Blue Sky Ideas & Products

What is it about my industry that shuns blue sky or moon shot ideas?

Is it because alcoholic beverages have been commercialized since the time of Alexander the Great?
It is because all producers are very tied to the land and what it produces?

I don't know but I have to agree with Larry Page of Google that industries and brands will eventually die if they are okay with incremental growth.

Consider if you will that marketing today is about 'talking points'. It is about having your brand or company be worthy of a water cooler conversation. What we want is to be associated with people's everyday conversations, just like when the talk about the weather, sports, economy or things that make them cool without being a snob. Right now our products, stores and brands are relegated to tribal conversations and not universal. How or what do we need to do to create a global conversation?

My guess is that it is not a product but an idea. An idea of a program that transcends the ordinary and becomes what people want to talk about.

Thoughts?

Procrastination

For the last number of years my blogs and articles have reflected my professional persona only and as a result have not completely captured me. Don't get me wrong I am a serious Cork Dork, Beer Geek, Whisky Whanker, the list goes. All of these surround some fundamental values that make me me. This will be the venue where I strength my literary legs and share some of the things I am continuing to learn in regards to life, society, social media, family, business, marketing; you know, the stuff that makes up our everyday.

I know a big theme will likely be what some people call procrastination or distraction. I think that that is simply re-focusing. It happens all the time. I will be totally immersed in an activity, a thought and an idea will pop up that I simply have to explore further.

Perfect example is today. Fresh from Social Media Camp 2010 I was raring to go. I had met a number of really interesting and captivating people but I could feel one thing starting to burn inside me way deep down.

So I woke up today and knew that I had to get to work writing content for our new website, complete a few deals on some Christmas buys, write a Thanksgiving article for the Duncan News Leader and connect on Twitter.

Made the espresso, sat down and starting tweeting and did not stop until; I just sent another tweet in the middle of that semi-colon so I haven't stopped yet. I have been engaged all day long.

However I also have a job to do and promises to keep to suppliers and colleagues. So did I procrastinate? I don't think so. How could I have if I was so focused on generating and being a part of the conversation?

Procrastination is simply someone elses, or your own deep seeded 'mother', trying to pull you back to the monotony. Let's face it, if writing content was so engaging, then I likely would have continued with, and I will.

Julien Smith, in his blog In Over Your Head, talks about how hard it is to change to change the track you are on. I believe that a little 'procrastination' that is spiced with some serious focus it the first step to either changing tracks, or seeing the tracks you are on in a whole new and beautiful way.

Thanks for reading this.