Note: This post was originally published on the Nourish The Dream blog.

SOPA: Are You Prepared To Be Silenced?

Here at Nourish The Dream, we are incredibly passionate about the success of small businesses and entrepreneurs. We work tirelessly to produce events and resources that will help “nourish the dream” of business ownership and success in the lives of people. And that’s why we feel it’s important to bring SOPA (and its evil twin: PIPA) to your attention.

Depending upon when you read this, the links above may not be working. That’s because Wikipedia is “going dark” for the very first time (at least for its English version) in its history in order to protest this outrageous piece of legislation.

Why Sound the Alarm?

On the surface, the idea behind these bills is honorable and even noble: to stop the illegal downloading & sharing of content protected by copyright. The biggest beneficiaries of this action are relatively obvious: record labels, movie studios and others who create content which is ordinarily sold but which is being pirated (something which, I would like to note, is already illegal).

The egregious nature of the legislation comes not from its ostensible purpose but from its far-reaching, dangerous implications. Specifically, as the legislation is currently drafted, it gives incredible powers of internet censorship to the US courts. Further, it places ridiculous demands upon search engines to no longer provide links to sites which are accused of violating copyrights.

Picture a world where Google is required to police its search results at any given moment for links to websites which have not been proven to be guilty of violating copyrights. Picture a world where your small business website can be shut down at will by anyone willing to throw out a complaint.

In short: the legislation as drafted violates the free speech rights of US citizens via censorship without due process of law.

What About Piracy?

First let me say that we make our living creating content and enjoying the wonderful protection of copyright law. Without copyrights, it would be very difficult for our parent organization to recognize revenue from the training products it creates. Similarly, here at Nourish The Dream, we value very highly the ability for us to create and distribute CDs, MP3s and (soon) DVDs of materials to empower, train & equip the business owners and entrepreneurs we exist to serve… and to, in turn, achieve revenue from those sales to fuel our mission and to give us the ability to create new & better products as we go.

It is therefore of no small significance to us that there be appropriate tools in the hands of legislators and law enforcement agencies to go after piracy and shut it down where possible. We fully understand that no retailer would leave their shop doors unlocked at night with no one watching. There are evil people in the world, and the “honor system” doesn’t always pan out well in the end. Hence the need for proper protections for those who create items of value.

All of that said, SOPA & PIPA do not place appropriate powers in the hands of the right parties to solve the issues they purport to address. Rather, they place undue power in the hands of a few while effectively crippling the business model of many valuable companies who contribute to an open, free (as in speech) internet.

Looking for something to do about it? Visit AmericanCensorship.org or sign this petition on WhiteHouse.gov.

Google celebrates its 13th birthday with a special Google Doodle!

It’s hard to believe, but the website most of us use everyday to start just about anything we do online didn’t exist until 13 years ago.

Their rise to dominance didn’t take place until later, but the company was incorporated in September, 1998. By 2000, they were processing 100 million searches per day… and of course, today they own the US search market. (Market share varies depending who measures it and what they measure… but for all intents & purposes, they’re the search engine that matters.)

In addition to the 28,000 people they employ directly, Google and its products have an impact on the businesses, careers and income on an incredibly high number of people. I’m sure someone has tried to do it, but it would truly be impossible to measure the economic impact of this behemoth. This could be why Google officials were recently testifying before Congress regarding the competitiveness of their operations… but that’s something for another day.

For today… on behalf of small businesses and marketers everywhere… Happy Birthday, Google! We’re celebrating right along with you today!

I never cease to be amazed at the things I learn in my line of work. As someone who works almost exclusively with business owners, I’m always finding ideas, thoughts, services and products that are brand new to me.

Carol Fisher of Inner Key Yoga

For example, recently I have had the great pleasure of getting to know Carol Fisher, who is an instructor of yoga in Walnut Creek, CA. Carol is one of those people you run across that is truly a delight. She was referred to me by a mutual friend several months ago, and we were able to get acquainted during the course of helping her with marketing strategy for her business.

I’ve learned a few important things from Carol, some of which we’ll save for a different post (since it has very little to do with yoga). But in the process of learning about the work that she does, she helped me understand something about the importance of movement, balance and strength for persons suffering with Parkinson’s disease.

Now, I already have a fair amount of knowledge about Parkinson’s disease, in no small part thanks to the Parkinson’s disease doctor who has been a client of ours for several years now. So I’m familiar with the tremor, the gait and other unique symptoms that Parkinson’s sufferers have to deal with.

But until I met Carol, I never would have imagined that training under a yoga instructor could really improve the quality of life for a Parkinson’s patient.

