There is a great book I was given by a member of the analytics team of one of my clients that has 64 short stories, parable like if you will titled:

“How full is your cup?” by JM Sampath. Best Seller List 2012 – Malaysia

It is written and illustrated like that of a children’s book but yet delivers content that inspired me to think about how I handle both personal and business problems, solutions, tactics, accomplishments and failures as well and just as important if not more how I react to it all.

A story that I felt should be shared is page 47 “The Transformation,” which is the story of an Eagle’s transformation process…which I was not aware of.

In the book this story is being told by two people remembering it from when there Grandmother had told it to them.”Eagles enjoy a life of nearly 70 years. But this gift of a long life has not been bestowed upon them; it is a choice they have to make!”

So when an Eagle turns about 40 years old their beaks have grown old and curved, their claws have hardened and their feathers heavy and bulky. If they continue this way they cannot catch prey and will soon DIE!

However if they want to extend their lives, Eagles have a CHOICE to make, by making this CHOICE they will undergo great pain to complete a TRANSFORMATION that will make them live longer…another 30 years or even more.

So the transformation process is (for those that don’t know) is:The Eagles have to fly to the top of a mountain, a mountain that will be their home for the next 5 months.

• The most painful part of these months is when they have to hit their beaks against the hard rocks until they fall and a new one appears.
• Now with their new beak they will pull out their old nails and wait for new ones to grow…Patience!
• The new nails now help them weed out their old feathers.
• They have TRANSFORMED with a renewed strength and they get to live again.

  We all go through periods in life where we need a “Fresh Start,” the feeling of being recharged and having new found super powers from our experiences, mistakes, successes and heart breaks.

  If this was the option for us to receive that “Fresh Start”…would we climb to that mountain top and start such a process, one that will teach us greater endurance, patience, gratitude and overall strength like that of the Eagle?

  Me well I would have to get over my fear of heights first, ah now I have just realized part of my transformation is eliminating a fear I have.

  Each day is a new day yes but each day is a part in some way, shape or form of the last and the next so we can take a step towards our own Personalized Transformation…maybe a bit less painful as well.

Let’s keep transforming ourselves and flying!

It’s not all moving as fast as we think…

How can we listen anymore it all sounds the same, are you and your team ready to dig…because from services to data you have to get your hands dirty. I hope so but there is a ton of clutter not worth digging through…a total waste of time actually.

My hands have been dirty for 15 plus years and with all the new technology I am still digging in the same dirt…this is not a bad thing.

It means to me there has been more evolution of traditional practices than innovation and new services over the course of this time in the world of B2C marketing…as well as B2B.

I expected this to be in my favor and allow me to grow my new company faster than my last however this has only been partially the case, the other part is there is a lot more noise I am always trying to avoid or at least help companies block out.

When it comes to data there will always be tons of redundancy and reselling, so where is the data really located, managed, segmented and used properly for branding, engagement, retention and acquisition.

There right there is a line “branding, engagement, retention and acquisition” that so many companies use in collateral…including mine.

I remember in the Dark Knight the second film in the trilogy there were random vigilantes trying to be Batman, he saved and advised them a hockey suit just isn’t going to cut it against Gotham’s villains.

So where is the real Batman? He is out there, in the darkness waiting to be needed, he needs to be needed!

The challenge he and Gotham have faced over the years…is he really there to help or is he part of the problem or worse is it all a selfish vendetta to deal with the loss of his parents and releasing that anger.

Valuation versus Revenue and Profits!

What am I trying to say by using this example?

Well one I look for any opportunity to use Batman in a blog post and two because there are a lot of look-a-likes out there and their agendas in my opinion can’t be too grow a client, the experience isn’t there to understand what that even means not to mention the incredibly tough emphasis on valuations.

Snapchat is following in the footsteps of many successful app and B2C product companies and that is hiring from the likes of Google, Microsoft, Oracle, etc. The combination of these senior executives with young entrepreneurs has worked in the past and will continue to work.

This problem has not been amplified in the B2B start-up sector (yet) because the world is 90% plus focused on B2C services, products, apps etc. and new technology in consumer mobile, the generation working on this is the right generation they grew up on these devices and relationships via these apps.

I am not going to get into valuations, Mark Cuban does that much better than I can with his blog post here:

Part 1: http://blogmaverick.com/2015/03/04/why-this-tech-bubble-is-worse-than-the-tech-bubble-of-2000/

Part 2: http://blogmaverick.com/2015/03/05/why-this-tech-bubble-is-worse-than-the-tech-bubble-of-2000-part-2/

The marketing world needs to be more agile, more ready and a lot less handcuffed by white papers, case studies as well as fancy Board of Directors and Advisers, few of them will actually help you grow your business.

It’s not about being the cool kid/start up on the block when a Fortune 50-100 company has problems across divisions, balance sheets, profit and loss across an entire company or just a product.

