Making Ideas “Stick”
Over the years, numerous business ideas, philosophies and approaches have flooded our world, particularly with the proliferation of the Internet. But what makes one idea catch on with the masses and others fall to the wayside?
“Made to Stick,” by brothers Chip and Dan Heath, is an attempt to explain this peculiar fact and many others like it. Why is it that some ideas “stick,” remaining vivid in memory and calling on people to act, whereas others just fade away? Is it in the nature of the ideas themselves, or does it have something to do with how they are “packaged”? And if the latter, are there lessons to be learned about packaging that will help people who are trying to influence public opinion and action?
The brothers – who are experts in organizational behavior — have written a book that lays out the six core ingredients and illustrates them with powerful examples. A useful mnemonic device, the components are organized by the acronym “SUCCES.” To stick, ideas should be Simple, Unexpected, Concrete, Credible, Emotion-evoking and entrenched in Stories.
We’ve provided a brief overview of the book and these six basic principles:
Principle 1: Simplicity
How do we find the essential basis of our ideas? To narrow an idea down to its core, we must prioritize and narrow thoughts. Saying something short is not the goal. You need a one-sentence statement so insightful that a person could spend a lifetime learning to follow it.
Principle 2: Unexpectedness
How do we get our audience to pay attention to our ideas, and how do we maintain their interest when we need time to get the ideas across? We need to be counterintuitive. We can engage people’s curiosity over a long period of time by systematically “opening gaps” in their knowledge- and then filling those gaps.
Principle 3: Concreteness
How do we make our ideas clear? We must explain our ideas in terms of human actions, in terms of sensory information. This is where so much business communication goes awry. Mission statements, synergies, strategies, visions-they are often ambiguous to the point of being meaningless. Speaking concretely is the only way to ensure that our idea will mean the same thing to everyone in our audience.
Principle 4: Credibility
How do we make people believe our ideas? Sticky ideas have to carry their own credentials. We need ways to help people test our ideas for themselves-a “try before you buy” philosophy for the world of ideas. When we’re trying to build a case for something, most of us instinctively grasp for hard numbers. But really, the goal is to ask help people ask questions that inspire them to think how an idea might apply to them on a personal level.
Principle 5: Emotions
How do we get people to care about our ideas? We make them feel something. Statistics usually don’t elicit emotions. We are wired to feel things for people, not for abstractions. Sometimes the hard part is finding the right emotion to harness.
Principle 6: Stories
How do we get people to act on our ideas? We tell stories. Research shows that mentally rehearsing a situation helps us perform better when we encounter that situation in the physical environment. Similarly, hearing stories acts as a kind of mental flight simulator, preparing us to respond more quickly and effectively.
To read further, visit www.madetostick.com.
Coworking Reviewed by the Wall Street Journal’s Cranky Consumer
The Wall Street Journal’s ‘Cranky Consumer’ recently gave coworking try sharing their experience in a great article.
As sited in the article there are over 9 million self-employed individuals and 33.7 million telecommuters working in the U.S. today.
As we’ve noted since launching our first Office Space Coworking location in Akron…the dynamics of the independent/ mobile work force are driving more and more freelancers, entrepreneurs, & telecommuters to seek alternatives to working out of their home or out of the coffee shop.
We’re seeing more mentions of coworking in the mainstream media lately….from Entreprenuer Magazine, NPR, & now the Wall Street Journal, it appears we’ve really hit on a growing trend. Hey we even were lucky enough to be interviewed by WKYC.
It’s exciting to see this increased exposure. But let’s not forget New York, Seattle, Chicago, LA aren’t the only areas able to support a thriving coworking community.
Office Space Coworking, Northeast Ohio’s first coworking facility just opened the doors on our 2nd location. Now small business owners, freelancers & telecommuters in Akron and Cuyahoga Falls can tap into all the benefits the coworking community has to offer.
So if you know someone launching their business or someone who’s looking to escape the isolation from working out of their home, please help us spread the word. We’d love to have them join us.
SEO is Not Magic. A Do-It-Yourselfer’s Guide to “Findability”. Video Presentation from Office Space Coworking’s BizCamp 2009.
