Sawyer Speaks http://sawyerspeaks.com Fresh Thoughts For Entrepreneurs Fri, 20 Jan 2012 19:41:21 +0000 en hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3 Wrap-Up: 1/16-1/20 http://sawyerspeaks.com/wrap-up-116-120/ http://sawyerspeaks.com/wrap-up-116-120/#comments Fri, 20 Jan 2012 19:41:21 +0000 Sam http://sawyerspeaks.com/?p=2327

A fool always loses his temper, but a wise man holds it back. - Proverbs 29:11

Knock, Knock It’s The Future via The Domino Project

 

 The Most Luxurious Ranches And Gentleman’s Farms For Sale via Forbes.com

Do You Suffer From “Text-Neck” via Mashable.com

 

Tim Tebow Motivational Speechs via JustifiedLions.com

]]> http://sawyerspeaks.com/wrap-up-116-120/feed/ 0 STOP #SOPA http://sawyerspeaks.com/stop-sopa/ http://sawyerspeaks.com/stop-sopa/#comments Wed, 18 Jan 2012 16:08:43 +0000 Sam http://sawyerspeaks.com/?p=2318 SOPA is an anti-piracy bill sweeping through Congress as we speak. It stands to severely alter the way information is freely exchanged online. It will have an effect on every single person who uses the internet for a number of reasons, and it honestly makes ZERO sense from a user’s standpoint. Please educate yourself through the links below, and sign the petition on Google to stop this non-sense.

Here are some excerpts from articles to give you a jist of the SOPA bill.

“In other words: if your status update links to The Pirate Bay, Facebook would be legally obligated to remove it. Ditto tweets, YouTube videos, Tumblr or WordPress posts, or sites indexed by Google. And if Google, Twitter, WordPress, Facebook, etc. let it stand? They face a government “enjoinment.” They could and would be shut down.

The resources it would take to self-police are monumental for established companies, and unattainable for start-ups. SOPA would censor every online social outlet you have, and prevent new ones from emerging.” – via Gizmodo.com

“SOPA is, objectively, an unfeasible trainwreck of a bill, one that willfully misunderstands the nature of the internet and portends huge financial and cultural losses. The White House has come out strongly against it. As have hundreds of venture capitalists and dozens of the men and women who helped build the internet in the first place. In spite of all this, it remains popular in the House of Representatives.”

“Yet the language in SOPA is so irrational that I can only assume that the authors and backers wanted nothing more than to fundamentally change the rules of the web: To shut down the open post fields, kill reposting (goodbye, Tumblr), end shared videos (sorry, YouTube), expand the definition of what it means to infringe (sorry, Twitter, no sharing links that aren’t yours).” – via Mashable.com

Click here to visit a popular blog site and how it would appear if these bills were to pass - http://theoatmeal.com/

Wikipedia is shut down today in protest of this bill – can you imagine if Wikipedia disappeared forever?? 

CLICK HERE TO SIGN THE PETITION TO STOP THIS NON-SENSE BILL

]]> http://sawyerspeaks.com/stop-sopa/feed/ 0 Wrap-Up: 1/9-1/13 http://sawyerspeaks.com/wrap-up-19-113/ http://sawyerspeaks.com/wrap-up-19-113/#comments Fri, 13 Jan 2012 17:01:48 +0000 Sam http://sawyerspeaks.com/?p=2304  ”Ability has nothing to do with opportunity.”
- Napoleon Bonaparte

 Articles:

“Smart Cities Will Change How We Live in 2012″ via FastCoExist.com

“31 smart ways to have an absolutely amazing 2012“

 ”Are Smart People Ugly?”

 

“10 Lessons From America’s Great Military Leaders” via Entrepreneur

 

]]> http://sawyerspeaks.com/wrap-up-19-113/feed/ 0 Don’t Be Cocky http://sawyerspeaks.com/dont-be-cocky/ http://sawyerspeaks.com/dont-be-cocky/#comments Wed, 11 Jan 2012 16:49:20 +0000 Sam http://sawyerspeaks.com/?p=2308

]]> http://sawyerspeaks.com/dont-be-cocky/feed/ 0 Wrap-Up: 1/2-1/6 http://sawyerspeaks.com/wrap-up-12-16/ http://sawyerspeaks.com/wrap-up-12-16/#comments Fri, 06 Jan 2012 14:28:18 +0000 Sam http://sawyerspeaks.com/?p=2295 I am bringing back the weekly wrap-up post this year to include links to interesting articles or information that I come across during the week. I usually share these articles via my Twitter account,but I figured it would be easier to organize the data into one post to wrap-up each week with some interesting articles on the web for entrepreneurs. Please e-mail me any articles you come across during the week that you think would benefit our readers – Sam@SawyerSpeaks.com

