Yep. That title is really descriptive.

Some friends and I were just discussing today (originally written 2 months ago) the fact that English classes in school were really a joke. We discussed one particular high school teacher we all had, and the ‘joys’ of poetry analysis (she was ALWAYS right, by the way… there is NO other interpretation).

Here’s my beef: over the last several decades, we’ve dumbed down our population by teaching students facts and figures, but not how to think. Well, I don’t actually know that it’s been over the last century, because I don’t know if the educational system was ever what I might envision. As a nation, our educational system is an assembly line producing the ‘factory’ workers for the next generation of corporate conglomerates. This is a sad, but very real, reality.

What do kids do in school these days? Math problems. Worksheets. Spelling tests. Geography maps (memorize all the state capitals, because that’s useful!). They learn how to follow directions, answer questions with a, b, c, or d, and the chemical makeup of water. But what do kids learn about creativity? Problem-solving? Communication? Debate? Civics? I could go on. So I will…

Going back to my middle school and high school days, I was in the ‘advanced’ classes, but unfortunately, most kids don’t get that opportunity. They are never challenged with something that interests them. They are told to sit down, shut up, and do their homework. What does that teach kids? It teaches them to be a factory worker (read: 9-5 desk job, warehouse worker, aka most jobs). In short: we are raising kids to be robots at work, taught to do routine tasks repetitively.

Systems: the greatest innovation in business since the wheel. Systems are great for businesses and the bottom-line (duplicitous, scale-able, economical, reliable), but not so much for people. Why? Because I believe, from my own experience as well as the experience of others that all people have an element of creativity, a genius, which gets squeezed out of them through their educational experience. By implementing robotic systems in business (and school), this natural creative genius doesn’t get used, and as a result, I believe people are not as happy and productive as their potential might suggest they could be.

So how did I survive? And how do the many creative minds out there make it through this labyrinth of crudely-architected mental death traps?

I’m not sure, but I think it has something to do with my stubborn streak. I’m naturally very creative. I naturally think ‘outside the box.’ I naturally resist systems if I feel they are inferior methods for accomplishing a specific task. I think there are many people with similar personalities, but in comparison to the rest of the population, we are few and far between.

What do we call this group of people who resist inefficient systems and authority? Entrepreneurs of course. Why? Because they dare to break the mold of the corporate assembly line.

I started my marketing company in 2008, in the middle of a recession because I didn’t want a job in corporate America. I could have had one, but I rejected it. The thought of working for an inefficient conglomerate of wasted talent and creativity to create profits for someone else’s pocket doesn’t sit well with me (and worded that way, probably doesn’t with you any more!). I realize not everyone can or should be an entrepreneur, and not everyone’s personality works the way mine does (I know it’s rather rare: I’m an INTJ on the Myers-Briggs scale, by the way, aka ‘the Mastermind’).

But somewhere along the way, businesses need to ask themselves if they are systematically destroying their businesses by mentally abusing their employees by keeping that creative genius smothered under the robotic arms of corporate America. How do you break that mold? I’m not saying systems are bad, because they are in fact brilliant. But I am saying that inflexible systems which do not promote the human being ahead of the product and profit, will eventually be the downfall of both product and profit.

To illustrate this point: look at consumer goods today. ‘Made in China’ connotes something inexpensive and of low-quality. While this is not always the case, it is by-and-large mostly true. The trend among consumers over time is to choose quality over price every time. Any good marketing professional knows this, although the proverbial Walmarts of the world appear to defy this principle (that could be another post entirely- because that is really a fallacy). This pattern of quality over price is measurable and historic. So why does the price question come up? One word: commiditization. As a product becomes more mainstream, copycats arise. A price war ensues, and then a new product comes along that blows them all out of the water. This cycle continues indefinitely as technology progresses. When a company is in a price war, innovation (read: application of creative genius) ceases or severely slows, because the company cannot afford to innovate at low profit margins.

So the inevitability of a company going out of business by going the route of strict systems, lower prices, and no risk is less innovation and a very real likelihood of going out of business or at least fading into complete and utter irrelevance in the market (recent memory: Circuit City, Hollywood Video, Blockbuster, Eastman Kodak, AOL, Kmart). Yes, innovation is a risk, but a necessary risk for the survival of any company.

