How do you create a movement? What the heck is a freaking movement? How do you hit in the words of Malcolm Gladwell "The Tipping Point" ( The Tipping Point: How Little Things Can Make a Big Difference)? Is there a way of quantifying different milestones?

I was thinking about this question in regards to The Rise To The Top Community (affectionately known as Rise Nation) and your community whatever it may be. In my opinion, the key to creating a successful community involves the following:

1. Strong brand message and killer content: (in the words of Gary Vaynerchuk “you’ve gotta have the chops”). When people view your content, select your services, or however you get your message out, you better have the content or people will click or look away and never come back. 

2. Collaboration: Online communities are all about input for users. How can things be improved? What can change? How can we make it better for YOU. Because the bottom line is it is not about yourself, it is about everyone else having an amazing experience. 

3. Actually listening to people: Not pretend listening (sitting there nodding with no intentions to actually do anything). It may be a strike to your ego, but listen to your viewers, clients, fans. If this doesn’t make sense, reread #2. Be ready to change and and evolve. 

4. Keeping It Simple: The ole KISS philosophy (Keep It Simple Stupid). Not keeping it simple leads to confusion. Confusion leads to people going somewhere else. Trust me, a million crazy ideas pop into my head on an hourly basis, but I’ve learned through the help of my advisors to stick to simplicity, give people what they want, and really listen. These things combined have really helped me, and I hope it can help you as well. 

5. Be Everywhere: Literally and figuratively. Meet people, get out in your real community and virtual community. Tap into the power of social networks and your real life networks. Attend fun events. Find energizing people and share in their energy. Have fun with it! 

Can a movement be quantified? I never thought about this until I heard some tips from Gary Vaynerchuk and my good friend Gill Wagner. Here are some random quantifiable thoughts:

To create a movement, have:

20,000 followers in some shape or form

2,500 unique visitors a day to your website

2,000 Professional Acquaintances (close enough that if you call/email them, they call back)

200 Walking Ambassadors (who spread your brand around) and you must be a Walking Ambassador for at least 200!

20 Adapted Souls. People you help from the goodness of your heard with no monetary gain.

2 Lifetime Mentors. Enough said. 

It all starts with one. Every streak begins at one. It begins with you. Are you ready to create a movement? I’ll tell you one thing. I’m freaking excited for the journey! 

Live Passionately! – David Siteman Garland – The Creative Opportunities Specialist

PS: Make sure to check out our brand new full length online videos of The Rise To The Top on the website. Hope you enjoy them and of course, let me know how they can be improved! For our next show tapings, we will be asking Special Guests user-submitted questions. More details coming soon. 

Ok so there are probably 3938483858486.6 blogs that “give thanks” to everyone just about this time of the year before plunging into a sea of turkey and cranberry sauce (yum…Cranberry Sauce). But bottom line, is I am truly lucky and the reason for that is all the wonderful people in my life. I am truly blessed with so many AMAZING loved ones that it would bore the heck out of you if I listed them all. I’m fortunate to have a fully supportive family, girlfriend, and friends. No matter what I do, they are always behind me 100% (no matter where my crazy mind takes me) and I try to be always behind them!

The Rise To The Top has been a work of passion, love, and business (18 hours-a-day plus…not kidding) and I’m excited about the future and bringing great content and resources to all of you. It would not have been possible without the unconditional support of everyone so thank you family, friends, future friends, girlfriend, and everyone else for allowing me to pursue my dreams with an army behind me.

And on that note, if you need a break from stuffing your face with yummy food, I’m very excited to announce that both Episode #1 “Firsts” and Episode #2 “Gotta Have Passion” are now online and live on The Rise To The Top Website. Enjoy the videos and also some bonus tips!

I would love to hear your feedback. What do you like? What can be improved? You will notice a different “feel” between Episode #1 (as with most pilots) and Episode #2. Future shows will DEFINITELY have more of the #2 look and feel.

We have a LOT of cool stuff coming out by the end of the year and of course into 2009 with goal of giving an in-your-face-boost-of-awesome to your business and life.

Live Passionately! – David Siteman Garland – The Creative Opportunities Specialist

Some books to check out on or before “Black Friday”:

1. Robert Kiyosaki: Rich Dad, Poor Dad: What the Rich Teach Their Kids About Money–That the Poor and Middle Class Do Not!

2. Tim Ferriss: The 4-Hour work Week: Escape 9-5, Live Anywhere, and Join the New Rich

3. Malcolm Gladwell: Blink: The Power of Thinking Without Thinking

Book by The Rise To The Top Expert Jeff Michelman: Peanut Butter on Bagel or Breast

Ok, so we all get it: The economy sucks!  Wallstreet is up and down like a scary roller-coaster of death, bailouts are adding to the confusion, and people are freaking out. 

There are two ways to look at this (Which category do you fall under?):

Number 1: Oh my g-d! The world is ending! I have no money. Nobody is going to buy my products. I’m going to have to sell my house and live in a small box. I will have to sell my children. My dog is going to have to work a double-shift. I’m just going to sit here and complain, watch the news, and count my money going down the toilet. 

