Well here we are again.  We made it through Thanksgiving and Christmas, New Year’s Eve right around the corner and entering into a New Year.  Welcome to 2010!

So, do you have a New Year’s Resolution?  I don’t.  I kind of gave up on that after years of failure.  I have enough problems without setting myself up for one more.  Now that’s not to mean I don’t have intentions of exercising more, eating less, working smarter, growing my business and trying to spend more time with my family.  It’s just that I have determined all of these are journeys rather than goals.  If I set a goal one of three things typically happen.  One, I fail miserably.  Two, I reach the goal, for instance lose 10 pounds, and so I figure that’s it, done.  Of course then I gain 15 pounds which means I fail miserably.  Third, I work for the goal, I come up a little short, so I extend the time period for my goal, and I continue in that pattern until, once again, I fail miserably.  Do you see the pattern?  No more resolutions for me.

But I do need to improve.  I need to exercise more, eat less, work smarter, grow my business and spend more time with my family; however, resolutions won’t get it done; I need a lifestyle change.  With the help and encouragement from my wife I do indeed have a much improved lifestyle over what I had just a few years ago.  Years go by way to fast nowadays.  I can’t get it all done in one short year.  So I’m ok with exercising, and stopping and getting it going again.  I’m ok with eating healthier, but having a piece of cake.  I’m ok with not being able to sell my business for $100,000,000; at least I’m able to work. 

Most importantly I have figured out how to have more time with my family.  It’s simple really.  Just don’t get caught up in all that other stuff.  All it does is distract you from what is really important.  So, my New Year’s Resolution is not to have a New Year’s Resolution.  Best of all I reach my goal on the first day of the year.  So whether you choose to have a Resolution or not, I wish you the best of luck in the coming New Year!

—Marty Hudson

A couple of weeks ago I wrote a blog “Do You Tweet – Or is Twitter a Passing Fad?”  Well I got a few responses, but I have also talked to a number of people about what they think of Twitter.

A key point of the blog a couple of weeks ago is that 84% of those using Twitter are over 25 years of age.  Of course, this is business people, professionals and the buying public.  My conversations have confirmed the whole idea of tweeting, “I am heading to the mall to buy some socks,” has faded.  It was a novelty, but no one cares.  The idea that no one wants commercials invading their lives has been confirmed.  That’s why we have TIVO to skip commercials and satellite radio to avoid them altogether; however, it is not 100% true.

We, as a 21^st century consumer, want to select the ‘commercials’ we receive; technology allows us to do that.  We have turned commercials into information.  As I said, I don’t tweet, not yet anyway; however, I do rely heavily on the internet to find sales, specials, promotions, etc, on what I am looking for.  I just don’t want it coming to me until I am ready to receive it.  Some companies offer emails to promote what you are looking for; such as, Buy.com, Slickdeals.net, and Dell will send you emails on their specials.  Now these are available all the time, either email or web page, and sales typically last for a few days.  But still, Twitter brings something different.

Prime example; Kogi Korean taco truck, L.A.’s latest culinary obsession.  They send Tweets to let everyone know where they are going to be.  Taco trucks are nothing new, but you don’t always know where they are going to be and the truck has to rely on others not having other plans.  Kogi tweets where they are going to be and their customers have flocked to their location.  It’s a commercial, it’s information, it’s letting people know something they need to know right now.  By the time you look for it, it will be gone.  Maybe this is what will keep Twitter around.  We will see as it continues to transform into its most valuable use.  If it is truly valuable, it will hang around; if not, it will die.  Society will decide.

In the meantime, get on the bandwagon.  Forget the social media aspect of Twitter.  The real question is; how can twitter improve your business?

—Marty Hudson

Well, with all the buzz this week over Google’s blog about their Google Phone, I thought I might as well jump on the bandwagon too.  The buzz is that Google has provided their new Google phone, Nexus One, to their employees around the world for them to test and provide feedback to Google.

What’s so special about Nexus One?  For one it’s supposed to be an HTC phone (with no HTC branding, but a Google branded phone) that will be thinner than the Droid and the iPhone.  Secondly, it is to be sold direct to customers, not via a provider contract; it will be an unlocked GSM phone. In the U.S., that means service will come from T-Mobile and possibly AT&T, no Verizon.  Third, it will provide Google Voice, VoIP, allowing you to utilize wireless networks to talk utilizing Google Voice.  Not real sure how this will work, but it appears the phone will be able to switch between a wireless service provider to a wireless network when available.  It seems you may be able to reduce your cell phone plan to the lowest possible option and save money, especially if you are in hotspots to take advantage of Google Voice a majority of your time.  Question: Can you elect not to connect to a service provider at all and utilize the phone at home, in office, or wherever a hotspot exists; thereby costing nothing for service?