“Don’t go around saying the world owes you a living. The world owes you nothing. It was here first.”
- Mark Twain

“Why People’s Names Are So Hard To Remember” – from PsyBlog

“Space: The Next Business Frontier” – from Wall Street Journal

“Walking Away From Real” – Seth Godin 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

From Web Smith – Click here to visit his incredible blog site

]]> http://sawyerspeaks.com/wrap-up-12-16/feed/ 0 BluePew.com: creatively changing lives http://sawyerspeaks.com/bluepew-com-creatively-changing-lives/ http://sawyerspeaks.com/bluepew-com-creatively-changing-lives/#comments Wed, 04 Jan 2012 02:48:14 +0000 Sam http://sawyerspeaks.com/?p=2280 The Church is a vital part of Oscar Adams and his wife’s life. They recognize, as I’m sure many of you do, that faith communities enrich and promote the vitality of our cities and towns. Regardless of which church you attend, what religious creed you adhere to, or what your political orientation might be, through BluePew.com you have an added way to support your respective houses of worship.

And the best part about it is you won’t need to change any of your normal shopping/spending habits. BluePew.com as a portal through which you can begin your online shopping. You will pay no additional costs for using BluePew.com. In return, you will help your church sustain themselves through these difficult economic times.

SS: Tell me a little bit about yourself and your background…

I grew up in a small town in Mississippi and worked my high school summers on the family farm. I attended the University of Mississippi for undergrad and received an MBA from the University of Memphis. I don’t really play sports. I’ve hit the golf ball around a few times, but a love for the game never emerged. I enjoy driving out of the city and spending the day driving the gravel roads near our farm. Now that I have two children, my weekends are spent playing with them. It’s like having a second childhood.

What is BluePew.com? 

I like to joke with my wife that we are the modern day version of a Church bake sale. Blue Pew is a simple new way for online shoppers to earn money for their Church by shopping online. Online shoppers start at BluePew.com, register by signing up and designating their specific Church, and then choose between more than 400 online stores. A percent of every purchase amount will be paid to their Church of choice.

It feels good to shop online knowing your Church will benefit financially from every purchase. Here’s a personal example – I purchased a set of tires for my car through Blue Pew. To me, there is nothing more annoying than having to buy new tires. It’s an expense that I never budget for and it costs a lot of money. But knowing that 7% of what I spent on tires went to my Church helped take the sting out of the purchase… I actually felt good that I was supporting my Church.

Where did you come up with the idea?

Our Church started a grocery card program with a local food chain. Each member of our Church was issued a grocery card, and the store agreed to pay a percent of every purchase to the Church when someone swiped the card.

The program seemed like a great way to earn money for our Church by spending money on goods we were going to buy anyway. The limitation to this concept was that there was only one card that could be used in only one store. I mentioned to my wife that it would be great if there was a way to set up the same program with online stores. I wanted a single place where I could shop in many stores and still benefit my Church. She agreed and we started developing Blue Pew.

What are your plans for expansion of the site in 2012?

We continue to grow the number of Churches that raise money through Blue Pew. Fans of Blue Pew on Facebook are in almost every State and we want to continue to get the word out.

Our major goals for 2012 are to add a ‘search’ function, increase the number of stores (currently over 400), and try to make Blue Pew the best place to go for online shopping. We want online shoppers to think of Blue Pew as a great place to shop with the added benefit of helping their Church.

We also want to set up a ‘Special Needs’ portion on Blue Pew. We are working on a concept that will allow Blue Pew users to divert a portion of their earnings to a Church in need. This is still on the drawing board along with a few other projects we are not ready to mention.

How does the site benefit churches and how does Blue Pew make money?

Twice a year, Blue Pew sends checks to Church participants. Blue Pew passes 80% of the money raised directly to the Churches and only retains 20% to cover operating expenses. We are not a non-profit and consider ourselves partners with the Churches using the site (the better we do / the better they do).

Our incentive is to make Blue Pew the best site for online shoppers. If we can deliver a great product that generates money from online stores, we will pass-through $8 to the Church for every $2 we earn.

