Todd Sattersten :: Astronaut Projects

$450,000 for your thoughts

The age of " a penny for your thoughts" is coming to an end.

Joey Reiman says this in his book, "Thinking for a Living".

He says it is all about the ideas. He ran a very successful advertising agency for a number of years, but realized something. He would pitch ideas for campaigns to his clients and never get paid for the ideas. It was all about getting the account, so you could make your money by placing ads in the media. That is where ad companies make their money.

Reiman left advertising and started BrightHouse. He claims it to be the first company that is in the business of selling ideas. He gets $450,000 for an idea. A number of companies pay him $1,000,000 a year to help with idea generation.

I am not getting that kind of money for my ideas, so I think I'll leave the name the way it is...

Here is a profile of BrightHouse from Fast Company (July 1999).

Essentials #10 - Fierce Conversations

What is at the basis of everything?

It is conversations that people have or don't have with each other.

I really like Fierce Conversation by Susan Scott. I originally got the lead from a posting on the FC Now blog by John Byrne. I was drawn to the questions Susan says you should be asking those around you:

• What is currently impossible to do that, if it were possible, would change everything?


• If you were competing with our company, what would you do?


• What topic are you hoping I won't bring up?

Those questions cut to the chase. They don't dance around sensitive subjects. They are truly powerful.

I worked on a team about six years ago where those questions were common. We had fierce conversations daily about the project we were working on. I think it was the best work experience I have ever had. We accomplished something rare: a successful software implementation.

I also like the book because it applies to life. Susan says the conversation is the relationship. Think about the quality of the conversation you are having with those around you. It reflects the quality of the relationship.

Here it is in Susan's words.

Books from the Masses

I am one of the coordinators for the Milwaukee Chapter of the Company of Friends If you're not familiar, CoF is a readers/networking group associated with Fast Company magazine.

I sent an email out to our group asking, "What's the most useful business book - or other book that you've applied to your work - that you've ever read?"

Here is what folks responded with:

• Thinking for A Living - Joey Reiman
• Marketing Outrageously - Jon Spoelstra
• Selling The Invisible - Harry Beckwith
• Leadership and Self Deception - the Arbinger Institute
• Seven Habits of Effective People - Steven Covey
• First, Break All the Rules - Marcus Buckingham

The circus moves on...

This week you can find the Carnival of the Capitalists at The Noble Pundit.

Great variety this week - airline bailout, the economics of Do Not Call, growing student debt, and Call Center Clownishness to just name a few.

For my submission, I choose this week's popular posting on Google's most expensive search word.

Do you need more reasons to read WSJ?

I have on a number of ocassions gone on and on about how much I like the Wall Street Journal.

Today, they sent me a customer survey. It has already been filled out and safely sealed in the provided postage paid envelope.

It made me think that I should go on some more about how much I like them.

Here are three features from the past couple of weeks that you should read [all links require a subscription]:

The Ananos family and their company Kola Real are taking on Coca-Cola and Pepsi in the Latin America. In their home country of Peru, Kola Real and other no-name brands claim 21% of the market share. In Venezuela, they owe 10% of the market. Now, Kola Real is going after the world's 2nd largest soft-drink market - Mexico. In two years, Kola Real has captured 4% of the $15 billion market. The article goes on to talk about what Coke and Pepsi are doing to fight the insurgents.

ESPN seems to be following in the footsteps of MTV. They have decided to create and air original content in lieu of sporting events. The most controversal has been "Playmakers", the story of a fictional pro-football team. The series seems to concentrate on the low-lights of the sport, angering NFL owners and commissioner. Other commentary based programming such Pardon the Interruption and Around the Horn have been more successful. I think people watch ESPN for the sports and for what people have to say about sports. Showing fiction threatens the brand and relationships they have with those who provide them content for the true stories.

Finally, I could have never imagined a fight to find the perfect pineapple. Fresh Del Monte's 'Gold' has changed the $1 billion fresh pineapple market. 'Gold' is "sweeter, less acidic and highly resistant to parasites and internal rotting". To no surprise, everyone else wants in. The story has genetics, lawsuits, and the mysterious "seven seeds". Check it out.

Right Words, Make Money

The model for traditional media:

Create content. Create an audience. Sell advertising. Make money.

Adsense has created a model that allows the creation of micro-media companies. Cable created smaller slices in broadcasting. Google has created the potential for even smaller slices online.

Mike Kelley suggests "Soon we'll have rss files, like stock tickers, calculating the AdSense revenue of popular words."

Absolutely. What advertisers will pay for eyeballs on-line is going to become more transparent. And individuals are going to have the ability to satisfy that demand.

The business model hasn't really changes, but the barrier to entry has become almost non-existent.

Choose the right words

My friend John was at a computer conference last week.

He got to talking with the folks from Google. To no surprise, they confirmed that the big deal for them right now is ads and Adsense lets anyone participate.

A couple of weeks ago. Anil Dash gave some of the good and bad with Adsense. It all comes down to the search words that match the content on your site. Aaron Swatrz's Google Weblog has a great Adsense senser if you want to check your site.

Anil suggested creating content that would match "Tivo upgrade" at $4.50/click and "hosting" pushing $15/click.

The folks at the Google booth had another suggestion - "database warehouse" at $38.50/click.

How aobut tihs?

Aoccdrnig to a rscheearch at Cmabrigde Uinervtisy, it deosn’t mttaer in waht oredr the ltteers in a wrod are, the olny iprmoetnt tihng is taht the frist and lsat ltteer be at the rghit pclae. The rset can be a total mses and you can sitll raed it wouthit porbelm. Tihs is bcuseae the huamn mnid deos not raed ervey lteter by istlef, but the wrod as a wlohe.

[I got this from antenna at giantant.com.]

This Week's Carnival

Let me direct you to the Carnival of the Capitalists taking place over at Jay Solo's.

This is the second week of the effort to pull together the best of the business blogging community.

As a contributor to the Carnival, I hope you'll check it out.

Another Kindred Spirit

Check out TJ's Weblog.

He covers a wide range of business topics. Being based in Europe, there is more global feel to the blog.

I like it.