Sometimes, in the first go round of anything, you get it wrong or you really mess up.

It didn’t work. You did something stupid. In fact, you want to forget all about it.

Michael Vick knows what that means and so does a book that Free Press published in June called Madonnas of Echo Park. As covered in the WSJ today, they spent a ton on marketing, worked hard on the designing the perfect book cover (to be exact there were 41 versions of it) and it bombed. Sales were disappointing, now what?

Why not try again? That’s what they did. In February the book will come out in paperback with a completely new look. Will the new cover make a difference? They’d never know unless they tried it again.

And this is where you need a second wind.

When something does not work, retool it, rethink it and give it another shot.

For more on this book proposal, view: Hard candy advice. Why sweet is not always better.

Karen has joined the daily blogging club! Use the RSS feed to get everyday insight or sign up for the Oddpodz ezine, which is a summary of blog posts that is sent out bi weekly.

Here is a wrap-up of the last 15 days:

1 – In Mystery of pricing exposed. How much would you pay to look smarter?, Karen Post highlights the fact that we tend to forget: behind every decision we make, there is a price. From this standpoint, ask yourself ‘How much am I ready to pay for a particular situation?’ In order to do so, Karen recommends Eduardo Porter’s book The Price of Everything: Solving the Mystery of Why We Pay What We Do. Check out Karen’s literature choice and the awesome trailer, here.

2 – In You know you are engaged when you take your laptop and Seth Godin to the bathroom, Karen shares with us 4 tips she learned from the Seth Godin’s recent webinar she attended (and could not get away from…!). Engagement is one of the primary sources of success. Even during challenging times, do your best to keep engaging in what really matters. The four tips also discuss guest bloggers, blogging frequency, Twitter and not giving up. Learn from Seth and Karen here.

3 – In 10-steps to making writing your blog easier, Karen gives great tips to help each and every one of us to enhance our blogging experience. Keeping up with a consistent daily post is harder than what we can expect. Try out Karen’s 10 ta-do’s and bring your A game when blogging. Check out Karen’s list here.

4 – In The #1 strategy that is giving me more money, influence and balance, Karen discusses her focus on trying to align all of her business ventures. These strategies can be good for your business as well. See how she does it with Oddpodz here.

5 – In 3 productivity tips to prevent eye strain & pain from your computer, Karen shares a few tips on how help your eyes if, like the average business worker, you spend more than 8 hours a day, 7 days a week, in front of a computer screen. See what Karen does to avoid painful eyes and how to stay productive here.

6 – We have all asked for feedback on a project and found that good feedback does not always necessarily mean nice feedback. In Hard candy advice. Why sweet is not always better, Karen tells us about the feedback she received from a recognized author concerning her book proposal. Although it might not have been nice to hear, she definitely received helpful tips. See how she used her advisor’s insights to the fullest here.

7 – In 4-simple habits of champion goal-getters, Karen lists 4 qualities that a well-driven person should have. From setting clear objectives, to surrounding themselves with focused people, some day-to-day habits are essential for anyone who attempts to be a successful goal-getter. See what makes Karen a goal-getter here.

8 – Productivity is a powerful thing. In Save at least 5 hours a week. Subscribe to RSS feeds, Karen tells us how to increase our weekly productivity and to save precious hours. Stop surfing the web looking for pieces of information you want from your favorite websites. Make the news come to you – learn to use RSS feeds here.

9 – In Feet and footers should both be sexy, Karen mentions one of her pet peeves: feet! And also the footers on web designs. Have you checked your website/blog footers lately? You might want to reevaluate and see if they’re eye catching. But before doing so, see what Karen thinks about feet and footers here.

10 – In A crazy combination that works. Bad spelling+psycho cats=$30M in cash, Karen tells us about a crazy success story. Ben Huh, former journalist, bought a website: I Can Has Cheezburger and turned this misspelled domain name into a venture that just raised $30M! See how Ben did it here.

11 – In How to scale up the experience you deliver in 4 dramatic steps, Karen deals with a notion that is really important in the start-up world: scalability. How can a company use all the space available to communicate and sell their products? Learn more about scaling-up your business here.

12 – Want to be a standout brand? Avoid these 5 costly mistakes discusses tips every business should follow if they want to standout from the pack. To become a memorable brand, Karen Post talks about what to do and what not to do here.

Need to know something important? And get some feedback on a critical project?
Getting the best advice on anything is always a tricky task. Many of us gravitate to asking our friends. This is generally not wise and a big waste of time.