Why Yoga for Parkinson’s Disease?

Evidently, there’s quite a bit of research which suggests that exercise is helpful for Parkinson’s sufferers. Since that’s true, it makes perfect sense that yoga might just be an ideal form of exercise for Parkinson’s disease patients.

And while yoga (nor any other form of exercise, for that matter) doesn’t truly treat any Parkinson’s symptoms, one can see how the flexibility, balance and strength gained through engaging in yoga could, in fact, really improve the overall health, confidence and quality of life for someone facing this disease.

A Parkinson’s diagnosis can, in and of itself, bring a great deal of stress along with it. Yoga is widely known as a great tool for dealing with stress. In addition, the average age of Parkinson’s onset is approximately 60 years. Thus, Parkinson’s sufferers are also dealing with the normal issues related to aging. This means that staying physically active and improving balance and strength are more important than ever… and much more so given the symptoms of the disease.

And this is only the beginning. Carol has begun writing about Parkinson’s disease and yoga, and she is doing a fantastic job of explaining in greater detail how yoga can serve to help Parkinson’s sufferers. Be sure to check it out! And if you happen to be located in the area east of Oakland, California, then Carol and Inner Key Yoga may be just the physical fitness solution you’ve been looking for — regardless of your age! Perhaps a visit to her yoga in the park in Walnut Creek would be a great way to start!

**Update** The BarCamp Sarasota Fall 2011 event takes place October 15-16 at GWIZ. Epiphany Marketing is making presentations there as well. We hope to see you!

I’m writing this from inside an Entrepreneurial Roundtable session being facilitated by locally-based technologist Stan Schultes. The ideas being generated within this “open source” group of people are absolutely stellar. There are folks in the room who have been there, done it, and are looking for an opportunity to share back and forth.

This is just one example of the benefits of having an event like BarCamp Sarasota. This year’s event is being held this weekend at GWIZ, which turns out to be a perfect venue because of their various small rooms that seem ideally suited for sessions like those you’ll find at a BarCamp event. The sessions are on a wide variety of topics — both technology-focused and otherwise. Skimming through upcoming session for today, here are some of the topics on the menu:

• “Leadership and Community Building, Why Now More than Ever?” with Sara Hand
• “The Zen of Building Sustainable Technology” with Lorrie Vervoordt
• “Programming Humans” with  Tracy Ingram
• “Facebook Marketing & SEO” with Thao Tran

At 11am, we’ll be presenting…

Making It All Pay: Growing Your Business with 21st Century Tools

Yes… technology is great! We love it… but without a comprehensive, written, measurable strategy in place, most every business will find themselves floundering in a sea of unfinished initiatives — nearly all of which have failed to produce any significant result from a business standpoint.

For example… how many businesses have websites, blogs, Facebook pages, Twitter accounts, etc. but can’t point to any new business that they have produced? Or (perhaps worse) know that some business has been produced, but the metrics aren’t in place to identify how much and from which initiatives.

So… we’ll be talking about the strategy piece of the equation… and lining up all the elements in a way that gets you the result you desire. For most businesses, this means new customers, bigger  market share and long-term profitability.

Hope you join us for our session… More reports from this year’s BarCamp event later!

Ok… admit it. You’ve done it. We all do it. You’ve probably done it lately.

C’mon… tell me…

“How often do you Google yourself?”

Well it’s fun to see where you rank. But if you own a business, it’s critical today to rank #1 on your own name. If you serve a local market, you should at least rank #1 on your own name in your city.

However, as I’ve pointed out again and again to audiences all over the globe when speaking… ranking on your own name isn’t really marketing. It’s customer service. (Ok… it’s also brand protection, which is a marketing function, but let’s not get nit-picky here.)

What Are Your Customers Searching For?

A far more useful idea, however, is to rank #1 (or at least near the top) in Google and those other search engines on phrases that likely buyers will use when they’re searching for the stuff you sell.

For example, if you happened to be looking for a place to eat out in my city (I live and work in the paradise known as Sarasota, Florida), you might run a search like:

“fondue Sarasota”

or

“buffalo wings Sarasota”

Admittedly, you probably aren’t real likely to run both of those searches on the same day… For a nice evening out, my wife and I really enjoy fondue together. And I personally can’t seem to drag her kicking and screaming to a wings joint (happens maybe once every 2-3 years), so I go there for lunch when possible with friends that enjoy hot wings… since one of the local places is my favorite restaurant in the entire world!

But I digress…let me get to the point.

“Why Haven’t They Contacted Me Yet?”

