unnecessary. Synonyms, fluff, pronouns, and anything else that can be removed yet still maintain grammar and readability. Here’s an example: “Jack and Jill went over to well for some water.” can be written as “Jack and Jill went to the well for water.”
7. Use Lists
   • I like lists, lists in numbers or bullets like this article are good. Lists in paragraphs are good, they add to conciseness. Lists provide a great organization of concepts and make documents easier to scan and digest for readers. Why is your product good? Oh, because it’s big, fast, and inexpensive. That’s for putting that in a list instead of three separate sentences. 

I hope some of this information is helpful. If you have any tips or suggestions, please add them to the comments below or shoot me an email.

As you may know about me, I am an entrepreneur and software developer. I left my last position with Spectre Gaming to pursue personal discovery and new opportunities. Well, for the past few months I’ve been working on a new effort, The Human Known Project.

The Human Known Project is well… here’s the description that our marketing person came up with:

In 1990 the Human Genome Project was launched to further the understanding of the human make up by close examination of our genetics. In 2003 the project was deemed completed and the human code had been broken.

In 2007 the complimentary Human Known Project was launched to satisfy an increasing need for the human story to be told; for an advancement of how we see history, ourselves, and our greater human experience. For all of our technological feats and scientific probing we are no closer to better understanding the very basic human questions of who we are, why we are here, etc. The journey to the future is one of great technology and even greater adventure; the adventure of having lived because we are more then the sum of our parts.

The Human Known Project is more than a database. It is a human site, a site to promote remembrance, knowledge, sharing, growth, community, and personal development. Above all it is a place to ensure that who we are is not lost to time.

This project is an effort to bring together all of the experiential knowledge the world has, that has previously been passed by oral tradition, so that it can persist for all time and be easily discoverable by the entire world.

Today, what is known to us, what is really known to us through experiences, is passed to a local group… family, friends, churches, or local communities. Today, what is known to us gets lost; oral tradition is lost, experiences and stories are not shared, there’s nobody asking the questions. Today, unless you are in a small, upper echelon of people, your story doesn’t get widely dispersed in movies or books or television or the Internet.

The Human Known Project believes that everybody has something important to say. Everyone has had experiences that are helpful to someone, that provide insight into what it means to be human, and that are unique and valuable.

The Human Known Project is the place to share your experiences, discover the experiences of others, learn from people all over the world, find that there are others facing similar situations, and to connect with those people.

At the end of the year we will be formally launching the public service. I encourage you to take a look, be part of something historic, and share your stories. Share them for yourself, for your family, for your friends and community, and for the world.

Thanks for reading, click on over and become known to the world.

We need volunteers to help us with all aspects of the project. From techies and desigers
to business people and lawyers to individuals and you! There’s a job for everyone; from leading projects, to helping the elderly enter their stories, to passing out flyers, and a lot more. If you can get involved, please join our volunteer network!

Since its inception, the entire effort of The Human Known Project has been funded privately by me, Alex Lowe. We need financial support and donations to keep this project going. We are currently exploring and seeking private donations, institutional investment, endowments and grants, and other financial means to continue on. We want The Human Known Project to provide a lot of value to the world, and we need funding to keep going.

Thank you everyone for your contributions and support! This project is for the benefit of everyone and only works when you sign up and share your experiences.

Best regards,

Alex Lowe
The Human Known Project

The application failed to initialize properly (0xc0000135)

The cause of this error is that the Microsoft .Net framework is not installed or is damaged in some way. Therefore applications will fail to launch.

To fix this error you can run Windows Update and find the Microsoft .Net framework update to install. Alternatively, you can download the Microsoft .Net Framework directly from Microsoft.

• Microsoft .Net 1.1
• Microsoft .Net 2.0
• Microsoft .Net 3.0

• Don’t give your employees opportunities but at the same time set them up to fail.
  • This usually happens when you have an employee you can count on, that is doing a great job, and who you want to delegate more responsibility to. When you delegate, in any situation, make sure your employee has expectations set, tools to do the job, and appropriate compensation for going above and beyond. If you give more responsibility you have to give more resources and power.
• Don’t’ reward bad behavior or poor performance, even by inaction.
  • Be careful not to reward bad employees and poor performance. It demotivates good employees. Even worse is awarding poor performance by inaction. When you treat good and poor employees the same it is rewarding your poor employees and punishing your good ones. It’s not fair, demotivating, and setups up a poor work culture.
• Don’t punish good performance, even by inaction.
  • Do not punish good employees. This can be done by inaction, by lack of appreciation and compensation, or by piling on the work because “you know she’ll pull through.” Even worse is punishing a good employee. Be careful with good employees, they all should not be treated the same; they’re not your kids.
• Don’t show too little appreciation.
  • The most demotivating thing for your good employees is a lack of appreciation. Be sure to say thank you, to give them extra privileges, extra gifts, and extra compensation. Even kind words and a “good job” go a long way.
• Don’t forget things you’ve said or promised.
  • You’re the boss, you’re the entire world to your employees. If you’ve said something or have promised something don’t forget it. Write things down, take notes, send yourself emails, write on your hand. Do whatever it takes to not forget things you’ve said; your word is the law and it sets up the work environment. If you don’t remember what you’ve said you’re creating an ambiguous work environment that your employees cannot navigate and will get frustrated and demotivated by.
• Don’t give your employees impossible tasks.
  • Don’t ask your employees to do things that are impossible. This includes tasks that they do not have resources for, tasks that there are not enough time for, or by over-burdening them with labor. Setting up your employees to fail creates a very negative work environment.
• Don’t be a stranger.
  • Don’t be a stranger to your employees. Don’t be an absentee manager, you have to know what’s going on in your domain. If you’re not there it’s impossible for you to know what’s going on. If you’re not there, employees can’t turn to you to help remove barriers.

