When a person starts a business, it’s much like a politician starting a campaign, thinking they will be all things to everyone. You hear something like, “We will offer our widget for the best price and have the best quality and we will be one of the best known and respected brands in the world and Amazon will buy us out within a year…” The truth of the matter is that, it is very hard to achieve all 3, at the same time. You have to be like a cheetah, pick the weakest one in the herd and lock in, while locking out the rest.

Zig Ziglar has a great quote that I will always remember, “Businesses don’t plan to fail, they fail to plan…” This is so true. There’s a popular quote in marketing that says, “Don’t be a ready product looking for a customer.” (or Don’t be a solution, looking for a problem that fits the solution). Most companies that start up, go this route, rather than seeing what pain there is and trying to find a solution to it.

It’s very hard to succeed this way, it’s like trying to thread a needle while you are holding the needle and someone else is holding the thread (oh, and they’re not even looking at the needle). It’s best if you worked in the industry you’re trying to help. This might mean you have gone through some of the pain you’re trying to solve. The next best thing is talking to actual people that might benefit from the idea.

First decide what you want to be known for:

1- Price (We offer the best price and no one can beat us),
2- Quality (We offer the best made product with the highest quality parts), or
3- Brand (We are the leader in our industry, not because we are the cheapest, but we offer solutions that fit certain, sometimes a select, group of people’s needs).

Once this is done the product or service will need to be created or completed using the wisdom of the crowds in that segment. The customers/client will let the company know if they have a need for that product or service eventually anyway. So the customer(s) can do this for you at the beginning, when you have not spent a lot of time and resources, or at the end where you will decide all that sunk cost will truly become a sunk cost.

With the Internet, it’s very easy to get a focus group going, it is even easier to get a customer group going. Take advantage of it. Ask and you shall receive. Don’t do it alone. But start by deciding if you want to be the “Price King”, “No one can match our quality”, or “We have a name that is unmatched in this space”.

I love this quote, I first heard it 10-15 years ago, I don’t remember. I have no idea who came up with it, but I think he/she/it was of the last type shown below. Here is how the quote goes:

There are 3 kinds of people in the world:

Those who make things happen
Those who watch things happen
Those who wonder what happened

How true…

You might have seen the layman version:

There are those that make sh*t happen
There are those that watch sh*t happen
There are those that wonder how did that sh*t happen
and those that don’t give a sh*t what happened

And if you are a programmer, this is not bad either (Thanks Saro):

There are only 10 types of people in the world…those who read binary and those who don’t.

See, 1′s and 0′s, yes and no… Ohhhh…forget it, if you are a programmer, you understand it, if you’re not, then you are saying, “OK, so what are the other 8 types??”

Enjoy casual Saturdays

 

-Diran

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Originally Posted on Sept 19, 2011, updated Sept 22 to include Conan’s video

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I think I will buy Dish Network stock pretty soon (Maybe not). This is the break Blockbuster’s failed service needed to get into the game. Netflix has been in a tailspin for a while, I think too much morphine. They stopped caring about the customer. Now that they are a public company, they are trying to please shareholders.

Reed, don’t forget that customers pay you. A firm boss might not be liked, but he/she is definitely respected. A confused one will just get more confused as time goes by. Pull yourself together. Whats this?

- Now our service will be $16.99.
- A few months later, oh, our service will be $19.99.
- A few months later, “Oh I made a mistake and I will apologize, we will split these 2 services and we will name it Qwikster…” Eeeewwww! Who convinced you with that name? It must have been someone from Blockbuster.

Haven’t you read the Fail blogs about Flickster, Dogster, Friendster, crapster etc? Couldn’t you buy a domain name from one of the domainers like maybe MailFlix (Maybe not that one) how about BoxFlix, or just Netflix+ (That’s the best I can do without getting paid). It’s branding 101 and you have FAIL-ed. This name is soooo 10 years ago Reed! I would hire a strategist if I were you and I would do it now.

This is just my opinion, but I’m sure a lot of people agree. Look at the Video apology and the explanation you have on your blog and Youtube, you have 4:1 dislikes over likes. Maybe half of the likes were employees or shareholders of Netflix. Coca Cola Classic anyone?

BlockBuster, Amazon etc. act now or forever hold your peace. This is my opinion, I welcome yours.

 

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Updated Sept 22, 2011
Conan made a skit about this (Watch the video here)

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It seems like the Android tablets are ganging up on the iPad. I get a kick out of reading some posts about how people feel they know the answer to which one is better for everyone. That’s like knowing what car or truck would be best for you, forget the rest. There’s a reason why there are so many different types of cars out there.

