Spirit in the Village

Turning the Page - An Update for My Readers and Followers

The past 7 months I took a hiatus from posting to this site. There has been good reason. I have been in the process of starting my own business and those of you who have been connected to me on Facebook, Linkedin or Twitter have seen some those updates. 

My purpose for Spirit in the Village was a hobby I started back in October 2006 to learn how to write, blog and connect with people on the web.  The site was designed to talk about my own personal journey and spiritual development. I believe that as human beings we are all connected in ways that none of us fully understand. This site helped me to verbalize and connect more fully to who I am.  Over the past 3 years I have connected with some incredible people. 

For now my plan is to put posting (on this site) on hold because I want to focus on building my business. 

You can visit or connect with me on my new website at Profound Insight Media where I explore the topics of building wealth, technology and how businesses can succeed on the web.  

I am full of appreciation for everything this site has given me and I look forward to staying connected.  

Seth Godin - We are Living in the Industrial Revolution of our Time

Posted by Kevin Boon. Follow me on Twitter.

This is Part 2 - See Part 1 - Exploiting Chaos and Seizing Opportunity.

Part 2 - Seth Godin - Invisible or Remarkable

Last week I had the opportunity to hear Seth Godin at the Communitech Leadership Conference in Waterloo Ontario. His presentation called Invisible or Remarkable focused on the changes happening in our world from the way we interact to how we create wealth.

According to Seth we are living through the Industrial Revolution of our Time and this revolution will dwarf the one experienced by our ancestors in the 1700 and 1800's. Technology and new media provide us all with the tools for being part of this revolution and what's exciting is he invites us all to play an active role in what's coming.

The Old Paradigm - Interruption Marketing

He referred to the old paradigm for marketing as Interruption Marketing where companies found innovative ways to interrupt people with commercials, ads and by getting in their face.

Interruption Marketing was successful but at a cost: average products for average people. If you’re going to be successful and interrupt everyone, you better be average.

The formula for success in the old paradigm: buy ads > distract > sell more > make a profit. (And remember: be average)

This formula has fallen apart recently.

He says there is too much clutter in the old paradigm. Products are branded to death, too costly to promote and it’s getting harder for marketers to break the noise and get through to consumers. In the new paradigm customers don’t want our attention. They are not listening since they have been spammed too many times.

The question: How do you take your business above the noise?

(I like this photo)

The New Paradigm - We are in the business of spreading ideas.

The new paradigm is take something that is good enough and change it so everyone is talking about it. He uses the purple cow as an example and says nobody talks about cows, but if you create a purple cow, everybody starts talking and the spam goes away.

His Advice for Companies

You need to totally embrace new media for your business (by committing resources and time) or stay away from it completely.

Your message is too important to be left to the marketing department.

The race is for permission. The race is for tribes.

Permission Marketing

Permission Marketing is where you learn to turn strangers into friends and you earn the right to connect. He says Apple has earned this privilege and other companies are learning to do the same.

The revolution as Seth describes is direct communication with people who make and buy your services.

Tribes

Tribes are everywhere and have been around since the beginning of civilization. They are a natural part of our human desire to connect and can be found within religion, politics, corporations, everywhere... The opportunity is to build and lead tribes. It takes only 10 people to build a tribe and a person can make a great living with a committed tribe of 1000 people.

The Big Shift in Thinking

We are no longer creating Customers for Products but we are now tasked with creating Products for Customers.

Success before Commitment is now Commitment before Success.

The first point says to me that through the structure of technology and new media we now have the ability to hear what our customers want and make products and services specific for them. The second point says we need to take risks, try various approaches and commit until we succeed.

Final Thoughts & Observations

Seth Godin is an excellent presenter who provokes us with images and words to wake up and understand the real story of what’s happening in our world today. His blog is considered the most popular marketing blog in the world and with a little reading you can understand why he has earned that title.

As I personally speak to executives and business owners I am excited by how many are trying to absorb the message of new media and apply the methods to their business. The big questions today: Should I blog? Should I Twitter, use Facebook or YouTube? How do I take my product or service and rise above the noise?

Traditional business structures are changing. Marketing, PR, Sales, Product Development and overall organizational strategy are going through fundamental shifts. The next few years will require a leadership, fresh ideas and the courage to look at business in a new way.

The Industrial Revolution of our time is the Internet, new media and the infrastructure that technology provides. Adapting and thriving in this new paradigm will be our task.

Food for Thought Fridays - #1

Posted by Kevin Boon. Follow me on Twitter.