Currently, the majority of the money we retain is used to improve the site and spread the word through ad placements.

Is this your first entrepreneurial venture? If not, what else have you started up?

This is the first venture I’ve seriously pursued. I came home one day and told my wife the idea for Blue Pew and she responded, ‘Out of all the wild ideas you’ve come up with over the years… that one actually makes sense.’ Once I got the nod from her, I didn’t wait for a second opinion.

 


]]> http://sawyerspeaks.com/bluepew-com-creatively-changing-lives/feed/ 0 Are you afraid? http://sawyerspeaks.com/are-you-afraid/ http://sawyerspeaks.com/are-you-afraid/#comments Fri, 30 Dec 2011 19:23:29 +0000 Sam http://sawyerspeaks.com/?p=2274 This is another post from my favorite author and one of the most innovative writers in the world today, Seth Godin. I know that I post a lot of his articles on this site, but his sense and vision is unmatched for entrepreneurial people. You should consider subscribing to his blog posts and just read it quickly each morning – they are always very short but very, very informative. Cheers to a new year!

The reason productivity improvements don’t work (as well as they could)

GTD, 18 minute plans, organized folders… none of them work as well as you’d like.

The reason is simple: you don’t want to get more done.

You’re afraid. Getting more done would mean exposing yourself to considerable risk, to crossing bridges, to putting things into the world. Which means failure.

The leap the lizard brain takes when confronting the opportunity is a simple formula: GTD=Failure.

Until you quiet the resistance and commit to actually shipping things that matter, all the productivity tips in the world aren’t going to make a real difference. And, it turns out, once you do make the commitment, the productivity tips aren’t that needed.

You don’t need a new plan for next year. You need a commitment.


]]> http://sawyerspeaks.com/are-you-afraid/feed/ 0 Check out the SawyerSpeaks Reading List on Squidoo http://sawyerspeaks.com/check-out-the-sawyerspeaks-reading-list-on-squidoo/ http://sawyerspeaks.com/check-out-the-sawyerspeaks-reading-list-on-squidoo/#comments Thu, 22 Dec 2011 19:22:42 +0000 Sam http://sawyerspeaks.com/?p=2271 Squidoo.com is a user generated community that allows people to create pages (“lenses”) that display things of interest from books to blogs to cars and anything in between. In this case, I have created a list of books I have read and suggest to those people who wish to challenge the status quo, upend traditional methods, and innovate throughout their daily lives. Click here to check out the page!

]]> http://sawyerspeaks.com/check-out-the-sawyerspeaks-reading-list-on-squidoo/feed/ 0 No one ever bought anything in an elevator. http://sawyerspeaks.com/no-one-ever-bought-anything-in-an-elevator/ http://sawyerspeaks.com/no-one-ever-bought-anything-in-an-elevator/#comments Mon, 19 Dec 2011 14:02:21 +0000 Sam http://sawyerspeaks.com/?p=2267 via Seth Godin – click here for the original post

The purpose of an elevator pitch isn’t to close the sale.

The goal isn’t even to give a short, accurate, Wikipedia-standard description of you or your project.

And the idea of using vacuous, vague words to craft a bland mission statement is dumb.

No, the purpose of an elevator pitch is to describe a situation or solution so compelling that the person you’re with wants to hear more even after the elevator ride is over.

]]> http://sawyerspeaks.com/no-one-ever-bought-anything-in-an-elevator/feed/ 0 Why In-Person Socializing Is A Mandatory To-Do Item http://sawyerspeaks.com/why-in-person-socializing-is-a-mandatory-to-do-item/ http://sawyerspeaks.com/why-in-person-socializing-is-a-mandatory-to-do-item/#comments Mon, 12 Dec 2011 13:56:52 +0000 Sam http://sawyerspeaks.com/?p=2259 Great article about in-person socializing. I truly believe that we as human beings must remember to spend time with other people in real-life engaging in coversation. As much time as we spend in front of the computer screen, we must always remember to have face-to-face interactions  - nothing beats this form of communication, and I have a feeling nothing will ever replace it. Click here to see the original post on Fast Company’s website.

 

Why In-Person Socializing Is A Mandatory To-Do Item

BY KEVIN PURDYSun Dec 11, 2011

We are genetically oriented toward learning from others, an easy thing to forget these days. Here’s why in-person socializing is so important, and efficient.