• Do expect your employees to do their jobs.
  • You made an agreement when your employees were hired. Expect them to fulfill their duties, they are getting compensated for it. If your employees are not fulfilling their obligations they need to step up or you need to have them step out.
• Do create a culture of success.
  • All the time you need to tell your employees what the goal is and strive for it. Let them know the big goal; to sell a million units, to make a million dollars, to be number one in the market. But set small goals too; how many good ideas can they come up with today, how many happy customers can they support, can they get the next component done by the end of the week, can group A get their project done with less bugs than group B.
• Do measure successes and failures. 
  • Performance is important, knowing who is performing and who is not, knowing which areas of the business to focus on, knowing if you’re meeting goals. Make sure to put in some measures of performance, it gives you an objective view of the situation and makes it easier to talk to your employees, especially if you have to reprimand them.
• Do treat your good employees better than your bad employees.
  • Your good employees are an invaluable asset that you have to take care of and keep. Your poor employees are a menace to your group or organization and need to be mitigated or removed. You should treat your good employees well, they are setting an example for your organization. Don’t play arbitrary favorites though, reward good behavior based on measurements and results and make it obvious why the rewards are being given.
• Do learn about your employees goals and desires.
  • You should genuinely value your employees. Learn about their goals and desires and try to help them come to fruition. It’s a reward that breeds loyalty and trust. It shows you see them as more than just cogs in a wheel. Motivate your employees by helping them reach their personal goals.
• Do things as a group to promote team bonding.
  • Your group is likely made up of many people that work together in a continuous process or system. It’s important that the group meshes. Find ways to bond your group, it creates team loyalty and efficiency. It’s a motivator working with people you enjoy being around. Do lunches, group projects, and non-work interaction.
• Do be open to your employees.
  • Your employees need to know whats going on in the company and in the group. Don’t sugar coat or hide too much. Inevitably bad news comes out and by hiding or being afraid to share bad information you will build a culture of mistrust. Make sure your employees know what’s going on in the organization. You must respect their ability to make decisions and deal with situations. Hiding information is mistrustful and manipulative.
• Do remove bad apples as soon as possible.
  • The worst thing for a team is a bad employee. You’ve heard a chain is only as strong as its weakest link. Make sure to root out bad employees before they are able to disrupt your organizations processes, culture, and people. It’s hard to build a great team, but very easy to tear it down.
• Do implement some level of structured reporting, even if it’s minimal.
  • You need to know what’s going on. Your employees also want the opportunity to tell you what they’ve accomplished, even if it’s small. While structured reporting can go overboard, make sure you have some level of regular reporting implemented from the beginning and you stay on top of it. Daily or weekly emails are just fine. It also gives your employees an opportunity to contact you in a non-threatening way and allows you to keep up to date on the details of what’s happening. But don’t micro-manage.

Good luck out there… the work environment is a tough one to manage.

But, I’m giving it an honest try. If you visit my contact page you can get links to all the social networks I’m on. Please, be my friend!

Look me up on Pownce. Add me, I’d love to connect with some people on this service. It seems that this service, more than any other, requires you to have friends. I have some invitations if you want to join up. Leave me a comment.

Why would you ever need to switch? Well, Dave Winer recently wrote an article about his problem with the recent Google acquisition of Feedburner. There are also concerns about Google privacy, another potential reason to switch to a competitor. Or, maybe a better service comes along.

So, what to do? Well, fortunately Feedburner provides a way to bypass their switching barrier, but you need to make sure to use it before you build a subscriber base. The feature is called MyBrand. It’s free and it allows you to point your own sub domain to the feedburner service. Be sure to use it. Happy blogging.

The New Age Bully. Information is Power.

Is nothing sacred. I love Christmas!

Developer power, keep things secret.

Linux stands no chance. The Windows blue is perfect.

Penguins are communist.

A great one. So many perspectives.

Watch your head when you build top down.

With a 500W power supply, my power cord is getting a little warm too.

There is a spectrum of published content from micro-blogs, to blogs, to something closer to traditional publications. Let’s look at it graphically.

The spectrum goes from short posts to long posts; less research to more research; less formal to more formal; fast post rates to slow post rates. The sweet spot is right in the middle, it provides valuable and desired information frequently, in a short enough posts that do not deter user attention.

The center of the spectrum is where the popularity lies. It’s what the majority of the blogosphere is and you can see by the top Technorati blogs that it’s the frequently updated popular news blogs that dominate the top rankings. Bloggers who write traditional blog posts (meatier than micro-blogs but less formal than a researched article) gain the highest rankings and most page views.

To be a popular blogger you need to be in the middle of the spectrum. Keep balance… medium length posts, a mix of pop news and insights, clear writing but not stingy, concise but not boring, authoritative yet friendly.

There is a lot of competition in the blogosphere; but maintain a balance by posting original content promoted by pop subjects and you are on the right track.

I’m in the phone for a market and this was a timely advertisement to receive. I use Cingular and will not be switching though; despite the fact I’m looking for a new phone and service looks a bit cheaper.

No, I’m not sponsored, this deal landed in my inbox today so I thought I’d share. This is a deal that isn’t well advertised but might be interesting to some.