Over 9 Billion Served

One might guess that this post title refers to the number of hamburgers served by the golden arches fast food chain, McDonald's.

But if there is one thing that I strive for with this blog, it's the recognition of that which is less than obvious. And the "over 9 Billion Served" refers not to hamburgers but to Page Views served per month by the website Craigslist.

Those familiar with the site, might be amazed at the fact that Craigslist is the 47th most trafficked site world wide and 9th in the US according to Alexa.com.

But the real inspiring fact comes from Craiglist's humble beginnings. Started in 1995 as an electronic bulletin board for local events in the San Francisco Bay Area, the site morphed into a place where out of work technical folks went to find jobs. Today, Craiglist is arguably one of the largest classified ad networks on the entire web covering jobs, internships, for sale, and community offerings. Craigslist is largely cited as one of the reasons for the dramatic decline in newspaper classified advertising.

You would think that a website that brought the entire newspaper publishing industry to its knees would have some pretty complex, advanced technical advantage. Yet, the entire Craigslist site is void of fancy logos, graphics, and Web 2.0 technology. It is Craigslist's bare bones, basic user interface which may be its ultimate secret weapon. Because the site doesn't employ fancy features, non-technical end users are comfortable using the site.

The take away from Craigslist is simple. You don't need to create a technological masterpiece of mashups and Web 2.0 technologies to be successful on the web. What you do need to do is keep things simple. Thirty (30) million unique monthly Craigslist visitors are hard to argue with.

What's so Inspiring about the Cult of Snuggie?

I must admit that I am a skeptical person. So when my daughter came to me in early December saying she wanted to buy something based on an infomercial, I said no.

It was only after what seemed to be three "But why Daddy?" types of pestering did I even begin to ask questions.

"What is it you want to buy? A Snuggie? What's a Snuggie?

"What? It's a blanket? You have at least 5 blankets on your bed already. You don't need any more blankets.

"No Daddy, its a special blanket. It has sleeves."

"A blanket with sleeves? That's called a bathrobe, sweetie. You already have a bathrobe."

"No Daddy, it's not a bathrobe. It's a blanket with sleeves in front and it keeps you warm.

"How do you know it keeps you warm, when you dont have one?

"It looks really, really warm. See they have a website."

Yes, they had a website. One that looked every bit of a scam. Buy one and get a second Snuggie for only $9.95! Blanket with sleeves. Who would buy such a thing! But being a parent means looking for opportunities to teach lessons and here was a lesson staring me right in the face.

Of course, I was looking pretty smart when after two weeks nothing showed up in the mail. My daughter was getting concerned it wouldn't arrive by Christmas because she wanted to give one away as a gift. December 25th crept closer and finally I had to call Snuggie Customer Service. It took 3 separate calls to get to the correct order verification department. Snuggies were back ordered. 4-6 weeks for delivery. No Christmas present.

The skeptical part of me started to worry. Was this a scam? The parental part of me dealt with my daughter's disappointment. Fast forward to last week.

The Snuggies arrived. No doubt about it. Blanket with sleeves. My daughter was a happy customer. And I was glad that she wasn't going to be subjected to a scam. End of story, or so I thought.

My curiosity was still piqued. Why did it take 4-6 weeks for a blanket? The answer to that question came from this recent USA Today article.

4 Million Snuggies SOLD.
250 Facebook groups AND you can watch the Cult of Snuggie here.




Blankets with Sleeves. America! What a country!

Old Blood and Guts

You don't hear much about General George S. Patton Jr. these days. In his life (1885-1945) spanning two world wars, he is credited with inspiring many men to achieve success on the battlefield through aggressive, relentless action.

Patton on Initiative:

"Above all else remember that we as attackers have the initiative, we know exactly what we are going to do, while the enemy is ignorant of our intentions and can only parry our blows. We must retain this tremendous advantage by always attacking rapidly, ruthlessly, viciously, and without rest."

On the importance of Now:

"A good plan, violently executed now, is better than a perfect plan next week."

On Success:

“Success is how you bounce on the bottom.”

On Meaning:

“Live for something rather than die for nothing.”

The 1970 film Patton, starring George C. Scott as General Patton won seven Academy Awards including Best Actor and Best Picture. To be entertained and inspired add it to your DVD rental queue.

Sorry Nick, You're One Helluva Inspiration I Won't Forget

Mea culpa de jour. We all get busy with day to day tasks, some more important than others.

After seeing this YouTube clip around Thanksgiving last year, I was really moved. I showed it to my daughter and emailed it to many of my friends.

And yet when I started this blog on inspiration and motivation earlier this year, I had ruminated for quite sometime on what topics I would want to highlight first. I am ashamed to say that I forgot about Nick. As inspiring and motivating as he is, my life had become so swamped with email, voicemail, 4 o'clock meetings and deadlines that I neglected one of the most inspirational stories out there. And for that, I owe Nick a huge, world wide web public apology.