• Your friends hopefully like you, so they will say nice things about you.
• Your friends are also often not experts in what you are asking them for advice on.
• And free advice is also often aligned with quality (you get what you pay for).

A couple of weeks ago I was wrapping up a very important book proposal. This was a second chance to score with a big publisher. My first submission was kicked back (with important publisher/editor suggestions) that I needed to add or change. I knew it was now or never. While I felt good about my revised draft, I was not willing to risk the result (or my investment to date over 100 hours) without running it by a proven expert.

I remembered a coach I had worked with in the past who had written some books with this same publisher that I was having dialogue with through my agent. I shot him an email, explained the situation. He agreed to provide a read through and some counsel for $1000. In making my decision, I looked at what this book deal was worth to me, certainly that figure times at least a 100 times, and I knew this consultant/expert had the experience I needed with this publisher and many publishers.

So I fired off my draft with an email summarizing many things that I thought were important for the consultant to know. He fired back a short email. “Karen, you need to be more concise in your emails, I don’t need all of that. And your first draft gets a C”. He also provided very concise bullet points on what I needed to improve.

Our subsequent conversations were also very direct, no sweet candy coating, in fact, they were Sergeant-like blunt.

I got to work. I didn’t get emotional about him not blowing sunshine up my skirt or feeding my ego, which my friends would have done if I asked them for feedback.

After 8 intense days of focus and reworking my proposal, following my consultants advice, I sent him back the new draft.

This time he responded, “Excellent! Well written. Fascinating chapter angles. This is ready to send to the publisher”. The consultant also offered to write my forward and any testimonials. WOW! This consultant has written 30 titles in 9 languages. That said a lot.

Was it a joy and pleasure working with this very smart dude? NO. It was not like paling with my buddies.

Did his contribution significantly increase my work product value and the likelihood of me winning a great contract. Oh YES!

For more advice, check out: Mind freeze, is there a fast way to thaw your thoughts?

Off to a mondo start for the New Year, we hope these stories add to your life and success.

1 – In 3 gifts that should be on everyone’s holiday wish list, Karen mentions three entrepreneurial qualities that will help any business owner to move forward. If you have not offered yourself anything during this holiday season, it is now time to make it up with (a) intention, (b) empathy and (c) confidence. Karen lets us know why this combo will make you a successful entrepreneur here.

2 – In How to turn competition into sales, Karen explains a mantra that we have all been hearing in business: “Competition is good!”. In this article, she shares one of her experiences listing three tips that will help you to make allies out of your current competitors. Read how to use competition for your business’ sake here.

3 – In Entrepreneur Corner features Karen Post on branding your small business, Karen invites us to listen to the Entrepreneur Corner online show hosted by her friend Lisa Malloy on January the 10th. The show can be seen here. Karen and Lisa will bring their expertise on branding development during half an hour. Check the program of the show here.

4 – In Step up your progress, passion and perspective, Karen wraps up 2010 by listing several moments that made her year a success. But, as usual, she also gives us the takeaway lessons that she learned on the way. Check out the Karen’s lessons of 2010 here.

5 – In How I earned the #1 spot on Google, Karen talks about the one thing every entrepreneur wants for their business: Get top ranked in Google search. Thanks to different tasks based on keywords, content publishing and tags, the Branding Diva made it to the top for the “branding speaker” search.

6 – What is the first thing that comes to mind when you think of the word ‘price’? In Mystery of pricing exposed. How much would you pay to look smarter? Karen Post talks about a fabulous new book she recently read that will get you thinking about how critical and motivating prices in our lives really are. To read more about this book, and to read Karen’s review, click here.

Check out the ta-do list and follow the same path here! And congrats Karen!

2010 is soon to be done, it’s time to plan 2011. Develop your strategies wisely being honest to yourself and to your customers, partners and projects. You have a full month left to develop this before a new year starts all over! Our team of bloggers have been focusing on this for the past few days. Get inspired!

1 – In Bahamas, beach cats and branding, Karen Post tells us what it’s like to be the Branding Diva and getting to go talk to great people, in great locations, about great subjects. Karen was in the Bahamas to speak about branding to destination companies and event planners. She shares her PowerPoint deck from the program, her content highlights and an original song parody she wrote to a Bob Marley tune which she renamed: Get up! Brand-Up! Listen to it, you’ll want to dance all day! Read Karen’s great insights here.

2 – About two weeks ago, Jocelyn Ring gave us takeaways on a must-read book: Cruch it! by Gary Vaynerchuck. It’s an amazing read from zero to $60 million in sales!

