The Best Thing I Ever Learned (from Jonathan Ive of Apple)

"For us it's all about refining and refining utill it seems like there's nothing between the user and the content they are interacting with." ~ Jonathan Ive of Apple (designer of the iMac, iPhone and iPad)

Do  you ever read something and have one of those "Ah ha!" moments?  I did when I read those words. I just about jumped out of my chair.  "That's IT, that's IT!!!" I said out loud.  And I knew that I just had to tell you about it.

I mean, I can go on for days about all the wonderful services we provide, but from a marketing perspecitve that doesn't help you really truly "get" what we're all about here at Sagara Development and most importantly,  how you benefit from that. Because if you don't see the benefits of working with us, why would you? And I certainly spend enough time saying to clients, "Swell, that's a nice FEATURES list you got there on your website but what's in it for your customer? How do THEY benefit?"  So...I'm taking my own advice and writing you about it.

Anyway, what Jonathan Ive said, that's really what we aim to do for you. That's how we create that "time and space" I talk about. I want your business to be sooooo smooth and refined that your clients and customers feel no resistance when they interact with you, your website, your marketing, your products and services. I want your clients and customers to feel so damn good when they visit your website, read your brochure, email you, whatever, that they can't hardly stand to be without you.

So, yeah, we do lots of websites and website updates. We manage shopping carts and databases. We create marketing materials, write e-newsletters and deploy them, and all kinds of groovy things that help your business run better and free up time for you to focus on what you really want. But all that is really FEATURES, lists of things we do and offer.  WHY we offer all that, and the reason we're here is that we really want to do is help you be so fricken successful that you jump for joy and experience the benefits I talk about on the website:

• Experience less stress, more time, and a huge sense of relief.
• Shape your life for your happiness and get what you most want.
• Be more energetic and productive.
• Be more profitable.
• Experience lots of JOY!

If you are already a client, how can we help you more and better so you're jumping for joy?  If you're not yet a client, how can we make it so that you are?

As always, all my best (and I mean it) to you and yours,

The Best Thing I Ever Learned (about marketing) - Reader's Questions

A couple of weeks ago I wrote about what I learned from the VP of Marketing at Disneyland, how it's best to stop putting money into something that isn't working.

However, I received some emails from readers that sent up some red flags.  One reader said that she was considering stopping (or cutting back on) email newsletters to her mailing list because it was costing money and not making money. Another reader wrote that he was going to quit a marketing campaign because after one week because it wasn't working.

So let me talk a bit about those "rules for success" I mentioned in the original article.  It's important to be realistic about potential results. It's important to not stop something before it has really had a chance to succeed.

1. Some business activities are not meant to be money-makers, per se. They're part of marketing. They serve other purposes, like reminding people that you're there, letting them know what's new and exciting, and giving them information, tips and other things that they find valuable so that they will also find YOU to be valuable and worth paying attention to. It helps build and maintain those oh-so-important relationships with your customers and clients. If you stop you'll save a few dollars, but you'll also fall off people's radar and they'll forget about you. Sure, you can cut down on costs and save some money by working smarter (ask me about this if you're interested), but as I advised the reader who wrote in, it's not a good idea to stop. Just look at it differently and revise what makes it a success.

2. When setting "rules for success" be realistic. One week probably isn't enough time to accurately judge a marketing campaign. On the other hand, doing something over and over for years with no results isn't good either. I once had a client who mailed letters to purchased mailing lists as part of his marketing. He did it for years, and never got one response. When I asked him about it he said, "Maybe this time it will work."  It didn't. Go figure.

So, give it enough time so you really know if it's working or not. Disneyland can tell right away if ticket sales are up. For the rest of us, it can take weeks, or months, to see a result from our efforts.  Don't expect miracles. It takes time, and a sensible plan, to see results. THEN, if it's not working, stop.

Got questions?  Feel free to email, or better yet, post a comment on the blog.

All my best to you and yours!

The Best Thing I Ever Learned (about living/working well)

THE PARADOXICAL COMMANDMENTS

People are illogical, unreasonable, and self-centered.
Love them anyway.

If you do good, people will accuse you of selfish ulterior motives.
Do good anyway.

If you are successful, you will win false friends and true enemies.
Succeed anyway.

The good you do today will be forgotten tomorrow.
Do good anyway.

Honesty and frankness make you vulnerable.
Be honest and frank anyway.

The biggest men and women with the biggest ideas can be shot down by the smallest men and women with the smallest minds.
Think big anyway.

People favor underdogs but follow only top dogs.
Fight for a few underdogs anyway.

What you spend years building may be destroyed overnight.
Build anyway.

People really need help but may attack you if you do help them.
Help people anyway.

Give the world the best you have and you’ll get kicked in the teeth.
Give the world the best you have anyway.

— Kent M. Keith, Speaker and Writer Often attributed to Mother Teresa because she posted them on her wall

The Best Thing I Ever Learned (about computing)

Keeping your skills sharp is smart. Even if you have help (like me!) to take care of your computing needs, YOU still need to have good skills so you don't end up spending three days trying to print out address labels. True story. Why on earth my client didn't ask me to do it I'll never know. Would have cost them, like, 25 bucks of my time. Go figure. But if you must do it yourself (and pay the opportunity cost), at least have the skills to do it in a reasonable amount of time.

No, you don't have to know everything but you should have a solid grasp of the basics. Take a computer class at a local college or learning center, go online and search for tutorials (hint: big time suck), get some of those Video Professor DVD's (I've used them, they work), or you can do what I do and learn everything from basics to advanced for just about any software on the planet by using the lynda.com video tutorials*.  Why? They're the best, hands down. I keep an ongoing monthly subscription to their service so I can learn anything I want for less than the cost of one training book from the bookstore. They do a fantastic job, it's deductible (!), and it's really fun too.

Of course, after you update your skills the very best use of your time is to let me help you so you can get back to doing what you love and what makes you money.

I'm just sayin.  ;-D

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FTC Disclosure: If you know me at all you know that I don't recommend something unless I think it's absolutely stellar. All of the resources I recommend are my favorite things, and with some I am an "affiliate" which means that I will earn a small commission for referring you to the resources. Those are marked with an asterisk.