Once in a while I get hit with a giant “duh, I should have thought of that.” Last night was one of those prized moments. During a 2AM business meeting at Denny’s in Santa Monica - apple crumble and two cups of coffee later - my partner looks over at me and asks: “So why aren’t you shadowing and writing about successful Millennial Boomers in your blog?”
I should have thought of this sooner: I’ve been doing the whole shadowing program for ummm, the last five years! At first, it was an effort to help my interns get ahead in their careers by pairing them up with a client or two and letting them have full access after the client Okayed it. I wanted my interns to get the full real world experience before I let my darlings go out into the big bad world. What can I say, I’ve been a mother practically my entire life.
After about my sixteenth intern it became abundantly clear how much value they garnered from the whole experience; but the model was off and something was missing; the whole idea needed perspective. I never really put my finger on it until 2AM last night - or is that this morning? I tell ya, Denny’s business meetings are just legendary in my life. So many breakthroughs happen between the fries and pie…
I realized the model needed to become more parallel. It needed a more seasoned perspective – more of a collegial learning experience. Now, for the first time I could easily answer the question posed by my partner in that late night impromptu meeting. “Why don’t you shadow successful Millennial Boomers?” Why the hell not!?
After all, I was the one that coached all the interns about how to shadow my executive clients for so many years: I’ve become THE Professional Shadow. So that’s what I’m going to do. Professionally shadow successful Millennial Boomers and tell you – my burgeoning Millennial Boomer readers – all about the experience. I hope you’re ready for this; because I do mean “all”.
Each month, for the next 12 months, I’ll shadow an executive Boomer that is living a Millennial Boomer life. I’ll spend time to understand his (or her) world; get the low-down on the good, the bad, and the ugly. Has their personal life become more strained in this new Business 2.0 world? How do they stay motivated when the media tells them they are becoming obsolete? What were some of the major pitfalls they would have planned to avoid? What were some great decisions and not so great decisions they made along the way and how did those decisions form the success they enjoy now?
I think you can agree there’s no better way to learn than from those who have been there done that. Sounds like a great idea to me and so does the shoe shopping trip I plan to take to celebrate. Ta!
Thursday, May 27, 2010
Saturday, May 22, 2010
3 EZ Steps to get ready for the Google TV/Internet Marriage
Have you ever been so passionate about sharing something that you go out, tell a room full of people and the only response you get back is the sound of crickets? Okay, well then you know how I felt about ten years ago when I stood in front of a Kiwanis group in Central Florida and declared: TV and the Internet will merge. As business people, you need to be ready for the 'Next".
Back then I was only about 25 and thought, no one would take me seriously if I pressed the topic. So I put my head down and went back to work as regular ol marketing consultant...waiting quietly until one of the bigger players did something significant that I could then rip from the headlines and put in front of my clients' faces saying "SEE! I told you we needed to get ready!"
Well, yesterday was that signature moment. I opened up my news feeds to this glorious headline: Google plans blended TV-Internet service
Now Europe and Japan have been readily using the gift of iTV for quite some time now, but where is it here in the states? Nowhere. My theory is that the cable companies have a monopolized hold on our viewing pleasures, so the iTV thing never really took root. I thought for a moment that the AOL/Time Warner merge would kick off the momentum, but no luck. Interactive television has been around for so long now that there's even entire seasons of hit show like CSI that have been produced! No joke, you can interact with the characters, view evidence and scenes from numerous angles and so on. I digress.
A big enough player is now coming in from the other side to mix it up. Forward motion on this next level of communication and entertainment is on the way. I'm stoked about the progress, but heed warning to the Millennial Boomer business execs: You will lose even more control of your message if you are not prepared for your customer to now interact with you on this new level. Three things you need to start talking to your advertising agencies about NOW:
1. Strategic product placement campaigns (that's where you see brands in movies and TV shows that you recognize). If your ad agency does not do this kind of strategy work and media buys, find a one that does. Imagine a little Google search box in the corner of TV screens where a viewer can spot a product, search it and buy it within seconds. You'll want to know your options when it comes to this kind of purchasing behavioral patterns. Those of you in retail, will also want to be sure your websites are prepared with a full point of purchase shopping cart solution.
2. Vamp up your awareness about Advertising Networks in the virtual reality world: http://wiki.secondlife.com/wiki/Advertising_Networks
Folks, as far fetched as it sounds, adults are MAJOR gamers. Statistics show that 65% of American households play. The average player is 35 years old and guess what? The average statistic of a search engine user is a 35 yr. old educated male. See a pattern? http://www.grabstats.com/statcategorymain.asp?StatCatID=13#Stats
3. Start interviewing video editors and producers and plan to have them on staff. If you're a company that plans to stay in business over the next 5-10 years, you need to be producing your white paper in the form of video content. Lots and lots of it, produced somewhat professionally (doesn't need to be perfect, just relevant). I've worked with lots of these guys, so let me know if you need some good references.
Bottom line is that if you're not approaching this as a Millennial Boomer, it's going to be that much harder to get ahead of the game once all these new rules of engagement for Business 2.0 pop up. No need to worry though. You still have plenty of time if you start now!
Back then I was only about 25 and thought, no one would take me seriously if I pressed the topic. So I put my head down and went back to work as regular ol marketing consultant...waiting quietly until one of the bigger players did something significant that I could then rip from the headlines and put in front of my clients' faces saying "SEE! I told you we needed to get ready!"
