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SUPERHERO YOU

Posted on November 13, 2011 by in Jennifer Puterbaugh

I still remember the first time I tied my little brother to a chair, with my magic truth lasso.  I can feel the swoosh of my cape as I turned (quite dramatically) to dive into the safety of my invisible jet.  Wonder Woman rocked!  AND, she had fabulous hair and makeup! Oh, hours were spent in my pursuit of SuperHero status – jump moves, spin moves, laser eye beams.  I wanted ALL of the superhero powers, AND a kick-a$$ costume.  That was a very long time ago.  I haven’t thought of the faux menacing look in my brother’s eyes in years…until last week…

What happened to bring back the sweet memories of the crime-stopping prowess of a bustier outfitted Super Princess?  I got an email…not just any email…I got an email from Jim Kwik of Kwik Learning, inviting me to attend the upcoming Super Hero You event.

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Confession of a Facebook Lover Dating Twitter

Posted on October 31, 2011 by in Jennifer Puterbaugh

As many of you know, I have been a Facebook girl for a long time now.  It may be hard to catch a live call with me, or to get me to listen to my voicemail messages, but no one really worries unless I fail to update my Facebook page.  When I stop doing that, my phone starts to display text messages reading “Are you alive?”  When I fail to post a morning funny(see sample on the right), I get the angry “Hey, I’ve got a cup of coffee in hand and no smile.”  Now, years ago, I was a blogger.  I hate to admit this, but I believe I created my blog with Microsoft Frontpage and a Dummies Guide.  Yes, I am that old.

 

And then came Facebook…which today, is my central hub for both business and personal stuff.  You see everyone on my page – info marketing leaders and my uncle in St. Louis.  I could separate them, but why?  The clients like to see that the high-heeled professional, actually writes in pigtails and geeky glasses.  So, I am leaving it alone.

 

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Wise Words from Some Friends

Posted on October 25, 2011 by in Inspiration

I just happened to be wandering through Twitter tonight, and caught some wise words from some of my favorite seminar friends that I wanted to share. I hope they’ll make you smile and think!

Doug BenchDoug Bench – @DougBench
Teach a man to fish and he will feed himself all his life. Teach him how his brain works, and he won’t have to eat fish all the time

Doug is such a great mind! You absolutely want to catch him speak, and share his powerful message of brain-power!  His Mind Your Brain project was a pleasure to work on.  And, one that continues it’s effect on us long past it having been written.

Anil GuptaAnil Gupta – @GuptaGuru
The treasure is always within easy reach – you have to open your eyes and heart

Anil has one of the biggest hearts I’ve ever seen. Thank you for this touching thought to treasure.  I have met few people who are as sincerely nice as this man. And, his wife is so much fun.  In person, or on Twitter, he reminds me to focus on the good in life, and to live with passion.

Spike HumerSpike Humer – @spikehumer
“I am not bound to win, but I am bound to be true. I am not bound to succeed, but I am bound to live by the light… http://t.co/lmNGtXmq

Spike, I’m always impressed with your leadership ideas and powerful messages.  I do miss that booming voice of yours….let’s not even get started on the smooth dance moves you have.

Making a Difference

One thing that I find really inspiring about my friends in the seminar industry, is how important it is to focus on making a difference in people’s lives. Do you want to wake up every day and just cash a paycheck? Don’t you think there’s so much more that could shape your life and let you help the people you love and live for? Here’s some thoughts that I found that I find very inspiring…

Dave VanhooseDave Vanhoose – @DaveVanhoose1
“It’s easy to make a buck. It’s a lot tougher to make a difference.”
Tom Brokaw

Making a difference is job number one! Thanks for that inspirational quote, Mr. Vanhoose!  Remember people – your business should SOLVE a problem…not create one for you or anyone else.  It’s hard to say NO to a check, but sometimes it is the right thing to do.

Doug OttersbergDoug Ottersberg – @dougottersberg
I’ve been buoyed by the thought that more people should be able to say “I now work to make a difference instead of a living”

Doug, I absolutely agree with you, and I think Dave Vanhoose does as well. Making a difference in people’s lives by doing inspiring things with integrity is so critical. And it definitely keeps me thinking about this…

Rashida JolleyRashida Jolley – @rashidajolley
God is soooooooo good!!!!