3 – In Outdoor advertising – effective tool? Dangerous Distraction, Joe Melle answers a question you might have asked yourself: would a billboard advertising campaign be good for your business? From the history of billboard advertising, to its future with the digital form, Joe does not forget anything about this kind of media. Will it be an objective for your 2011 marketing strategies? See Joe’s answer here.

4 – In If I would have known this sooner, things might be very different, Karen Post sums up 4 guidelines to follow to make your life rock. Inspiring, as always. Get tuned up with these wise words from Karen, read them here.

5 – In Got flaws? How flaunting them can help your credibility, Karen tells us about one of her experiences where she actually talked about her imperfections. In this world in which everybody tries to sell themselves as a perfect person, being able to recognize that things are not always that good makes you score honesty points! Learn how to use it well reading Karen’s post here.

6 – In Sales person or a trusted advisor. Who are you?, Clint Babcock, our professional sales manager trainer, gives a powerful piece of advice: act like you are a trusted friend of your prospect who does not need the sale. Results are warranted! Check out Clint’s words here.

7 – Do you have two time-consuming projects that you love but still can’t figure out which one to dedicate more time to? In Torn between two lovers, no different than business priorities, Karen explains to us how to make priorities showing us the way she allocates her time to both her consulting business and Oddpodz. Learn how Karen does it here, then do it yourself.

8 – In Stale website just as bad as stale bread- YUCK, Karen mentions a very important rule to keep your visitors entertained: stay active and bring fresh content. Also, she gives us two great sources: Tim Ash’s Marketing Profs and Clay Collins Pre-launch Formula mentor program. For having personally checked out the second one, it is really worth the visit! See Karen’s thoughts concerning these two programs here.

9 – In 12 Questions to ask yourself while planning your 2011 marketing strategies, Jocelyn Ring overlooks the points that you need to focus on to prepare your 2011 (yes, already!) marketing strategies. Among all of the thoughts she develops, there’s one that I strongly believe nobody in business should ever forget: Respect your customers! Without them you would not be here. You might like another point better, so be sure to make the best out of Jocelyn’s tips here.

10 – Twitter in the am, twitter in the pm. I know, we can’t live without it anymore! Yet, like every thing we deal with on a daily basis, we think we know it well but it’s not for certain! In 5 Free twitter tips to follow, to gain followers, Lauren Angrick lists up a handful of advice which will give to your twitter experience a shot of B12. Check Lauren’s tips here.

11 – Do you know what the 106 impossible things before breakfast are? Karen Post does after reading the book by Dr. Robert Quine and John Nolan. It’s about ways to discover a lot of difficult tasks, if you start early enough. Karen Post shares tips and solutions on how to solve what you think may be impossible. Check out Karen’s post here.

12 -In Can vision kill your game?, Karen Post discusses her struggle on the tennis court and how you can relate it to business challenge and competitors. This very inspiring read will make you think twice about giving up the task at hand. You can read this post here.

That being said, what are your plans for 2011? Make it the best year ever!

Turn water into wine, prepare hot ice cream and tell time with a broken clock, sounds crazy? Not so, if you reinvent the way you look at the problem.

Just remove the IM our of impossible and it’s possible!

Last weekend I read the book, 106 Impossible Things Before Breakfast by Dr. Robert Quine and John Nolan, and surprisingly discovered how one can solve a lot of seemingly difficult tasks before breakfast, if you start early.

Also, check out: Why creatures of habit are champions in sports, business and life.

No magic stuff here, just good, contemporary thinking with simple methods to shake up your challenge at hand.

The book is smaller than an ipad and a lot cooler than most creativity rags, because easy to digest, fast and fun—my kind of book. More than just tips, it gives you 106 before and after exercises to solve and see the process.

For example:
Grow plants without light. Seems like a tough task.

Start with solutions that reinterpret the problem.

• Grow them without light, OK they may die, but you are still growing them.
• Try plastic plants, add to them, that’s growing your crop.
• Redefine what light is, is it natural, in a lab or some other way.

Then look at solutions that go around the problem.
Then look at solutions you had not thought of.
Then look at solutions that are probably impractical.

Suddenly you have a slew of new ideas.

This book taught me how to:
-reinterpret the question
-find a way to change the rules
-develop entirely new solutions
-and eliminate impractical ideas

This book is worth the pick up. Need other ideas on creativity? check out the book I wrote on A to Z, 26 ways to new ideas and more creativity.