Yet executives don’t want to pull the trigger. Why? Because all through school we’ve been ingrained with the idea that failure is not an option. Failing a class, or a test, or a project, or just about anything, means you’re ‘not good enough.’ People give up. Those who keep going do so by ‘playing it safe.’ I knew kids in my school who took easy classes so they could get high grades to get the scholarships they needed. I hated that idea, so I took the lower grades, worked harder, and didn’t get some of the scholarships they did. But the path they chose seemed inefficient to me.

Most people look at education and work and see only the money and the things they can do with the money. They rationalize: if I can’t play in the NBA, or be a rock star, or be a fashion designer, then I’ll just give up on those dreams. When giving up those dreams, they give up the will to keep dreaming, and put on a hard shell to ‘go to work.’ Kids lose the fire they had, because it’s extinguished along the way by well-meaning teachers, parents, and friends.

My attitude has always been that I want to enjoy the journey. I want to be challenged along the way. I want to learn. I want to learn everything I possibly can. I don’t particularly care if that’s in a university, a high school, a library, or in nature. It may be on the internet, at a church, with friends at a movie, or hiking in the mountains. People who have a ‘learning attitude’ are constantly observing and noting their surroundings, and learning from the experience.

Sometimes those robotic factory workers I mentioned take off their hard shell after work and become learners, but they can’t reach their full potential with that shell on every day. It stunts their personal growth at least 8-10 hours every day, yet they continue on that path, not realizing the potential they could have attained.

This, to me, is a tragedy. I want everyone to enjoy the freedom of imagination which I enjoy. I want everyone to think they can do things, and try it! If we all expect someone else to innovate, where will that put us next year? In 5 years? Innovation and learning is the responsibility of our entire society, which is why I’d like to come back to my first point: our educational system isn’t doing what it should be doing: creating life-long learners, thinkers, and creators.

How can we alter our educational system? The answer is simple, yet complex: one child, one school, one classroom at a time. Easily said, but specifically, much more difficult to do. This is already happening in many schools around the country– in classrooms,

First: teachers must be taught to learn and work with the strengths and weaknesses of each child. I think they should all have some training in childhood psychology, and psychology in general. Teachers must learn to ‘go with the flow’ a bit and improvise when necessary; to allow children to be expressive, make mistakes, and get messy (as my favorite after-school cartoon teacher did: Ms. Frizzle). Understanding that personality, tendencies of the child, and learning aptitudes gives the teacher an edge on engaging each student in the class. Of course large class sizes make it difficult, but even in states with smaller class sizes, many teachers aren’t doing very well. Why? Because teachers are ingrained in the same old system.

To be clear: everything is NOT lost in our educational system. Many universities are working hard to keep their teacher education programs at a high level, and often some of the best teachers are the newest ones. This topic could be it’s own post too, so I won’t go into this too much, but I do believe there is a disconnect in what teachers learn and experience at the university, and what happens ‘in real life’ when actually teaching classes. If we can close that gap from the lecture hall to the classroom and get real implementation, not just talk, we’ll see the progress we need to start seeing.

Education reform is a process, and we are already in that process. Teachers, parents, and schools and districts across the US are reforming education, a little bit at a time. That is wonderful– but we need more of this. I realize this post has a lot of statements which many consider platitudes, but there is a lot of truth in there. I just hope anyone who reads this might do some small part in education reform: even as small as studying the issues and voting in your local school board election makes a difference!

This is true of any creative profession… videographers, photographers, web designers, graphic designers, copywriters, and so on…

I do in fact support Jon Huntsman, Jr. for President of the United States. He is a practical, plays nice in the sandbox with others, and has the ability to move forward when he thinks something is right (rather than pulling back due to catatonic fear of not being re-elected, unlike most in Washington).

Huntsman isn’t afraid to stand up to the big institutions (like too big to fail financial institutions, which he would like to break up), and isn’t afraid to suggest cuts, even though uncomfortable, are necessary.

