Business : Passion + Structure

@businesspassionstructure-blog

56 posts

So my idea in a nutshell is, create an event (or party) where people generate other events. So the creative act becomes a collaborative one where each participant is invited to contribute to the construction of a set of rules that generate an event.

Meta-premises:

The whole system is governed...

In agreements, it’s of course important to create alignment. And that alignment always needs to be greater than you think it should be, and in fact, can become tedious.

Much more can be said about the importance of agreeing on what the terms are, and that you both mean the same thing. Somewhere...

Peter & I have started to attend a project management class through Berkley Extension. I wasn’t expecting much (sorry Alan) but both of us were pleasantly surprised last night. … One of the studies discussed shared the critical success factors of a project, almost twice as important as all the other criteria was Clarity of Project Mission. Without this, most projects are doomed to fail. I find this applies to companies and business ideas a thousandth fold.

Shane Pearlman, Picking the Right Idea, http://tri.be/picking-the-right-idea/ (via patientleaves)

Myth #29: People are rational

People don’t make purely rational decisions based on careful analysis of cost and expected utility, despite what classical economics taught us. Research findings confirm that our decisions are driven more by our emotions than logical and conscious thinking.

However, our irrationality is predictable. Good designers, therefore, can learn about human decision making and go beyond usability to create products that effectively influence our behavior.

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Myth #1: People read on the web

People only read word-by-word on the web when they are really interested in the content. They usually skim the pages looking for highlighted keywords, meaningful headings, short paragraphs and scannable list. Since they’re in a hurry to find the very piece of information they’re looking for, they’ll skip what’s irrelevant for them.

So don’t expect people to read content that seems neither easily scannable nor relevant for them, therefore long text blocks, unnecessary instructions, promotional writing and “smalltalk” should be avoided on the web.

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Myth #19: You don't need the content to design a website

Many designers create wireframes and comps with “lorem ipsum” filler text. Using dummy text often results in an aesthetically pleasing but unrealistic design. What’s worse, it creates the illusion that content is secondary.

The fact is that users come for the content, not the design. Content is by far the most important element in user interface design. A webpage with a simple structure but quality content performs much better on usability tests than a nice layout with subpar text.

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Happy Birthday WP!

A fun little “happy birthday” video showing Strayhorn (WordPress 1.5), which was the version when I started working with WordPress.

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CSS is the formatting language of the web. If it's mysterious to you, it needn't be! No longer do you have to be beholdin' to the whims of web developers—learn what this CSS thing is all about, and how YOU can apply it with simple techniques that can transform the look of your site. http://chrisburbridge.com

This was a presentation given at Ideas and Coffee cowering space in Albuquerque, New Mexico.

80 Active Plugins—No Problem! (Bring 'em on.)

Faith Goble via Compfight

Brian Krogsgard (@krogsgard):

Are more plugins a bad thing? Versus fewer plugins?

Pippin Williamson (@pippinsplugins):

No—not at all! I run about 80 plugins on each of my sites.

Brian Krogsgard:

It’s a common myth, in the…

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What's it like to get your WordPress site hacked?

WordPress security is not sexy! But getting hacked can be very painful. Aaron Clark of WindowCleaningSantaCruz.com talks about having his WordPress site hacked; what it took to get it back; and how much it cost him.

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Consumer surplus

—the extra money left on the table that you could have charged someone, if you had only asked.

WPEngine Turns off Revisions (Heads-Up)

WP Engine is wonderful. But I have a peeve that they turn off post revisions (http://support.wpengine.com/i-noticed-revisions-are-disabled-why-and-how-do-i-enable-them/). They say it is a performance issue. This may well be so.

Problem:

Post revisions can…

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How to Choose the Best WordPress Theme

Here’s a presentation I gave last May for the Orlando WordPress Meetup—and again in August at the Santa Cruz WordPress Meetup. It’s about how to How to choose the best WordPress theme for your project.

What do you need to watch out for?

How do you tell a…

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Deciding is fundamental to creating.

Harry Palmer

Every company needs a business plan, whether they need investors or not. A business without a plan is like a ship without a course. You just wander around aimlessly, without reaching the destination, because you haven't charted out the course necessary to get anywhere. You haven't even determined your destination.

Marc Allen, Visionary Business

Big mistake: not looking open. (They are, but all signs point to closed.)

#retail #coffee shops

Levels of business survival

The key here is, when you start your business and you are at (1) or (2) or (3), you're saying "someday, I'll be at (4), (5), (6), or even (7)." But—that is not necessarily the case.

It is easy to squeak by for years, not making any real progress. Having tons of learning experiences, but little success. It is easy to end up with a huge notebook of learning experiences, but have one of the key factors—financial freedom—elude you. If you do not see progress, or have a real plan for how to go up this scale (to where you want to be), you may hover at one of the lower levels for a long time.

Money sink. Earning no money, and not breaking even. Your grand vision is costing you money. It is sapping your energy, and you are losing money. Not only do you have no time for strategy, maybe your strategy should be to look at what you are doing.

Hobby. Earning no money, or practically no money. You can’t really call this a business. If you don’t have another means of livelihood, this means you are broke. To the extent that you pour your energy into this, you are broke. Question what you are doing.

Squeaking by. You are making profit at the end of the day, but if you were honest about it—you’re making about what you would be making at Starbuck’s. Living hand-to-mouth, you are late on bills, avoiding taxes, and hoping for a great future when things are better. This can be the worst place, because you are busy working in the business, and don’t see how you could work on the business.

Doing all right. Like having an all-right job at the local public schools system—but hopefully, you are having more fun, working for yourself. Paying taxes and bills isn’t your favorite thing, but you do it, more or less. You might think of being able to hire someone else, and have some time to work on the business.

Making a decent living. Making a “normal” middle-class type living. You pay your bills, have money to hire, and time for strategy.

Making a good living. LIke a professional, a lawyer, etc. Taxes and bills are not a problem. Can afford to take a vacation. Hiring an employee a no-brainer. Time for strategy and planning, to get better and better.

Inspiring others. You’re doing so great, you might as well write a book about it!

Here are some points:

It can be very seductive to remain in the lower levels of this scale, if you are not a "go-getter" money person by nature.

The higher up the scale you go, the more freedom you have to go higher. Momentum breeds momentum. Martyrdom and vows of poverty are destructive to everybody.

The higher up the scale you go, the more freedom you have to do other things.

Here is also time to note—if you are using your business as a vehicle to further your values, by embodying them in your life—then, the more success you have, the more proof you are creating, for how it's possible, to live your dreams and be successful. —In this sense, especially, a martyr complex isn't helping anyone.

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