Well, yesterday was that signature moment. I opened up my news feeds to this glorious headline: Google plans blended TV-Internet service
Now Europe and Japan have been readily using the gift of iTV for quite some time now, but where is it here in the states? Nowhere. My theory is that the cable companies have a monopolized hold on our viewing pleasures, so the iTV thing never really took root. I thought for a moment that the AOL/Time Warner merge would kick off the momentum, but no luck. Interactive television has been around for so long now that there's even entire seasons of hit show like CSI that have been produced! No joke, you can interact with the characters, view evidence and scenes from numerous angles and so on. I digress.
A big enough player is now coming in from the other side to mix it up. Forward motion on this next level of communication and entertainment is on the way. I'm stoked about the progress, but heed warning to the Millennial Boomer business execs: You will lose even more control of your message if you are not prepared for your customer to now interact with you on this new level. Three things you need to start talking to your advertising agencies about NOW:
1. Strategic product placement campaigns (that's where you see brands in movies and TV shows that you recognize). If your ad agency does not do this kind of strategy work and media buys, find a one that does. Imagine a little Google search box in the corner of TV screens where a viewer can spot a product, search it and buy it within seconds. You'll want to know your options when it comes to this kind of purchasing behavioral patterns. Those of you in retail, will also want to be sure your websites are prepared with a full point of purchase shopping cart solution.
2. Vamp up your awareness about Advertising Networks in the virtual reality world: http://wiki.secondlife.com/wiki/Advertising_Networks
Folks, as far fetched as it sounds, adults are MAJOR gamers. Statistics show that 65% of American households play. The average player is 35 years old and guess what? The average statistic of a search engine user is a 35 yr. old educated male. See a pattern? http://www.grabstats.com/statcategorymain.asp?StatCatID=13#Stats
3. Start interviewing video editors and producers and plan to have them on staff. If you're a company that plans to stay in business over the next 5-10 years, you need to be producing your white paper in the form of video content. Lots and lots of it, produced somewhat professionally (doesn't need to be perfect, just relevant). I've worked with lots of these guys, so let me know if you need some good references.
Bottom line is that if you're not approaching this as a Millennial Boomer, it's going to be that much harder to get ahead of the game once all these new rules of engagement for Business 2.0 pop up. No need to worry though. You still have plenty of time if you start now!
Tuesday, May 18, 2010
Millennial Boomer Supporting Facts 3:10
Seniors as Entrepreneurs: Their Time Has Come
By Stacy Perman, Businessweek.com
Excerpt: “Economic volatility plus more boomer retirees have moved the starting age for startups and led to a surge of senior-run businesses”
One of my favorites. Full story:
http://www.businessweek.com/smallbiz/content/jun2009/sb2009068_927403.htm
By Stacy Perman, Businessweek.com
Excerpt: “Economic volatility plus more boomer retirees have moved the starting age for startups and led to a surge of senior-run businesses”
One of my favorites. Full story:
http://www.businessweek.com/smallbiz/content/jun2009/sb2009068_927403.htm
Millennial Boomer Supporting Facts 2:10
Smallbizlabs.com
June 30, 2009
Excerpt: A recently released Kauffman Foundation Study - nicely summarized by the study author in an article in The American - that suggests that baby boomers will create a boom in entrepreneurship. Key quote: Several facts have emerged from Kauffman Foundation research that indicate the United States might be on the cusp of an entrepreneurship boom—not in spite of an aging population but because of it.... These factors include the shifting age distribution in the country, the continued decline of lifetime employment, the experience and tacit knowledge such employees carry with them, and the effects of the 2008-2009 recession on established sectors of the economy.
The Good News:
"By 2018, with no change in current labor force participation rates or immigration rates and an expected return to healthy economic growth, we will have more jobs than people to fill them." This means that Boomers who prepared, have their ducks in a row will have ample employment opportunities in the future. Why is this important? I believe it's because many Boomers have not been able to fully fund their retirement. To read both posts further:
http://www.smallbizlabs.com/boomers/
Millennial Boomer Supporting Facts 1:10
Boomers Move To Self-Employment
Ashlea Ebeling, FORBES 07.02.09, 05:00 PM EDT
Rising unemployment reinforces their entrepreneurial bent.
Fortunately (for those in this age group and for the economy), older workers have recently demonstrated they have a plan B: Work for themselves.
Over the past decade, the highest rate of new-business creation has been posted by the 55 to 64 age group, Dane Stangler, senior analyst at the Kauffman Foundation, a Kansas City, Mo., charity devoted to entrepreneurship, notes in a new report, "The Coming Entrepreneurship Boom." Using data from the Kauffman Index of Entrepreneurial Activity, the study finds that from 1996 to 2007, Americans aged 55 to 64 averaged a rate of entrepreneurial activity roughly one-third higher than those aged 20 to 34.
Full Story:
http://www.forbes.com/2009/07/02/self-employed-boomers-unemployment-personal-finance-older-entrepreneurs.html
Ashlea Ebeling, FORBES 07.02.09, 05:00 PM EDT
Rising unemployment reinforces their entrepreneurial bent.
Fortunately (for those in this age group and for the economy), older workers have recently demonstrated they have a plan B: Work for themselves.
Over the past decade, the highest rate of new-business creation has been posted by the 55 to 64 age group, Dane Stangler, senior analyst at the Kauffman Foundation, a Kansas City, Mo., charity devoted to entrepreneurship, notes in a new report, "The Coming Entrepreneurship Boom." Using data from the Kauffman Index of Entrepreneurial Activity, the study finds that from 1996 to 2007, Americans aged 55 to 64 averaged a rate of entrepreneurial activity roughly one-third higher than those aged 20 to 34.
Full Story:
http://www.forbes.com/2009/07/02/self-employed-boomers-unemployment-personal-finance-older-entrepreneurs.html
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