Amen, sista! Amen. Thanks for the short & sweet reminder.

Hope everyone has a fabulous day and does fabulous things!

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Propel Point spins off social technology firm Dashboard Labs

Posted on May 10, 2011 by in Dave Cole

HeyDaveCole - Dave ColeThere are different reasons for going in to business. Sometimes it’s all about the money – other times it’s all about the work – other times it’s all about the people. Propel Point was definitely designed to be a “people” company – a place where seminar industry professionals could come and receive the professional caliber marketing, product, and development services that were typically only available to established large-scale players in the industry. We set out to change that. We set out to prove that by listening to what our clients were trying to accomplish, we could provide them the tools & resources to play the bigger game.

As anyone could see from our Portfolio of work, we’ve accomplished a great deal. We’ve supported brand-new seminar speakers and established industry veterans. We’ve crafted products, marketing campaigns, technology solutions, and helped manage numerous projects that have delivered not only extraordinary value to our clients, but the end-consumer – the people in the rooms at the seminars – who were the end beneficiary of our hard work.

Through building Propel Point, both Jennifer and I have uncovered and discovered dozens (if not hundreds) of business opportunities. Some were just bad ideas from the outset, while others were truly brilliant businesses that could have been exceptional in their own right – were someone to simply take it and create it. Because of our diverse backgrounds and skills, we continued to refine our focus and develop products and services within a tight window of our capability. In the past few weeks, one of those burgeoning business opportunities arose that simply could not be ignored, but genuinely did not fit within the Propel Point business model. But we also knew that Propel Point is a thriving and successful venture in its own right, so we decided to divide-and-conquer, and spin off our advanced technology services in to its own firm: Dashboard Labs.

Because of this, the decision has been made for me to step away as active Chief Operations Officer of Propel Point to ensure that the new venture receives my full and undivided attention. I’ll still be around – I’m still an owner in Propel Point and I will be supporting the business in an advisory role moving forward. It’s been a tremendously fun experience to work with so many incredible clients, partners, employees, and people I today call friends. Of course, my respect and admiration for my partner Jennifer Puterbaugh is without equal. She has always been the heart & soul of Propel Point, and will continue to be one of the most trusted and resourceful developers in the seminar industry.

Thank you all, for everything. I welcome you to connect with me on Facebook – HeyDaveCole, Twitter @HeyDaveCole, or LinkedIn.

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2 More Reasons why QR Codes Suck…

Posted on April 20, 2011 by in Dave Cole

I cruised past David Wach’s Cellit marketing blog and found his article 11 Reasons Why QR Codes Suck … It definitely struck a chord since the last couple weeks at the Social Media Mastermind Orange County (you know, the SMMOC) QR codes have come up again and again. I know it’s a real estate heavy room, but the interest in QR codes seems misplaced to me. Maybe it struck me when I logged in to Twitter earlier today and saw this tweet RT’d by Matt Gallizzi (@mgallizzi): “Whoa! New York Times Magazine!”

Source – 11 Reasons Why QR Codes Suck

11. QR Codes make receiving simple content very difficult

10. QR codes lack strong trackability compared to text messaging

9. QR Codes lack Follow-Up

8. QR codes require mobile devices to stop being mobile

7. QR Codes can’t “go viral”

6. QR Codes remove brand association

5. QR Codes only work on smart phones with cameras

4. QR Codes take up a lot of space.

3. There is no standard for 2D Bar Codes

2. You can’t use QR Codes in television or radio.

1. People don’t know what QR codes are!

To add 2 points to the debate here (of which I’m in complete agreement – QR codes SUCK)…

12… There’s no context to what the recipient will receive. Even on the web, there’s a tacit agreement that if I click on a link ending in .pdf file, I’ll receive a PDF file. If I visit YouTube.com I’ll know I’m about to watch a video. If I click on an @username I’ll probably be heading over to Twitter. QR codes, on the other hand, have no contextual specificity, and as such leaves the consumer no information about what they’re about to receive. Will I get a contact card for the person I’m interacting with? A video “welcome message”? A coupon? A map? Without context, the QR code leaves the recipient complete at the mercy of what the person using the code wants to share.

