Are you interested in selling something? Products, services, ideas, brands, charities, organizations, even yourself are all things that as entrepreneurs we focus on selling. In fact the very essence of being an entrepreneur is selling.  If you want to take something and turn it into a business then at some point you will need to sell. Sales is as old as time and while there are certainly timeless truths and techniques to being successful at making a sale, one thing that has changed over the centuries are the methods and tools. 1995 Seems Like Another Lifetime When I started my business career full time over 15 years ago the tools we had at our disposal for making sales were, TV, the phone, fax machine, direct mail, print media and trade shows.  There really wasn't any Internet to speak of.  Sure it existed but it hadn't made its way into the average household. Fast forward to 2010 and the sea of Internet tools available to small businesses is deep and wide.

There are two things to do with your ideas in the next 365 days; Accomplish or Procrastinate. I could give you a rant about having resolutions or setting goals, but instead I'm blowing past that stage right to the heart of the matter.  There is something you want to do. There is something you  want to accomplish.  There is something you want to start. Here's the hard part. You are the only one in the way of accomplishing those goals. The Decade Of Doing The next decade is about the individual, the entrepreneur, doing anything and everything.  The barriers to entry in any industry are gone. The need for large amounts of capital just to get started are a thing of the past.  All you need is an idea.  Whether its starting a digital company, selling a physical product or servicing something, over the next decade you will see more companies started than any other decade in history. What happens when another 1 billion people from the BRIC nations (Brazil, Russia, India, China) access the Internet in the next 5 years?  What happens when there are more mobile devices on the planet than people?   What are the endless opportunities that will present themselves?  How can you take advantage of them? Don't get caught into thinking that the next decade will just be more or less the same.  Take these next 365 days and start accomplishing something you've always meant to. Do you have new ideas for the next decade? Are you going to accomplish them?

How should I feel when I visit your website? What emotions do you want me to have after that experience? When someone visits your website they are going to make up their mind in a matter of seconds about what the site is all about and more importantly how it makes them feel. We often focus on designing the site for the sake of a "good look" without ever considering what emotions we want to invoke. Those emotions will translate into action, good or bad. Real World Emotions Yes you need to have a call to action, whether its sign up for something, buy something, respond to something or inquire for more information but creating an emotion is central to your success. Think along the lines of some real world examples; Target vs. Walmart Apple Store vs. Sony Store Ikea vs. local furniture store Each of those clearly evoke an emotion that you experience the second you walk in. The question is which emotions do you want to evoke. (click image below to see "Wheel of Emotions") Your Website Should Be No Different When someone visits your site you should have in mind the emotions your looking to have them experience. For this site my focus was for you to experience a professional, smart, modern and inviting design. The emotions I want people to experience are optimism and trust. Once I established these then I could go about designing the site to reinforce those emotions. Lastly is to iterate, get feedback, test and improve, so on that note - give me some honest feedback, how does my website make you feel? What can I improve on? Oh and dont forget to sign up for my free newsletter photo credit

Do you get or earn attention online? There is a big difference. The first one goes after, seizes, takes and captures. It's the essence of spam. It's the method behind those hidden opt in messages. It's the motive behind buying large email lists. It's the idea that someones attention is just there for the taking. The latter one gains, merits, receives and deserves. It's the essence behind online conversations. It's the method of using social networking the right way. It's the motive behind listening on the web. It's the idea that someones attention is valuable and something to be gained. Which one of these does your online business philosophy most align with? Earned attention is something that historically wasn't necessary.  There were only so many TV stations, newspapers and magazines that a consumer could get information from. Today though, with more choices, less time and a faster pace of life using old tactics to try to get someones attention isn't going to work. Unfortunately the only thing they will get is...ignored. photo credit

"Dead Simple Web Tablet", that was the idea behind a post in July 2008 that Michael Arrington ran on his blog TechCrunch.com.  The seed was planted and the outpouring of ideas and support exploded.  Not only was he able to develop prototypes but even secure capital, developers, manufactures, distributors and retail opportunities.  The concept was seemingly simple, develop a low priced web tablet for surfing the web, nothing more, nothing less.  The device would be around $300 and only open sourced software would be used. Unfortunately that dream came to an end yesterday.  I was certainly one of the ones who would have ordered a Crunchpad as it came to be known but alas the story comes to an end, or does it? How was a "Journalist" who started  a blog less than 5 years ago able to get so close to delivering on what billion dollar corporations such as Dell, HP and Apple haven't? The Background Going from blogger to consumer electronics retailer is certainly not a typical business progression.  TechCrunch started in the middle of 2005 as a blog about web 2.0 and the technology sector in general.  Founder and owner Michael Arrington built up a very strong following to become one of the most trafficked blogs ever.  It grew to several more sites such as Crunchgear, MobileCrunch and even expanded to include a "demo" event, TechCrunch 50, which gave an opportunity to new and upcoming companies to showcase their product. Companies such as Yammer and Mint were past winners. The latter of which was recently sold to Intuit for $170m. So while Mr. Arrington's success in blogging stands by itself to think that he could parlay that into developing a consumer electronics device, we'll lets just say it's never been done before. So how was a journalist able to translate blogging success into something nearly far greater?