It’s about combining forces, looking long term, using real experience, being fair and realizing this is a bigger issue than just one superhero…that’s why the Justice League created the Hall of Justice.

“Does what make sense”, you may ask…the real important things that actually affect not only our personal lives, but our work lives as well.

The list I have put together is a combination of emotions, lessons, and advice from my caring mentors i.e. best friends.

So here it goes, although I am not sure if they are in a prioritized order, but I don’t think it matters…at least not to me.

1. LIFE – let’s start with the big one that is ever changing and challenging. Our lives go from great successes to the feeling of a boxer in the ring, constantly taking punches in the corner! Although who is not to say we deserve both when they arrive? How do we handle this? I can only answer for myself and I’d like to tell the total truth here- sometimes I go out with friends to celebrate and sometimes I go by myself to take it all in and think. This “ritual” is for the good times and the bad. When I say go out it could mean a bar, a lounge, a walk in the park, a movie or a long ride in the car (sometimes very fast). These are my ways, what are yours?
2. LOVE – passion for your work and personal life that leads to the love of a person or ability is sometimes very hard to understand, and so is not getting too embraced in until the time is right.But what does “when the time is right” even mean? Close people to me (which is not too many) have always recognized I am one to wear my heart on my sleeve, as well put all I have from my heart for a project. There are positives and negatives with this way of life. Oh what are they you ask? Well my heart on my sleeve is quite visible, which is when my emotional walls go down and there is a chance this will create a target to shoot versus a trait to appreciate. In work we have all heard the phrase “Passion can ruin Profit”. Well I disagree that it makes you great and allows the people involved to know you care, that the positive part. The negative I am not open to be taken advantage of.

3. TRUST – In the immortal words of Jay Z, “My balls and my word is all I have”. This is very true for me personally, because I started so young in a business that was run by a much bigger business and trained executives, which I had a lot to prove too. So I decided to sum it up to I will deliver on my words, I will be known as the company and CEO that always delivers with truth, hard work and skin in the game. To this day it has proven a wise choice, although I must say things have changed a lot and transparency has been redefined in my opinion too, as transparent as possible. Trust is an all-in thing, you cannot be a little pregnant! Trust is also repaid trust someone and you will be trusted back by the right people, but do be careful there are a lot of sheep’s in wolves clothing as well there a lot of wolves in sheep’s clothing.

4. LOYALTY – much like trust it can be seen from great distance with little sight and creates a phenomenal reputation. The question that I ask myself is “who should I be loyal to?” First off I know it’s myself, because if I am not loyal to myself, so I will find it quite impossible to be loyal to others. Loyalty, like all the other points mentioned in this post, can also be dangerous as we could find out sooner or later we have been loyal to the wrong person, company, project or idea. So how do we decide this? Risk! Please understand this risk is just part of the risks we take and I mention to achieve a better more self-understanding life.

5. Honesty – I will make this simple first and then elaborate a bit- don’t lie if you don’t want to be lied to! Wake up in the morning, look into your own eyes in the mirror and ask yourself; “have I mastered or am I mastering honesty so powerfully to myself that it is impossible to not be honest to others?” Real people that you meet will connect with you and will appreciate your honesty, whether it is directly to you or in their own time, but they will show gratefulness for your honesty. You made someone grateful, WELL DONE!

6. SPIRITUALITY – call into the Universe any name you choose, and I am sure it will answer you back in some shape or form. Find in yourself the ability to believe in something greater. I find if I think of aliens or humans, I am not sure which I am and which ones I walk amongst. What I do know is that if I think that everyone on Earth is the bee’s knees…we are SCREWED. Therefore I must hope that there is a greater spirit, in a greater universe that produces more kind and gentle people- versus a world that I have found to do the opposite, as well as thrive on fear across the Globe.

7. YOUR DAILY PRACTICE – your body, your mind and your spirit need a lot of help from you. There is no way that all 3 of these things can accomplish this better life without you. For me it all started with The Daily Practice, by James Altucher. Then the rest of his books like “The Power of No”, by James Altucher & Claudia Azula Altucher, as well as “Choose Yourself”, also by James Altucher. His books, as well as his recommended reading list, have helped me wake up a lot of days to a smile, to being grateful, to exercise and these days are the good ones. However I am only human and it’s hard to stick to this some days. Don’t regret the day you don’t, but look forward to the next day and starting again.

8. STAYING POSITIVE – this is a summary of my entire post. It’s not easy to fight through the noise, the bad news they want us to hear and the rules we have been trained on as kids. It’s really hard for me personally to not take many things at work personally and not let them effect my personal life. I will admit that the times I have achieved this, I had someone in my life to go to for love, a hug and a simple “it’s all going to be OK”. With that right person in your life it can be just that simple. It’s not easy alone and the times it is, well unfortunately they do end.

