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The Courage to Be Indispensable
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Posts Tagged ‘seth godin’
Jacqueline Novogratz on how to recognize a linchpin- someone who is indispensable
Posted by Ingrid Riley on February 20th, 2010
The Courage to Be Indispensable
Posted by Ingrid Riley on January 26th, 2010
I’ve never hidden the fact that I’m a huge fan of thinker, blogger,entrepreneur and change agent Seth Godin. I’m an unapologetic Godin Fan Girl. His blog, is one of the few blogs I read every single day. He’s one of the few business thinkers for whom I have every single book and not a soul can borrow them from my library or pry them from my hands. His thinking, his ideas, his words have transformed how I think about business and influence the way I do business every day. He’s in part, like the Oprah for Entrepreneurs. The Deepak Chopra for our Digital Souls.
So why this ramble for Seth Godin? . He has a new book out today, his 12th and it’s called LinchPin- Are you indispensible? I believe you should buy it and read it. What is it about? He says it best in his the recommended interviews below this post. Other of his must read books I’d recommend – MeatBall Sundae- Is Your Marketing Out of Sync, Tribes- We Need You to Lead Us and of course Purple Cow- Transform Your Business By Being Remarkable.
Seth Godin’s ideas I believe are relevant and necessary especially in the Caribbean and Jamaica where I live for the most part. Why? Because many of the companies- especially the big ones, the family run ones, the traditional ones are bent on holding on to the former way of doing things – how they treat customers, how they develop products, how they market those products and how they perceive competition- local, regional and global.
I have a short list of companies and brands I expect to fade soon simply because of this. They are the ones who are yet to have a website or refresh it on a yearly basis. They are the ones who don’t get the idea of involving consumers in the product development process by creating an interactive online community of fans and followers, instead they cling to the old school process of focus groups. Lawwks! They are the ones that even when you show them how and serve up success stories, lack the courage to act on the truth in the trends of their industry, product category, country or region.
Additionally, I have a long list of small to large, smart thinking, innovative Caribbean companies around the world who I expect to dominate because they have recognised that the rules have changed and have made choices accordingly. For them, their consumers and the marketplace have already begun to reward them for it. I’ve aligned my company with the latter group. That decision was challenging as it meant leaving at times big money on the table, but I sleep better at night knowing I’m not creating anymore Meatball Sundaes, instead I’m staying true to the vision and ideas of my company to solve interesting problems, always with what’s best for the client and what’s valuable to the marketplace in mind. That approach I know still gets you to profitability. In what category does your tech idea, product or company fall ?
Linchpin Interviews I’d recommend
Art and Plumbling: The Indispensable Interview with Seth Godin
Seth Godin’s Linchpin: An Unsettling Call to Be Indispensable
Talking Linchpin with Seth Godin ( Podcast)
Seth Godin Has a Big Brain and a Big Heart.
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I don’t think you’ll see anything big in 2010 for Jamaica online.
Posted by Ingrid Riley on January 4th, 2010
” I don’t think you’ll see anything big in 2010 for Jamaica online. Not being negative but just realistic. For anything big online, it’s going to cost some cash to get it built and marketed. That kind of money exists with the Internet Ignorant and while they are slowly gaining confidence even with the evidence as blatant as Facebook’s 200,000+ Jamaicans (in Jamaica) and climbing they still choose to throw money at the old mediums..playing it safe!”
This was the last email in the discussion I saw this morning, and it came from a colleague of mine as part of an email discussion thread started last night between a bunch of us Jamaican-based technology entrepreneurs. It started with the list of Alexa.com’s top11 Jamaican sites curated and published by another colleague.
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How to protect your ideas in the digital age
Posted by Ingrid Riley on December 15th, 2009
Seth Godin, who has written 12 bestsellers that have been translated into 33 languages, is an in demand global speaker, digital age trend watcher and thinker is one of my mentors. I’ve bought and read his books, watched his videos and read his blog religiously.
I was commissioned to do an all day workshop with Jamaica Trade and Invest /JAMPRO on December 3rd at the Jamaica Conference Centre where I spoke to just under 100 Jamaican entrepreneurs of Micro, Small, Medium -sized businesses. I prepared a 95 slide power point presentation which was in demand at the end of the day. I pondered whether to just give it away, selectively do so or not at all.