I don’t agree with him on ALL issues, but definitely most. We need someone who isn’t going to approach the office like a politician- we need someone who will approach that office as a leader. And leadership is one of Jon’s best qualities.

Jon Huntsman for President 2012

Gotta love Dilbert. It is funny though how many people ask for SEO because they recognize the need for it, but don’t realize what it involves to implement and manage properly. That’s why this comic really speaks to us marketers on so many levels…

I’ve been thinking a lot about success as an entrepreneur lately.  I went to CEO Space a few weeks ago, and some of that experience really opened my eyes and/or gave me the kick in the pants I needed to really get motivated again.  So, as I’ve been thinking about successful entrepreneurship and how to make some course corrections in my current business, it seems like everything I read is reinforcement to me that I need to do this.

I am LDS (a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints), and if you’re not, then pardon the spiritual references, but that is important to me as a person (and this post might be a little soul-bearing).  I was meeting with my bishop a month ago about “tithing settlement.”  At the end of each year, Latter-Day Saints meet with their bishop (the LDS Church has no paid clergy by the way), and settle on tithing.  So we talked about that, and then we talked a little about life.  I told him how frustrated I was with my business: not making enough to pay all my personal bills (make enough to keep the business going, but not enough for me!), etc.  I said I was going to go look for a part-time job somewhere to work at night, maybe in a warehouse.  And I never would have expected his response: “Are you crazy?”  He then asked how much I make per hour doing what I do (when I have projects)… after expenses, $40-50/hour.  He told me to forget the job and just double-down on sales.  Make more phone calls, meet more people, network a little more (which I’ve done fairly consistently, but obviously not enough).  It was strange coming from my bishop, because most people are not entrepreneurial and would have agreed with my idea to go get a job.

And yet, something about it made sense.  At CEO Space, one of the instructors was Les Brown, and he said “You can’t see the picture when you’re in the frame.”  So my rule #4 in entrepreneurship is to not go it alone: partnership.  Not to say that you need equity partners, but to say: have someone from the outside who can look at what you’re doing and slap you upside the head when you need it.  When I got back from CEO Space, I found a business consultant/coach who I had met before (also happens to be a CEO Space member), and we’ve started working together.  I’m very excited about what we’re doing so far!

Rule #4: Partnership

Tonight, I had a conversation with a friend who I’m working with to help him get everything in order for him to move to Utah.  He didn’t know much about my financial situation until tonight, and as we talked, he stopped and said: “Dustin, you don’t have a lot of money.  You’re working very hard to get your startup company off the ground, and yet you’re still helping me, and asking nothing in return.”  I hadn’t thought about that, but he was right.  He went on to say how much that touched him, and how he appreciated my willingness to help him even considering my own situation.  I just think that’s what friends are for.

I’ve struggled with finding time for people in my life since I started this business, but I’m getting better.  If I’m always pushing so hard for myself and not seeking to serve others selflessly, then I’m going to fail.  I need something outside of me to keep me grounded, to keep me human.  Call it karma, call it the universe, call it the Golden Rule… what you do for others comes back to you, but not if that’s the reason you do it.  I believe if everyone served a little more, the world would be a significantly better place.

Rule #3: Serve Others

Another point this friend brought up: “no matter the circumstances, you’ve never given up on your goal.  You just keep going!  Why?  If money was your goal, there are easier ways to get that.”  He has a great point here: many people don’t realize how much work it is to launch a company from scratch, especially in the industry I’m in!  It’s not something that you just throw together– it takes years of dedicated research, testing, lots of doing, and lots of relationship building (I’ve met literally thousands of business owners in the last two years… lots of networking).  If money is your goal, go get a Ph.D in something or get an MBA and work your way up the ranks at a Fortune 50 company.

Like I said, you may need to course-correct as you go along (in fact, I know you will! — it’s happened to me with every venture I’ve been involved with, including my lemonade stand!), but the fact of the matter is that you need to keep going, even when the going get’s tough.  Les Brown also said: “If you do what is easy, your life will be hard.  If you do what is hard, your life will be easy.”  Of course ease is relative, but if you’re doing what you LOVE, then your life will be easy.  Never give up on that dream.

