Do you ever get that feeling that you’re just beaten down…that it’s too hot and nothing really matters?   There are times (especially after you make the mistake of watching the news) when it seems there’s nothing out there but bad things, people struggling and an endless parade of gray.

Well it’s time to perk up because I’ve got 3 things to inspire you:

• Bookbinding
• Shoes
• Unicorns!

It may not sound like an inspirational list, but keep reading and I think you’ll find something to get you moving!

Bookbinding as a hot new business!

There are plenty of stories out these days about businesses failing and industries going bankrupt, which makes it especially refreshing to hear about a skyrocketing success that leverages techniques that have been around for centuries and technology that’s been around for decades.

The company is called DodoCase and currently their sole product is a hand made case for an iPad.  Priced starting at $60, more than 60,000 cases were sold in the first few months after the release of the iPad, with much bigger numbers planned (the iPad is projected to sell 17 Million units in the first year of production). 

DodoCase uses a local San Francisco bookbinding company to create the custom cases – saving a dying and declining business (and in fact tripling their headcount with more to come).  Check out this great story about Dodocase – the winner of the Shopify business contest. 

What simple product do people want and need that you could deliver?

Shoes and a totally different business model

Toms Shoes started back in 2006 – you might have heard of them.  The founder Blake Mycoskie was inspired on a trip to Argentina where he encountered lots of children who didn’t have shoes.  That trip inspired the company’s very straightforward premise:

With every pair of TOMS shoes you purchase, TOMS will give a pair of new shoes to a child in need.  One for One.

The idea of helping people out is pretty inspirational – but even more amazing is the business model Mycoskie is using to help  those people out; a for profit, socially conscious business.  The company isn’t looking for a handout, they won’t be signing up for grant money, but they have a bigger purpose beyond just making money…and that’s making a huge difference!

As Mycoskie puts it, there are some great benefits to having such a clear and unselfish value statement:  “First, consumers are now conscious about where they put their dollars. A product like TOMS that gives to others is appealing to people more than ever.”  Another major benefit is the attraction of well above average employees who are willing to work for less than average pay.  Read more in this article from Success magazine.

What core values does your company stand on and how does it impact your business?

It’s so fluffy!  Inspiration from a unicorn.

The technology behind movies continues to be amazing, but what’s even better is when the technology takes a back seat to a creative story and great writing (and acting). 

Sometimes you need to find your inspiration in the little things that are around you – comedian Louis CK had a great interview with Conan O’Brien a while back where he talks about how Everything is amazing and nobody is happy.  We definitely take things for granted these days – if we took the time to really look around at our day to day things (like 3D animated movies) we would find a lot to be inspired by.

The reality is that we’re lucky to live at a time when amazing and creative things are created almost every day.  One of the more recent examples of inspirational creativity is the movie Despicable Me released to theaters just a few weeks ago. 

If you haven’t seen it yet, make the time to catch it in the theaters (3D is good, but you’ll enjoy it just as much in plain old 2D).  The animation is great, but what really stands out are the characters and the overall premise. 

It’s a story about Gru who’s gunning to be the most famous super-villain of all time.  He’s had some success so far, he has his own army of minions and he has a rival arch-nemesis, but he just hasn’t hit the big-time yet.

In a desperate contest to steal the moon and become famous – Gru ends up taking in 3 orphans that ultimately end up melting his heart.  It’s got a lot of style, it’s very funny and everyone in the family will enjoy it – for your final bit of inspiration, go see Despicable Me.

What’s inspired you lately?  Share your thoughts in the comments below – I’d love to hear them.

Shawn Kinkade  Kansas City Business Coach

Similar Posts:

• Save Ferris – Lessons learned from a Day Off
• 3 cool things that are well worth your time
• Serious Insights from a Toy Company

I had a chance to check out Shrek Forever After this afternoon and one of the scenes that caught my attention was the sales process between RumpelStiltskin and Shrek (see picture above, courtesy of Dreamworks)

Rumpelstiltskin, if you’re not familiar is a magical dealmaker who specializes in granting wishes…with unfortunate consequences and lots of fine print.  In the movie he hangs out at the Crone’s Nest Carriage Park (full of witches and crones) and desperately wants to become the ruler of Far, Far Away (where Shrek lives).

What does this have to do with business?  Well our man Rumpel is a true salesman and he displays some serious selling skills in the movie that could benefit anyone in business.

He pretty much goes through the entire sales process, although in this case it’s a one session close type of opportunity.

What’s your target?  What do they want?

The sales process starts with understanding who your target market is and what it is they want to buy.  In our example, Rumpelstiltskin is a bit down on his luck and he’s missed out on some big opportunities, so his target is really anyone who’s looking for a big change that magic can deliver.  As it turns out Shrek fits the bill – he wants one day when he could live the life of a single Ogre again without all the stress that’s in his life.

