So you're not different (story #1)

I was in the market for a Macbook Pro and because I know that Apple has a very tight rein on the prices for their products the decision as to who I was going to buy the computer from was going to come down to something other than price.  I looked on-line and knew I could get one through Apple.com but I would rather spend my money locally, even if it was going to be a chain store.  So I went to Best Buy to see their fancy display of all things Apple.  A very helpful guy came out and showed me how the Magic Mouse works since I asked about it.  But then came trouble.

Q. "I can buy this computer at a lot of places.  Why should I buy it here?" 
A. "We have an amazing Geek Squad warranty program.  If it breaks we'll fix or replace it.  If you drop it in a lake or bring the computer in with a shovel that's not covered,  but usually we'll cover most issues."  That Geek Squad insurance is supposed to replace the Apple Care program.  Problem is, the Geek Squad insurance is $399.99.  Apple Care is $249.  Here's an example of why the Geek Squad insurance stinks - Geek Squad insurance FAIL .  The issue wasn't the cost of the policy as much as it was that this guy's answer as to why I should buy it there was "in case it breaks, we'll fix it.  Unless you drop it in a lake or carry it into the store with a shovel."

Andy's sarcastic brain: So what if I drop it in a pond?  How much water can I dip my computer in?  And about the shovel...if I bring it in a wheel barrow will I get coverage?

Lessons to apply to your business:
1. If you have a warranty make it clear so you or your staff can explain it well to the customer.
2. If you have a warranty then cover what people buy from you.  Angry people talk more than happy people.
3. If you can't communicate why I should buy something from you then I'm not likely to buy from you...ever.
4. It's not always about price and when you know it's not about price (Best Buy, Apple.com and my local Apple store = same price) then you should have something that separates you from the competition. 

So I bought the computer at my local Apple licensed store and I'm glad I did.  Those guys love Apple and if I need help I can go to them anytime I need to.  I think they're working on a t-shirt or Apple jacket for me too.  Yeah, I'm a total fanboy.

The big question: So what makes YOUR business different, better, unique, appealing...you get the idea. Got an answer? Care to share it?

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Divorce, home schooling and blog posts

There are a million reasons that you could succeed if you wanted to.  But there are probably more reasons why you likely won't succeed. 

Question: Do you expect success?

Today I was confronted with the knowledge of a dear friend who filed for divorce because their spouse declared that they had a mistress (and no remorse).  This friend is trying to succeed.  They're trying to be a great parent, to raise a wonderful child so they could become a wonderful adult.  They're trying to run a business because they believe in their product and are good at what they do.  Still, the reasons for failure come knocking.  There are a mission reasons you could succeed but will you?

Question: Are you looking at reasons for failure right now or reasons for success?

Today I was confronted with a friend who is taking on the awesome responsibility of home schooling their child.  Their child is rebelling against it because well, it's a child.  I don't care if it's Harvard or your kitchen table, some kids just don't like school.  My friend is fighting the battle to do what they're called to do and do it with excellence and they're running into resistance doing it.  There are a mission reasons you could succeed but will you?

Question: If you're being challenged in an area right now is that a good thing?

Today I was confronted with the fact that I have not been communicating consistently via my different communication channels I have set up (Facebook, Twitter, several blogs, an eNewsletter etc.).  I have failed to be what I tell others to be...consistent.  I am going to find success and so will my friends who are enduring their rocky journeys right now.  They know that there are more reasons for them to fail then succeed in their relationships but they aren't the type of people that focus on the reasons why people don't succeed.  They focus on reasons FOR success and emulate them.

Question: What do you need to admit that you've been failing in?  Mine is communication.

I've been making a lot of changes in my business structure recently and I'm very excited about them.  I'm ignoring the reasons that failure may come.  I'm choosing success.  Did you know you could choose?

Question: What's it gonna be? Choose.

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Now taking requests for tutorials

Everyone seems to want to have things "perfect" before they let people sit down at their dinner table, ride in their car or visit their web page.  Well, I'm different.  I'm in the process of building a new site called www.TraubTutorials.com.  If you go there now you'll notice it's pretty bland...like it's not finished.  Because it's not.

Instead of waiting for perfect I'm going to tell you go there now and request a tutorial by hitting the BIG RED BUTTON on the side bar.  You can request any sort of tutorial you want and chances are I can make it for you...for free.  How will you make money doing things for free Andy?  Well, I've got that figured out in my head and on paper so for now just ask me for free help and I'll give it to you. 

No one who is alive is perfect so I'm not afraid to show you what it looks like to build a page.  It'll be sweet when I'm done but now it looks pretty naked.  I'm not afraid to show you that so welcome to the real web, where things take time to grow, develop, become effective, become profitable and get noticed.  All great things take time so thanks for taking the time to visit the site (www.TraubTutorials.com) and letting me know what I can help you with. 