If you happen to be the owner (or manager) of, say…

• Dylan’s Fondue Fusion
• The Melting Pot
• Wings N Things
• Wings N Weenies

…don’t you think you would contact the marketing firm that owns the website that ranks #1 in Google on the above searches?

For the record, I never really set out to rank #1 on those terms. I just happen to have decided randomly one day to write about those topics. And I happen to know what tools to use to market a local business! And I happen to use those tools myself… so… rankings happen.

You know they’re running those Google searches from time to time, right? I mean seriously… you need to know where your business ranks on those kinds of terms. And you would want (I would think) to do everything in your power to make sure that you had good positioning… so…

In case you’re wondering… yes, we help businesses with search engine rankings. But as I recently pointed out on our small business marketing blog, rankings are only a piece of the puzzle. More importantly, we train small businesses how to be their own best marketers so that they can consistently attract customers in cost-effective ways — both online and offline.

Now… if you’re in a critical situation and need rapid help with the results you’re getting from your website, our website performance assessment is a great place to start.

Otherwise, you can contact us to learn more about how we can help you grow your business!

Add this as the latest in the bewildering flurry of confusing and contradictory information about the Sarasota real estate market. According to Today Show Real Estate Expert Barbara Corcoran, Sarasota is the number one place in the country to buy a home.

“Sarasota, Florida is probably what is a symbol of the worst real estate market in the country.”

- Barbara Corcoran

The reason she cites is all about market timing. According to Ms. Corcoran, prices fell one-third in 2008 and are rising rapidly — up 12% this year.

Now I’m not sure where Ms. Corcoran is getting her data, but perhaps she has failed to factor in the pending foreclosures in Sarasota County, which some speculate to number above 7,000! Of those, more than 5000 have yet to even hit the markets. And the other big unknown: what will the impact of the Option ARM resets be when they really begin to escalate in 2010 and 2011?

As I’ve said before, I have friends in the real estate business (and related industries) around here who constantly feed me information about what’s going on. And I must say, the numbers are so loaded with spin by the time they make their way into the public eye that it’s impossible to interpret them accurately.

Ultimately, like any investment, if you’re thinking about purchasing real estate in Sarasota, you need to do your own research and be prepared for the risks you face.

Also Barbara Corcoran’s list: (#2) San Francisco, CA, (#3) Lansing, MI, (#4) Marietta, GA, (#5) Grand Rapids, MI, (#6) St. Petersburg, FL, (#7) Naperville, IL, (#8) Trenton, NJ, (#9) St. Louis, MO, (#10) Saginaw, MI.

Is this encouraging for Sarasota real estate owners? You be the judge.

Sarasota Beach Wedding

When it comes to brides, dreams are very important. And the dreams they have for their wedding day are as diverse as the brides themselves. Some want a church wedding, others a museum, a gorgeous outdoor location like Selby Gardens, or perhaps a beach wedding.

Regardless of the venue, the dreams of the bride are central to the success of the big day. And one Sarasota florist specializes in making those dreams come true. Having recently refreshed my acquaintance with Becki Creighton, owner of Flowers By Fudgie, I’ve been thrilled to see recent examples of her work and that of her team. In the just over 10 years that I’ve known her and seen her business develop and grow, they have increasingly focused on making the dreams of brides come true.

And having seen their work, no one does a better job. Talking to Becki recently, I learned that not only does she have a degree in ornamental horticulture, she has also worked in a flower shop since she was 16 years old. Having decades of experience (I have no idea how many!), she has cultivated phenomenal taste and an excellent talent for extracting from her clientele exactly what their dreams look like.

Seeing her recently-launched online gallery of Sarasota weddings and talking with her about her brides, I was surprised to learn that Sarasota has become a destination for brides. They’re coming here (and bringing their bridal parties) from all over the country to get married here. Whether it’s on our gorgeous, pristine beaches or in our spectacular museums and other venues, for a wedding, we have what brides want.

Regardless of whether you’re planning an enormous event, the wedding of your dreams in paradise, or you just want want to send flowers to someone, give Flowers By Fudgie call at (800) 338-5983 or (941) 349-9212. Be sure and tell them I sent ya!

And now for something completely different: In a bizarre move, Microsoft does something brilliant.

At first I thought,

“Well… they grabbed a 4-letter domain name that’s easy to remember… they couldn’t possibly have intended to connect it to the Monty Python sketch…”

That was when I first started seeing the bing.com commercials about the tangential search results. The commercials are humorous, although for me they purport to solve a problem I don’t have.

But now… they started using the funny little high-pitched male voice saying, “Bing!”

And really… what Python fan in the world could forget this moment from The Meaning of Life?