This was a productive week with a lot of activity some good quality connections and a number of new insights. Fridays afternoons are usually my time to reflect on the week just past, finish up on projects and then plan for next week. I’ve been trying to figure out what do with Friday or weekend postings and thought it might be an idea to offer other bloggers the opportunity to do guest posts or talk about things that I learned this week. Here goes – Food for Thought Fridays #1...

Social Media, Blogging, Web 2.0

Thought Leadership

David Meerman Scott is one blogger I follow. He comes from a marketing background and talks specifically to marketers and companies on how to communicate more effectively with customers in the Web 2.0 world. David has introduced me to the concept of Thought Leadership and has inspired me to look at my own blog, my experiences and begin presenting my insights so they provide real value for my readers.

Coming from IT software sales I’m putting together a Sales 2.0 E-book that will help companies, sales managers and sales people become more effective in selling in the new social media and Web 2.0 world. Look for it soon.

Life Balance

Yesterday I published 6 Tips for Bringing more Flow into our Lives and received some great feedback from Facebook, Linkedin, Twitter and my blog. Flow is so critical to our happiness in life and goes within the framework of creating Work-Life Balance.

Conversations & Twitter

On Twitter there have been some great interactions. Twitter is such a great tool for learning to have discussions with people who share similar ideas. Here are some of the folks I’ve had the pleasure to chat with recently: @DebSoul @AnitaBruzzese @naimul @williger @Nurul54
@ShawnaCoronado

Guest Post on the Baby Boomers Knowledge Center

Here is the link to my guest article:

Social Media, Baby Boomers and the Technology Generation Gap

That’s it for my week. Enjoy your weekend.

Insights for a Friday - Twitter, Stumble Upon & Blog Readership

Posted by Kevin Boon. Follow me on Twitter.

Here are some of my Friday reflections for the week.

My Twitter Account

My Twitter followers are now at 1000. This is cool considering I only signed up back in mid January. My main motivation was to look at ways of promoting my blog but what I’ve realized is Twitter is a networking tool that can be used to build your personal brand, your business, find a job, have a voice and connect with others with similar interests.

The experience can feel overwhelming because of the volume of conversations. What's important to remember is you don’t have to be there for every conversation. There is no way I can build personal relationships with 1000 people and over the next year or so this will likely grow into the tens of thousands.

Twitter when used effectively can help you build your personal brand, promote your business, find a job, have a voice and connect you directly with interesting people.

Stumble Upon

Stumble Upon is great resource for bloggers and non-bloggers alike. Stumble Upon allows you to bookmark and tag sites that you find interesting. You set up an account, network & create friends (if you want) and people can see sites you’ve selected. There is also a random selector where you can select at tag (let’s say “guitars”) and Stumble Upon will direct you to some awesome sites!

No more having to file or keep track of favorites for me in Google.

Stumble Upon is a great resource for keeping track of your favourite sites as well as finding great content.

Insights on My Blog – Building Readership

This week I had an interesting breakthrough. Building a blog or online business often takes time, patience and determination to make it work. At the same time there are so many people selling or promoting on the web that I sometimes wonder who’s really listening.

Most who are promoting their blog or service will never read my blog because they are so focused on their own goals. They take a yang approach to building their business and this is okay and works for many. The bloggers that I have personally connected with tend to have more of a balance. They know how to promote their service (yang) and they know how to listen or give (yin). This week I discovered building my blog is about that balance, building readership one subscriber at a time and on a personal level. It’s not about web hits, Twitter followers or how many people click on an ad.

Authentically connecting and networking might take time but in the long term your blog and brand build more credibility.

Patience is important. All is well.

Turning Up the Light!!

Posted by Kevin Boon. Follow me on Twitter.

Alright I have a confession to make. I’ve been spending a lot of time writing and blogging lately. There’s good reason for that. Back at the end of January I was downsized from my job. In fact it was January 22nd the day I did my first complete post on the Meditation Project.

Coincidence? I’m not so sure.

I’m always a believer there is reason for everything that happens and this was no exception. I wasn’t the only one. There were others downsized and the reasons given were due to the economy. Millions of people in the past year have either lost jobs, had work cut back, are in fear of losing their job or know of someone who has. These are uncertain times for business and people as our society navigates our way out of this. What’s interesting about this economic slowdown is there are sectors that are performing well while others have suffered. Time will tell how it all unfolds.

