FollowFlywheel

We spent a few more hours on my new rig today, which is really starting to take shape.  The very fact that I can now visualize a large part of my work and social activities as a big mindmap/flow chart makes my life simpler.  I feel better being able to see what I have built and how the different areas inter-operate and form a sort of ecosystem.  All the logos below will have "baseball card" type hover over's explaining the site with a hyperlink directly to my profile on that site, or to the site itself if a profile is not applicable.

In case you are wondering, we are using Adobe Flash to design the rig.  Visio, SmartDraw and other programs like them do not have the versatility to design something this custom.  I can't wait to launch the website w/ the completed version!  Estimated time for the launch on WillFranco.com is less than 2 weeks, in the nick of time for the Infusionsoft Conference.

Once the visual is complete and launched, I can really see just how much it is going to help me explain how social media works.  The visual will also help me explain my strategy for managing 3 sets of social profiles and activities on my own.  In short, above the way everything is woven together - I leverage technology to automate or streamline repetitive tasks, and batch the tasks that have to be done manually.

Here is the 2nd draft of my rig.  Below it is the 3rd.

2nd:

3rd:

Loading mentions Retweet

Jim Cecil (Nurture Institute) recently turned me on to a personality/behavioral profiling system called DISC.  Jim has been talking about the high response rates he has seen by dimesionalizing communications for several weeks, and I have to say the golden advice he has been giving me has fallen on somewhat deaf ears, but it is not wasted.  The penny has now dropped, and it did so when I saw the below on the Competitive Edge website, one of the companies Jim recommend to me for DISC coaching; the other company was Target Training International.

What this picture enabled me to understand is this: when authoring a marketing piece, it takes just a few more minutes to create four options for your prospects to follow - each catering to the needs of one of the four personality types.  For more info, I recommend visiting the Wikipedia page on DISC.

When I asked Jim which book I should buy, here is the message I got:

Will,

Hands down. The best book I ever read, by two of the smartest people I know on the subject.
Judy Suiter’s library at www.competetiveedgeinc.com is the most elegant guide to the very depths of the real value in assessments.
Well worth the investment for the serious student of styles and behaviors.

Jim

The Universal Language DISC by Bill J. Bonnstetter, Judy Suiter, and Dominique Bruneton (Hardcover - Dec. 7, 2004)

1 new from $143.95

7 used from $45.65

Needless to say, I have since bought the book and am eagerly awaiting its arrival.

Loading mentions Retweet

I am almost done creating my new "rig" of social profiles and blogs together.  While I am using more social sites, I have simplified my workflow significantly.  The goal is to morph WillFranco.com into a live mindmap/workflow picture, connecting to my respective RSS feeds and linking to each of my social profiles.  It must be a new concept b/c I have not seen anybody doing anything like it before.  Sure, I have seen Lifestreams and they are cool, but they do not explain how information flows from collecting to publishing.  I guess what I am doing is combining GTD and Lifestreaming into a live website.  Other than enjoyment, my reasoning for building this rig is to explain how you can connect online social activities together into an efficient and effective structure and workflow.  What I am building is version 2.0 of what I feel should be everyone's homepage.  My rig gives easy access to both my business activities and areas of my personal life that I choose to share. 

Here is an inside-look at the 2nd draft I made w/ mark-up of the graphics for the rig:

Loading mentions Retweet

This is a simple concept I created to keep me focused on the things that matter most. The problem box can also be used to understand how well people understand a given situation.

You can read the full post on the jiveSYSTEMS Blog, The Problem Box: A Way to Keep Yourself and Others Focused.

Loading mentions Retweet

This little camcorder is amazing.  I replaced my Flip Video camcorder w/ the Zoom.  The superior audio makes a huge difference to the overall quality of the video. 

Later this week, I will be writing a detailed post about the Q3 in the jiveSYSTEMS Blog.

Loading mentions Retweet

I have just finished updating our Concept to Profit eBook.  It's packed full of useful information that will help you create and distribute videos online.  This includes information about the new portable camcorder I have found which delivers near studio quality sound. 

Loading mentions Retweet

This is the studio quality USB condensor mic we use, it is only $125.  You can buy it on Amazon for around 125 bucks!

We recommend exporting to MP4/FLV/SWF – Flash Output.  The menu will give you some options about Appearance and Size of the output.  With the Flash Options under Appearance, we use a FLV format and MP3 audio at 44.1 kHz 128 kBits/sec. This will give you high quality video with CD quality sound, the settings are also optimized for streaming.  If you are planning to embed the presentation into a webpage or blog, you can also resize the output file by clicking on Change Dimensions from the Size menu. Be aware that when you shrink the size when exporting, it decreases the fidelity of the visual. To combat this, record your screen using the same window size you want the final window size to be.Always use a condenser mic.  You should also perform a few audio tests, before each recording.

Loading mentions Retweet

Study after study has shown that larger monitors and multi-monitor displays increase productivity, especially when doing complex, cognitively loaded tasks.  Research also indicates that large displays can reduce stress.  To learn more, read Big Monitors Improve Productivity: The Facts.

Loading mentions Retweet

A fast and reliable laptop is a major component to success w/ almost any business nowadays.   I am a big fan of Lenovo laptops.  I own the R61; it's got a 2.4 Ghz Core 2 Duo, 3GB of RAM, and a pretty good graphics card.  The fast processor let's me run several applications at once without any lag.  I can even work on my computer while video renders in the background.  Today, I needed to buy a new computer for our colleague.  He has been working off an old computer and it's definitely hammering his productivity.  I didn't buy a Lenovo!  I still love their computers, but they, like so many other companies charge an arm-and-a-leg for laptops w/ a Quad Core processor.  I bought this Asus (a pretty good brand if you ask me) for $1,100 on Amazon; pretty much the same laptop costs just over $2,500 at BestBuy.  In fact, the specs for the Asus through Amazon are better.  The hard-drive is 7200rpm's.

Loading mentions Retweet