t-shirts are in...

come and get'em while you can...the first ever fusedlogic t-shirt. i don't know why i haven't made some prior to this...

actually, that seems even more strange when i tell you that the first ever company this serial entrepreneur ever started was a t-shirt company at age 18 with my first ever business partner cail johnson. complete trial and error. however, we did get our designs into the largest mall in the world...and we did get lots of compliments on our work.

too bad that low margins but more importantly lack of marketing savvy killed the deal. we simply didn't understand the big leagues in terms of textiles.

really, we just had some things to say in ink on cotton, and when that was done it became more like a struggle. what we really needed at that time was a mentor who understood our plight and who got the whole reason for being a t-shirt company.

this was a great experience for all sorts of reasons, in fact, we did accomplish our dream which was we wanted to be successful enough to be walking down the street or in a mall and actually see one of our designs on someone we didn't know...that happened to our friend and to us separately. we were very proud and were reminded of why we put all the effort in.

actually, i bump into people from time to time who still have our shirts and other items such as shorts and sweatshirts, they still rave about them, they have some holes in peculiar places now but that's what happens when you were your favorite shirt all the time...

our best selling t-shirt was our "ginormously canadian" and for all of you who have never heard of the word "ginormous" it was a derivitive of combining - giant and enormous.

anyway it was fun to go through the process, maybe i'll continue to reminisce and do some more...

the consumer brain...

so tell me...just how well do you understand the brain of your consumer?

any idea how they interpret and make meaning of your product or service, company, people, overall experience?

it's been said many times that logical thinking may help consumers understand what you're selling but emotion is what moves them to buy. so if that's the case, how much time do you spend on evoking an emotional response regarding your product or service?

here's an idea that may help provide you with better overall results. become a student of the consumer brain and more importantly become incredibly well informed as to how your customers "consume life"...in order to better understand where your product or service fits in.

quite frankly my idea of "evoking" is more like "provoking" an emotional response, you see i'm sort of an in your face (still nice and giving guy) but nonetheless in your face "type a" personality and so i tend to provoke responses, this can be positive and negative, but at least i'm getting a response rather than being ignored. for my business to succeed i must help people understand what's below the surface at fusedlogic, what's at the heart of who we are, what we do and why we do it; matching that up with the goals, aspirations and vision of our clients is crucial. once they realize that we fight harder than anyone else for what they need, believe in, and envision as success they simply can't afford to not have us in the room working for their team.

the question for fusedlogic becomes what method of communication do we use to get them to understand how and why they should consume our service. only after we understand what our consumer's brain is thinking will we know the answer to that.

people and our clients in particular, like to associate with winners or companies they believe will help them win big and more often. that's what we do. we provide strategies that enable our clients to win big and win more often and we're relentless in our pursuit of the absolute best solution for our clients.

you see that's typically what our consumer's brain tells us, "we want to win." "we want to change our results and we need your help to do it." "we need someone to work exhaustively at making us better at what we do."

when "consuming life" and we're not in the room, our consumer's brain can sometimes be scratching itself looking for solutions, ideas and inspiration - often too close to the situation to be objective. understanding that, allows us to, on behalf of our clients...eliminate that frustration, wasting of time and resources, to which they are very appreciative.

so start a crusade...focus on a deeper understanding of your consumer's brain, observe them consuming life when not using your product or service, get out of the office or shop, be creative, ask, listen, capture all the results of your research and then adapt your process to fit the new data...

thanks for taking the time to read this and please let me know if you thought this was helpful...

spark camp...

i'm thinking of holding a new and interesting seminar or "unseminar" series called "spark camp." it's based on a concept that is taking off in the u.s. on a much larger scale where the participants dictate the topics for discussion and actually present the concepts or ideas to the rest of the group. here's an article with more background on the concept.

the group would start by determining their own topics for discussion within the allotted time frame. once chosen the originators of each idea or concept would then get the discussion going with all participating and sharing. this is all done on the fly and so each time there will certainly be a fresh set of exchanges and opportunities to learn and share ideas...

if you'd like to participate in an event like this and you happen to be in the greater edmonton area, email me and let me know.

walter@fusedlogic.com

turning creativity into a formula...

even the largest companies on the planet struggle with generating ideas that can be turned into a profitable product or service. commercializing a new technology or business concept is one of the toughest things to do...

so what can a small business with a fraction of the resources do to stay competitive? most business owners don't look immediately at their staff for inspiration, however, you should realize that you have thinkers right in your organization that might have the next cool product idea. let them express their ideas to you and reward their creativity.

if you're a one person show, then take a retreat and bring along your trusted advisors. taking time away from daily operations can really help you gain perspective.

taking time to listen to others regarding your business is time well spent. you'll find that not everyone thinks about what you do the same way and that can lead to innovation. once you think you've found a new idea you want to expend resources on, focus on structuring a formula that is centered around repetition and always remember to have fun coming up with that next big idea...

eyetalk studio....

i had a great meeting and discussion with marion mcfall of eyetalk studio yesterday who impressed upon me the need for audio on my website, fusedlogic.com although she complimented me on the use of white space on my site and overall simplicity and ease of use. thanks for the kind words marion....

i agreed that use of podcasting for example would provide a more interactive feel and usefulness to my site, unfortunately for me i'm using a content management system that does not allow for the uploading and organizing of said audio files....so i guess i'll have to wait until they develop something for me that will, despite that i'm quite happy with the usability of the system

eyetalk is just that, focused on graphic design and voice talent related services...check them her or rather her company out here.

it just takes a single thought...

i always say that we can change the destiny of a company with a single thought...of course there has to be follow through on that rare idea but you get my point...

i read an article yesterday in the globe and mail about the deal between nortel and microsoft...this is a huge deal for for both companies but especially nortel, they've got some work to do to reinstate themselves with some credibility...some of the conversations i'm having with them are very interesting and they are absolutely open for business and eager to work on new ideas and concepts...i've found my experience with them to be terrific.

this deal shows the importance of having a strong strategy in place and the committment to execute. clearly this relationship is getting stronger over time...

only the serious need apply...

mentorship could be key with gen-y...

the word is out on generation y. retention in the "talent economy" is job one and many companies have yet to figure out how to get in the head of what many call the "entitlement generation."

turnover is at an all time ridiculous high, it suddenly became ok to be seemingly unreliable in terms of your work history. fresh out of school and still wet behind the ears the consensus is, here comes easy street. gimme, gimme, gimme or i'm gone is the mantra of so many recent grads, these guys have to be pleaded with just to have them show up for a work shift on a regular basis, as was the story from someone i talked to the other day.

without going into all the parenting issues i believe that are partially to blame for this epidemic of "jump shippers" ....i refer now to the whole self-esteem movement where kids get trophies for breathing and figuring out how to tie their own shoes at age ten. i suggest maybe expecting more of our kids in terms of effort, commitment and serious accomplishment before the acclaim and fan fare come rushing in. as it was for most gen-xer's or the even less forgiving baby boomers....without going into all of that...i do believe there is something positive to extract from this dilemma. however, i still reserve the right to shake my head at grade eight graduations...

as is usually the case when the scales are tipped overwhelmingly one way or another the market must shift. i came across this la times article and i think it provides some decent insight and solutions to this annoying, expensive problem that is without question here to stay.

bureaucratic process...

spider-man the mba.....