*

"A master in the art of living draws no sharp distinction between his work and his play; his labor and his leisure; his mind and his body; his education and his recreation. He hardly knows which is which. He simply pursues his vision of excellence through whatever he is doing, and leaves others to determine whether he is working or playing. To himself, he always appears to be doing both."

- Francois Auguste Rene Chateaubriand

*

Taken out of context, but universally true

...I can’t help but reflect on what, in my view, is the most important rule of business in today’s integrated and digitized global market, where knowledge and innovation tools are so widely distributed. It’s this: Whatever can be done, will be done. The only question is will it be done by you or to you. Just don’t think it won’t be done...

-Thomas L. Friedman, NY Times

Purple Cow

Purple Cow Product: A product that will infect clients/buyers with so much enthusiasm that they will rave about it to their friends. Once you have a purple cow product, you incite your clients into selling it for you.

-via a magazine clipping

Marketing should begin with a differentiated product or service that gets attention (like a purple cow does among a field of brown ones). Be sure that those who care deeply about that differentiation learn about your product or service (as Krispy Kreme does by providing free donuts when it opens a new store). Those who care will e-mail and tell everyone they know (the idea virus concept). Keep adding new differentiated enhancements to your product or service (pretty soon you don't find a purple cow so interesting). Start looking for totally new business models that provide a breakthrough like your first purple cow did. Don't waste your time and money on advertising. Alternatively, it's dangerous not to do this because your product or service will be lost among all of the other brown cows (undifferentiated offerings).

-via an amazon.com comment

Hawthorne Effect

Something to keep in mind with projects I work on, and definite motivation to actually keep track of things:

"Simply put, the Hawthorne Effect found that when something is measured, it improves - and when something is measured and reported, it improves exponentially."

Robert Kiyosaki's words on the Hawthorne Effect via Entrepreneur Magazine

Upfront Marketing

"What makes Apple different is that marketing leads the effort and doesn't follow it. Most companies develop a product and then think about how to sell the darn thing. Apple thinks of that upfront, and that is why their offerings typically capture more excitement."

Technology analyst Rob Ederle in Entrepreneur Magazine

Something I thought was worth remembering

Robert Kiyosaki's answer to the question, "How do you find great people?"

"To answer this, I turn to my good friend Donald Trump, who says, "Set the example and you will be a magnet for the right people." That means doing what you say you will do, holding yourself to the highest standards, working to exceed expectations, learning from your mistakes and then sharing those lessons with others."