A while back I posted a video made to advertise Sunset's website to it's members. That video is now going viral. It hasn't reached massive numbers or anything, but people are sharing it on blogs and other sites.

See for yourself: Neatorama, The Huffington Post, Unterekless Thoughts, The Findbuzz, Christ Wire, Hackaday, The DW, Michael Reuter

Mahalo even has a profile for Mrs. Bobbie.

I put the video on YouTube over a month ago. On Friday, my wife posted about Mrs. Bobbie on Neatorama's Upcoming Blog. From there the video was voted up until it made Neatorama's homepage on Saturday. Before Saturday it had been seen about 100 times according to YouTube's counter. By the end of the weekend it had been seen close to 4,000 times.

Yesterday, the video was featured on Attack of the Show. At the same time, other blogs started picking up on it and posting it. As of this writing, the video has been seen 22,000 times.

Sunset's site traffic is up about 500% from normal. This website has also seen quite a bit of traffic growth over normal.

Those numbers aren't anything compared to many other web videos. If you look at YouTube's rising videos, most are well over 100k views. Still, it's fun to see the video being shared and people getting a laugh. Way to go Mrs. Bobbie!

With all the financial doom and gloom caused by shady dealings, many people wonder if everyone in the business world is crooked.

I'm learning a lot from what's going on. The biggest lesson is that scandal is no way to run a successful enterprise. After having recently spoken with several outstanding Lubbock business owners, I've been given the advice to do things right and treat customers with respect and honesty.

I like that advice so I think I'll follow it.

Inspiration: Guy Kawasaki and Solomon

Behold my prize at the latest white elephant gift exchange thingy...

Abby loved it.

So much, in fact, she thought she'd taste it.

Yes, I stole this from someone else.

Nothing conveys interest more than questions.

When you're on a date, do you enjoy the date more when the other person talks only about himself/herself? Or, when they ask you questions about your life, work, opinions, etc.?

When you're selling, ask about their business. How did you get started? What are your strong points? What challenges do you face? How did you come to be successful? Who are your competitors? Why are you better? What do you look for when you hire? Where is your business going?

Questions have two effects. First, when answered, questions give you tons of useful information. Second, they build trust by conveying interest.

By the way, questions have to be authentic. If it isn't authentic, it is patronizing, so don't ask.

The real question is, are you curious about and interested in the people with whom you do business? If not, maybe this isn't the business for you.

"What if" can be anything. What if an earthquake strikes the Texas panhandle? What if a user forgets his password, then forgets what email he used at registration, then forgets his own name? What then?

The problem with what if is that it kills progress. What if is a laundry list of excuses for not pressing on and making things happen. What if is the secret nuke for people who like to sit and be crusty.

"What when" plans for the inevitable. What when a user forgets a password? What when I lock my keys inside the car. These things are going to occur, so go ahead and plan for them.

Despite all the gloom and doom surrounding the economy, I'm optimistic about our l'il business.

We provide a valuable service. We're good at what we do and we work hard at doing it. Who knows? It might be that small businesses will turn more to the web in order to cut costs and get efficient. When they do, we'll be here to help them get things done right.

It's easy to think you're wrong, or worse, nuts when everyone believes different. Here's a guy who called foul on the bull market years in advance.

Did you hear the other "experts" literally laughing at him? One said "don't be so pessimistic." Bookmark that video for the next time your killer idea gets stomped.

Source

This article got me thinking more about pricing.

I wonder what would happen if we asked our client to pick one of these three choices for their project?

Fast + Good

Good + Cheap

Fast + Cheap

Of course, everyone wants all three. We even want all three for our clients. I suppose the trick is in defining fast, good, and cheap. Maybe by redefining those terms, we can easily fit all three into a project.

Effort is the one thing that we have control over. We can't control the economy, clients, vendors, or the price of gas.

What would things look like if I gave just 10% more effort?

Inspiration here.