Change is Money

Today’s guest post is written by Nathan Frampton. Nathan is President of Fanimation, Inc., manufacturer of high quality and unique ceiling fans. Nathan lives in Zionsville, IN with his wife and daughter and is active in the local community.

To all those I currently write checks to, I figured out how you can make more money and I would love to write you bigger checks. It has been my privilege and good fortune to work for my father over the last 20 years. Tom Frampton is an entrepreneur who founded a ceiling fan manufacturing company, Fanimation, in his garage at age 28.

Over the last 26 years his unique ceiling fan business, which is as much about fashion as it is about function, has evolved and grown to new heights. Two critical survival skills my Dad and Fanimation have taught me, however, stand out to me as timeless: the abilities of effectively dealing with change and a variety of people from all walks of life. This world has not, and will not stop throwing us challenges we have little to no control over: recessions that come in different shapes and sizes, market booms that at times make no sense and can be as hard to manage as downturns; and a variety of people that range from flexible and saintly, to stubborn and evil.

No matter what your industry or type of job is, one thing that is guaranteed to change, is CHANGE itself – the considerable, life altering kind.

Do you enjoy and savor that warm and fuzzy feeling you have about your income level, boss, and job duties? Do you love that new great software package you just converted to? Can’t imagine your morning, without that cute assistant who brings your coffee?

Don’t get too comfy; this too shall pass. Conversely, are you sick and tired of your boss who “doesn’t get it”? Are you unhappy with a job that doesn’t fit your well-rounded, yet specific skill set? Are you perplexed by the new software that is full of bugs? Frustrated by the cranky receptionist, who loves to route your calls to your inside competition?

Don’t get discouraged, this too shall pass. No matter what change comes your way, how you deal with it will make all the difference in the world. The ability to effectively manage and interact with people in a 360-degree manner is MONEY! Cold, hard, green, cash. Money!

Want more cheese to buy that new MDX? Get proficient and leading those underneath, next to and ABOVE you. Realize and don’t forget that those above you can be influenced in YOUR favor. One of the best things that ever happened to me was working for a boss who was immature and seemed to hate my guts. Figuring out how to manage him (even though he was my boss) is a skill I use to this day. Keep in mind, that I don’t just report to Dad, I have hundreds of customers, vendors, wives…well, just one wife. No matter who comes your way, how you deal with them will make all the difference in the world.

Finally, something we all tend to forget, and sometimes ignore, is that WE change. That our 5-year future selves will disagree, and on some points dramatically disagree, with our current selves is a fact of life that cannot be overstated, and is often times not considered.Next time you are sure about something, consider the fact you may one day think you were being a total idiot (if not about that one thing, it will be for another). How is that for humbling?

Think about this subject, put it into practice, and look for me to write you BIGGER checks.

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Social Media: The Haven for New Ideas

Ali is a 2009 graduate of Hanover College. She works at an Indianapolis SEO company, Slingshot SEO, Inc., where she integrates the importance of SEO and social media in the blogosphere. She is an avid Tweeter and blogger. Ali is an upbeat person who loves working and communicating (in any form!) with everyone.

As I caught up with my daily blog feeds this week, I stumbled across a very interesting blog post by Copyblogger’s Jonathan Morrow entitled “The Alexander Graham Bell Guide to Changing the World.” Turns out, this post (and a swift kick to my backside to keep up with blogging) helped to sort through the mess in my brain and I was finally snapped out of my case of writer’s block. Halleluiah! So what DOES Alexander Graham Bell have to do with changing the internet marketing world?

Of course we all know that Bell changed the world with his invention of the telephone. Right? Actually, it’s safe to say that we were lied to as elementary school students (GASP!). Yep, according to the research, two men created the first two models of the telephone BEFORE Bell. Who knew?!  More importantly, how did Bell jump ahead of these fellow inventors and gain the credibility for the telephone?

Bell was a smart cookie. Instead of hording his communicating device idea in his bedroom, he spent years fighting to get his idea out in the world. He fought for the right to get HIS idea patented. Through his journey of changing the way people communicated, it was evident that Bell understood the most important aspect of getting information to the people. Morrow explains, “He [Bell] understood that what matters isn’t who thinks of an idea first. It’s not even who takes action first. It’s who spreads the idea the farthest.” Smart, huh?

This phenomenon is still alive today, possibly more than ever. We ALL have ideas upon ideas upon ideas (IDEAS, get the drift?) that we would love to ONE day share with the world…and then someone else finally DOES and then “my idea” becomes “his/her idea” and then you are back to square one. Is this you? I know I am definitely an idea pack rat (as Morrow describes). I’m sure I’m not alone.

So, what now? GET THAT INFORMATION OUT THERE! If you take the time to come up with a new, brilliant idea, why wouldn’t you want to share it? Fight like Bell did and your passion behind your ideas will be revealed and people will notice. Be that person who shares information and ideas with the rest of the world. Heck, isn’t that what the internet is for anyway?

My hope is that you see that I’m not saying that you need to create immensely creative and amazing inventions or come up with the ‘next big trend’ (although, face it, that’d be pretty sweet), but the internet allows us to take information that we learn from others and add our own understanding and thoughts (of course giving credit where credit is due!). We all have thoughts, right? Well, use social media to get those thoughts out instead of becoming an idea pack rat!

As writers in the internet-driven world, we know there is more of a focus on getting the information OUT to the masses, rather than being the first one to do so. This directly relates to Bell’s advice—spread it the FARTHEST. How do we do this? Social media. We tweet, post, blog, Flick new information 24-7. The new age of information and idea exchange is at our fingertips, only a keystroke away, how much more cliché can I get?

Have a case of writer’s block? Winter blues got you down? Dig through those ideas you have packed away and start typing. Fight for your ideas and be the passionate one who gets the word out, just as Alexander Graham Bell did, and who knows where you’ll end up!