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Tungle Rocks Reason #8 - Tungle Keeps Track

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Tungle Rocks Reason #7 - Tungle Keeps it Short

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All of Seth Godin's ebooks in one place

This guy put a lot of work into compiling this information.  You should probably read 90% of these books if you are in marketing, own a business, want to understand human nature, work in ministry, want to lead people...or you use oxygen on a regular basis. 

Here's the page - All Seth Godin's ebooks (they're all free)

Credit: Shuaism.com

Happy reading....

- Andy

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Netflix didn't see this coming...and it's too late for Blockbuster (sorry)

The future of movie rentals is Redbox for SEVERAL reasons.
(Netflix won't die, but only b/c streaming video into our living room will become their main distribution channel)

1. Fees – No late fees, just easy to understand charges per day.
2. Internet based system – you can reserve your movie b4 you pick it up by going to the on-line store and you’re GUARANTEED to have your move waiting for you.
3. Payment process – they already have your payment info so it very quick and easy to pay for your purchases
4. Location(S) – I put a big S because there are 6 Redboxes in my not very big community. The fact that they all talk to each other makes me very happy. People hate that stores don’t let you return movies to other locations.
5. Convenience – 24 hours a day, usually very close to a parking spot – That’s huge!
6. Selection – They have great movies
7. Web site – their web site is easy to navigate and they add value when you visit by giving good reviews from honest reviewers instead of just trying to sell me a movie.
8. Smart – they send me txt msgs and emails to remind me of new releases and give me free movie coupons. The first night is free of course…I fall for it all the time.
9. Red – Firetrucks anyone? They stand out b/c of their color
10. Function – They actually work – the layout/ interface of the machine is VERY simple and easy to use.
11. Advertising – I’ve never seen an ad for Redbox – they put their machines in the right locations (sounds like real estate 101 to me) and that is their advertising.
12. Packaging – Their system for packaging the movies is slick. They cut past the advertising and give me a package that works (and if I lose the packaging then I can buy a new one for $1 AT the machine so I can stillr return my movie.
13. Waiting – I don’t wait for movies I want. I don’t have to pay $9 a month to get them mailed to me and wait 2 days, I can get on-line and pick it up at locations I’m going to be at anyway! I reserve all my movies ahead of time on-line so I ofter cut the line after telling everyone “I reserved mine on-line so it’ll take me 30 seconds for my movie to pop out, can I cut?” And they’re so grateful that I told them that you can reserve movies on-line that I don’t have to wait in line 99% of the time. Lastly, they do get movies fairly quickly so you don’t have to wait that long to get the new releases.

And that’s why the future of DVD rental is Redbox – Sorry stores…stop paying rent and trying to sell candy and buy a RedBox…

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Untitled

What's your motivation? Here's mine.

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Aviary - Creation on the fly / blog / Setting Aviary Free

Setting Aviary Free

By Michael Galpert on February 11, 2010 | 9 comments

As of today, we have decided to make using Aviary's suite of editing tools FREE for everyone.

At Aviary, we believe that everyone in the world should have access to powerful creation tools. We therefore chose our company mission to be We make creation accessible to everyone. Our powerful set of tools helps fulfill this mission by enabling small businesses, students, artists & creators across different genres.

As a business, we did need to bring in revenues to cover our costs and development and to accomplish this we created a tiered pricing plan for certain types of uses. Although this was financially successful for us, the side effect of this was that our tools and their features (in their full capacity), were not truly accessible to everyone.

We have long felt that to better serve our core mission our complete feature set needed to be in the hands of everyone - not just those who could afford it. Fortunately, our recent round of funding (by Spark Capital, Bezos Expeditions & others) enables us to finally achieve this goal as we shift revenues opportunities to other exciting areas that don't limit individuals in any way. We are excited at the opportunity to stay true to our mission. Not many companies are so fortunate.

What does that mean exactly? Now everyone can:

* Save private files on Aviary.
* Add your own automatic watermark or go watermark-free.
* Access all tutorials.

Existing subscribers who signed up in the last 30 days can request refunds. [refund@aviary.com] For all other past Blue plan members, we will cancel all future recurring payments directly. You will remain on indefinitely as our legacy Blue Supporters (recognized by the blue badges wherever they appear on Aviary's site) and you will continue to gain first access to all alpha products we release (rumor has it that a new one is floating around). And of course, we can't thank you enough for supporting Aviary's growth and development. That means the world to us.

Thanks for your continued support and we looking forward to seeing what you create.

What you waiting for? Go create something AWESOME !