Rumpel does a bit of back alley research to figure all of this out and he learns exactly what his prospective buyer is looking for and how he feels about it (what his pain points are).

Establishing Contact

The next step in the sales process is to get in front of your prospect.  Most of the time, your best bet is to be introduced, but sometimes that’s not possible.  If you can’t do that, then you want to find a way to get in front of your prospect.  It’s a little unconventional, but Rumpel goes the route of staging an accident and asking Shrek for help.

Not only does this put Shrek off his guard, but it give Rumpelstiltskin a reason to offer Shrek a ride, a drink and dinner as thanks for the rescue – a great opportunity to build up rapport.

Building Rapport

As they’re riding along in the carriage, they share stories over drinks and Rumpel sympathizes with Shrek’s problems.  He puts himself into Shrek’s shoes and lets him know that he really understands where Shrek is coming from.  Shrek finally has someone who gets where he’s coming from, what his problem is and he’s thrilled to be listened to.

The Offer

The offer is a very natural conclusion to the discussion…hey – if you’re interested, I have a contract here that can give you what you want. 

Of course Shrek wants to know what the catch is and Rumpel plays it cool – he explains clearly that to get something you have to give something…and in fact he even takes the offer away as a great persuasion technique (“Well if you’re not interested – it’s no big deal, we don’t need to do anything…!), prompting Shrek to make the move to keep talking about the deal.

Now I will say that Rumpel deviates from the ideal sales script at this point by tricking Shrek into a Win-Lose deal that’s pretty one-sided.  He does ending up closing the deal, but he lies about the outcomes -  however like most of those deals, they don’t pay off in the long run.

Aside from that though, the overall sales process was very effective and would make an worthwhile framework for a lot of sales.

So how was the movie?

In case you’re wondering, the movie was good – worth a trip to the theater in my opinion.  It’s not as engaging as the first couple in the series, but the animation and 3D are very good, it’s got a good story, it has several funny parts and overall it’s a nice way to get away with your family for a couple of hours.

Have you seen the movie?  Did I miss any sales tips?  Share your thoughts below, I’d love to hear them.

Shawn Kinkade  Kansas City Business Coach

Similar Posts:

• How do you get your prospects to move?
• How success and despair can help you for next year!
• A sales secret you need to start using?

It’s a short film (16 minutes) entitled Validation and I think it says a lot about what motivates us and maybe an observation on how bad things are today (in terms of how we treat each other).

Check it out:

If you can’t see the video or it’s not working, you can find it online here:  Validation

I’d love to get your thoughts on the video?  Did any of it ring true for you?  Share your thoughts in the comments below!

Shawn Kinkade  Kansas City Business Coach

Similar Posts:

• Another look at Drive – cool presentation!
• 2 Ideas (videos) that will blow your mind!
• It’s So Fluffy!!! 3 Inspirational Things!

I’ve been on a kick lately to collect older movies – movies that I remember as influential or just entertaining from ‘formative’ years (which probably are still going on now that I think about it).

Some of them have held up better than others (I watched the director’s cut of The Warriors recently and I was really disappointed – there are some great scenes, but it didn’t really pull together the way I remember it in college!).

Anyway, one movie that actually was better than I remembered it (and I liked it a lot the first time around) was Ferris Bueller’s Day Off.  With John Hughes recently passing away, I was inspired to find this and relive one of the best movies of the 80’s.

There are a lot of things Ferris can teach us – even 20+ years later.

Confidence:

The reason Ferris is so compelling – both to the viewers and to all the people he interacts with is because he has boundless confidence – in himself and how the world works. 

A person should not believe in an "-ism," he should believe in himself. I quote John Lennon, "I don’t believe in Beatles, I just believe in me."

Ferris has a plan.  He’s going places, making things happen – even with some slips along the way, he continues to believe in himself.

Friendship:

Ferris didn’t take the day off for himself – he did it for Cameron (his best friend).

Pardon my French, but Cameron is so tight that if you stuck a lump of coal up his ass, in two weeks you’d have a diamond.

Cameron has a lot of issues, but Ferris knows he has to shake him up and get him to see there’s more to life than just stress!

Hey, Cameron. You realize if we played by the rules right now we’d be in gym?

Perspective:

Probably the biggest takeaway for me  (when I saw it the first time and when I watched it again) is that you have to have fun with what you’re doing – other wise what’s the point?  And if you’re having fun, being creative – there’s really no limit to what you can do and how people will respond to you.

Life moves pretty fast. If you don’t stop and look around once in a while, you could miss it.

That’s a lesson to live by – what’s your favorite part of the movie?  Share your thoughts below, I’d love to hear them.

Shawn Kinkade  Kansas City Business Coach

Similar Posts:

• It’s So Fluffy!!! 3 Inspirational Things!
• Can you sell like Rumpelstiltskin?
• 5 Ways to take a quick fun break this winter!