SEO – Search Engine Optimization is a tricky subject. So many people claim to be experts and there’s a LOT much information out there. So it’s hard to know what’s what.
We were fortunate enough to have Jason Jividen, New Media Strategist at Sanctuary Media Group, break down the nuts and bolts of the SEO for attendees of last year’s BizCamp.
Watch his full presentation: ‘SEO is Not Magic. A Do-It-Yourselfer’s Guide to “Findability”. This presentation is full of tons of great information. Watch it in your browser here or download it to your computer or iPod for later viewing.
About Jason Jividen:
Jason Jividen is New Media Strategist at Sanctuary Media Group. Jason’s spent his entire career sifting through new tech, old tech, and a decade-and-a-half’s worth of virtual gadgets and gizmos, to find, define, and present those that deliver value to my business clients. Sometimes that’s selling, sometimes it’s teaching, and sometimes it’s just listening and learning. Jason distills all the options available and converts them into practical, useful tools that are able to consistently drive results.
Jason is also a member of Office Space Coworking.
Special thanks to Sound Video Productions for recording & editing all the BizCamp presentations.
How To Hire & Manage Interns
Small businesses in Northeast Ohio – and across America, for that matter – have long used college student interns and recent grads as a helpful, low-cost human resource. Student interns are capable, motivated and – if well managed – highly valuable to your business. A great number of high school, college, graduate and vocational school students are eager to take advantage of the real-world business opportunities offered to them by local businesses — during the entire academic year and not just during the summer months.
With the University of Akron, Walsh University, Malone College, and Kent State (Stark) just down the road, local businesses access to a huge pool of talent.
An increasing number of students today are capable of far more than just clerical work. Many can competently handle complex projects in such areas as finance, public relations, event planning and Web site design/development. And, many students choose internships at small companies instead of larger ones because of the hands-on experience they can get.
The trick is the “well-managed” part. Small businesses too often hire interns without a plan. Success with interns requires finding the right people and creating a system that cultivates interns’ capabilities.
Creating Your Intern Program
Interns can help you and your employees be more productive by freeing up their time – all while providing valuable learning experiences for the intern. Take an inventory of substantive work you need done. Ask other employees what tasks an intern could perform – especially those “back burner” things that nobody else has time to complete. There are many things that interns can help with – however, to make it a mutually beneficial experience, consider setting up some of these tasks: Interns can help you and your employees be more productive by freeing up their time – all while providing valuable learning experiences for the intern. Take an inventory of substantive work you need done. Ask other employees what tasks an intern could perform – especially those “back burner” things that nobody else has time to complete. There are many things that interns can help with – however, to make it a mutually beneficial experience, consider setting up some of these tasks:
- identify prospects
- pursue business leads
- write or send press releases
- plan events
- identify news media for publicity
- prepare award submissions
- do Web research on your industry or competitors
- refresh Web site content
- assist with presentations, design charts, graphs and posters
- recruit the next interns
Getting Started
To help get you started, we’ve compiled some key steps to launching and managing your intern program:
- Attract candidates by posting internship positions online. Some internship sites let you post positions for free, others have small per/month charges for a listing. Employers can also post internship positions at Internships.com where a month-long listing is $10.
- Contact the internship/career offices of local high schools, colleges, universities, vocational schools and graduate schools. Internship coordinators help match students’ abilities with employers’ needs.
- Assign someone in your business (it may just be you) to have overall responsibility for your internship program, and be allotted the time and resources to properly manage it.
- Determine if you have adequate workspace with access to computers and other tech tools.
- Interns need a clear sense of guidance and structure, as they may be in a business for the first time. Schedules, work plans and deadlines will help.
- Documentation is very important for effective learning to take place. It is strongly advisable that an employer and intern create mutually agreed upon learning objectives.
Using interns in your organization can result in many benefits. It is important to do some careful planning before creating your internship program. You can be sure to continue recruiting from your pool of internship candidates and foster positive public relations by implementing an effective, thorough internship program.
