All week I have been bombarded by emails, my favourite blogs, Facebook messages and Tweets about every man and his dog’s new year’s “resolutions“. You know what? Good for you! I am so glad that you managed to make so many errors in 2008 that you must pledge to resolve these self-guided misfortunes in 2009…

Surely I’m not the only one out there that interprets the word ‘resolution’ as “a commitment to right a wrong doing, solve a problem or resolve ones laziness?”

Dictionary.com definition of “Resolution”:

1. The state or quality of being resolute; firm determination.
2. An explanation, as of a problem or puzzle; a solution.
3. The part of a literary work in which the complications of the plot are resolved or simplified.

Traditional New Year’s Resolutions make a MASSIVE ASSUMPTION: that we have made many mistakes, we have many problems we must change our terrible ways of the past. OK, OK, I’m being a little dramatic now but for me there is a negative connotation that unnecessarily surrounds New Year’s Resolutions.

Alternatively, we could set GOALS for 2009. Clearly defined, written goals that we strive to achieve and often over-achieve, until years end. In which time we reflect upon our goal setting success and set new goals for the following year.

Everyone’s got goals right? WRONG! Can you physically point to where you goals are written down and displayed in your workspace right now? You don’t have goals until you have written goals.

Why don’t you make your New Year’s commitment to stop pretending to self-motivate through dreamy resolutions and instead write down 10 clearly defined goals for 2009?

SMART Goals:
A useful way of making goals more powerful is to use the SMART mnemonic. While there are plenty of variants, SMART usually stands for:

• S Specific
• M Measurable
• A Attainable
• R Relevant
• T Time-bound

Instead of having “write a business plan” as a goal, it is more powerful to say “To have completed my business plan & begin implementation by December 31, 2009.”

Have you got goals or resolutions? Share some below.

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If we haven’t met before, I’d love to meet you! You can find out a little bit about me here and get in contact with me here. Are you on Twitter? You can follow me here: @mikeboyd

I came across this photo while browsing a_lil_spaz’s Flickr stream today and it made me stop and think about the relationships that we share together as human beings.

Too often we see blatantly rude acts by strangers, friends & colleagues that are becoming more & more the “norm”. In this fast-paced technology age we are beginning to ignore our basic instincts of human interaction at our own peril.

And you know what? “We” as a generation will pay the price for this avoidable ignorance as we begin to understand that it’s not all about the iPod, the new plasma TV, the luxury car or the designer clothes, it’s about RELATIONSHIPS.

Relationships with your partner, your family, friends, colleagues, acquaintances and strangers are so so important and you never know how a friendly act might benefit you in the future. Every action has an equal & opposite reaction and I’d much prefer to be on the receiving end of more positive than negative reactions. Wouldn’t you? In business and in life, relationships are far more important than the deal itself.

Stop and think for a moment, when was the last time you:

• Struck up a conversation with the person next to you on the train or bus?
• Talked to or even met your next door neighbours?
• Cared to listen to the answer when you asked “How are you?”
• Greeted the reception staff with a caring and patient response?
• Offered to help an elderly person with their shopping bags?
• Called an old friend just to chat?
• Sent snail mail?
• Smiled at a complete stranger?

“It’s not what you know, but who you know” and you won’t expand your social horizons by staying safely wrapped up in your technology cocoon away from all “those” people out there in the big bad world. As we experience an economic downturn and everything becomes just a little bit tougher, a lot of people are left wondering where to turn because they have no friends or support network left to fall back on in times of need. All because they simply didn’t have the time to maintain human relationships.

Choose to be different. Put down your iPod, mobile phone, laptop or blackberry and ask the cashier how their day has been. Who knows? It may lead you down a path to a new client, friend, lover or, better yet, just a simple positive human experience!

Until next time, SMILE!

If we haven’t met before, I’d love to meet you! You can find out a little bit about me here and get in contact with me here. Are you on Twitter? You can follow me here: @mikeboyd

This is a great post by Carlo at StartupLaunchr that I just had to share…

What kind of business should I start?”

Most aspiring entrepreneurs ask this very question during the beginning of their journey into business. If you are like most people, the idea of starting your own business probably involves a restaurant franchise, a coffee shop, or a retail store of some sorts (such as selling clothes or books). Or, if you’re a little more in-tune with the times, you’ll be thinking of starting a technology company of some sorts and hoping to secure some venture capital funding.

