March 2010 - Digital Tool Factory blog March 2010 - Digital Tool Factory blog

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Ten great books for American business

After writing yesterday’s post on lessons learned from eight years in business, I thought I would come up with my listing of great books that have helped me starting out.Shakespeare and Company bookshop I follow Tyler Cowen’s notion that if you you finish every book you start you’re wasting time on crap.  On average I finish less than half of the books I start.   Since I’ve gotten a Kindle I’ve upped my selectivity considerably.  Before anyone asks, I have yet to finish Getting Things Done by David Allen.

With no further ado – here are the books I recommend to start out. Continue reading →

Biz / Reviews / Sentiment— No comments
30
Mar 10

Written By Steve French

 

Lessons learned from eight years in business

FatherYesterday a friend of mine told me he was considering starting his own small business/consultancy which led me to thinking about my eight years in the solo operator field, and now in the web startup field.  Here are a few of the lessons I’ve learned over the years. Continue reading →

Biz— 3 comments
29
Mar 10

Written By Steve French

 

Thursday link roundup

Here is what I’ve been reading lately, recorded here for posterity

 

This post originally appeared on the Stronico blog – with the absorption of Stronico into Digital Tool Factory this post has been moved to the Digital Tool Factory blog

Recommended Reading— No comments
25
Mar 10

Written By Steve French

 

Ways to be smarter – I’ll be testing some of these soon

Inside
Via some Twitter link I can no longer find, I stumbled across these two posts.

  • Nootropics: their effects, their risks, and where to get them – I think I’ll be picking up some Thiamine and sticking with that, as the others seem a bit scary.  It is a fascinating bit of research though.  Nootropics are “Smart Drugs”
  • How to get Smarter – these are all fairly basic, but I intend to find some way to test them as part of my measuring everything possible campaign of 2010.

The first link is far better than the first, but you should read them both.  Upgrade your wetware!

Creative Commons License photo credit: Andrew Mason

 

This post originally appeared on the Stronico blog – with the absorption of Stronico into Digital Tool Factory this post has been moved to the Digital Tool Factory blog

Misc / Productivity— No comments
24
Mar 10

Written By Steve French

 

New feature ideas for Stronico – display edition

I just had two random display ideas for Stronico, and I thought I would share them here:

  1. All contact display photos and icons would initially be in black and white, and as more detail got filled out for that person, the color would gradually return.  One possible problem with this idea is a contact having only a black and white photo.
  2. The size of the contact photo or icon would be proportional to their importance in the network, either by number of connections, number of unique connections, etc.

These features certainly won’t be going into the current version, but I thought I would record them publicly for feedback.  Thoughts anyone?

 

This post originally appeared on the Stronico blog – with the absorption of Stronico into Digital Tool Factory this post has been moved to the Digital Tool Factory blog

Future Features— No comments
23
Mar 10

Written By Steve French

 

Blog Intelligence Report – what to track

They call me 008, because I'm so great... 288/365I have begun researching the blogs I will be marketing to  for the eventual Stronico public launch.  So far, here is what I am tracking

  • Blog Name
  • Internet Power Score, defined as a function of inbound links, number of comments, and the number of twitter followers.
  • Inbound Links
  • # of Comments Last Five Posts
  • # of Twitter Followers
  • Blog URL
  • Blog Description
  • Contact Person
  • Contact Email
  • Twitter Name
  • Created

Anything I’m missing?  These are the people I’m going to be contact early for advertising and advice.

And before anyone says anything, yet, it did occur to me to have a special website only version of Stronico where one could track different power players on the internet (the power score could be displayed as size!) but that is a few version away.

Creative Commons License photo credit: AndYaDontStop

Blog Name Relative Ranking Internet Score Inbound Links # of Comments Last Five Posts # of Twitter Followers Blog URL Blog Description Contact Person Contact Email Twitter Name Created

 

This post originally appeared on the Stronico blog – with the absorption of Stronico into Digital Tool Factory this post has been moved to the Digital Tool Factory blog

Marketing / Stronico— No comments
23
Mar 10

Written By Steve French

 

Sunday link roundup, Design, vanishings, networks and masterminds

Link AssuagedHere are all of the links I keep meaning to send out to people, all in one place.

Creative Commons License photo credit: P/UL

 

This post originally appeared on the Stronico blog – with the absorption of Stronico into Digital Tool Factory this post has been moved to the Digital Tool Factory blog

Recommended Reading— No comments
21
Mar 10

Written By Steve French

 

The future of newspapers, as seen through a Twitter feed

getthepictureI read this quote in the Atlanta Journal Constitution’s Twitter Feed ( the AJC (Twitter, @AJC) is the main paper here in Atlanta))

We’re trying to pin down the name of the College Park recording studio. It’s at the 3200 Block of E. Main St. Can you help us?

and I started wondering if the future of news was as either a medium (like FaceBook) or as the medium + the lead collaborator.  I.E. the newspaper supplies the forum (in the form of a website, and the print service, whatever that winds up being) and serves as the lead collaborator.   To use a sports analogy, The future of newspapers is like a company that owns a baseball park, and provides a full time pitcher.

Just a random though.

Creative Commons License photo credit: Keees

 

This post originally appeared on the Stronico blog – with the absorption of Stronico into Digital Tool Factory this post has been moved to the Digital Tool Factory blog

Misc— No comments
20
Mar 10

Written By Steve French

 

Free Business Idea – Right Wing Vitamins and Organic Foods

Object 4The Left Wing Temperament –

  • Idealizes: caring, tolerance and balance
  • Prone To: Hugging

The Right Wing Temperament –

  • Idealizes: Cleanliness, organization and order
  • Prone To: Personal space

There are many political overtones and exceptions to the above sweeping characterizations, but in terms of temperament they are true (just trust me on that).

You’ve probably noticed that vitamins, natural/organic foods, and homeopathy are marketed almost exclusively to the left wing temperament and almost never to the right wing temperament.  That neglect means that there is a market opportunity to seize the right leaning side of the population.  After all, if smut on the airwaves angers someone, why should preservatives in their steak get a free pass?   If the complexity of the tax code angers them, why would the jumbled supply chain of mega farms be any different? Continue reading →

Biz / Free Ideas / Misc— 2 comments
16
Mar 10

Written By Steve French

 

The 3 customer targets for Stronico

DartsSomeone recently asked me who would actually use this service and I had no specific answer for them. Lots of vague answers, but nothing specific. I decided to fix that problem. Since declaring targets defines them; these are the top three Stronico customer targets

  1. Primary Market – The near Aspberger entrepreneur – I call this market “Steve” because I’m trying to solve my own problem.  Steve needs help in maintaining his personal network since he remembers connections, names, faces, and details poorly, but needs to remember them better.  Steve networks poorly, has a medium sized network, and has a strong need to maintain that network.
  2. Secondary Market – The power salesman – we’ll call this market “Eric”.  Eric needs help maintaining the network not because of any natural defect in his networking skill but because the network is large and expanding.  Eric has strong networking ability, a large network, and a strong need to maintain that network.
  3. Tertiary Markets – The researcher – we’ll call this market “Greg”.  Greg could be a lawyer, policeman, student or teacher, but fundamentally he is someone who maps out social networks, usually not his own.  The Stronico.org model will be the primary avenue into this.  Greg has variable networking ability, huge networks, and a moderate need to maintain that network.

Thoughts anyone?

Creative Commons License photo credit: Bogdan Suditu

 

This post originally appeared on the Stronico blog – with the absorption of Stronico into Digital Tool Factory this post has been moved to the Digital Tool Factory blog

Biz / Stronico— No comments
15
Mar 10

Written By Steve French

 

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