13… There’s no way to replicate a QR code without a digital device. You can’t draw a QR code by hand, or scribble it out on a cocktail napkin in the middle of a networking party. Nearly any other marketing channel can be conveyed and captured by hand if need be – a website URL, an phone number, a text marketing campaign, a physical address, a coupon code, etc. But the QR code is the bastard step-child of print marketing + engineers. Almost all 2D mobile ads suffer from the same problem – except the most ubiquitous 2D barcode of them all – the UPC barcode. They realized that adding a set of numbers to the barcode would ensure that at least if the red laser couldn’t get it, a human could interact with the information.

Mobile is definitely the new frontier for social + marketing, but I just don’t think (nor want to support!) QR codes are the right way to get things done with this new medium. It’s what happens when a marketing exec has too many tequila shots with the head of a printer company and then does Jaeger bombs with a bunch of engineers.

Oh, and this was gonna be a comment on your blog, David, but your Captcha code seems to be broken… Or, at least wouldn’t play nicely with me…

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Having a Little Seminar Fun – Yes or Yes?

Posted on April 15, 2011 by in Dave Cole

Yes or Yes Coffee CupI Want That Yes YesI remember the first time I ever heard a speaker utter the phrase “Yes or Yes?” It absolutely made me crack up! I’ve never been one to pick up on the nuances of the motivational speaker styles, but all around the shop here we utter the phrase “Yes or Yes?” constantly… Need to make an important business decision, and want to completely baffle your team on the decision? Just ask the question – and stop them in their tracks with the phrase “Yes or Yes?” It’s a sure-fire winner!

So, in honor of this very special catch-phrase, we decided to make a shop to share this universal affirmation with the world!

That’s right, now you can purchase your very own Yes or Yes gear from our shop on CafePress. Perhaps a Yes or Yes Maternity shirt is in order? Or a positive, hold-no-bars Yes or Yes coffee cup suits your fancy… If you’re really playing to win, I recommend the “Yes or Yes” messenger bag: Show up to the seminar in style and with function!

Yes or Yes Speaker ShirtAnd for the truly optimistically positive of the bunch, we have a few limited designs of the Yes or Yes seminar speaker shirt, Jennifer’s personal favorite. Featuring the ambiguous silhouette of <insert your favorite seminar speaker here> we’re pretty sure it’s the most awesome thing we’ve done since Zack Childress’ Prosperity Portfolio catalog.

Next time you see us at a tradeshow or event, be sure to ask about our shirts – we’ll probably have them stored in a box somewhere and available for our favorite folks.

Check out our CafePress Store »

 

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Infusionsoft Raises Prices – Blames the Victim for the Crime?

Posted on April 14, 2011 by in Dave Cole

Infusionsoft LogoRecently, we’ve heard a lot of chatter from our customers about a new policy at Infusionsoft requiring the purchase of additional services to get started. At first I thought it was just an idle “add-on” – but their “Quick Start Bundle” is now a required service to get started. Now, I’ve said it before, I’ll say it again – Infusionsoft is one of the best CRM platforms out there for information marketers and small businesses seeking a one-stop-shop for their online CRM / sales / marketing management. But, the Quick Start Bundle in question runs the rather outrageous price of $2,000.00.

Yes, that’s the number “2″ with 3 “0″s after it.

Assuming most people buy in to the $299 / month package, that’s the equivalence of 6+ months of service – due up front at the time of purchase. This isn’t a modest price hurdle – this is a brick wall in the middle of the 405 freeway.

Looking a little deeper, the program that they’re offering is designed to help new customers get up and running with IS quickly, and includes “Success Coaching”, 2 Campaign Configurations, and “Flex Blocks” of additional training. As best I can tell, this is about 15 hours of coaching & support services (and honestly I think I’m being a little generous here) which puts the average hourly rate of the value they’re providing around $130/hr. Maybe MAYBE you could say you’re getting 20 hours of service, which is the modest rate of $100/hr. And that’s certainly an acceptable rate for high-level service and campaign management – but as a required service this seems pretty absurd. And here’s the crazy part – I’ve been to on-site training at Infusion. It’s great. They really can help you with your marketing campaigns and it’s ABSOLUTELY worth the investment. It just shouldn’t be required to get in the door.

