A Down Economy Is a Great Time for Innovation

By: Bea Fields

I believe that a down economy is one of the best times to enter into innovation, and in this day and age, innovation is not a “nice thing to have”…it is a requirement. This article will address the what, when, why, how and where of innovation.

What is Innovation?

• A new way of doing something
• An invention that becomes a new product or service
• A fresh perspective/new way of thinking
• A radical approach to an old problem
• A new way to deliver customer service
• A way of making something better/easier/faster
• Combining two dissimilar items to create more value for your customers

Why Innovate?

• To improve productivity
• To improve customer service
• To increase employee and customer retention
• To gain market share
• To save money
• To meet the expectations of a demanding market

Who Has Been Successful With Innovation?

• Apple: MP3s + MP3 Player
• Method: Cleaning Products + Green Movement
• Threadless: T-shirts + User Generated Content
• Jones Soda: Soda + Customization
• Hulu.com: NBC + Streaming Video
• Send a Ball: Balls + Greeting Cards
• Google: Internet Search + Retailing

When Is Innovation Needed?

During change:
• Generational changes
• Changes in the environment
• Technological advances
• World crises (health, disasters, terrorism)
• Tough economic times
• When customers are facing problems

How Do You Innovate? The Six Step Strategy For Problem Solving

1. Identify the problem
2. Analyze the problem
3. Brainstorm all possible solutions to the problem
4. Analyze the possible solutions
5. Choose the best solution possible
6. Write a plan of action for implementation

Innovation Tools

• Mind Mapping
• Dialogue/Masterminding
• Brainstorming Activities
• Environmental Design
• Use Artistic Activities
• Revive a Former Idea
• Surveys/Feasibility Studies
• Blogging
• Online Social Networks
• Online Forums
• Research and Development Teams
• DIGs (Distributed Innovation Groups) and EIGs (Enterprise Integration Groups)

http://MindJet.com
http://www.ideachampions.com/jump_start.shtml
http://www.VisualThesaurus.com
http://www.innovationtools.com/pdf/eyewire_cards.pdf
http://MindMeister.com
http://www.innovationtools.com

How to Mindmap

1. Identify the problem
2. Analyze the problem
3. Brainstorm all possible solutions to the problem (the mindmapping on butcher paper)
4. Analyze the possible solutions
5. Choose the best solution possible
6. Take the best solution possible, and ask the following questions

• How can we minimize this idea?
• How can we make this idea bigger?
• How can we combine this idea with something we are currently doing to come up with a new product or service?
• If we turn this idea upside down, what ideas come up?
• If we modify this idea just a pinch, what might we come up with?
• What have other people done with this idea?
• What would these people want to see with this idea: Scientist, Economist, Politician, Ballerina, Artist, Second Grader, Astronaut, Lawyer, Doctor, Television Producer

7. Now, take the ideas you have modified and come up with a solution
8. Write a plan of action for implementation
9. Now…execute your plan

A Down Economy May Be Just the Opportunity You Need to Start or Grow a Business by Mike Michalowicz

Start & Grow a Healthy Business in a Recession from Toilet Paper on Vimeo.

Learn How to Write Great Content…Really Fast!

Alexis Dawes has some really great products. I just bought The Good and Fast Content Creation Formula, and it is to die for.

When you buy the product, you will get a nice 3-ring binder from Alexis, and she covers the following:

1) How to effectively use keywords to write articles and e-books

2) The two tools she recommends to make writing a breeze

3) Several free online resources that are super cool to help you create hundreds of eye-grabbing titles and subjects to write about

4) A few online tools that will teach you how to use “words that sell”

5) Two “cheat sheets” for making writing a breeze.

Alexis writes for a living, and she does not hold anything back. She tells you exactly how to write both informational articles and promotional articles. I used her system to write this blog post, and I wrote this in 3 minutes.

I cannot say enough about the product, so check it out today.

Robin Meade Survey: People Not Skimping On Quality Toilet Paper

I watch Morning Express with Robin Meade every morning while I work out. She conducted a poll today to find out what people are NOT skimping on during the tough economy. The top answer: High Quality Toilet Paper!