Get Creative! Making Team Meetings More Powerful with White boards…
I love a good brainstorming session.
Something about taking a group of smart people and throwing ideas on the wall. Be they good, bad, or otherwise — it’s a great way to get all the options & all the issues up in your face.
I recently toured some facilities with white board walls all around and realized that was something we wanted more of at our Akron Office Space Coworking facility.
So this weekend, we completed the first installation of white boards in our Conference Room ‘A’ — nice, big 4 x 8 dry erase boards ready for members to get together and go nuts.
Over the coming weeks we’ll complete installation of additional boards for all four of our conference / team rooms. In fact, the team rooms will feature entire walls covered with the dry erase boards. Each of which can be booked online by members for client meetings, off-site team meetings, training & education & product brainstorming sessions.
Ahhh but before you get started – here’s a great article with detailed guidelines for running a successful creative brainstorming session.
An outline of these guidelines includes:
- Suspend judgment
- Think freely
- Improve, modify, build on the ideas of others.
- Concentrate on generating a large stock of ideas
And the article goes on to explain the practical methodology for running the session — including making sure you have an official recorder, keeping the session relaxed & playful, & organizing the chaos.
Anyway – I encourage you to read the full article at Virtual Salt and to plan your next brainstorming session at Office Space Coworking in Akron or Cuyahoga Falls.
My 14 Favorite Business Books….(and the Launch of Office Space Coworking’s Lending Library)
As we come to the end of the year, it’s a time for reflection.
It’s only natural to start looking ahead. Trying to figure out what we’ll do to make this year better than the last.
What lessons have we learned? What would we change? What will we try to repeat?
This is where I – being a business geek — look to books to educate and inspire me.
I do have a preference. My favorite form of Biz Lit are Business biographies.
I love — love, love, love — a good business biography. There’s nothing like living vicariously through the successes of those who’ve been there / done that.
I gleen bits of wisdom and eek out psuedo-curriculum from these books. At the very least, they provide a frame of reference for what has (and has not) worked for others in the past. They help me when faced with tough decisions and in forming my own philosophies on how I’d like to do business.
In fact, in many of these books my favorite parts are the discussions on their failures.
At the same time, I still crave applied knowledge.
The best, in my opinion….take successful entities (people, companies, organizations) and break down the nuts and bolts of their operations. They draw out the repeatable process & activities that helped bring them a measure of success. While not necessarily saying – ‘Do this and you’ll grow like gang busters’ — because that just ain’t realistic. They do provide a basis for defining the unique formula required for you to succeed in your own right.
At least – that’s how I see it.
These books are few & far between. So when I find a great book, I love to share it.
Below are 14 of my favorite books:
- Getting Things Done (David Allen)
- Bill & Dave: How HP Built The World’s Greatest Company
- Ready, Fire, Aim: Zero to $100 Million in No Time Flat
- Being Direct: Making Advertising Pay (Lester Wunderman)
- High Wire Act: Ted Rogers and the Empire that Debt Built
- When Hollywood Had a King: The Reign of Lew Wasserman, Who Leveraged Talent into Power and Influence
- Titan: The Life of John D. Rockefeller, Sr
- Getting The Right Things Done: A Leaders Guide to Planning & Execution
- The Snowball: Warren Buffett and the Business of Life
- How to Stop Worrying and Start Living
- Andrew Carnegie
- Losing My Virginity: How I’ve Survived, Had Fun And Made A Fortune Doing Business My Way
- The Toyota Way
- In Sam We Trust
What are some of your favorites?
Two cool announcements
I’m happy to announce Office Space Coworking is opening up our very own Lending Library for Business Books. In our Akron & Cuyahoga Falls offices, you’ll find a number of books available for you to reading pleasure. I’ll work to get these cataloged and available for online reservation so you members can just pick them up in their mailbox the next time they come into the office. But no – we won’t have the latest John Grisham, sorry.
It’s not big (yet) — but you’ll find ‘my’ favorites there and we’re taking on donations.
If you’d like to borrow one, just send me a note that you’re ‘checking it out’ — and return it when your done.
