Clinton Skakun

“The Pareto principle (also known as the 80-20 rule,[1] the law of the vital few, and the principle of factor sparsity) states that, for many events, roughly 80% of the effects come from 20% of the causes.” – Wikipedia article

The Skakun Minimalist Life Diet:

Here’s the deal: The NR(New Rich) understand that less is more. The opposite of good is not bad, it’s great. The good is the enemy of the great. Give up the good to make room for the great. Here’s how you start:

• Delete the 80% of RSS subscriptions you read 20% of time.
• Fire the 80% clients who bring only 20% income and focus on the 20% who bring 80% income.
• Find the 80% of your time that returns only 20% results and focus on the 20% actions that bring the 80% results.
• Unsubscribe from the 80% of e-mail you get.
• Only use 20% of the social networks you’re signed up to.
• Forget about the 80% of projects that are draining your time.
• Go on a News diet, adopt the mentality of word-of-mouth media “if it’s important enough, I’ll hear about it in due time.” (as far as I know, no one ever died because they didn’t watch the 6′o clock news)
• Focus on the 80% of things you can control and the 20% you can’t control don’t worry about(they’re in God’s hands)
• Give away 80% of the clothes you wear 20% of the time.
• Get a big garbage can and toss away 80% of the paper that you need 20%-0% of the time and aren’t important.
• Plan to procrastinate/take the day off during the 80% of days of the week where you only get 20% work done.
• Consider displacing(aka tossing in the garbage) 80% of anything that you only use/need/see/login to/read/help you/is of any value 20% or less of the time/money/value you’re getting out of it.

“Simplicity demands ruthlessness” – Unknowen

“How to use News Releases, Blogs, Podcasting, Viral Marketing & Online Media to Reach Buyers Directly”

If there’s one online marketing book you want to read this year, it’s The New Rules of PR and Marketing. The New Rules are all about using social media to market your business. The book starts out explaining how mass marketing is good at advertising when you don’t need it and hides on you when you go looking for it. Social media is about providing the right information to the user at the right time, at right place. This is what makes social media so powerful. I believe you could take this book and use it as a handbook in implementing social media for your business.

David explains the different vehicles you can use in social media and who their for. David does a fantastic job of summarizing the tools available and also explains that you don’t have to use ALL of the tools or just ONE, you can use as many as you want and whatever you have time for, and whatever your focus can handle in order to be most effective. I’m pretty much sold on the idea of using News Releases, which is one of the most powerful tools for attracting journalists and getting better results out of your search engine optimization. Tools like Blogs, Podcasts, Viral Marketing, News Releases, Forums, Videos etc etc can be used to reach to buyers directly. David will also explain to you how to create content specifically to attract and interest your buyers.

The New Rules can be applied to your personal brand as well. I believe this material applies to anyone who “sells” something on the web, whether it be a product, an idea, a political campaign, education, informative content or a community. I highly recommend you read this book cover to cover, if you’re really serious about growing an online presence for your brand or business.

I recently picked the brains of team member who I’ve worked on several projects with over the course of a few years. If you’re anything like me you find a ton of value in anticipation. I guess it only makes sense, if you’re going to survive, to know what changes to make in order to adapt and prepare. Whenever I want to learn something about the future I search around, get some opinions and get inquisitive.

Brief Interview with Nick Wiltshire:

What is one thing that makes developers marketable in a economic downturn?
The web is an easy, efficient and low-cost way for businesses to either advertise themselves or actually operate online. For that reason I think developers sell themselves. Businesses are looking for any edge they can get, and the web can provide that.

What three very important lessons, that would be of value to younger/newer coders, that you have learned over the course of your Web Developing/Programming career?
First, there are no short cuts. Coding is a learn as you go process, and there is no secret formula. You can’t effectively use existing libraries unless you understand them. Theory only goes so far, you need to practice to find out what works and what doesn’t.
Second, have the right attitude. Learn standards and follow them. Don’t cut corners because it looks like the easiest way to roll a product out the door.
Third, if you don’t love to code, stop. If you got into it to make some cash but hate it as much as you’d hate flipping burgers, don’t do it. People who code solely for money make poor programmers.

In your eyes, what are a few steps coders, designers, programmers etc (in various fields i.e. freelance, self-employed, employed etc) should consider taking in the down economy? More specifically, how can developers take advantage of or secure their business/jobs in the times we’re in?
Nothing changes in a downturn, it just gets harder. You still need to be visible to your targeted potential clients. You need to have competitive rates. You need to deliver a high quality product. These sound very basic but many people utterly fail at them in good times. In tougher times, you need to be aggressive with these basic things because competition may heat up. However, trying too hard can lead to burning ad money and lowering net profit. Understand your target, and move with it.

It seems that developers offer cost effective solutions to companies, more so in a downturn. We may have to work harder to gain trust, build strong relationships with clients and build the highest quality product/service we are capable of. Social media is a possible answer for companies who wish to cut costs. And with changes coming in the Internet we need to be on our game. Rates should be competitive and yet not too low. People are willing to pay, as long as the services are top quality.

Nick Wiltshire is a web developer, programmer and president of Custom Designs Inc.

This can often be a very hard and even very confusing question to ask: would I buy from me?

Because hey! You’d better! And if not, why are you selling? You know yourself better than most people do. Knowing yourself inside out, your values, your secret thoughts, the things you do when no one’s looking, would you still buy from yourself?

Because if you wouldn’t trust yourself, why should anyone else you run into?

When you understand WHY you’d buy from you, it makes things much easier. And if you wouldn’t, find out why not and correct it and you’ll find the key to selling to other people. You see, you can convince someone else of something you’re not convinced of yourself, that includes your product and even more so that includes YOU! People are state of the art lie detectors, they can detect if you’re sincere a mile away. They can also tell if you’re “into” your product or if you’re passionate about what you do and if you really want to be there with them.

One more thing: it’s OK to make mistakes. We’re all messed up in a certain degree, if you get nervous or say the wrong thing or blow it, it really doesn’t matter. It’s called experience, all great salespeople have it and all great salespeople have made ever worse mistakes than you have. That has nothing to do with your sincerity, it shows that you’re willing to take a fall for what you love to do, and that means a lot.