Brian Feener

A good restaurant chef would never send out his food before tasting it himself.

A good restaurant chef would never use anything but the freshest ingredients.

A good restaurant chef has her own person style when sending the dishes out from the kitchen.

She has sous-chefs that follow her lead, and help her bring the food to as many people as possible.

She is always changing the menu, but never changes the overall theme of the menu. She is trying to find new foods and tastes and trying to appeal to lots of pallets.

When you’re in business, how can YOU think like a restaurant chef?

Linux is slowly becoming ubiquitous.

By 2013, with the increasing sophistication of cell phones and the inevitable popularity* of mini-laptops like the Eee PC (Asus), Mini-Note (HP), and Cloudbook (Everex), Linux will become a real option for many consumers who will not make the switch from Windows after the purchase. According to ABI Reserach (via Matt Asey blog on CNET), 20% of the mobile market will be running on a Linux-based platform.

What once was considered an impossibility, Windows will eventually not be in every computer you turn on. Not only that, but there will be a fairly decent chance that the version that you are working on will be unfamiliar and there will be a varying learning curve.

What does that mean for non-software developers, or production-line-based business?

First, it shows that no matter how powerful a company may seem, there are always chinks in the armor that can be exploited. Microsoft Windows, for all its good features, is really expensive to produce. It does not make sense for Windows to be in every mobile phone as many of the American carriers have chosen to (practically) give away phones for free with a 2-year commitment. A Linux-based OS provides opportunity for those carriers to improve the quality of the experience on their phones without raising prices. Every company in the world has made choices about how to offer their product or service. The key for competitors is to exploit the differences.

Secondly, those who cannot accurately forecast up-and-coming developments in their field will be left behind. This reinforces the fact that you (yes, YOU, my dear reader) need to read the WSJ, need to read a trade publication, need to read about things that are happening outside of the industry, and need to continually improve yourself if you want to compete. There is no law that states that your company WILL make more money in the future. Calculated risk is acceptable and necessary in order to proceed. Understanding the existing and future market is critical in developing that calculation. This is important for companies AND individuals (that is, if you care at all about your career).

*Assuming that the market regulates itself and that there are some crazy government regulations that prevent people from taking advantage of awesomeness or the companies don’t start trying to trick their customers.

[image CC from John Vetterli]

The red was hurting my eyes every time I logged on.  Green’s my favorite color anyways.

Let me know what you think.

Flossing is generally considered a good thing for everybody. It promotes good gum health and my dentist always tells me that I need to do it more.

So what is the business application of this idea? I think it may just be good customer service.

• It’s a hard habit to get into, an easy one to keep doing.
• Small actions go a long way.
• It should be daily. Not just when you want to.
• The short term effects aren’t always palpable.
• The long term effects are always palpable.
• Both are covered in wax. (Ok… so maybe all of these don’t work perfect.)

Add your thoughts and ideas in the comments. What is the flossing of business?

[image CC from pjmorse]

Customers don’t want all of the same thing.  In fact, the most successful companies have customers that are both extremely loyal to the product, customers that are basically loyal to the product but can be swayed, and those customers that don’t have any loyalty and will switch as soon as there is a difference in price or packaging.  (I’m thinking of Coca-Cola, Honda, Apple.)

One way to think of it is by thinking of the difference between pop music and classical music.  In pop music, there are easily digestible lyrics, chord progressions, metaphors, and hooks.  There’s always new pop music showing up in the marketplace, but it’s easily replacable.  (Example: Jordin Sparks/Chris Brown - “No Air.”)

[youtube=http://au.youtube.com/watch?v=DaRPJp_FoGU]

Is there anything WRONG with pop music?  Heck no!  It’s been proven that there’s a viable and important market for pop music - and that does not say anything to the effect that pop music has in uniting the culture and society.

But there’s a distinct difference between pop music and classical music which has a more intricate set of musical progressions.  Thousands of interpretations of Beetovan’s 9th Symphony have been recorded, played in concert, used for study, etc. But if you look at classical music, it’s hard to get into the canon.  I’d say it’s nearly impossible if you’re not involved in scoring movies.

Is there anything WRONG with classical music?  Heck no!  It’s been proven that there’s a viable and important market for classical music - and that does not say anything to the effect that classical music has in influencing pop culture.

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TIqRlubnkjA]

Can the same person appreciate classical music and pop songs?  Yes.  Absolutely.  Your market is probably doing that right now.  The important thing for you, Mr. Businessperson, is to understand that when a person wants classical music, don’t give them pop music.  And vice versa.

Your audience consists of:

1. Observers
2. Fans
3. Aficionados
4. Experts

If your job to find out the percentages of each and how they interact with your business.  Wikipedia’s audience is 99% content consumers and 1% content producers.  Wikipedia is important to the 99%, but it’s REALLY important to the 1%.  The 1% cares about the editing software.  The 1% cares about that discussion page and checks it twice a day.

What are you doing TODAY that helps you figure out your 1%.

(Two things - I cannot find a link to support the 99/1 ratio.  If you find it, please add a comment.  Also, if I forgot a group in the list above, let me know in the comments.)

On the web, there’s usually a choice between free and custom. I can launch my own website within a Blogspot or Wordpress format, or I can spend a ton of time making my own custom webite.

The most important thing, in my eyes, is making sure that your objectives are met. if your objectives can be met with a free blog, why not just use that? Minimal resources, maximum return.

If you’re releasing a podcast, you can either go through Podcast Alley to get a free cast up on their site, or you can build a custom XML feed for the casts on your server.

Sometimes the path of free is better than the pay-for path. Sometimes it isn’t. The important thing is to recognize the difference.

Heck… even lolCats started out as a regular blog… now it’s an profitable company.