Previous Post: Aviary's flock has grown

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Comments

Posted by Nic on 2010-02-11 20:03:46

May I just be the first to say, WOOT!!!! :D

Posted by Evelyn on 2010-02-11 22:02:26

And me the second!! WOOT! :D

Posted by Sally Carson on 2010-02-11 22:10:28

Congrats guys, I think this is fantastic.

Posted by Shea on 2010-02-11 22:25:41

Thank you.

Posted by suebe on 2010-02-12 07:51:24

This is the best thing you can do for the masses. I've been telling everyone about aviary.

Posted by xobuta on 2010-02-12 08:00:06

i love the colors of this blog and the way you write english

Posted by Apostol Apostolov on 2010-02-12 08:27:07

But how are you going to pay the server bills and support for the app?

Posted by Avi Muchnick on 2010-02-12 09:18:49

Apostol - we are pursuing other revenue opportunities. This is simply a shift that enables us to stay true to our mission statement. Have no fear - we would not have made this decision if it would have negatively impacted our ability to operate as a responsible business.

Posted by bassp on 2010-02-12 10:28:58

Quite a rush of good-news blogs! Congratulations on the savvy investors. And thanks for the juicy morsel you've thrown the flock: that new app floating around. Hope it's humming.

via aviary.com

It continues to be a mystery to me how companies like this one offer completely free services and expect to stay in business. This only "works" on the internet and even on the internet it doesn't work sometimes. I wish they'd tell me how they're making money so I can know if I should trust or use their product.

I trust Google products (A LOT OF THEM) because they're not going out of business. This looks appealing but be careful to not rely on businesses that don't have a business model. I'm likely to sign up for this service if it's quicker to use it than to open Photoshop on my computer. I just hope they stay in business.

What do you use to crop and adjust pictures? Do tell...in the comments section of course.

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Build a Clean, Wall-Mounted Charging Station - Charging Station - Lifehacker

Build a Clean, Wall-Mounted Charging Station

Ugly cords are the obvious villain in your gadget-charging clutter, but even if you put together a nice charging station, you've still got to sacrifice some counterspace to your charging station's footprint. This clean, wall-mounted charging station tackles both problems.

Pam from home blog Bibbidi Bobbidi Beautiful details how she put together an attractive, cordless, clutter-free charging station with a simple ledge shelf and some picture hanging strips.

She mounted the shelf on top of her outlet (depending on how concerned you are with fire hazards, you may want to reconsider that aspect) with the help of the hanging strips, effectively hiding both the outlet and the chargers from view. The cords also remain hidden by the shelf, and all that's left is small dongles sticking out the top for you to get your charge on. It's simple but effective, just hows we likes it.

Simple Wall-Mounted Charging Station [Bibbidi Bobbidi Beautiful via Simple Wall-Mounted Charging StationUnpluggd]

via lifehacker.com

I hate cords...and I love electronics. So here's a solution...enjoy

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Why would anyone care what Bill Gates says?

via engadget.com

Bill Gates has an opinion on the iPad? Bill, you're late to the party bro. You don't get a vote. If you're reading this...are you getting an iPad? I'm torn between an iPad and a Kindle...help me decide please.

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Win a free Kindle? You may already have one (sorta...)

via lifehacker.com

I've been considering buying a Kindle lately but the price tag is steep ($259). Instead of a Kindle I could use my netbook as an e-reader. I love tips and tricks like this so do you have any "double uses" for your devices? Another example would be using my iPod Touch as a messaging device for Google Talk...it's not the main function of an iPod Touch and most don't know it has that capability but with some creativity and ingenuity you can make a lot of devices fulfill more than their original purpose.

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Tungle Rocks Reason #6 - Tungle likes my friends

via youtube.com

Yeah, I'm a fanboy of Tungle...Here's video #6 of why I love Tungle. Are you using Tungle? Let me know how it's helping your biz...I've always got things to learn from folks like you. I appreciate it.

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Google Buzz takes mobile location services to the next level -- Engadget

via engadget.com

What exactly is everyone so afraid of when it comes to Google? I'm afraid of the govt. knowing where I am more than Google. So are you bothered by this trend of location based technology?

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Don't forget that life has a purpose...

There are days as a business owner that I get discouraged.  A proposal gets turned down, web sites crash, technology that's supposed to speed up my productivity causes me to instead get nothing done.  Those days are few but when they come I am reminded that what is truly important in my life is not the latest Facebook redesign, the iPad, or whatever GaryVee has to say on Twitter...in fact what is truly important are those that I love and who in turn love me more than I deserve.  I hope you have someone you love and who in return loves you.  Those people are what gives our life purpose.  Here's a peek at one of those people.

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