Until Apple managed to emerge from the 1990s somehow still in business, I had always thought of Microsoft as a corporation that was brilliant in its marketing. In retrospect, my admiration was actually aimed at what I would now classify as business strategy. Apple is without question a brilliant marketing machine, and to say they’ve successfully trumped Microsoft in that department is like saying that Alexander the Great had some military victories.

But I must admit… the “Bing!” thing is a brilliant marketing move on many levels.

Whether the “new” search engine actually offers any unique value remains to be seen.

**UPDATE** The Get Motivated Seminar in Sarasota on May 14th, 2009 has moved to a new location. The event will be held at the Sarasota-Bradenton International Convention Center. Details here.

World-famous motivational speaker Zig Ziglar is coming to Sarasota on May 14th

No matter what your business or occupation, getting ahead and being successful requires a steady diet of good mental and emotional fuel. Having a great attitude — something so critical, especially in a tough economic environment — isn’t something most of us are going to be consistently good at without some outside input.

So… I’m looking forward to next week’s “Get Motivated” seminar. Formerly known as the Peter Lowe Success Seminar, this event has begun making the rounds to smaller venues in the last several years. And it’s great to see the whole crew coming to Robarts Arena the Sarasota-Bradenton International Convention Center in Sarasota on May 14th.

In particular, I’m excited to see one of our clients, Zig Ziglar. Zig will be focusing on “How To Stay Motivated,” which is one of his all-time most impactful messages. Since his head injury a couple of years ago, Zig’s short-term memory has been affected. So, expect him to be onstage with his daughter, Julie, for an interview-style presentation. This configuration has been extremely well-received by audiences all over the nation since they started doing it, and it should be the highlight of the day.

Also in the lineup:

• Sarasota’s own Dick Vitale
• Dr. Robert Schuller
• Governor Rudy Giuliani
• Dr. Earl Mindell,
• and, Tamara Lowe (wife of Peter Lowe), who is speaking in support of her new book, Get Motivated, which she co-authored with Giuliani

Should be a great day. According to the literature that came in the mail, admission can be had for only $4.95 for an individual, or you can bring “the whole office” for $19. The registration number is (800) 248-7640. Tell ‘em we sent you!

See you on Thursday, May 14th!

Gary Keesee at the Now Revolution Conference

Just flew back in yesterday from this weekend’s “Now Revolution Conference” in Columbus, Ohio, where it was my honor to have the opportunity meet with quite a few entrepreneurs, business owners, and future business owners to talk about marketing in the 21st Century.

My wife and I met Gary and Drenda Keesee last year when they were in town for the Sarasota Financial Revolution Conference. Since that time, they’ve completely revamped the conference, giving it a new name and a new focus. They’ve also completed construction on “The Now Center” in New Albany, Ohio — just outside of Columbus. This past weekend, they hosted the first major conference in that facility and it was absolutely stellar.

Gary’s message is targeted at helping individuals discover and pursue their God-given destiny and to unashamedly achieve financial freedom in the process. These are issues that I’m personally very passionate about, which is the reason that we created our Christian entrepreneurship and business excellence events.

I was honored this weekend to share the platform with not just Gary, but the others who had impactful things to share:

• Drenda Keesee — powerhouse in her on right, having journeyed with, encouraged and motivated Gary in their journey from enslavement to financial freedom. Arguably some of the biggest testaments to her own giftings are their children, whom she home-schooled and developed into some significant young people.  After briefly meeting their daughter, Amy, and son, Tom, I can tell you first-hand that they and their siblings are showing signs of greatness.
• Johnny Hocott — a key player in the Forward Financial Group who I met several months ago when he spent some time here in Sarasota. Johnny is focused on developing and training new leaders and I’ve seen firsthand some of the fruit of his labors in some of the people here in our city.
• Mike Healy — a dynamic and compelling motivator and trainer who is clearly out to win! Mike enjoys cagefighting, which I must confess is something I don’t much about… but it sounds, shall we say… violent? Mike and his wife went from getting eviction notices to a 6-figure income in a 12-month time span and has plenty of important things to share with anyone looking to achieve success.

I couldn’t say enough good things about the event staff, from Jason Freudiger and Amy Taylor to the media staff all the way through to the volunteers. The event ran smoothly despite the inevitable last-minute changes and adjustments. Everyone made the experience a pleasant one.

Did We Meet?

If you’re one of the many people I met this past weekend, I have something for you. Leave a quick comment here and let me know who you are so I can e-mail it to you. Also, if you missed the chance to take advantage of the conference specials, I’ll give you a way to do that.