And for those of you who need a laugh this Friday

The Old Tractor who could...

Have a great weekend.

PART 7: Use online forums to make new connections

No!!! not that type of posting...

If you're an Internet user, spend some of your online time on business promotion.

Posting messages in forums (a.k.a. bulletin boards) is a great way to make your business known to people you would otherwise be unable to contact. You can't blatantly advertise your business on most forums, but you can show others that you're a knowledgeable, personable individual and promote your business through your signature file.

Getting people interested in your business and perhaps attracting new customers works best if you choose forums that are business-related or directly related to your business's product or service.

The other caveat with choosing forums to post in is to check their level of activity; posting in a forum that doesn't have much traffic or regular activity isn't going to do much to promote your business.

PART 6: Promote your business through your lesiure activities.

A hiking I will go a hiking I will go....

One savvy businessman I know relaxes by being part of a rock band. Guess what? Every time his band's gigs are mentioned in the newspaper, the piece also mentions the name of his business! You may not be part of a band yourself, but everyone does something for "fun".

Whether your chosen leisure activity is working on a Spitfire Restoration project, rock-climbing, or shopping, there are all kinds of ways to promote your business while you do what you love to do.

Where's the harm in shopping or rock-climbing wearing a T-shirt that has the name of your business prominently displayed? Or in taking your business cards everywhere you go and clipping your card to the slip when you pay for a purchase by card or cheque?

Get in the habit of doing business promotion wherever you go and you'll be surprised how word-of-mouth builds. If your leisure activity involves a group, you might ask if you can include your business information on all of their out-going paper, or ask if you can at least give everyone a brochure. And with any kind of group activity, there's always the opportunity to promote your business by letting other people know what you do and how it could benefit them.

I go hiking every weekend so I have started a website called and hand out carabiners with my company name and the speedhikers domain on it.

Cartoon Fun

Hay it's Sunday, give me a break!

Why do cartoonists use Bob as the name for their characters?
Click on cartoon for larger image.

Idea marathon

I have an idea we could...

Image from his study where he has over 300,000 ideas in these note books.

Went to a very cool Idea Marathon yesterday.

It was presented by the Inventor of the system Mr. Takeo Higuchi.

Basically what you need to to is start putting all your ideas in a book (one book only) that you carry around with you everywhere. Wright done all your ideas and plans into this book and revisit the ideas in the book once a week as a reminder. After a while you will automatically remember all your ideas.

Anyhow keep writing in a chronological order and when the notebook is full put it in your Idea marathon shelf and start a new book. You should get a notebook that you can add pages to. At the end of the year put the book in your shelf and start a new one.

That's it. Easy and if you can stick with putting in one new idea a day for one month you will notice that the quality of your ideas and your brain are much more focused. It is a col idea that is starting to spread around the world. Be the first on your block to be an Idea marathon champion.