Rule #2: Just Keep Going

That brings me to the risk factor.  Most people can’t stomach being an entrepreneur.  That’s why you’ll see people take little baby steps, or dip their toes in the pool: because they want it, but not bad enough.  They sign up with an MLM and work 5-10 hours/week on their ‘business’ (and keep the 9-5 gig).  Is there anything inherently wrong with that?  No.  But I don’t consider that an entrepreneur.

By my definition: an entrepreneur is someone who

• Has a vision to create something great.
• Puts themselves out there and really goes for (takes risks, albeit calculated)
• Does not give up until they’ve proven it’s a bad business model or proven that it’s a winner.

Entrepreneurs are died-in-the-wool never-give-up-never-surrender types.  They will be in it for the long haul– even if they did have to get a night or day job to put groceries on the table– they never let that dream die.  True entrepreneurs don’t do it for the money (and those who just do it for the money, generally don’t succeed).  Look at all the top guys on the Forbes 400, and ask those who are self-made billionaires if their primary motivation was money.  They will tell you know.  One might say he wanted to help his mother retire live a good life; one might say he just wanted to make a difference in the world; one might say they just had an itch to fix a problem.  THAT is truly what should drive someone to be an entrepreneur.

If you’re an entrepreneur at heart but let a dream die, or haven’t yet let that dream begin to live, begin it now.  My absolute favorite quote of all time is from W.H. Murray (taking from Goethe):

“Whatever you can do or dream you can, begin it.

Boldness has genius, power and magic in it!”

With that boldness, make a commitment.  Today is the first day of the rest of your life.  Today is the beginning of the next phase of your business.  Without committing yourself to something, you won’t do it.  Write down your idea, your plan, your business model, and then start doing it.  Set small goals for yourself to make sure you do something every single day to make your dream a reality.  I call it the hand of God.  Call it the law of attraction if you want, but I know when you commit to something and take action on it, things start to roll.  Here’s another bit from W.H. Murray:

“Concerning all acts of initiative (and creation), there is one elementary truth the ignorance of which kills countless ideas and splendid plans: that the moment one definitely commits oneself, then providence moves too. A whole stream of events issues from the decision, raising in one’s favor all manner of unforeseen incidents, meetings and material assistance, which no man could have dreamt would have come his way.”

Rule #1: Commit Yourself, and Begin

I just thought this video was relevant, so I embedded it here.  I made this video a year ago when I was feeling down, and it cheered me up.  A woman I met at a networking meeting came to me later and said (after watching it on my website) that it made her cry and asked for a copy.  I really like what Henry Ford said (in the video):  Failure is only the opportunity to intelligently begin again.  As I was talking on Skype with this friend earlier (we were speaking German, not English, so my translation is not exact), he said there is no such thing as being unsuccessful.  There is only quitting.  In other words, you will be successful if you keep at it.  The only failure there is, is giving up.

You may be asking: so what are your results from doing this? Well, I can’t say that I’m rich or anything, but things are looking really good now! I’ve got over 150 very warm leads, I have two other people on my sales team now helping me reach people, and our internet marketing is starting to develop leads as well (about 10% of our site traffic is from Google search). Things are moving, and I don’t foresee getting a “job” any time soon. Entrepreneurship is where it’s at. I’m just greatful for the wonderful, supportive people in my life who haven’t let me lie myself into a job. In reality, it’s about being in integrity and honest and about who you really are. If you’re a true entrepreneur, then embrace yourself and go for it. You have so much going for you not to (remember, once you commit, all kinds of unseen things happen– I can testify to that!).

On a side note: if you’re familiar with social media and sales AND will work commission only, I could use some help.

I’m an analytical personality type, and when I spend money on something I generally feel that it’s a wise move. However, even in the car on the way down to Las Vegas for the CEO Space Free Enterprise Forum last week, I was still skeptical.

I paid a lot of money to join CEO Space (and I even got a discount!), because I thought even if it was 50% as good as they said, it would be worth the investment.  I also joined because my CPA and attorney are both members, and I have a great deal of trust and respect for both of them.  And yet, the skepticism was still there (could it really be THAT good?).