So I asked Seth and my other colleague and mentor Gerd Leonhard, The MediaFuturist – he too is a blogger, global speaker, trendwatcher and ebook publisher. Gerd in a reply email said “My philosophy is ‘knowledge grows when shared’ and I have had a very good experience with that so far. I only publish PDFs though, not PPTs, and only use creative commons licensed images (Flickr) or iStockphoto.com or fair use stuff. If it’s free published I have never had a real issue.Cheers from Switzerland and let’s do something together in Jamaica one of these days;)”
I emailed Seth and asked him too, he too replied promptly and said…“I don’t share mine, because they have no text and make no sense..but if they had text, I’d share em.” So I followed their advice I shared my PDF Presentation…on Facebook, on Twitter and my Company Blog as a free download. And I more ebooks coming too and my roster for speaking in increasing too.
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Are you winning on the uphills or caught on the recession treadmill?
Posted by Ingrid Riley on August 5th, 2009
winning on the uphills
This post was inspired by the Seth Godin’s blog post…“Winning on the Uphills.” You should read it. The link to this post came from Mike Michalowicz, the Toilet Paper Entrepreneur himself and it was on point and on time. It came at a time where I’d just about heard enough and had enough of the people around me spewing what I now call recession reruns. You’ve heard it…” boy, things are tough out there”, “Ingrid..gosh.. things are really rough sah.” Now at times it is in response to my internet marketing consulting fees and other times it’s just because the recession and how “tough things are out there” are now the standard patio, cafe, on-the-phone chatter. Yeah yeah, I know that there is a recession and I acknowledge that things are tough for alot of people and businesses, but I am big believer that even in such times people and businesses make money and I intend to be one of them. I am also quick to recognise this time, as an amazing period of opportunity and I simply won’t allow anyone to sway me to think or act differently. Have you?
I believe this is a great time for Internet entrepreneurship.
It is a time when you can create, launch, test, prune and push yourself to greatness. Let the losers keep their head in some hole in the ground, while you put your ideas to work and take them to the Caribbean, to the world.
Always wanted to start a blog? do it right now. Been thinking about finally taking your boss on and making your company more social and engage consumers online? Do it. Want inspiration check out how a Island Grill Jamaican restaurant chain has been mastering Facebook as a consumer engagement tool. Have a great software-as-a-service product that you’ve been afraid to launch? Ohh dammit, just do it and if you need inspiration Google,Symsure or check out the 37signals.com story. Think you can’t challenge the big boys and win? ask the Jamaican startups Pileojobs.com and Whatissocialingua.com how they got the balls and are gunning for it.Think you have a wicked online community idea ? do your thing and if you want proof that it can be done surf on over to Caribsingles.com, the largest Caribbean online dating site.
Be the company, the entrepreneur, the startup that’s focused on winning on these uphills, take advantage of these “tough times” to improve, take risks while your competition laments and yearns for the easy spots on the journey. With that said, watch for the unfolding of our blog media network.
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My Top 5 Favourite Seth Godin blog posts
Posted by Ingrid Riley on December 29th, 2008
I read a lot of blogs and many of them every single day. One of my must read blogs is Seth Godin, thought provoking marketing guru and who’s books Tribes, The Dip, Meatball Sundae, Small is the New Big, All Marketers are Liars,Purple Cow, Unleashing the Idea Virus, Permission Marketing I’ve read and never lent. Yeah he’s that good.
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How to make money using the Internet
Posted by Ingrid Riley on November 20th, 2008
I saw this and had to share it. And if you’ve been reading this blog enough you know I think very, very highly of Seth, in fact I am writing this from my desk which has all of the five books I’ve ought and read by Seth Godin. But check this post. It’s rich!! He says- Make money: not by building an internet company, but by using the net as a tool to create value and get paid. Use the internet as a tool, not as an end. Do it when you are part of a big organization or do it as a soloist. The dramatic leverage of the net more than overcomes the downs of the current economy.
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Too good to be true (the overnight millionaire scam)
Posted by Ingrid Riley on November 13th, 2008
You probably don’t need to read this, but I bet you know people who do. Please feel free to repost or forward: Times are tough, and many say they are going to be tougher. That makes some people more focused, it turns others desperate.
You may be tempted at some point to try to make a million dollars. To do it without a lot of effort or skill or risk. Using a system, some shortcut perhaps, or mortgaging something you already own. There are countless infomercials and programs and systems that promise to help you do this. There are financial instruments and investments and documents you can sign that promise similar relief from financial stress.
Resist.
There are four ways to make a million dollars. Luck. Patient effort. Skill. Risk. (Five if you count inheritance, and six if you count starting with two million dollars).More
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