Of course this opens a whole other set of questions and potential problems.  Will that drive the cost of internet service higher?  Will the cost of internet service be based on usage, creating a set of ‘plans’ you will choose from when purchasing internet access?  Will that increased cost eliminate ‘free’ hotspots we have all been enjoying the last few years?  How will the FCC get involved in this? 

Obviously this presents a lot of interesting questions and even more opinions.  Of course, you can get all the information and opinions you could ever want simply by ‘Googling’ it.  There are articles and pictures of the Nexus One on the web; again, just ‘Google’ them.  

My point in all of this is Google itself.  Everywhere you look it seems Google has its hand in it, and the list just keeps growing.  Check out this website, www.googleworlddomination.com, which was actually authored in December 2004, about how Google will take over the world.  It includes a countdown clock to the ‘takeover’, which at the time of this writing was 5 years, 2 days, 10 hours and 51 minutes.  There is also a video link at the bottom of the page which is a fictional account of how Google will take over the world.  The video is several minutes long, but kind of fun to watch.  But it all comes down to one overriding question, “When will Google take over the world?”

—Marty Hudson

Do you tweet?  I don’t.  I don’t have a reason why I don’t tweet; I just haven’t found a reason to tweet.  I did a little looking around on who tweets and this is what I found.

Approximately 64% of those who tweet are between 25 and 54 years of age.  20% are 55 and up; only 16% are under 25 years old.  Now I was always under the impression that young people (teenagers) started this type of fad.  I viewed twitter as a type of social networking.  I don’t think that is necessarily the case.  Teenagers use Facebook, MySpace, etc, for social networking.  To them social networking is keeping up with the most important aspect of their lives, their friends.  They want to interact, share photos, personal characteristics, and leave comments.  Twitter is less about socializing and more about an overall conversation and allowing the ‘public’ to follow along.  Teenagers really don’t have anything to say on twitter.  They primarily use twitter to follow celebrities.

So, who uses twitter?  A large part of those using twitter are businesses; be it individuals or a company, it is being driven by business with the intent of promoting their business, products or services.  In other words, twitter is more of an on-gong commercial than anything else.  Even those teenagers using twitter to follow celebrities is nothing more than a commercial promoting the celebrities business.  As it is said, “any promotion is good promotion.”  Keep yourself in front of the customer. 

Now really, who do you know wants to follow someone tweeting things like, “I am going to the grocery store to pick up some bread.”  No one is going to follow that for very long.  Everybody wants something.  They want to know what company is having a sale, what celebrity is making an appearance; they want to know something about what they are interested in.  And if someone is interested, someone is going to figure a way to promote and profit. 

So, if we TIVO television shows so we can skip the commercials, how long are we going to invite commercials onto our phones and PDAs?  To me twitter is more of a promotional tool than social media.  The retention rate of twitter users is bouncing between 30% to 40% over the last few months.  That trend will not sustain twitter.  Twitter will need to find a better use beyond promotion.  Just my opinion.

Let me know yours.  Do you tweet, or is twitter just a passing fad?

—Marty Hudson

This week I thought I would go a little different.  I guess this is more of a leadership blog than anything else.  That said; I like quotes.  We use quotes in a lot of different ways and at different times.  Quotes are used to inspire, discipline, direct, or just to be funny.  They sometimes tell our personality and often times disclose our expectations.  Quotes give us the ability to tell what we do or don’t like about someone in a non-confrontational manner. 

If I am put in a position of speaking to a group, quotes come in very handy.  They can allow me to get a point across in a way that I am not capable.  They are great filler, especially if I am using slides.  One quote, one slide.  It’s good for at least 30 – 60 seconds.  

Here are a few of my favorites:

“There is no point doing well that which should not be done at all.”-Peter Drucker

“We can’t solve problems by using the same kind of thinking we used when we created them.”-Einstein

“Doing what is right isn’t always easy, but it’s always right.”-Anonymous

“If a man is called to be a street sweeper, he should sweep streets even as Michelangelo painted, or Beethoven composed music or Shakespeare wrote poetry. He should sweep streets so well that all the hosts of heaven and earth will pause to say; here lived a great street sweeper who did his job well.”-Martin Luther King, Jr.

“If I were given eight hours to chop down a tree, I would use six hours to sharpen my axe.”- Abraham Lincoln

“Customers are like a force of nature: You can’t fool them, and you ignore them at your own peril.” –Herb Kelleher

“You can have anything you want in life if you just help enough other people get what they want.”-Zig Ziglar

“Even if you’re on the right track, you’ll get run over if you just sit there.”-Will Rogers

Let us hear back from you.  Leave us a comment – What’s Your Favorite Quote?

—Marty Hudson