A very cool ad from Japan (I think) about creativity and children:
I don’t want to spoil the surprise, so just watch it.
Later,
Chuck
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Author Archive for chuckbutt
If you’re as old as I am, you remember mix tapes. You’d spend a bunch of time copying songs from cassettes or albums onto a blank cassette tape, and then give them to your steady or to your buddies. It was a lot of fun, and a great way to share new music.
Now, there’s an online site where you can create your own mix tapes and share them with friends. It’s called MixWit.com, and it’s a free site. Here’s a quick mix tape I made with some of the music I’ve been listening to lately:
The picture is from a trip my buddies and I took to Cancun way back in 1988, right in the meaty part of the mix tape phenomenom.
Check it out and make your own mix tapes!
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My wife and I just checked out 10 MPH, a great independent film from Hunter Weeks and Josh Caldwell. In the film, Hunter and Josh decide to drop out of their corporate life and discover America by traveling across the country on a Segue at 10 mph. This offbeat documentary was a hit with Michele, who is not really a big fan of indie films or documentaries.
We rented the film from NetFlix, and it was well worth the time spent watching it last night. I enjoyed it so much, I wanted to share it with you. Here’s a trailer:
Check out their site, and you can have $1 donated to their next film venture by signing up for OnStage.com via the link on their site. Support independent film and give yourself some choice. These two filmmakers are a couple of guys to watch over the next few years.
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There’s a reason that Seth Godin is a marketing guru, and that’s because he’s thinking ahead, and positioning marketing for upcoming conditions instead of reacting to what is happening now. And his latest post is another kick upside the head for real estate agents who are concerned about a housing market that’s in a stall.
His advice to real estate agents is first, they should quit. The current marketing conditions are making it very difficult for real estate professionals to do things according to the status quo. If you want to make it this way, you may as well start looking for another profession because things aren’t going to get any easier for you.
Plan B, on the other hand, is to take advantage of the extraordinary opportunities available to those who want to build a long-term asset and forge a link with their community. Basically, it’s time to become THE expert in what you do, micro-specializing in some niche aspect of the real estate market. Become THE single-best real estate agent agent for condos in your area, or specialize in selling single family homes for large families. Know everything about that market, and do everything you can to be recognized as THE man (or woman) to talk to about it.
There’s a lot of other good advice for real estate agents, but this post also makes me think about how this can be applied to any business. Right now, the cost of doing business is going down quickly, making product and service costs lower as well. People have access to all kinds of competitive information, and impressions and opinions about your business are shared quickly via email and Internet review sites. Right now, business is transparent. Everyone knows about your profit margins, the costs of goods, and how much your competitors are charging.
So why not take the chance to become THE expert or de facto provider in a specialized niche in any business. Become THE kitchen remodeling specialist, offering tools for prospects to help them come up with ideas. Become THE small dog grooming specialist, offering tips and hints to keep your dog in good shape between groomings. And always - ALWAYS - provide information and expertise that allows people to understand the depth of your knowledge and exactly what your business is about.
Take a quick couple of minutes and check out this post and see how you can apply it to your business.
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Scott Andrew’s new album, “Save You From Yourself,” is out and available at CD Baby. Scott has been very creative in getting his album recorded and promoted, utilizing his fanbase (including me!) to help pay for some of the recording and production costs (you can get a little more info by checking out this link on my site).
And, Scott has created a couple of acoustic videos of songs on the new album. I’ve posted them here:
I’ve had the album for about a month now, and I’ve been wearing out my CD player listening. Do yourself a favor and play the videos and then buy the album at CD Baby. Or, better yet, buy multiple copies of the album for friends, family, people on your street, and co-workers. And, the guy who sells you your paper down at the local Cumbies (if you’re from New England).
Later,
Chuck
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I saw this quote in one of the email newsletters I receive - Allyn Gardyne’s Associate Programs Newsletter - and I thought it was great:
“Finish each day and be done with it. You have done what you would. Some blunders and absurdities no doubt crept in; forget them as soon as you can. Tomorrow is a new day; begin it well and serenely and with too high a spirit to be encumbered with your old nonsense.”
- Ralph Waldo Emerson.
Great advice. I’ll have to try it out.
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I just read a great post on Seth Godin’s blog about making an eBay business exceptional. The posting is about thinking outside the box with an eBay business, or any business for that matter, and making the entire business an experience for your customers and prospects. It’s all about communication, and exceptional attention to doing the things that make the customers bond to you and your business, allowing you to create higher value for your products.
In almost all of his posts, you’ll find something that will make you scream, “Damn, that’s absolutely right. You’re a God, Seth Godin!” He takes the essence of Web 2.0 or the social economy, or whatever you want to call it and distills it down into concepts that you can actually use in your business, no matter if you’re a sole proprieter or working for a Fortune 500 company.
If you’re at all interested in how the new Internet economy will affect your business (and it will, no matter what you do), you owe it to yourself to put Seth’s RSS feed into your RSS reader. And if you don’t know what an RSS reader is, then shame on you!
Chuck “I’m Seth’s biggest fan” Smith
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