Losing my job has been a blessing because it’s given me time to write, blog and learn about social media and networking tools like Twitter and Linkedin. The last 1-1/2 months has allowed me to lose weight (about 15 lbs), re-start my stalled exercise program, and focus on the Meditation Project. This time has also helped me gain clarity on the important question, what is it I want from life? This is exactly what the doctor ordered.

The time is right for me to find a new career, this time a little wiser and more aware of what I want.

Blogging and Finding My Authentic Voice

During my time as a blogger (2-1/2 years) I’ve been trying to find my authentic voice. What is it I really want to say? This blog started as a travel blog telling of my wife Karen and our honeymoon to France, Italy and Switzerland. As much as I love traveling we haven’t done much since and blogging about my recent trip to the grocery store would probably be a little boring.

Other topics I have written about include the environment, current events, and talks and while I find all these topics important too many people take sides and because we’re either left or right, green or oil, conspiracy or non-conspiracy. I’m not interested in discussions of who’s right or wrong. Personally I think these debates are pointless and do nothing constructive for our society.

Obama came along with a new message about unity. He impressed me so much with his message that like millions of others I became a fan and wrote about him.

Whether we make our home on Facebook, Linkedin, Twitter, our blog or wherever I’ve discovered, all anyone really wants to do is tell their story.

Blogging for me is like a painting, you create a sketch, throw in some colors and before you know it begins to look like something. My blog is my painting and it’s my opportunity to tell my story.

The light of authenticity is now fully turned on and I'm looking forward to sharing a lot more.

Social Media: Bring your Bike, Training Wheels & Helmet!

Posted by Kevin Boon. Follow me on Twitter.

Last Friday I wrote an article on Social Media and Technology Fatigue and several interesting discussions emerged.

Time Limits

One comment from Jay Frawley at Inner Noodle was a recognition that our time is limited and those who individuals who take Social Media seriously tend to focus on one or two communities. Jay’s are Twitter and StumbleUpon.

The Novelty of Social Media

Nimesh Shah wrote an article on Social Media projections for 2009 and said in a comment on my blog that Social Media is still in the novelty stage. Like most things, when they are new people rush to try them out, fatigue sets in and then value gradually dies out. Adding to what he said people will come back normally a little smarter and wiser, the next wave happens and if it’s a good trend will bring more people along.

Can Social Media Provide Real Value?

Greg Cannon from 41 Days asked on Linkedin, Can Social Media make profit? Greg reflected on the dot com boom back in 2000 where there were thousands of companies but only those who provided real value and created profitable services made it. He says the same is true today in our social media world and we both agreed there is a real opportunity for traditional businesses to succeed in this area.

Changing Business Models and Social Media

In business we are still in the early stages of social media being adopted. Companies are not yet fully engaged because it requires a very different mindset for doing business not only with customers but with employees. There are the thought leaders who are helping us understand these trends (David Meerman Scott or Chris Brogan) and more of us are catching on everyday. For the most part we are riding our social media bikes with our training wheels, a helmet and Dad’s holding our seat to make sure we don’t fall. In most cases Dad's no where to be found so we're trying to balance ourselves.

The Obama campaign showed us the real potential of social media and how we can align large numbers of people towards a common goal. The future is going to be incredibly exciting as our world gradually embraces these new technologies.

More to come on social media...

3 Tips for Using Twitter and Walking my Blog

So it's been almost a month since I signed up for Twitter and started the re-design and new focus on my blog geared around the Meditation Project, Song Writing and Social Media. Currently it's a work in progress so not all the pieces are in place yet.

Being a part-time blogger part of my strategy is to determine how to best organize my time and use of technologies like Twitter. If unmanaged Twitter can become an incredible distraction and time waster, but if properly utilized it can increase your blog readership and allow to you to make valuable connections. In the last month I have seen my readership increase by 5 times what it was at Christmas.

Here are some tips for organization both for Blogging and Twittering:

3 Tips for Blogging

For Blogging my main criteria are writing, writing well, linking, networking and commenting. Meditation is what I use to keep my blogging and personal life organized, hence the Meditation Project.

1. Writing without distraction is critical so I find it's important to block off time to write with phones, cell phones, email and Internet all off. I try to give at least 30 minutes a day. Sometimes I have more time.
2. Linking, Networking and Commenting - This is an area where I'm learning the ropes, making some connections and setting time into my day to read other blogs, make comments and allow for links to go back to my site. Usually I try to spend a couple of hours per week and set goals to comment on at least 10 sites.
3. Writing with thought versus quick writing - this blog post is flowing for me so I there's no draft it will take me about 15 minutes to complete. Other posts usually take longer and might take a few days to get the ideas down, edit and then post. It's good to have a mix of short blog posts versus some that require more thought.