AND – a couple of us have been talking and decided to get a Business Book Reading Club going. A couple of us are reading ‘Crush it’ right now and we’re going to start organizing when to meet. I’m thinking this will probably come together after the 1st of the year. We’ll host our meetings at the Akron Office Space Coworking location…probably on a bi-weekly or monthly basis…depending one what works best for the group.
If you’re interested in participating, please let me know!
Vote For Charly! Office Space Coworking Member Runs to Represent Ward 1 in Akron
I met Charly a little after we first opened Office Space Coworking in Akron.
Ever since our launch he’s been VERY supportive of our little community.
He’s been an active participant in our networking & education events and gone above and beyond with helping members connect with one another.
Most of us probably know Charly from his work as the Director of Urban Connection. Urban Connection does some pretty cool stuff to give opportunities and education for employment to the non-traditional worker.
Urban Connection will fund this program AND provide jobs through the Urbean Cafe’ in the Metro Regional Transit Authority’s recently opened Intermodal Transit Center in downtown Akron.
So, essentially, it’s a charitable organization using it’s religious foundation to stimulate REAL economic development at a grass roots level….using BUSINESS to fund it’s mission.
I think that’s brilliant.
As Director , Charly writes curriculum, leads volunteers, raises money and manages relationships with multiple program sites. His vision is to see the Urban Connection model multiplied throughout this city and others.
On a personal level, I can’t say enough good things about Charly. He’s been a vocal advocate for Office Space Coworking and a great friend.
He’s been very supportive of our efforts – even going so far as to organize the crew that helped us move to the 3rd floor recently.
Now – I’m not a political guy. I have interest in our community obviously — but I don’t vote Republican and I don’t vote Democrat.
I vote for issues.
I vote for people — people with integrity and the ability to get things done.
That’s Charly Murphy.
So with Election Day coming up Tuesday, November 4th. I’d recommend anyone who reads this - and lives in Ward 1 – to vote for Charly.
6 Simple Secrets to Loving the Marketing Planning Process (Ivana Taylor of DIYMarketers)
See the full video of Ivan’a Taylor’s sessions from April 2009’s BizCamp in Akron, Ohio.
We’ve got it kinda tiny here but you can easily expand it to full screen mode by playing with the little control buttons at the bottom of the video area.
We just received the full 8 disk set of speaker sessions and will be releasing selected presentations on our Web site here. We’ll be releasing information on how you can purchase the full video set as well as details on our next BizCamp coming up in August of 2009.
About the Speaker:
Ivana Taylor from DIYMarketers.com reveals how you can eliminate the hair-pulling, overwhelming process of writing a marketing plan that will attract and keep only the best, high-profit customers you want to work with.
Ivana Taylor has built a business around getting her clients to be the obvious choice for their ideal customer. She’s the founder of DIYMarketers.com, a resource for anyone responsible for getting and keeping customers. She’s also the President of Third Force, an exclusive marketing strategy firm
10 Mistake Small Business Owners Make (And How to Avoid Them)
Well, here it is. Our FREE 26-page eBook
‘ 10 Mistakes Small Business Owners Make (And How to Avoid Them)‘
Simply register for our Web site and you’ll get the full report.
What’s more…you’ll be added to our mailing list which will keep you in the loop on all future business networking and education events hosted by Office Space Coworking in Akron. THE place where Akron Small Business Owners meet, work, and succeed.
Who This E-Book Is For
This book is for people who started their business wanting one thing: INDEPENDENCE.
For many that may mean financial independence. But, I’m talking independence in truest form.
I’m talking about the freedom to work WHEN you want, WHERE you want, HOW you want, and with WHO you want. I’m talking about the freedom to work on things that EXCITE you.
And YES, I’m talking about making as much money as you dream about making in the process.
This book is for people who got into business to so they can build the lifestyle they’ve always dreamed of having.
What is this book ultimately about? Connecting the dots.
Your greatest challenge as a business owner is taking the vision you have for you, your business, and your family and making them all work together.
Your job is to take that vision and make it ACTIONABLE. Your job is to focus on your long term goal while taking incremental steps towards that vision each and every chance you get.