Yep. Boy was I in for a shock!

CEO Space was a lot more than I expected (maybe it helped that I was skeptical… there’s the analytical coming out again). I thought there was no way it could be as wonderful as they (meaning the company and local members) made it sound like. And yet, staring me in the face: every claim they made in videos, in person, on the phone, and online were all true:

• MBA level instruction by top people in their industry (absolutely!)
• World-Class networking (no argument here)
• High-level contacts (definitely)
• Investors hanging around, deals happening (I saw this happen with my own eyes–at least 3 deals, one into the 10-figure range that I know of)
• Cooperative capitalism (I thought that was an oxymoron for sure!)
• Hyper-grow your business

That last part is the only thing I can’t be sure of yet, but the fact that I have 120 people who gave me their card because either they are personally interested in my services or they know someone who they think would be interested is quite a stack of people to follow up with.  I’ve scheduled time to make about 20 phone calls/day after I send out the 120 emails or so the week before.  Not only that, most of the cards have notes about what I need to discuss with them– THAT is effective.

Now, when I say MBA level, I mean it.  I spoke to business consultants who are the top of their game, including Ed Bogle, Vincent Molina, Karla Dennis, and Paul Simpson.  I heard Greg Reid, Thomas Jurgensen, Ed Bogle, Chris Collins, Lisa Kelley, Bob Circosta, Kevin Harrington, Eric Lofholm, Les Brown, Barry Spilchuk, and Bob Proctor in 90 minute lectures on various business development topics.

Another claim made by CEO Space is that their instructors are accessible (as opposed to other places where the speaker is shuttled away before anyone can talk to them).  This claim is absolutely true– as much as possible, these instructors will make sure they can get you in their schedule, and that is incredible considering how much they get paid per hour outside of the space and how much time they do give away.  In addition to meetings I had there, I will be having phone meetings with 3 instructors in January to assist me with my strategic planning, systems development, and sequencing of my capital plan, all completely free of charge because I’m a member.

In addition, this cooperative capitalism thing just sounded cooky.  I’ve heard people talk about it and say things like “it’s about creating wealth (not all monetary) in the world, not about making money,” and people actually talked about that like it was a real system.  While it wasn’t all a bed of roses at the Forum, by and large most people were genuinely helping each other, and I was very impressed with the fact that so many people endeavored simply to serve others with no opportunity of monetary return (and I myself got caught up in the craze, but somehow, I think it’s all going to work in my favor too!).  This topic probably merits another post of it’s own.  In addition, I saw people competing in the same industry helping each other (and even did that myself).

Even though I got my membership at a steep discount, it was worth every penny, and it would have been worth every penny had I paid full price (and that was just the first event!).  Now that I’m a member, I have a lifetime of networking, instruction, and resources available to me year-round forever.  If that’s not good value, then I don’t know what is.  CEO Space is certainly not a scam, and (from experience) I can vouch for the fact that it is definitely the real deal.

Stay tuned as my businesses continue to flourish!

Waiting for Chrome OS has been a very long wait, but one I think will be worth it.  I’ve been telling people (when frustrated by Windows)… “I’m waiting for Google Chrome OS.”  And of course that sparked conversation… If you don’t know what Chrome OS is, this overview video does a really good job of explaining the basics:

I also wanted to give Google the Top 10 reasons why they need to hurry up and finish Chrome OS so I can use it.

10. I’m sick of Microsoft Windows (I have to use it about once/week for work at the moment).

9. Although I love Ubuntu, it’s not nearly as fast as Chrome will be.

8. I’m sick of hearing Apple Fanboys saying “look what your computer can’t do because it’s not a Mac.”

7. I want to show my Apple Fanboy friends what it’s like to print something at my office from the comfort of my living room, Starbucks, or the airplane.

6. I want to access all my data, docs, and applications from anywhere… being a small business owner, I need this so I can take a vacation (and the business won’t fall apart while I’m gone).

5. I’m tired of my ancient laptop overheating because I have 25 tabs open in 6 windows, running 6 desktop apps, and Flash on Pandora all at once.  If they were cloud apps, it would be easy!