Anyway, there is no magic bullet here for everyone. It is not as clear cut as  weighing the difference between using a computer or using a typewriter. One post said, ”most consumers (even the so called “pro ones”) would prefer their job done instead of customizing…” It reminds me of that infamous Wendy’s commercial where the consumer picks the burger with less meat and no choices for condiments over the one that offers everything; Because that’s what the consumer is used to so far. I disagree.

That might look right initially, because initially most people just want the first ones out without looking deep. Once they start using it, then they feel they made a mistake not weighing all alternatives. Everyone has a different need.

If all you want is to browse websites while in a meeting, or in front of the TV, and look at your emails, access facebook, and connect to itunes, then get the iPad. If you want to use the device for more, and you want connectivity, flash capability, upgradeability (without the need for “Apple to upgrade for you” by buying another device) then Android will do more to take care of that need.

BTW, the reason Apple decided to not support flash is because the first processor was not strong enough to process flash. Although there is another theory that Apple just wanted to make it harder for the competition like Hulu etc that used flash to rent movies to consumers. It’s called “Stifle the competition” and all (and I mean all) companies do it.

I have bought both iPad2 and Samsung Galaxy. I have to admit the scrolling is smooth on the ipad, and I like that, but in my opinion, the Android Tablets are superior for almost everything else, specially when it comes to Google related stuff like the voice recognition, Navigation, etc.

I like the points that most people defending the iPad point out. Lets not forget some features/specs that iPad2 doesn’t have like:
- No USB connectivity
- Forget playing Flash
- Connector for connecting to another monitor (for presentation)
- The 1990′s 0.3 Megapixel camera, (vs. the multi MegaPixel cams on the Androids like Galaxy)

To tell you the truth, I was sick and tired of not having the sites with flash not show up on the iPad2. I didn’t know this many sites used Flash!!! I have given the ipad to my wife, and I have the Galaxy Tab 10.1 for myself. The ipad is good for her to lookup the price of shoes on the Macy’s site while she is watching TV. I will stick with having connectivity, upgradeability, and just in general being able to change things around. You decide for yourself.

Social Networking is so easy when it’s explained in Layman’s terms isn’t it? Now grandpa understands what social networking is and can appreciate the fact that so many people have to go to social networking sites so often Social Media Explained from: – Source: http://seanpercival.s3.amazonaws.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/socialmediaexplained_1a.jpg Thanks for the art.

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© 2011 Diran Afarian, All rights reserved.

Funny how fast creative people work. Google+ is not even out yet and there are people poking fun at it and other social networks that it is bound to effect. Here’s a fan art page: – link to Google+ Fan Art (http://bit.ly/nP2cJr) I personally like this one the most: – http://bit.ly/qxqUzf (Creative) I would have added Actor’s Connect Network To pee or not to pee, that is the question… This is a close runner-up: – Funny…Ooops, Sorry… Hey it’s still Funny (http://bit.ly/nIQD8Q)

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© 2011 Diran Afarian, All rights reserved.

After spending a few hours trying to figure out what needs to be done to install Jira on our Linux server, I stumbled on a page written by Iain “lbc” Wright, that described, step-by-baby-step exactly what I needed to do. and amazingly within a few minutes, I had the Jira wizard page active in my browser.

Here is the link to iain’s page: Installing Jira on a Linux Server

So I wanted to spare other people the grief by directing them to this simple and effective tutorial. Thanks Iain.

Iain “lbc” Wright is currently the Technical Director for RagingArtists – a full service creative marketing firm based out of Los Angeles, CA.

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© 2011 Diran Afarian, All rights reserved.

I don’t know why people pay this much attention to someone so intellectually lacking. I remember we had a kid that used to play with us when I was in 4th or 5th grade, he would do the same exact thing. Every time he couldn’t figure something out, he would say, “You guys are not playing fair…” He was only 10 years old though.

Why is the media so obsessed with Sarah Palin? There are so many demented people in America, can’t you find others? I missed this video, I have a feeling many of you probably did too:

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I cannot believe the attention and importance the media is focusing on this one non-relevant candidate. I thought this would have died down by now, but I guess I am wrong on this too. Maybe Sarah Palin and Lauren Caitlin Upton are one in the same. Just sayin’…

Oh yeah, this is just my opinion, and you are welcome to have have your own.

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© 2011 Diran Afarian, All rights reserved.

Apparently one of the main reasons the intelligence pointed to Osama Bin Laden’s location was the fact that he had no internet at his compound which was a huge building in an area with much smaller houses.

So it goes to prove even the absence of the Internet helps in the fight for the democratization of the world. How powerful is that?

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This could be a fake. It is early yet, but I thought it was close enough:

We don’t know yet.