My buddies over at Intuit, particularly the JumpUp.com team, are in the midst of helping one lucky entrepreneur realize their dream by providing them $50,000 in products and service to turn that dream into a real business. The reason I'm reiterating that Intuit "gets" small business has less to do about the cash than and more about the great example they're setting for small businesses with their use of social media to drive the contest.
The JumpUp team, with the help of a great set of expert judges - Anita Campbell, Ramon Ray and John Jantsch - chose 5 finalists from over 1,500 submissions to compete for the prize. Each finalist has a page with their essay discussing their entrepreneurial dream, a home made video, a short conversation with me, and a few other tidbits that help the JumpUp community members get to know each of them. And this is important because the community will decide who the eventual winner will be.
In fact the community is encouraged to be a major part of this whole thing. First off the votes are flying in faster than the JumpUp team had imagined. Lively conversations are sparking up all over by the comments being left on the individual finalist's pages. Not only are they commenting, but they are stumping for their favorite "candidate" by enlisting their colleagues to vote for their favorite. Intuit has made it easy for people to add badges to blogs and websites inviting people to vote for "my candidate". So if you have a Blogger or TypePad account, you can help you're candidate get votes with a couple of clicks. And if you have a big Facebook network, you can put it to work for your favorite with the same ease.
Through this contest that will eventually allow one contestant the ability to "just get started" with $50K, the other finalists have gained so much exposure it can't help but raise their profiles and possibly increase their chances to realize their dreams as well. And the community in general wins as they should begin to see the power of how social media can be used to create excitement for ideas that can reach a wide audience, in a very short amount of time. And this all can be done without breaking the bank.
And this is why Intuit really gets it. This contest will help way more than the lucky individual who wins the cash. It helps anyone who is looking to understand how the power of Web 2.0 tools and strategies can help them compete, thrive and survive. Way to go Intuit! This is just the kind of role model needed to help "Jump Start" the small business community into embracing social media.
One last thing. There are a few folks commenting on the choice of business ideas represented by the group of finalists. Some folks don't seem to be thrilled by what they perceive to be the lack of exciting, complex, or innovative ideas. All I can say to that is the lion share of all small businesses operating today are what most would consider to be "boring", "traditional" businesses. These are the same businesses people have used to create the majority of the new jobs our economy is fueled by. They also allow regular people to buy houses, raise families and be positive role models to others looking to have their own business.
So I applaud Intuit and their panel of judges for standing up for "the entrepreneur next door"! Now go check out all the finalists...and VOTE!
When I went on my first pilgrimage to Silicon Valley at the end of last year, I had a chance to finally meet one of my "virtual buddies", Diane Davidson of WebEx. She heads up their community efforts and is doing a great job. Diane invited me to be a part of a podcast series discussing how SMB's can leverage social media to build a good rep on the web. I even pulled in another new buddy, Anil Dash of Six Apart, to join us on one of the episodes. We had a great time talking about all things Web 2.0 and how small businesses really need to get in on this stuff in order to compete, thrive and survive.
Besides some really cool memories, I also came back to the ATL with a book Diane gave me that Webex co-founder Subrah Iyar authored called Why Buy the Cow? How the On-Demand Revolution Powers the New Knowledge Economy. I just hope Seth Godin or the folks at Chick - fil-A don't get that litigious feeling over the title. Iyar brought in some other sharp folks to collaborate on this as well.
I think anyone who's interested in SaaS and where it will take us, should think seriously about checking this one out. I like it because it features the voices of folks who were at the forefront of the whole On Demand movement, made it threw the Dot Com Bust, and proved that the model could work. And I'm really glad they didn't make this a sales and marketing tool, but a helpful, straightforward read on how you should view SaaS and its current and future impact on how we do business.
Here's the short review I wrote for the book on Amazon.com:
This book is accessible to those who may not be too familiar with software as a service (SaaS) and how it is transforming the way business is being done now and in the future. What makes it really interesting are the case studies of the smaller, lesser known companies who are building their businesses on top of SaaS and creating interesting business models centering on collaboration. We've all heard of companies like Salesforce.com, NetSuite and WebEx - the companies who proved that SaaS can be a reliable option to installed software, as well as a valid business model. But what made this a valuable read were the case studies of companies like ChinesePod, Lulu.com and Shared Insights. These are small companies who are also leveraging the SaaS model to create successful businesses. These stories really add value and help explain why software as a service has changed the way we use software, and do business.
Thanks again Diane for the book!
Sorry all you Billy Dee fans out there, this isn't about the stuff we used to drink back in college in quantities of 40 ounces. And for those of you not old enough to know this, Billy Dee is short for Billy Dee Williams - THE Man back in the 70s all the ladies loved. Dude had the voice, the perm, and the ascot. He starred in classics like Brian's Song, Lady Sings The Blues, Mahogany and my favorite Bingo Long Traveling All-Stars and Motor Kings. Many of you geeks don't know anything about that stuff, but you may remember him as Lando Calrissian in the Empire Strikes Black (pun intended as black folks were so proud to finally have a brother involved with those movies).
Anyway, he may have been a leading man and all that, but me and my buddies remember him most of all for being the spokesman for Colt 45 malt liquor. And if you ever so those commercials, he's the only brother I ever knew who could get the ladies all excited just by offering them a 40 of Colt. I remember trying it a few times back in the day, and I here to tell you it never worked for me.
But this is not about Billy Dee or his mustache. It's not even about the drink. It's actually about blogging and the importance of writing decent content. People are always trying to figure out how to get people to read their stuff, and when they ask me I tell it's all about COLT 45. And although some of you may think I write like I'm downing a 40, COLT 45 is just an acronym to help you remember a few goals when you're blogging. Try to remember you really need to write stuff that will move people to Comment On, and Link To it.... COLT, get it??
And where does the 45 come in to play? Well if you're just getting started, chances are you'll be the only one reading your posts. So do yourself a favor and ask some of your friends and colleagues to read your posts. In fact ask them to do some reading, commenting, digging, stumbling and any other form of web socialism you can think of. So maybe start out with 4 or 5 people and that you can depend on to regularly help you, and eventually that number will begin to grow. And there you have COLT 45. I know it's a stretch but I had to come up with something.
And the fact is this approach really can work, as I was reminded of today, when Ruth King over at ProfitabilityChannel.com emailed me today to tell me that my latest article for BlackEnterprise.com was included in the daily email she receives from the National Federation of Independent Business (NFIB). I knew something was up as I noticed a much greater number of hits to my blog than I usually get when my columns hit the BE homepage. Maybe a few of my friends who've "opted in" to my COLT 45 crew made that possible. And you're invited to sign up to!
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