4. I’m the ultimate Google Fanboy (okay, not quite, because I do prefer WordPress over Blogger, but darn close!).  I use about 20-25 different Google services at least weekly, and I use about a dozen of them every day.

3. Google will get very sick of me bothering them to finish after dangling the carrot in front of me during their 2 hour Chrome event today.

2. Google is awesome.  One of the coolest companies, IMO.  Having 20,000 employees and still innovating is an amazing accomplishment– one that should garner a lot of respect.

1. I’m awesome!

NOTE: if the Google Chrome team is reading this, please accept my application to join your pilot program (please!).  As a technology enterpreneur and technology influencer within my network, I know I can contribute usable data to your pilot program because my use, while somewhat related to development, is even more so “mainstream” and will give you a wide variety of use cases.

This post is not meant to completely answer this question.  I have some ideas, but I’d love to hear from you!

1.  Fear of change.  Fear of the Unknown.  I dont’ know if this is an actual reason people have for fear of technology, because I know this doesn’t apply to me, but I know some people may worry about the change and how that could affect them.

2.  Fear of Big Brother.  I think this one is a big one!  This is a fear that I worry about: does Google know too much?  Does Facebook know too much about me?  How are these companies using that data, and how might it be used against me.  Although I’m a daily user of both these services, I wonder sometimes about the implications.  What about you?

3.  Fear of falling behind.  I think some people don’t like to embrace technology, because of Moore’s Law.  They figure by the time they learn how to do something and feel comfortable with it, it’s going to change on them anyway… so why learn it in the first place?  Although I think this fear is somewhat unfounded, I can see why it’s a concern.

What other reasons might someone have for fearing technology, or fearing to learn new technology (hardware, software, etc.)?

What can technology companies do to alleviate these fears?  One might say they could better the user experience, which has certainly been Apple’s forte.  What else could be done?  Are there any design considerations that could make things easier for people to embrace?

I’m totally open for thoughts now… I’ve just been thinking about this for a while, and just now thought I should put the question out there.

Hello Blog! This is your owner. We haven’t spoken in awhile. How are ya?

I need to start posting here more often… I actually enjoy writing for this blog, because I feel like I can just write my style (not that I can’t on the company blog, because I can– but there are guidelines). Here, I can do whatever I want (within reason of course… I’m a fairly reasonable person).

Anyway- I really don’t know if anyone reads this blog or visits my website, but here ya go! One more post to the party (and more coming soon). I’m going to put myself on a writing schedule so I can keep up with all the blogs where I’m a contributor (and, starting soon, I’ll also be writing for Examiner.com… I’ll post once that’s official).

Hi all,

I just wanted to highlight some upcoming events that my company is sponsoring…

WordCamp
First is WordCamp SLC 2010, this Saturday at the University of Utah. Over 100 people have PAID, and many more will be there on Saturday! WordCamp is essentially a conference about the open source WordPress blogging platform for developers, enthusiasts, and marketing professionals (this site uses WordPress, and my companies’ other sites are in the process of being converted to WordPress). Matt Mullenweg, the founder and CEO of WordPress will be the keynote speaker (and dozens of other speakers and presenters are attending from all over the country).

My marketing company, YEA-NAY, is one of the sponsors for the event, providing video production services to the organizers (the videos will be published on WordPress.tv). The conference is all about WordPress development, and we’re all very excited about it!

For more information on WordCamp, visit their site.

the Uber-Cool Video Workshop
This is the third workshop I’ve done, but this new workshop is a new and improved format that I think will get participants even better results in marketing. (yes, shameless self-promotion, absolutely!)

Visit this site for more information on the video marketing workshop.

You can also download/print our workshop flyer.

Grand Opening & Open House
YEA-NAY will be announcing some big expansions next week (which I will share here as well), but until then, I wanted to give everyone a heads up that we’re planning to offer an open house & grand opening ceremony at our new location in Salt Lake City. We currently have an office there, and the grand opening will be geared mostly toward the new studio we’ll be opening in that same building.

Visit this site for more information on the video studio.