There are some stories that are better seen and heard from the source. Nick's story is one of them.



If there is one video you watch on this blog, click the clip above and I challenge you to tell me that this is not one of the most inspirational stories you've seen lately. If you know of any others that rank on this level, I'd love to hear about them.

Click here to see Part Two and Part Three of Nick's presentation or visit his Life Without Limbs website at http://www.lifewithoutlimbs.org/.

Pursuing Happiness

It takes more than a modicum of introspection for a person to admit that they may not be as happy as they could be. After all, despite the economic doom and gloom, and even in good times for that matter, aren't we always pursuing a higher level of satisfaction for our lives?

If the dismal science of Economics is the study of unlimited wants and limited resources. Then aren't we setting ourselves up to be constantly unhappy?

Well I'm pleased to report that there are some pretty smart people working on your behalf to help you find happiness. Case in point one Gretchen Craft Rubin, a Yale law graduate who clerked for Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O'Connor. Gretchen writes a blog called the Happiness Project and I would encourage you to visit her site for it contains some very authentic insights into what we humans need to do to achieve a state of bliss worthy of our efforts.

My favorite post of Ms. Rubin's covers how we "characterize" situations. You can read it here. The premise is you can create your own reality by just carefully choosing your words and how you put any given situation into context. In my world, we sometimes call this "spin" or "great marketing". In either case, the take away here is that to inspire or motivate others, or in many cases to motivate yourself, you must be able to characterize situations in such a way as to promote positive actions. Anything less leads you down the slippery slope of unhappiness, unmet needs and right into the arms of those dismal unhappy economists.

"What Are You Doing?" - What It's Worth

There's nothing like success to inspire and motivate. So for all of you who think you have to have a full blown business plan including detailed descriptions of how you're going to make money, think about drawing some inspiration from this company.

When you're running a company that has virtually no revenues and no profits AND Facebook reportedly wants to buy you for a half a billion dollars, then I'd say you're heading in the direction of financial success.

Yes, Twitter, the company started in March of 2006 (and launched incidentally 4 short months later in July 2006), and helps you answer the question "What Are You Doing?" in 140 characters or less is the latest darling of the venture capital world.

Now a couple years ago when I first heard of Twitter, I thought, this idea will never fly. If only for the fact that I wondered who on this planet was so interesting that I would want to get multiple updates from them on a minute by minute basis.

Setting aside the self imposed fear of being branded a micro-manager, I have never sought to know what anyone (Kate Hudson included) is doing every minute of the day.

So the inspirational take away for today is, you can start with a simple idea, not have a detailed road map for how you will ever generate revenue nevermind profits and still be chased after by the big boys. Gives you hope doesn't it?

Cast Away

One of my favorite movies is Cast Away with Tom Hanks. Like many favorite movies, they tend to get you so involved in the story that when you trip over them when channel surfing, you end up watching them despite the incessant commercials. It was like that for me over the holidays with this Tom Hanks classic.

Now you may be one of the many people who thought this was a snoozer of a movie, but ladies and gentlemen of the jury, let me present to you several "Take Aways" from this film that may change your mind as there are a few unnoticed gems of inspiration and motivation for you.

The man is alone on an island. Haven't we all felt like that before? (If you haven't, chances are there will be a time so listen up.) Our hero washes ashore after surviving a plane crash and luckily he's also got a few Fed Ex packages with him. (While a deflated volleyball is hardly a good sidekick, you never had to worry that he was going cannibal on you.) In addition to the crash debris, he's got fish in the lagoon and coconuts in the trees. Take Away #1 - You are never alone. If you really look around and take stock of your surroundings you will find things you can use to make your life better, you just have to look closely for them.

Just keep breathing. As the story unfolds, our hero relates what kept him motivated, other than the blond fiance (played by Helen Hunt) he told "be right back". Part of his motivation to survive apparently stemmed from the fact that after failing to throw himself off a cliff, it was the realization that he had no control over his destiny and that he just needed to "keep breathing" because you "never know what the tide will bring in." Take Away #2 - When all seems lost, the basics are most important. Here's an experiment for you. Take a live fish, any type of fish will do, and throw it on the floor. Now watch carefully because they all do the same thing. They flop and flop and flop some more, instinctively trying to find the water. Next time you find yourself out of your element and with little under your control, remember the basics and keep flopping.

Castaway vs. Cast Away. What's the subtle difference? The irony of the story is that our hero is a castaway, but more importantly, for a character who once placed a premium on "being on time", that he was ultimately cast away because he was given up for dead. Take Away #3 - Time is precious. It's the one thing we all own. We may choose to sell our time to an employer for minimum wage or to read a blog on how to set up a home based business. In either case, we own it. Choose to use your time wisely and find a way to get the most value from it and you will rarely feel like you have been passed by.