I have to agree that I don’t skimp on toilet paper…I always get the best, AND if you follow what Mike Michalowicz says in The Toilet Paper Entrepreneur, you can do your business a huge favor by only using 3 sheets, but using them effectively. Are you curious? Check out what Mike and Scott Bradley are up to with The Toilet Paper Entrepreneur.

And…just remember…during a down economy, it is more important than ever to be marketing using guerrilla strategies and advice from people like Mike!

Tweetbeep Sent in by Mari Smith

Another great Twitter tool sent in by Mari Smith: (Like Google Alerts for Twitter): http://tweetbeep.com.

Thanks Mari!

Twitkit Sent in by Gary Patton

Gary Patton sent in a great Twitter tool today: Twitkit

It is an add-on for Firefox to allow you to follow your friends and a few other cool add-ons.

Thanks Gary for sending this in!

Bea

Hey Twitter Fans! 14 Hot Twitter Tools To Add to Your Toolkit

I love Twitter. It is easy, short, and I have met so many amazing people.

So, today, I want to leave you with 10 tools that I also love that help me make the most out of twitter.

Twist- Want to see the big trends on Twitter? Get it with Twist!

Twerpscan - Are there people on Twitter who are following everyone under the sun? If so, they may just be what I called “masses building” to look like they have a large network OR they are getting ready to start spamming you. Twerpscan can show you who has thousands of people in their network. If they do, you may never hear from them, OR you may hear from them when you don’t want to. Twerpscan can help you figure out who is “masses building!”

Summize - Tool which shows trending topics plus different language searches. Great for looking for hot topics to write about or blog about.

Twitt(url)y - Provides aTechmeme style representation of up and coming URLs that are mentioned in individual Tweets. If you are looking for

Ping.fm- In my opinion, Ping.fm is better than Twitpress, because it connects ALL of your social networks and also connects your blog posts to all of your social networks. If you need the secret passcode, send me an e-mail to beafields@beafields.com, and I will get you set up.

Twhirl- Twhirl is a desktop client that is just like Twitter. It allows you to post, send e-mails to your contacts and to perform searches in Twitter.

TweetWheel - Want to know which of your followers know each other? Tweet Wheel helps you find those connections. If you have a large database of Twitter contacts, the service does take a bit of time, so be patient!

Twinfluence- Want to know how influential you are and where you stand on Twitter? Check it out today using Twinfluence. The tool is also great to see who has the most influence so that you can tweet about them or blog about them.

Twitturls- This nifty tool grabs the urls on Twitter and ranks them by popularity…again…a great way to get more traffic to your blog by talking about the most popular urls

Twitscoop- What’s hot on Twitter? Twitscoop will tell you the subjects that are super hot in the most current tweets.

Tweetbeep- It’s like Google Alerts for Twitter (sent in by Mari Smith)

Twitkit- It is an add-on for Firefox to allow you to follow your friends and a few other cool add-ons. (sent in by Gary Patton )

TwitWall- Lets you embed your favorite videos and widgets, upload your photos, mp3 music or podcasts to Twitter

Twemes- A global tagging service for Twitter.  If you are attending a conference, you can all share a global tag so that you can check on the latest info!

Please send along your favorite Twitter tools! I am creating a “Twitter Collection.” I want to break the record on the Twitter know-how front!

Top Free Business Tools

I do have a few favorite free business tools…here they are:

1) Audacity is free, open source software for recording and editing sounds. It is available for Mac OS X, Microsoft Windows, GNU/Linux, and other operating systems. Learn more about Audacity.

2) InstantConference (holds 150 callers)  and GoConferenceCall.com (holds 500 callers).  Both are telephone conferencing lines which provide free telephone conferencing and recording.

3) CoreFTP: Transfer files easily to your website and from your website to your desktop.

4) One Page Business Plan: Great, easy templates to build out your biz plan.

5) AVG Anti-Virus: Free virus protection with great updates

6) Writely by Google: Easily share files, folders and communication online with your colleagues and biz partners.

7) PDF995:  Allows you to easily convert documents to pdf.  Also offers a version for PDF editing.

Learn How to Write a Great E-Book: Desperate Buyers Only

I had a look at a great e-book book today: Desperate Buyers Only.

The author (Alexis Dawes) gives some great insight into how to write e-books and articles to help desperate people out of a bind such as:

• People who want to make it through a financial crisis
• People who want to lose weight
• People who want to train a dog

And so on…

Dawes gives some great tips (she does quite well writing small reports and e-books that offer great information…and I know you can do this too!)