There is absolutely nothing wrong with these types of businesses. However, if you’re a first-time entrepreneur (and likely, you are if you’re asking this question) these businesses are a bad idea to start with. They are very risky, take a lot of start-up capital, and you’ll most likely end up doing 12-hour work days, 7 days a week. Even more so, you are betting your most important resources (time and money) on an unproven strategy.

Instead, I challenge you to think of your first business as a pet project of some sort. Something that you are passionate about, and don’t mind spending a little bit of money here and there. You’ll never “fail” — you’re simply learning.

And to maximize your chances of success with your business, here are 6 rules you should follow when you’re launching a new business.

You should solve a certain problem for a certain group of people.

Instead of thinking about business ideas, successful entrepreneurs think about problem-solving for a select group. Look to answer the question, “how can I solve THAT problem?” when brainstorming for business ideas. People are more inclined to buy when they’re in a state of looking for a solution to their problem. It’s much easier to sell the cure instead of the prevention.

Preferably, you should be a member of that particular group to TRULY know what solutions you can offer them. After all, you can’t REALLY know what sort of problems pregnant women have if you’ve never been pregnant yourself, can you?

You should be able to test the demand for your product prior to launch.

Do not create a product and hope to create a demand for it once it’s done. Ideally, you should be able to launch a dry-test before you spend valuable time and resources developing the product. Set up a salespage and launch an AdWords campaign and see how many people “purchase” your product. Don’t take their credit card information of course; simply say you are sold out and will contact them once you’re fully stocked again. Additionally, you can also list the item on eBay and pull down the listing in the last minute.

You should be able to get it up and running as quickly or as cheap as possible.

You don’t have the capital, nor the resources, to build the next PSP or iPod just yet. If you attempt to build something that huge and this is your first time going into business, your chances for failure is very, very high. Once your dry test proves successful, you should be able to quickly capitalize on the demand even if that means starting out with half a product (half a product, NOT a half-ass product). It’s perfectly acceptable to start small for now, and get bigger as you progress.

You should be able to outsource a bulk of the work.

Not being able to outsource is a common syndrome for would-be entrepreneurs. They insist on doing it all themselves, then burn themselves out in the process. Don’t be cheap, and outsource activities. Think about this as a wise investment for your business. There are plenty of entrepreneurs who have launched entire businesses on the Internet by outsourcing everything, even product creation.

You shouldn’t be working on trivial things when you can save days or weeks of work by simply paying someone else to do it. So if web design or programming isn’t your strong suit, find someone on Elance who can do it cheaply. Focus your efforts on marketing and selling your product.

You should never buy anything that isn’t required until you’re making a profit.

Did you know that you only have to double a dollar 20 times before you turn it into a million? Take $1 and double that to end up with $2. Double that to end up with $4. Double that to end up with $8… By step 20, you would’ve made over a million dollars.

Of course, that’s easier said than done. The lesson here is to take the profits you’ve earned and reinvest it back into the business. Until you’re making a profit, do not spend on unnecessary things like coffee mugs with your logo on it, new desks, office rent, etc. Before you buy anything, first ask yourself this question: will the business crumble tomorrow if I don’t get this right now? If not, put it in the backburner and move on.

You should be able to scale the business.

This is perhaps the most important rule of them all. After all, you’re starting a business, not getting a job. The end goal for your company should be that it functions without your presence. Your business should function in the same way whether you’re selling 10 or 10,000 products. Be the police officer on the side of the road who steps in when needed, instead of a toll booth which all cars need to pass through.

“Companies that place high importance on managing the economic value of their intangible assets and primarily their brands, consistently outperform basic economic measures.”

[Interbrand Top Performing European Retail Brands, 2008]

I was reading an article in Ad Age about how, increasingly, the people who handle the brand inside organization are being considered for top jobs.

Brand matters. It contributes significantly to the company’s value. Lived and owned rather than an afterthought - a deliberate, two-way conversation between a company and the marketplace - a brand is a powerful asset.

Especially in an increasingly crowded competitive environment. A brand that does well by its customers earns a positive reputation. It in turn translates into positive cash flow. There is a correlation.

How do we measure it? Is there a way to make it truly apparent? Start with what happens when the brand is not a valued asset inside the organization.