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REMAX Loves Social Media and I Love Them

I had the pleasure of speaking at the Indiana RE/MAX sales rally yesterday and it was AWESOME! I loved debating, questioning, and teaching about social media and the use of the tools in the real estate industry.

I always try to post videos of the attendees screaming for social media. You will find the videos below. (sorry for being shaky)

Session 1

Session 2

If you attended the rally and are interested in the information shared. You can either click the REMAX button on the right side of this page or CLICK HERE.

Again, thank you for all who attended! It was encouraging to see such enthusiasm for social media!

Ian Gertler from sympledages made an interesting comment after I published  my post last night about outsourcing social media. He said that internal evangelists are key to a successful social media strategy. The idea in itself is enough to stew over. What does it mean to have internal evangelists? What does it mean to have a team that is obsessed with creating the best company, products, and services imaginable… on the face of the planet?

Internal evangelists are individuals who love the idea of your company. They love what they do and make it a point to tell as many people as possible about the company brand. I am extremely lucky to have such a team at Brandswag and there is a big reason why these individuals are so powerful… they create the story.

Internal evangelists are the people that will make a social media strategy infectious to the external population yearning for new content about your product or service. They are the individuals who will stand up and scream your ideas from the heavens… a chorus of fans who love what they do and love the brand they represent.

Be very sure that you have the internal evangelists in place before implementing a social media strategy. The road will always be narrow… but trust me… the burden will be lite.

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The 3 E’s of Social Media: Embrace Educate and Empower

I had the pleasure of talking to the Indianapolis Public Relations Society yesterday about the evolution of technology. The concept of the presentation is to shed light on the ever-changing landscape of communication. How is technology changing the way we communicate? How are WE (as communication experts) transitioning into the new age? Are we allowing for a paradigm shift?

The people attending the presentation are stoic figures in the public relations community in Indianapolis and while talking with them I realized three important principles to implementing social media into your organization.

Embracing. Educating. Empowering.

Embracing: The first step in implementing a social media strategy for your business is to embrace the concept of communication in the online environment. It is simple. It means you recognize the change that is transforming the way millions of people communicate on a daily basis. As a brand, you are embracing social media as a way to create a marketing message and tell a story to thousands of potential clients. You do not need to be particulary comfortable with the notion of open communication but you DO need to understand the concept of implement a strategy into your business.

Educating: Once you have embraced the concept of using social media as a communication platform.. it is important to educate yourself and your staff in the philosophy and practical use of the platforms. Whether you are debating on using tools like Twitter or Facebook it is important to educate yourself in the simple and complex workings of the social media world.

The first step in education? Listening. Listen to what people are saying on the Internet about your company, product, or industry. By listening to the masses you will be able to adapt yourself to the world of online communication.  There are also great seminars and learning environments to immerse yourself into.. every city has them… search and you will find.

Empowering: After embracing the tool and educating yourself (and your team) on strategy and usage it is time to empower the actual implementation of a social media strategy. This could mean with money, time, and other resources. Use the strategy plan you have written (or had written from an outside firm) and empower your team to use the tools.

Remeber that pig headed discipline always wins out in the long run. Empower yourself to have the discipline to stick with the strategy you have crated whether it surrounds blogging or a use of a social network.

This is just the start to great journey that is unfolding in front of us. Use the Internet to communicate (both internally and externally). I think you could be pleasantly surprised at the outcome.

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Warren Buffett Was Right in 1999. Web 2.0 Firms Should Listen.

Book cover via Amazon

I am in the process of reading Alice Schroeder’s book entitled The Snowball: Warren Buffett and the Business of Life. The book is a massive source of information about the life of Warren Buffett. Needless to say the book is unbelievable! I love to read about the life of people who, in my opinion, have lived a valuable and influential life.

At the beginning of the book Alice recounts an event from the Sun Valley Conference in Hailey, Idaho. Allen & Company, a boutique investment firm in Hollywood handles the event inviting such notables as Bill Gates, Oprah Winfrey, and Rupert Murdoch.

In 1999 Warren Buffett was asked to be the keynote speaker to end the conference. This was a special year because the conference was filled with Internet tycoons ready to embark on billion dollar ventures in the new year. They were invited and were making the most of rubbing shoulders with the richest individuals around the world.

The Internet tycoons walked into the conference room that day hoping for a glowing reception and the blessings from one of the greatest investors of our time. What they received was quite the opposite.

Warren Buffett practically dismantled the belief in the new Internet startup companies. He likens the Internet Boom to that of the airline industry:

“…So I submit to you: I really like to think that if I had been down there at Kitty Hawk, I would have been farsighted enough and public-spirited enough to have shot Orville down, I owed it to future capitalists.”

“It’s wonderful to promote new industries, because they are very promotable. It’s very hard to promote investment in a mundane product. It’s much easier to promote an esoteric product, even particularly one with loses, because there’s no quantitative guideline.”

Warren Buffett, pg 19.

Most of the venture capitalists and entrepreneurs left the meeting slightly chuckling at “old Warren’s mistake.” They found out later that he was exactly right.

Web 2.0 companies should listen to Warren Buffett. He has always cautioned the vamping of over-promoted companies and increasing investment in techonolgy companies with no substance.

“You can get in way more trouble with a good idea than a bad idea, because you forget that the good idea has limits.” -Warren Buffett, page 21

I have always been a skeptic of increasing investment in social media and web 2.0. I do love the sites and I love the fact that they are free. I have a problem with the valuation of multiple billions of dollars for the site like Facebook.

This is a dangerous game we are playing when it comes to the multitude of millions of dollars invested in Internet startups. I am afraid we never learned to begin with.

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