This E-Book Is NOT For
- People who believe you need to work 70 hours a week to be successful
- People who believe their job is to sit at a desk and ‘get stuff done’
- Anyone who dismisses Vision as ‘hogwash’
- People who define success solely by how much money you have in the bank
About the Author
Kelly Brown, founder of the Office Space Coworking, has 20 years of experience leading entrepreneurial organizations.
Kelly founded Office Space Coworking in 2008 after serving several years as the Chief Operating Officer and Marketing Director for a publishing organization based in Canton, Ohio. Under Kelly’s leadership net operating profits doubled and ROI from marketing activities increased by over 150%.
Kelly is also a CPA. While he no longer practices public accounting and feigns ignorance when asked for tax advice, he does know his debits from his credits and is a whiz when it comes to P&Ls and spread sheet analysis.
Small Business Owner
Kelly started his first business at age 16 then started his second at age 26. After deciding to sell the business and take a leadership position in the purchasing organization. While he enjoyed the comforts of the traditional corporate environment, he felt the itch to start his third business, Small Business Guru, in 2006.
Small Business Advocate
Kelly’s passion is business. He loves teaching others how to grow and manage their business and has spoken at meetings and conventions across the United States and in Canada. His goal? To give entrepreneurs and small business owners affordable access to the same high-level management expertise that only large companies with big budgets can afford.
‘Business is Simple’ Approach
Kelly is ‘old school.’ He ascribes to philosophies of the Carnegies (both Andrew & Dale), Deming, Drucker, Wunderman, Covey, & (most recently) Allen (GTD).
Kelly believes business owners should seek to be their own guru through education and peer interaction. The answers are out there and are as old as time, you just need to know where to look and who to ask.
Who Are The Contributors Speaking at Akron’s BizCamp – Spring 2009?
We’re a few weeks away and the roster for Akron’s first BizCamp is just getting bigger and better!
Our panel of a speakers include award winning, nationally recognized experts — all based right here in the Northeast Ohio region. If you haven’t already, you better register now! As of this writing, there are only 8 Early Bird Tickets left.
Register now for only $50 and you’ll get two days – up close and personal with the following panel of experts.
Widely considered a “small business expert,” Anita Campbell serves as CEO of Anita Campbell Associates Ltd, a woman-owned consulting firm helping companies and organizations reach the small business market. As Publisher of several online media properties and syndicated content, Anita reaches over 1,000,000 small business owners and entrepreneurs annually. She is the founder and Editor-in-Chief of Small Business Trends, an award-winning online publication.
Jim Kukral is a web marketer & business web coach, speaker, long-time award-winning blogger, customer evangelist, writer, online monetization expert, and well, a bunch of other things. When Jim isn’t speaking or consulting to top Fortune 500 clients, Jim spends his business hours as the owner of Scratchback.com, a widget-based tipping system that thousands of bloggers and webmasters use daily. Jim’s most recent book is ‘Blend this Book‘.
Ivana Taylor is founder at DIY Marketers, President of Third Force Marketing Systems, & Blogger at Strategy Stew. If you’re responsible for the day-to-day marketing process in your company – DIY Marketers will be one of your favorite places to be. This community site offers personal marketing support and community for lonely, overwhelmed marketing people. Joining the group and become more efficient, spend less of the few budget dollars you have and get more loyal, profitable and happy customers to choose you.
Joel Libava. Crain’s Cleveland Business calls him “The Local Franchising Guru.” Franchise Selection Specialists Inc. 2nd generation President, brings real world franchise industry experience to his clients, and helps them select and research opportunities in franchise ownership. His franchise matchmaking services are FREE.
Brian Layman, Code Ninja for B5 Media & Technical Evangelist at Office Space Coworking. Brian’s the guy that makes it all work at B5 Media. B5 Media, Inc. operates as an online media network. It offers blogs on various subjects, such as entertainment, news, technology, and sports. B5’s Web sites properties include ProBlogger.com, Splendicity, Starked.com, the AfterMac, & Wii News Daily.
Register Online Now!