The Best Place To Start

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The Best Place To Start

The project started many years ago at a meeting where one of the participants asked, “Can you meet this marketing challenge? and I replied, “Yes” and then did. It was true then, as it is today, that I welcome, look for, respond to and balance the mental, physical, emotional and spiritual challenges in my life.

Every day, I search for input from multiple media forms (newspapers, online news, magazines, radio, television and people) to help meet current challenges with solutions that maximize the available and combined resources of time, energy and dollars. As I read, I scan for the word, or a variation of, challenge in the headlines and content. I have collected and highlighted several thousand samples and continually reference the content and context in a self-created structure to gain meaning, understanding and knowledge that can then be turned into viable solutions.

The Best Time To Start Blogging

Today, I am starting today with this blog entry. Today, like every day, I went online to check my Individualized key words, so as to personalize the way I want to view information – by topic, industry and product category – presented to me (format, font and type size). Then I reviewed the Daily News, LA Times, NY Times, USA Today and the Wall Street Journal, where I physically removed the pages I want, separating and prioritizing them for highlighting details and filing.

I read the challenge input first, as it inspires me to think about its use and meaning in terms of someone else’s challenge and what they are doing about it. This provides me with insights into how I could apply their learned experiences (frontline knowledge) to meet the needs and expectations of my current personal and business marketing challenges.


Challenge In The News Today

* A Group’s Special Challenge
* We are faced with a major challenge
* China’s approach to the challenge shows ...
* When Microsoft felt challenged by Netscape a decade ago
* Challenge the ordinary. Be E*traordinary
* New challenges for US Policy

A Group’s Special Challenge – Each of us is part of one or more groups, with each group facing its’ own special challenges. The challenge here is to dramatize two elements in careful balance. Special needs require innovative and creative thinking that meets the needs of the group.

We were faced with a major challenge – Some challenges are more major than others, prioritize. When faced with a major challenge, be sure to look at The Void – the opposite side of “It can’t be done.” When you know what won’t work, by looking at The Void, you will gain insights into what might work. “We were faced with a major challenge,” says LaVigne Chief Executive Chris Wells, “Putting ink on paper had become a commodity.”

China’s approach to the challenge shows ... – Actions count and shows that you are aware of the challenge. Approach follows awareness and attention phases and indicates the tactical implementation of a solution strategy. China’s approach to the challenge show that as it integrates itself into the global economy, it isn’t willing to surrender entirely to market forces.

When Microsoft felt challenged by Netscape a decade ago – Ten years ago, many of the services (eMail, cellphones, the Internet) that we take for granted today were not mainstream and even if they were, most of us were ‘afraid’ because we didn’t think we knew what to do with the new technologies. Today, we are no longer afraid and are ready. “The biggest problem for Microsoft is that Microsoft sells what Google gives away, which harkens back to the day when Netscape was selling what Microsoft could give away,” said Geoffrey Moore, author Dealing with Darwin: How Great Companies Innovate at Every Phase of Their Evolution.

Challenge the ordinary. Be E*traordinary – This is the theme line for E*Trade Financial and appears in all their ads. What a great statement and goal: Be the best you can be and make a difference. Accept the norm or be innovative and change the norm. Someone once said, “If man can think of it, it can be done.”

New challenges for US Policy – How could anyone challenge US Policy?