Have a purposeful new year

As you take stock of last year and face the new year, what do you hope to accomplish? And how do you plan to get there? Because we all need a plan.

If you missed the On-Purpose Leadership Experience last fall, please take the opportunity to join Kevin McCarthy for a free webcast preview of the January edition. This program is sponsored by our chamber.

I attended last fall, and it was a real eye-opener. Kevin's On-Purpose method helped me build a framework to figure out what to do -- and what to stop doing. Articulating my purpose helped me see what parts of my life fit and which don't. it helped me focus on which goals are really important, and which ones I can set aside for awhile.

No matter how good or how challenging your life has been lately, don't go another year without really knowing who you are, who you can become, and how to get there.

Register online for the preview, and prepare to enter the new year with purpose.

Mark & Brodie's Christmas Message

To reach younger consumers, think globally

I had to go to Germany to get the right watchband. What strikes me as odd is not that I paid twenty euros for a watchband, but that I could only find one store that had the size, color, and material I wanted. That the store was in Germany was almost -- but not entirely -- irrelevant. There was the price of shipping and the exchange rate to think about.

Other than that, once I found a website with a product that met my admittedly picky specifications, I placed my order, logged into PayPal, and sent my funds off to Uhrenbandversand in Oranienburg. In a little over a week, I received my package by luftpost.

Pollster John Zogby places me and my contemporaries in an age cohort he calls “Nikes,” because our motto, he says, is “just do it.” This is the group also known as “Generation X,” that hard-to-pin-down bunch that followed the baby boomers. After us comes what Zogby calls the “First Globals,” those born 1979–90. Even more than I, with my euro-spending ways, First Globals see a world without borders.

Understanding First Globals is necessary for marketing to them, and in his book The Way We’ll Be, Zogby details their worldview. Regarding the Kyoto accords, the International Criminal Court and the role of the United Nations, he says, their position is “sharply at odds with the generations just ahead of them.”

To get them to listen to whatever you’re selling, you have to get down to where they are. You have to make yourself equally a citizen of planet Earth, and you need to recognize that, for them, embracing diversity isn’t a matter of political correctness but a habit of mind.

The Way We’ll Be is packed with demographic information not only about different generations but about different mindsets. Zogby describes the major movements in our culture: living with limits, embracing diversity, looking inward, and demanding authenticity. This book is an excellent resource for understanding these movements, which will be key to reaching whatever demographic is your target market.

To reach First Globals, Zogby says you must stretch your borders. Though their worldview may differ from yours, you can successfully reach them by “opening doors, not closing them.”

If you stretch the borders of your business far enough, you might even make customers of First Globals in Germany.

And a little child shall lead the gadget design market

One of my favorite verses is Proverbs 21:5--“The plans of the diligent lead to profit as surely as haste leads to poverty.” It’s a reminder that accomplishing business goals takes time, planning, and hard work.

Photo of dzdock One by dzlabs

This ingenious gadget, designed by an 11-year-old, is evidence of what such diligence can lead to. Dino Zaharakis noticed that many iPad and iPhone holders don’t accommodate devices in a case or with the cord attached. He also noticed that although many products are designed in the USA, few are made here.

Instead of just bemoaning the trade deficit, Zaharakis applied himself to designing a "one for all” gadget stand. His design is a wonder of simplicity. Then his dad helped bring this idea into reality.

The Zaharakis family lives the not-so-fondly named “rust belt.” They chose local companies to manufacture the final product. As the dzdock website says, “American-made. American-designed. Yes, we can still do it!”

In applying diligence to bring his concept to fruition, Dino Zaharakis reminds me of another great verse: 1 Timothy 4:12--“Don't let anyone look down on you because you are young, but set an example…”

Do you have a product manufactured locally? Tell us your story.