1 – In 5 inspirational ideas and 2 revelations from an adventure to Chicago, the Branding Diva, Karen Post, shares with us a bunch of branding principles that hit her while enjoying her time in Chi-town. Among these tips, you will find her insights on concept such as distinction, packaging or the use of metaphors.

Make sure you read Karen’s article here.

2 – In Are you missing a great opportunity, Karen interviews her fellow personal branding expert Dan Schawbel about his international bestseller career book Me 2.0: 4 Steps to Building Your Future. Together, they go over their thoughts on Personal Branding in one’s career and Dan highlights what’s really important such as finding your niche, empower your interpersonal skills and many other tips that you can’t miss.

Watch the video of Karen and Dan’s conversation here.

3 – In A secret to scoring sales that so many avoid like root canals, Clint Babcock remains us that there is no wasted time in targeting the top in anything you do. To picture this powerful concept, Clint gives us the example of a sales manager and shows us a way to reach your goals aiming for the top. Great insights, thanks Clint!

Learn from Clint’s ideas here.

4 – In Does your business card scream “I’m broke, clueless or stuck in 1980”?, Karen, once again, gives us great pieces of advice concerning business branding. Here, she focuses on the look of a powerful business card. This piece of paper is worth millions if you invest in it. Make sure it is professional and representing you effectively following Karen’s tips.

Create a professional business card from Karen’s experience starting here.

5 – In Supply is infinite, time is finite. Here’s how to leverage both, Thomson Dawson deals with a question that any real entrepreneur and business professional has once asked himself: “How (the hell) will I do all this in one day?”. Thomson tells us that it is not about how many hours you work in your day that truly matters, yet it is the extent to which you release your potential within a given period of time. On personal basis, this post made me think a lot! Thanks Thomson!

Read Thomson’s insights here.

6 – In her Book review – “Tribes” by Seth Godin, Jocelyn Ring gives us her feelings and takeaways after her reading of this must-have book: “Tribes” by Seth Godin. From the definition of a tribe to the role and behavior of a true leader, Jocelyn got it all. One of the best business book of the past decade is given to you in 12 key points.

Make sure you go over Jocelyn’s review here.

A lot of insights have been given. Which one has been the most valuable to you and your business?

Personal branding “Me 2.0″ style
Stop loosing opportunities. Be your strongest business magnet, exude authority, earn trust and enjoy more success today.

My friend Dan Schawbel’s new book, Me 2.0: Build a Powerful Brand to Achieve Career Success is out today. It’s a great read for its dedicated audience of young professionals, along with us older folks who act all different ages.

Here are some pointers I soaked up from the book and some inspirational, insightful thoughts from a couple of my favorite business experts.

Dan professes, “personal branding describes the process by which individuals and entrepreneurs differentiate themselves and stand out from a crowd by identifying and articulating their unique value proposition, whether professional or personal, and then leverage it across platforms with a consistent message and image to achieve a specific goal. In this way, individuals can enhance their recognition as experts in their field, establish reputation and credibility, advance their careers, and build self-confidence .”

He also suggests you ask yourself this important question before you launch off into your Me 2.0 initiative.

Does your career path make you happy?

If yes, great keep working it. Make the most of your talents and skill set to achieve maximum success.

If no, change it. Find the right path for you and focus on making it work.

If you’re unsure about your future—define it. Weigh all the factors that matter to you and find the career path that fits best.

Read the rest of this entry »

That’s an interesting mix of subjects that should resonate with most of our readers. I must admit, I’m starting to really enjoy this blogging thing. Sharing what I know and what I believe with a bunch of creative-minded biz friends is fun and challenging.

Blogging.
As I sit down at my keyboard tonight and begin to write this week’s posts I ponder about some things.

1) Should this blog and Oddpodz for that matter be more narrowly focused, our content, tools and offerings?
Today, we strive to give creative-minded business people and organizations, from a 1 person solo practice to a 500-person enterprise, good ideas, free tools and a network to find and connect with other valuable resources and people.

Is diversity a good thing? Or is a more laser-like target better? Please tell us what you think.

2) What does it take to build a power blog?
In general terms, we know it’s about good content, ongoing SEO efforts and participating in other high traffic communities and blogs. But what are the top 10 most powerful actions a blogger can do to significantly move the reader meter.

I’m going to post both of these questions in our forum and invite you to add your feedback. I’ve been using my Linkedin groups quite a bit to have discussions on a bunch of issues.

Read the rest of this entry »