3 Tips for using Twittering

This is new for me so I'm still sorting out some of the details. For those that don't know Twitter is the new trend in the Social Media and gives participants the opportunity to network and connect with people from a variety of businesses and backgrounds all over the world. The only catch is you have to limit what you say to 140 characters or less. This is good for me to keep it short but it does take a little time to master.

Here's what I've Learned about Twitter and Promoting my Personal Brand.

1. Manage & Schedule your Time - It's easy to get sucked in and spend hours Twittering. You can waste a lot of time and work does not get done. My days vary but I'll typically commit between 30 minutes to an hour a day.
2. Be Yourself but Don't be Crude or Rude - There is an etiquette on Twitter and most people play nice. The reason being is that if you don't play nice people can easily remove you or block you out. People can read what you're saying so I try to keep it fun, informative and personal.
3. Use Google Alerts, Blogs and Comments from others are a great way to create conversation. My goal is to keep my message on focus around the topics that interest me from the Meditation Project, finding Life-Work balance, Social Media and Song Writing. I've set up Google Alerts to help me find outside content which is usually pretty good. Stumble Upon is another way of finding good content.

There's an analogy that came from the Edelman article posted by Guy Kawasaki earlier this week. They were describing a methodology for building a social media presence and refered to crawling, walking, running and flying... Well I see my blog as a place where I'm walking right now, still building the foundation... Sometime down the road it will be nice to run and then fly...

Ten Questions for Twitter Users

Twitter is creating a wave within Social Media circles. There are many who are waving the flag of Twitter and saying this is next new trend that will eventually carry into mainstream competing or complementing with the likes of Facebook, Linkedin, MySpace and others. According to recent estimates Twitter has about 4 to 5 million registered users (as of Dec 08) and growing at about five to ten thousand new accounts daily. Impressive numbers but a drop in the bucket compared to Facebook’s current numbers which estimate about 140 million users.

I’m interested in Twitter not only to develop my own blog but to understand the business use for such a technology. Working for a corporation I’m interested in seeing how companies can use Twitter to increase PR, Marketing or Sales initiatives. After about 3 weeks on board I’m mostly seeing authors, famous people, small business entrepreneurs all networking and interacting to promote their message. There are also a lot of people who simply like to socialize and connect for personal reasons which is fine too.

While there are some PR staff, Marketing and a few sales people signed up I’m not seeing the masses (at this stage) and I’m wondering how users within this community see Twitter becoming a useful tool within traditional business. There are companies that seem to be dipping their toe in the water with a logo (and what appears to be no personality) but I’m not seeing a lot at this stage. I've read Chris Brogan's post on 50 Ideas on using Twitter for Business but I still have questions.

Here are ten questions for both Twitter Users & understanding the business potential of Twitter:

1. How do you use Twitter for your day-to-day activities?
2. What is your philosophy on following?
3. How do you navigate through the noise of thousands of tweets?
4. How do you measure the quality of a relationship?
5. How many hours a day do you spend on Twitter?
6. What do you most (or least) like about Twitter?
7. How do you see Twitter being used by the business community?
8. How easy/difficult is it to create a corporate message with Twitter?
9. How would you measure Twitter's value within a company?
10. Would all employees benefit or should only select people within a company be involved?

I’m looking forward to your answers and learning more…

An Introduction to Twitter (from a Newby)

Back in December I signed up for a Twitter account as it seemed everybody within the Social Media world was talking about it. At first I didn’t understand the concept. I went online the first time and couldn't figure out how to find anybody, but with a little education (and help ) I was soon able to figure out some of the basics. Over the first couple of weeks I started following some people and interestingly enough some of them started to follow me. Some have sent me direct messages, which is neat and others spam. At this stage no Viagra ads.

What I like about Twitter is the opportunity to connect with and follow people who you find interesting. Unlike Linkedin where you need permission and a personal introduction to connect with people outside of your network with Twitter there is no such restriction. You can follow anyone. This part for me is awesome because it enables me to follow people who are involved with topics that are of interest to me.

The other advantage is that I have chance to create a wider audience for my blog. With Twitter shorter is better, (unlike Viagra) you're limited to 140 characters within any message or post you make. For bloggers they call this micro-blogging, for people like me they call it "get to the point already" which if you read any of my posts I can get a little wordy.

In my next post I have few questions for the Twitter community...