If You Want to Succeed, You DON’T Have to Work Hard

A provocative Friday read from guest contributor Zeke Camusio, founder of Internet marketing company http://www.TheOutsourcingCompany.com. Happy reading and happy weekend to everyone!

My parents always told me that I needed to work hard in order to be successful. As I started growing up, I realized that not only was this not true, but the hardest working people I knew were always struggling and people who weren’t working half as hard were ten times more successful. This made me re-think everything.

I know a lot of rich people and they approach business very differently from the way most entrepreneurs do. Some of them work hard and some of them don’t, but they all work SMART. I know, you’ve heard it before, “working smart is more important than working hard”, but, what does working smart mean anyway?

A friend of mine explained this to me with only one word: “leverage”. He told me that rich people are experts at using other people’s resources and helping them benefit them from the same deals they do.

Other People’s Money
Successful businesspeople know that you don’t need your own money to succeed. A lot of people have a lot of money and they’re just waiting for the perfect opportunity to invest it.

Other People’s Connections
Let’s say you’re trying to get an appointment with the CEO of a venture capital firm. Would it be a lot easier if your partner introduced you to her?

Other People’s Ideas
Successful people get approached all the time by entrepreneurs with great business ideas.

Other People’s Time
Maybe you have the money, an idea and the connections, but don’t have the time to launch a new venture. Well, there are thousands of qualified people out there who have the time to help you.

Other People’s Experience
If you were to open a restaurant, would you rather do it yourself or with someone who already owns five successful restaurants in town?

Last But Not Least – Create Win-Win Situations
Just to be clear: using other people’s resources doesn’t mean that they’re doing you a favor. You have to offer them a deal that works for them too.

Summary
Successful businesspeople are connectors. They use other people’s resources to build great things. They see the full picture and put the pieces together. Learn from them and emulate what they do.

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A thought provoking act. This is exactly where I draw the line between selfishness and business. Truth is, connectors are great at giving but it’s harder for them to take. I highly recommend reading Malcolm Gladwell’s The Tipping Point, where he explains the three types of people who, once connected, can create a buzz, a viral spread of anything. The connectors, the mavens and the salespeople.
Which one are you ?

f8′s Big Open Graph Explained

Finally, a straight forward presentation on Facebook’s mind blowing and wicked Open Graph (announced at its “f8″ developers’ conference). This one is readable and understandable by non-geek standards and we owe it to Quentin Mahe from Saint@RKCR/Y&R.
It’s about connecting the whole web together… socializing it all through Facebook – of course. In a word: making Facebook the first ever web glue !

Check it out.

iPad Launch: One Week On — What Is This All About ?

Were you part of the frenzy ? Or, like myself, did you just sit back, relax and watch the crazy crowds swim and sink in ?

Let’s start on a fun note first …
What’s tha iPad but a big flat screen with an iPhone for an engine ?

“iPad Exposed” by Ed Pimentl

More seriously, a quick glance at the thing, thanks to James Keller at Small Society

iPad User Experience: A Quick Lesson in 4 Parts

It seems to me that this is a tool for nomadic entertainment purposes rather than work. As I was discussing with a French dude versed into urban nomadism this week, the iPad would be an “item to buy and accommodate your kids to, for it is the door to the future and the symbol of innovation going forward”.
Nice quote. The Ipad as a cross-generational item ? Interesting approach.

Sanja Rastovac, founder of geeks clothing brand wtf Jeans, told me the other day that they’d already received a request for a garment including an iPad pocket… but Shushhh, it’s still in the offing as we speak !

So… depending on where on the planet you’re located… Did you get one or are you planning on getting one ? Let us know here what you think of the latest craze in geekdom.

Buzz ? Viral ? The Virtual Tissue Demo

Have you ever wondered, in the end, what the words “buzz” or “viral” meant in terms of web ?

Yes, it’s exactly the same as in “organic” (yet another geeky term for “real”) life:
. “Buzz” is the word of mouth that turns a simple event/fact into an online gigantic tide.
. “Viral” is a piece of information that spreads, well yes, like a virus, and swells into a virtual tsunami.
Blunders or gestures made by famous people tend to instantly go viral: within a few minutes, or an hour, the whole world can see it AND comment on it.

Why did I decide to write on this, you say ?
Well, because this week, something happened in Haïti that perfectly illustrates my point. Have you heard of former U.S. President George W Bush wiping his hand on his predecessor, President Bill Clinton ? I almost put “supposedly” there but frankly, once you see the video, there’s not much doubt left.
… But I could be totally wrong. What do you think George Bush is doing ? Patting, poking,…. (what else is there?) Bill Clinton ?

You’re about to watch BBC footage that has been viewed over 700 00 times since it happened on Tuesday: now *that*’s buzz, that’s viral.

… Guess what ? This is not the first time President George W Bush is being caught red-handed (literally) with questionable manners: he already did it once on David Letterman’s show. Acutally, it wasn’t during the show but during a commercial break. Watch this, he actually… yes… is wiping his glasses on a woman’s top (a jacket, presumably) while she’s got her back turned to him.

When you’re famous, you’ve got to watch yourself before the whole world watches and judges you. When you’re famous, you actually make an impact on people so, again, watch yourself ! And you thought they’d know, right ?

Point made on viral and buzz. End of my virtual tissue demo.

So what do YOU think was happening in the Haïti video ?

My favorite quotes from smwf

A typical, light-hearted Friday post: quotes heard and collected on and off-stage. Unexpected, funny, geeky, … etc. Here’s my selection of 6 of them. Enjoy !

- Most agreed upon, on and off-stage: “enough of social media… let’s call it something else” – Suggestions were mainly for “digital”

- Most unexpected statement (and funniest): “Hello. I’m on my own, as always”, then turns his back to us. Eh ? I call them words of wisdom from a proud standalone at the Monday PM shindig while two of us were trying to be social as he was standing on his own (yeah, well) in a corner…

- Geekiest: “The pub with the plug”, describing our geeky bloggers’ needs for chilling out and power connection — quench our thirst and plug our devices (mainly laptops and iPhones, if you must know)

- Most tweeted single line: “Can anyone lend me his/her iPhone charger please ?” — a huge shortage apparently. Which practically raised status of the owners and lenders to semi-gods for geeks (I love geeks)

- Gimmick: “Control is so 20th century” — Lewis PR COO Paul Charles, advocating for clear and up-to-date internal digital guidelines

- Most personal – as it’s my personal branding line: I don’t do business cards, I connect to people and send emails right away. People were most of the time giving me the look, the bad one. But hey, guess what: another woman was doing the same… as blogger Josh Chandler reported: “I met Rebecca Hollis of Intuit yesterday, and she really drove home this message of “Not accepting business cards, and making a real-life connection with someone”. There, thanks Rebecca for the punchline !

Happy Friday everyone and thank you for reading my Friday mash !