• the vision, mission and value statements read like those of just about any other company and nobody can possibly see how they come alive, how people live them;
• every business is a silo. It develops products or services in a vacuum, and articulates what the company does differently. There is no central core to vet new products and services against;
• the marketplace is quite confused about what it is that you deliver. There is no brand promise to fulfill, to rally around, to make decisions by;
• there is no compelling reason why or unifying idea behind why a business is in business;
• a line item that contains activities around branding is the first to be cut into oblivion, and with it potentially the company. Did I mention that there are so many choices today?

You know that these symptoms tend to seep outside the confines of the organization. We’re in a connected marketplace. When we buy anything at all, we sign up to join a story. The story could be that of using the cheapest toothpaste or most convenient store, but make no mistake - we make decisions and trade offs based on brand stories and experiences all the time.

I like the idea of exercising, but I do not like gyms - they are noisy, crowded, sometimes hardly clean and expensive. My return on effort is not there. And I do not like paying annual fees on top of monthly fees with no guarantee that I will be able to use the equipment I want, when I want it. Recently I started taking Pilates classes.

The place where I go offers the right kind of environment for me. The largest crowd you’d ever have is 5 people so the instructors have plenty of opportunity to help everyone. You book a machine online ahead of time, the hours are flexible, and the fee is flat per month - you go as many times as you can/want. The brand experience is: personable, flexible, convenient, and fun. Oh, and the reason why you’d go? It promises to make you fit, I am already seeing the results.

Do you have a brand matters story? Today at Fast Company I discuss how cost cutting choices are cutting brands short.

Now you know what to look out for and have your example in mind. How do you calculate brand value?

According to Interbrand, it is at the intersection of brand strength analysis and the role of brand analysis. You take the benchmark of your brand’s ability to secure ongoing customer demand (loyalty, repurchase/reconsideration, retention) and reference that to the measure of how the brand influences customer demand.

To calculate the value, Interbrand uses financial forecasting - branded revenues minus operating costs, taxes and capital to get to intangible earnings. To separate the role of branding from things such as R&D and management expertise, they use an analytical framework. In B2B, the brand is usually one purchase driver among many. This is expressed as a percentage.

The assessment of brand strength determines the specific risk of the brand. The net present value of the forecast brand earnings discounted by the time value of money and the risk that the forecast earnings will materialize. Interbrand refers to a wide array of primary and secondary sources that are applicable to each brand. These include amongst others; Datamonitor, ACNielsen, Gartner, Hall & Partners, etc. in addition to a network of brand valuation experts. More in the report.

If this sounds fairly complicated, go back to how hard it is to explain to the organization that people do not want to buy your products or services because your brand experience and reputation are poor.

“When the value of a brand is recognized by its owner, the brand strategy becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy.”

Source: Conversation Agent.com

Twice successive ‘Employer of the Year’…

As the economic honeymoon that Australia has enjoyed over recent years slowly bows its departure - what can we learn from the best in each industry to stay afloat? Let’s take a look at Motivation and how it can greatly benefit and grow organisational behaviour.

Increasing fuel costs have impacted travel costs, and terrorist threats have made long-distance travel a less attractive option to a security wary public. The advent of internet booking services also means that traditional travel agencies have had to fight to stay competitive.

However, in such a hostile environment, the fight for market share isn’t won simply by providing the cheapest travel option possible to consumers. According to Flight Centre, the human factor in the transaction is also a critical part of any success strategy. So, Flight Centre is an employer that offers its staff a range of incentives, rewards and opportunities.

Pay for performance is a critical part of the packages offered to employees. According to the Flight Centre website, ‘No one works on a flat salary here and we truly believe “What gets rewarded gets done.” Staff have access to training opportunities through the company’s internal leadership development program. In Australia, more formal credentials can be acquired through Flight Centre’s relationship with the William James School of Business. Staff can complete what the company regards as an internationally recognised Bachelor of Masters degree in Management, within 18-24 months while working full time.

In both 2002 and 2003, Flight Centre was named Australia’s ‘Best Employer of the Year‘ and received a highly commended mention in 2004.

So, what can we learn from this in micro, small and medium enterprises? Can we build a greater team around us from the motivation techniques Flight Centre have employed?

Yes, it is simple - but mighty effective. Appreciate your help, appreciate your team and reward when reward is due.