Welcome back! It's good to see you again. Please note that I am now publishing all new material at my hub site: In Context Blog

This may not look like an actionable productivity workflow post, but it is. In fact, I think that it is a very important post for three reasons:

1. It is about learning some new things that you can put into action right away.
2. It is news about one of those chances that only comes around once in a while.
3. There is a contest for all of you at the end!

I am not usually one to use hyperbole, but this is going to be good. I am going to take this course. Why?
Because I just started a new site and I want to stop working for other people (I want to just work for you, dear readers)! Also, I have been working on a media site/e-learning product of my own, and I have learned some very valuable marketing lessons from Naomi, lessons that I have been able to put into action right away.

In fact, here is my own receipt information, I just signed up myself:

Thank you for your order.

Order Receipt:

Order ID: xxxxxx331
Date: Fri Sep 05 08:57:35 -0400 2008
Payment Type: Visa
Order Status: Accepted

Self-promotion for people who hate self-promotion
$205.00 X 1 = $205.00
———————————————————————-
Product Total $205.00
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Grand Total $205.00

Call this post Marketing in Context

Naomi and Havi are starting a new teleconference training course. It’s about Marketing and Promoting your business. If it’s anything like her SEO Ninja course you’re going to want to jump on it.

The course starts next Wednesday, 10 Sept, and is about:

This is a 6 week power course for creative types, small business owners, and people who are (understandably) too busy freaking out to properly live their dreams.

Six weeks of learning, soothing, ass-kicking, fear erasing, question answering, and some other things that end with “ing”.

It’s a course for people who want to get their business — sometimes referred to as “that thing that you’ve always wanted to do and maybe you might get paid a living wage for it someday but it’s not really, you know, a business business” — rocking and rolling.

It’s for people who are ready to clear out the crap that’s standing in the way of their awesome life and start having more fun and making some money doing it.

As you know, I only link to products/services that I have actually used and can personally recommend (like these [link]). Obviously this course has not happened yet, so I have not used it. But I am going to take the course. Because I know Naomi, I read her blog to learn internet marketing, and I know others that have used her personal coaching to great advantage. I trust her to provide value (and some swear words, sorry).

So, if you are interested in learning how to promote your own small business (or large business for that matter), click on that Picture up above. Or this link. Yes it is an affiliate link, and yes, I will get a little slice of the fee.

The Productivity in Context Marketing Contest

Here is the contest:
If at least 10 of you sign up for this course, I’ll make my money back and be able to pay for one of you to take the course too. So, let’s forward this article to all of the people that you know that may be interested in learning innovative marketing techniques from couple of very creative gals.

Send me an e-mail so I know that you or they signed up for the course. As soon as 10 people sign up I will select one at random and send you the course fee via Pay Pal. Remember that the course starts next Wednesday!

Kris had a problem with Xerox recently:Accountability – The Tale of the Xerox Free Color Printers Program | Fresh Focus……

Let me tell you a story about accountability, regarding the Xerox corporation. I am a member of the Xerox Free Color Printers program. This program provides a free printer to anyone, as long as you reach an agreed-upon monthly quota, report your usage every month, and buy all your supplies from them. I knew all that when I signed my contract and knew I would have no problems maintaining the requirements.If you did not maintain your usage requirement, you got fined $100. If you failed to report, you got fined $125. I knew that going in.

Too bad that Xerox didn’t learn from this [link].

Kris, you should DM Jeff Jarvis at BuzzMachine!

I was recently contacted for a brief interview on collaboration and co-creation by Insight Magazine, and my friend Ryan Rasmussen and I were quoted in the magazine. You can see it online here, or find it on newsstands.

The magazine article was inspired by discussions that Ryan had with the D*I*Y*Planner community. When I got to meet Ryan face-to-face at SOBCon in Chicago this past May, I asked him about those discussions and how they led to a new product being offered by the company that he worked for. Then he showed me the prototype of the “Circa PDA” (or cPDA) that he developed with the productivity/planner community:

Ryan goes on to offer some advice for companies that are interested in getting involved with existing communities:

Thanks Ryan! If you are interested in seeing pics of some of these iterations and early prototypes, you can check out Ryan’s flickrset here.

Now here is an excerpt from the article, I’d love to hear your thoughts:

Co-creation Theory - INSIGHT Article - Jul. 2008

In the last three years, this interaction has become even more intimate. Consumers are wielding greater influence earlier on in the product development process, and are now contributing their ideas even before a product hits the market.

Levenger, a manufacturer and retailer of productivity tools, often turns to its consumers for new ideas. The company originally hired Ryan Rasmussen as a salesperson with a desire to experiment online as an extension of his duties. The process of engagement and collaboration within online communities, however, developed into an entirely new position for Levenger, that of an Emerging Media Specialist.

With activities that blur the silos of online marketing, customer service and public relations, Rasmussen’s interactions now hinge on seeding community brainstorms and prototyping new product ideas with online collaborators in forums, blogs and persistent virtual environments like Second Life.

“A lot of our online customers are eager to share their opinions, not just on new products, but also on how to improve existing products,” says Rasmussen. “Participation in these conversations provides customers with a genuine connection to a brand they care about, and a voice in the direction that brand takes.”

Levenger’s Circa PDA, for example, was the brainchild of an online community. The idea was to create a mini-notebook for on-the-go note-taking. After gathering input from users of a popular online productivity forum, D*I*Y Planner, Rasmussen created a prototype. “It’s a process of hacking and cracking,” says Rasmussen. “I fast-prototype with the same kind of tools that the community would use—an Exacto knife, a Dremel tool–—and I take (existing) products apart and try to do different things with them.”

After creating the prototype, Rasmussen took a picture and posted it online to generate even more input. The Circa PDA is now one of Levenger’s standard product offerings. “A lot of these communities really offer the best new ideas for products,” Rasmussen explains. “Engaging this talent requires nothing more than a willingness to participate and recognize each community member’s value through open conversation.”

You can read the entire article here - Co-Creation Theory.

Here is another fantastic TED talk:

Gever Tulley writes the best Twitters: Just landed my paraglider in an empty field behind Santa 8arbara. … Making amazing tshirts with a laser cutter at the maker faire in austin. … Washing fruit, putting sheets on bunkbeds, and grinding up aluminum foil in a cheap blender … Updating the school blog, trying to figure out how many cubic feet of air are in a 5 gallon cylinder at 200 PSI. … Trying to figure out if the tinker kids are going to be able to get molten iron from magnetite sand …

A software engineer, Gever Tulley is the co-founder of the Tinkering School, a weeklong camp where lucky kids get to play with their very own power tools. He’s interested in helping kids learn how to build, solve problems, use new materials and hack old ones for new purposes. He’s also a certified paragliding instructor.