So, check out the book here.

October 2008 Newsletter

Bea Fields Companies, Inc.October 2008 Newsletter

I hope you are all having a wonderful fall.

For those of you who are interested in the latest on business development, we now have a new blog which focuses strictly on business development and tools to help enhance your business and hopefully make life a bit easier. Please check back often for updates.

Article:

Is The Business Development Plan Dead? Try Focusing on Building Great Partnerships!

I have been asking this question a great deal lately, because I am just wondering if the time, energy and often headaches that come from writing a business development plan are worth it considering all that is going on in our world and economy. You go to bed with a plan in mind, and you wake up the next morning only to discover that your biz development plan has become obsolete.

Read the full post here

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Article:

Top Ten Strategies for Marketing Your Blog

There are many ways to market your blog, but I have found the following ten to be my most successful strategies of all times

My Blog Log

1. Join http://mybloglog.com. Once you join, you will be given a small amount of code to paste in your blog which will help you track your visitors. Once you are a member of My Blog Log, begin visiting the members’ area of the website and start adding contacts to your account. If you don’t actually know the member, when prompted by the service to find out how you know the person, simply choose “I am a fan of this person”.

Read the full post here

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Podcasts

I have had the pleasure to inteview some of the top Generation Y Business Leaders over the last few weeks. Two of those were with Ryan Allis of i-Contact and Mike Michalowicz, Author of The Toilet Paper Entrepreneur.

Get the podcasts here

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Upcoming Classes

Monday, October 20 at 1:00 p.m.

Call with Kevin Allen, Marketing Director for iLearningGlobalTV

If you are a speaker, coach, consultant or personal development advisor, the new iLearningGlobalTV community may be a perfect fit for you. Join me on Monday, October 20 at 1:00 p.m. to talk with iLearningGlobal Marketing Director Kevin Allen on the following 3 topics:

1) How to use iLearningGlobalTV as a way to educate and add value to your current client base

2) How you can become a speaker for iLearningGlobal

3) How you can build a business using the iLearningGlobal platform

Register here for the call

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Earn Passive Income Through The Power Of Audio

Register Here for the Call

Date: Tuesday, October 28

Time: 1:00-3:00 p.m. Eastern

(Both Audio Telecall and Webinar AND recordings from the call)

Faciliator: Carol Dickson-Carr

Cost: $19.00

Description:

If you’re feeling leery of the prospect of sharing your wares with the world or have no idea where to start with creating intellectual property, you can now rest easy. Audio Guru, Carol Dickson-Carr will take you by the hand and give you a quick guide to creating your content, so you can show off your expertise and leverage it to create your article, e-course and audio! It’s easier than you think!

We will explore ways to create different types of intellectual property with emphasis placed on how you can create a professional quality audio product inexpensively, thereby increasing your exposure and credibility as a result!

During this webinar, you will learn:

1. Why you can’t afford not to create intellectual property

2. The multiple benefits of creating an audio product

3. The various uses of an audio product (and there are several!)

4. A step by step guide to creating intellectual property you can leverage into a stream of passive income, starting with an article or an audio

5. How to find and use the technology you need to create your audio

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BLOGGING! The 2.0 Way

Register Here for the Call

Date: Tuesday, November 4

Time: 1:00-3:00 p.m. Eastern

Facilitator: Bea Fields

Cost: $19.00

(Both Audio Telecall and Webinar AND recordings from the call!)

So, you have a blog? That’s great, but is anyone reading it?

If you are someone who already has an existing blog, and you are ready to get more readers to your blog, this class will teach you how to get your blog connected to Facebook, Twitter, Mashable, Ping.fm and 15 other social networking sites to maximize your visibility and your network.

This class is not for blogging beginners. It is for those of you who currently have a blog and you are ready to learn how to use a great list of keywords and the top online social networks to drive eager readers to your blog. We will also be teaching you how to move your blog readers to IM and the telephone so that you expand your reach and fill your pipeline with prospects for your business. If you are a beginner with blogging, we would like to recommend the Become a Blogging Maniac e-book. It will walk you through the following subjects:

Register Here for BLOGGING! The 2.0 Way

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