I’m a 30-year-old writer who works from home and thrives on the neat things you can do with technology. I’ve written books about smartphones and online social networks, and I’m reading things all day. But perhaps the most idea-generating part of my workweek is attending a knitting circle. I’m pretty sure at least a half-dozen other web professionals feel the same way, and you might as well.

Not a traditional knitting circle, mind you, but it’s the same kind of idea. Every week, I carve time out of a weekday morning to meet up with a semi-regular crew of guys about my age. Three are programmers, two (including me) are writers, two are entrepreneurs with hard-to-explain revenue streams, and one is a designer. We show up with links and articles we’ve found interesting, projects and ideas we’re turning over and trying out, and stories our wives are sick of hearing about. We have a Google Group, a Skype chat room, and we all use Twitter, but those morning sessions are what we’re really about.

Left to our base instincts, we’d all probably spend that scheduled time, like most of our time, in front of a screen. But by forcing ourselves to meet up and talk, even if there’s no particular label or mission statement to it, we get vital exposure to the kinds of benefits that salespeople, network-savvy executives, and other people we usually try to avoid are seeking out. I’ve picked up paying work, traded contacts, sparked story ideas, and solved tech problems at those get-togethers. And I get much-needed practice at hearing others out, arguing my beliefs, and plain old face-to-face socializing.

That’s just dandy for me. But why should you start making regular, dedicated socializing a part of your schedule, and even tell the boss (possibly yourself) that it’s worth it? Here’s why you should get a group together, or just make it a point to walk around the office.

You need a real Third Place

The Third Place is a concept of Ray Oldenburg, urban sociologist and author of The Great Good Place: Cafes, Coffee Shops, Bookstores, Bars, Hair Salons, and Other Hangouts at the Heart of a Community. The First Place is your home, and the Second Place is your office. You have assigned roles and tasks at each place, and you know nearly all the people in each. The Third Place is where you meet with people you don’t know that well, or maybe at all, and you exchange ideas, learn about other people, and, as Oldenburg sees it, enrich society and yourself.

Oldenburg published his major books on the Third Place in 1999 and 2002. Since then, the Second Place has changed quite a bit for some workers, so that it blends over into their home space, and even follows them through their phones into the traditional public interaction spaces. Your challenge, then, is to find a way to block out time where you’re not at home, you’re not at a screen, and you’re not seeing your family or best friends. You’re very consciously being social just to be social, and probably arriving back at your First or Second places a good bit happier.

You need to argue your ideas more

As much fun as 10-person, 20-message email roundtables about the proper name for the new project can be, there’s a lot of context, personality, and creativity lost when you don’t argue things out in person–respectfully, but with an audience, however small, to persuade. Just ask the guy who helps design software hosting giant GitHub. In a post on product design, Kyle Neath makes the case for arguing (and designing) in person.

… It’s not personal–it’s about making our product better. If you’re not forced to rationalize your product choices, who’s to say you’re making good decisions? Arguing with your co-workers isn’t a bad thing. It’s not creating a negative work environment–it’s a tool to help you make good decisions. Being an empty cheerleader and telling everyone that their idea is great is harmful and short-sighted. Argue and make good decisions.

Neath is talking about coworkers, but he’s also an advocate for hosting as many in-person meetups for GitHub customers as possible. And arguing out your case for a good idea (or shooting down a bad one) with your social group can be a great proving ground for doing it at the office.

You’ll do better work

Isaac Kohane, a Harvard Medical School researcher, studied over 35,000 peer-reviewed papers and mapped the locations of all their authors. The best studies, those that attracted the most citations from other published papers, were done by those who worked within 30 feet of one another. Jonah Lehrer wrote in the Wall Street Journal (and at Wired) about the Kohane study, and other research showing that, despite the regular assumption that online social networks would replace in-person experiences, business travel, conference attendance, and downtown city office space rentals have gone nowhere–in fact, they’ve mostly increased.

For years now, we’ve been searching for a technological cure for the inefficiencies of offline interaction. It would be so convenient, after all, if we didn’t have to travel to conferences or commute to the office or meet up with friends. But those inefficiencies are necessary. We can’t fix them because they aren’t broken.

In other words, humans have evolved over many, many years to be very efficient at working with, arguing with, and talking over ideas and pursuits with people, face-to-face. Social networking tools and remote technology is nowhere near as efficient (yet). So grab your calendar and add “Talk to humans” to this week’s task list.

[Image: Flickr user hellobo]

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