Roll of MoneyUltimately, here’s my problem with the offer: This feels like the victim is getting blamed for the crime. Namely, that Infusionsoft is so complex and the user interface is so unintuitive that they really believe this is a required value-add to the average new customer. However, as a member of the IS “cottage” community of developers and solutions providers, not only does this take away opportunity from our table, but it makes it remarkably difficult to justify sending customers to their door. No longer can a new business say “Yeah, $300 a month is a little pricey, but the features are well worth the investment” – now the argument is to take $2,300 out of pocket to get the ball rolling. In most instances, our customers turn to us to help them implement their technology solution, so now we’re forced to evaluate a whole range of alternatives.

I really do like Infusionsoft. From a development standpoint, their API is sound, their functionality (for instance, the ability to arbitrarily POST data to client sites or set up robust Follow Up Sequences) is great. But compare $2,300.00 with $99/month for 1ShoppingCart + $15/month for MailChimp + FREE for EventBrite and it gets a lot harder to say that new customers are getting the right bang for the buck.

When I look at things, here’s what I wished they had done: Raise prices 5% for ALL CUSTOMERS. Let’s just say (and I’m pulling these numbers out of thin air) they’ve got 7,000 customers paying an average of $300 / month… That means they’d be pulling down about $2.1 million / month… A 5% increase would amount to $15 per account, but would amount to an additional $105,000 of revenue per month. Which I’d argue could immediately go to paying someone a few grand to work on user interface and improving the obviousness of the user experience. Make things more obvious and intuitive and less cryptic, and suddenly users won’t NEED 15-20 hours of coaching to use their platform. It’ll just work.

We’ll keep pushing our clients to Infusionsoft, and we’ll keep supporting their technology as a service & solutions provider. But I just hope they knock this shit off – go back to letting people buy the service as it stands. Bump the price a little for everyone if you really want to invest in improving the interface and making working with the software easier for everyone. You’ll have customer love and a whole crop of new buyers jumping on board. </RANT>

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Propel Point Turns 1!

Posted on March 1, 2011 by in Dave Cole

They say that the first year is the toughest in small business, and on that note, I think both Jennifer and I would be inclined to agree. We’ve enjoyed some tremendous achievements, but we’ve certainly had our fair share of speedbumps and setbacks. As we look back on the past year, there’s a few things that come to mind that are worth sharing about our experience…

The Business Plan Lasted a Week

Propel Point turns 1Fortunately for us, our planning process involved a Saturday to come up with what we thought was the master solution to everything that would become Propel Point. In some respects, we were spot on at targeting the market, finding our niche opportunities, and meeting an unmet demand. However, when it came to any of the nitty-gritty tactical ideas we thought we’d be able to execute, the business plan lasted about 7 days.

When it comes to small business, you have to be willing to forgo the planning cycle for a doing cycle, and that lesson has been embedded in our brains. That doesn’t necessarily mean that the planning process isn’t valuable – it allows us to choose what ideas really are interesting or important, but from that point on the idea is to move quickly and take action.

The Development Process is Critical

Through the course of the past year, we’ve done a couple dozen major projects for some of the top speakers and seminar organizations in the country. We’re absolutely thrilled to have accomplished so much! (One of my projects is to rebuild the site to demo much more of our work – stay tuned)

It’s become really valuable for us to realize that the development process is critical. It’s one thing to say you’ll build something; it’s another to start building something – but where we’ve truly found an excellent rhythm is when we have a clear roadmap from start to finish and do our best to steer ourselves, our staff, and our clients along that path.

Fun, Friends, Family, and Propel Point

It also goes without saying that we’re extremely fortunate to have the support of the people that we do. For both Jennifer and myself, the support of our family and friends, clients and suppliers, partners and mentors has made a tremendous difference in our ability to persevere and achieve the success we’ve enjoyed. Year one was just the beginning.

You can expect to see dramatic changes from us in the coming year. We’ve spent some time to re-evaluate the most successful parts of our organization, and we’ve also taken a good hard look at the things that we shouldn’t be worried about or don’t need to bother with anymore. Just like with anything in life, step number one for success is to show up. You’ll never hit a home run on any of the pitches you don’t swing at.

Thanks for visiting Propel Point, and thanks for supporting us!

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