9. SMILE – smile at someone, and 9 times out of 10 they will smile back at you. This creates a good feeling for you and that other person. Smile as much as you can, it flows from your face right through your body and creates a feeling of safety, warmth, trust… and well all the other 8 points I mention.

All of this takes risk for the hope of reward, OH YEAH HOPE I forgot about that one so let’s make it real short but no less important, WE ALL NEED HOPE!

“Don’t compare yourself with anyone in this world…if you do so, you are insulting yourself”  – Bill Gates

Yesterday was a weird day for me the universe presented many challenges, my schedule was all over the road and my evening plans to relax had to be cancelled last minute.

I have been working on building an aggregation of mobile media for my company with partners and data owners, so I can segment at more precise levels of consumer behavior across mobile and desktop and provide the right collaboration of brand and direct response.

Yesterday that went well and I have isolated as well as contacted at least 60% of the media I need to put this project together.

Every Tuesday I have a few standing calls with clients and companies I advise for, so usually Tuesday is pretty structured…not yesterday! Our largest client is 2 weeks away from launching a product we have worked 2 years on so now it’s down to the wire time and we had to have at least 4 calls throughout the day.

No problem they are a client so we must do whatever it takes to make sure Gocella and the client are successful. Always do what the client needs and if you are not prepared for what they need then figure it out, get advice Google like crazy to find what you need.

Once my dinner plans were changed I went back into work mode and spent time replying to more emails, texting with my CPO and helping out one of my best friends with a family problem that I have had experience with and was able to reach out to a friend for additional help.

So once this was all done I decided I need some sweets so I indulged in some Italian desserts, which was too much sugar too late at night which kept me awake and worrying about well…well everything.

Yesterday was not a “bad day” it was a long day that I needed to adapt by the hour to changes that were coming in my schedule and my action items originally planned.

When I woke up this morning I really didn’t feel like exercising so I didn’t which is such an important part of my Daily Practice and the best way to prepare for my day…bad start.

Why? Because I was still thinking about and feeling the emotions of yesterday…yesterday is gone! It’s not relevant to my day today and days ahead but it’s gone and I have to start today fresh no matter what happened yesterday.

Yesterday is the past, today is the now and tomorrow is not here yet.

If I don’t get myself in the now today…I will not be working and living at optimal performance and that is not helpful to myself, my company and my clients.

What advice do you have to put yesterday behind us?

“Learn from yesterday, live for today, hope for tomorrow. The important thing is not to stop questioning.”

Albert Einstein

Social Media as we all know is a fire hose of content moving at lightning speed. Yes there are 3 party applications now to filter better and find what you are looking for…however it’s content that is prepackaged for you based on some analytics but at this point in the game still mostly assumptions.

Personal use is quite different from business use but on both sides I feel the providers of content, promotions and rich media are not responding to a true 1 to 1 consumer need.

I use BufferApp.com to manage my posts on all SocNet and I love it, awesome product! I started the optimization over a year ago letting BufferApp optimize for me, recently an infographic on updates to most optimal times to post and how and blah blah was sent to me…so I changed my setting based upon the “statistics” of the report.

TOTALLY KILLED MY ENGAGEMENT – I went one week and watched all my engagement drop, Twitter, LinkedIn, G+ you name it. Also keep in mind I used a combination of my personal social as well as business.

The big boys have problems with reach and engagement and they know that, the 1 to Many model is cluttered and beat up, i.e. the acquisition of WhatsApp by Facebook in my opinion. At my company this is a white board daily only we are looking at SocNet and making comparisons to traditional media plus new.

What we have found is we have to empower the consumer with choice, personalize it and have the most relevant content.

Yes sounds very familiar I know however we have combined SMS, Voice, IVR, and SocNet to communicate so we are not optimizing ad conversion or aggregate engagement we are optimizing 1 to 1 communications and using individual data to help the consumer make decisions and gather the right content the way they want to consume in as well as respond to it.

Content to me is a big word I basically see it as everything so it could be news to promotions to alerts and help. The secret sauce is delivery and optimization.

Here is a good example from my friend, investor and board member James Altucher:

How To Get An MBA From Eminem

http://techcrunch.com/2014/01/18/how-to-get-an-mba-from-eminem/

With all that said I was inspired from my friend Brandon Pindulic when he sent me this article by Aaron Ginn 3 Distribution Channels to bet on for 2015

http://www.aginnt.com/post/91255772379/3-distribution-channels-to-bet-on-for-2015#.U7_mVvldWSr

Number 1 means a lot to Gocella and what the world will see from us in the very upcoming future as a company and a form of communications that’s agnostic to media and empowered by the consumer’s preferences and choices…they are different.

“Text messaging has grown into the largest social network in the world.” Aaron Ginn