Number 2: Watching the economy is like a fair weathered fan in sports. It is only fun to watch if you are winning. But, I’m not going to panic because the economy is one of the most predictable cycles and will of course rebound. Plus, I don’t really feel a big difference in my daily life. I’ll be ready to ride the wave when it turns around! 

If you are an entrepreneur and fall into category number 1, you may be in trouble. Entrepreneurship is BASED around opportunities, huge victories and defeats, cycles of profitability, good ideas, bad ideas, no ideas. This is the time to TAKE CONTROL of your business, be positive, and look for opportunities and trends. Stop staring at the stock market and get back to putting your energy into your business. Don’t close up shop and wait for the tornado to pass over your house…or you might get sucked up in it never to return. 

Will changing your attitude change the economy? Probably not, but sitting around freaking out about it won’t change it either. In my opinion, you may as well be damn happy. 

TAKE ACTION TODAY!

Want 20 ways to improve your recession attitude? Email me and I’ll get them to you.

Live Passionately! -David Siteman Garland- The Creative Opportunities Specialist

I’ve been getting a TON of questions lately about sponsorships. Questions have been flooding in about the very basics of generating sponsorships and making you and your company lucrative to potential sponsors. Based on experience, sponsorships are an extremely effective way to not only generate revenue for your business, but form a strategic partnership with massive corporations and small businesses alike. Most importantly YOU help THEM by connecting with new customers, trying out new products, plus much more.. Trust me, sponsorships are NOT about you. Sponsorships are about CREATING VALUE for your sponsors. 

Here are a few principles to live by as you begin to understand sponsorships:

Advertising is PASSIVE, Sponsorships are ACTIVE

Ad placements are a wait-and-see method. Advertisers wait for the phone to ring after placing ads and pray that sales occur. Sponsorships are creative, fun, and in-your-face, with instant results and high interactivity with customers. 

Advertising can be INTRUSIVE, Sponsorships ADD VALUE

Advertising can be ANNOYING and cause the potential customer to feel as though they are trapped with a message being jammed down their throat (not fun). Sponsorships add value whether it is an awesome giveaway, contest, or some sound advice.

Advertising is all about TRADITIONAL MEDIA, Sponsorships can blend TRADITIONAL and NEW MEDIA

Traditional media: Radio, television, newspaper, and magazines. New Media: Podcasts, blogs, Internet Television, Social Media, and more. Nothing wrong with traditional media (hey you better be watching The Rise To The Top darn it!) because traditional media has a HUGE reach; however, wouldn’t it be EVEN BETTER to reach traditional media AND new media? Talk about the best of both worlds! Sponsorships blend the two into a little bundle of goodness (warm fuzzy moment).

Advertising is about NUMBERS, Sponsorships are about ENGAGEMENT

Sure numbers are important, but do you really want your proposal to live or die on a bunch of arbitrary numbers that may or may not mean anything? No, you don’t put away the calculator with sponsorships; however, importance REALLY lies in how much attention is being paid to you and your products (very lucrative for sponsors). What sounds better: 50,000 people that see an ad then click away from it in disgust or 50 people that are genuinely interested in the product and offer feedback (and are more likely to support sponsored products YOU offer)? 

Advertising reaches a MASS AUDIENCE Sponsorships reach a SPECIFIC, TARGETED AUDIENCE

Yes, advertising can reach mass audiences in a hurry with traditional messages through traditional media and that isn’t all bad. On the flip side, it is like finding a NEEDLE (customer) in a HAY STACK OF GARBAGE (all the other ads and noise). Sponsorships occur because the sponsor is interested in reaching a VERY specific audience (example: 21-35 year olds males who live in St. Louis, Missouri, like the color orange, and watch hockey). Finding the right sponsor for the right audience solves the problem of wasting big bucks on big campaigns that reach a bunch of people not interested in the sponsor’s product or service. Can you help solve their problem? 

Let me ask you this. Do you think there is a tivo-proof method to sponsorships? We have discovered it at The Rise To The Top! Send us an email to find out HOW.

Live Passionately! – David Siteman Garland – The Creative Opportunities Specialist

PS: 

The Rise To The Top Odds and Ends

1. Both the pilot episode and “Gotta Have Passion” will be up on the website VERY soon. Keep checking the website

2. I’ve been getting TONS of emails about Indochino. Owner Kyle Vucko has been nice enough to offer two great promotions for The Rise To The Top Nation (that is YOU). Enter promo code “Rise” to get 10% off (just for The Rise To The Top Nation).  

3. Need some more education? Check out the Resources section of the website and download the FREE Education Packets for valuable coupons and tips right to your computer in PDF format. There is even a workbook that you can print out, take notes, and make action plans. Education Packet #2 is up now so go check it out! 

4. Check out photos from the HUGELY SUCCESSFUL Launch To The Top event this past Wednesday in St. Louis, Missouri!