Re-Inventing Everything

It is December 2009. We are all leaving the reboot and reset years. What is next? We need to re-invent everything.

This seems a tall order. Do I really mean "everything"? Yes and no. Not all at once, as that would be too much to do. But there are many things that need to be re-invented. We just need to do them all, but one at a time.

I started a new business this year. I call it Enovative Energy Solutions. I need to find new customers in order for the company to survive. So how do I do it? There is the "old way", but is that good enough?

The old way involves mass producing chaos and hoping that – when the dust settles – there are more good things produced then negative. The old way involves printing many letters and sending them to many people, only a few of which – 3-5% is the rule of thumb – have even the vaguest interest in what you are trying to sell. The old way involves "cold calling", which means picking up the telephone and invading people's work time to banter them into buying what you are trying to sell. In short, the old way involves wasting paper, postage, and time with making a lot of noise. It is "mass marketing pollution".

The old ways are inefficient with the use of materials and resources. But the worst offense is that the old ways involve a waste of your time and that of all the non-customers that you must encounter on your way to finding customers. What is it called when people waste your time by calling you up to ask you to buy something that you are not interested in? It is really a kind of noise pollution, delivered by the telephone rather than in person.

What are the new ways to promoting a business? You can, of course, provide information on the Internet and rely on search engines like Google and Bing for your customers to find you. You can put on seminars and invite your friends to attend and learn about what you are trying to sell.

The new ways must involve networking. Networking has always been important, and yet it is hard to quantify the benefits from them. Networking involves going to places with other people who are similarly interested in meeting new people. Networking involves talking to the people that you already have relationships with and asking them to help you find other people that they know but that you do not know. Networking involves talking to people one-on-one and asking for their help, without badgering them into letting you do what you want to do.

When does networking become selling? That is like asking to identify the moment when a stranger becomes a friend. It happens in the blink of an eye. It happens without your knowing that it is happening almost.

There are more new ways. I am committed to discovering (rather than truly inventing) them. I must be willing to accept being the recipient of a marketing / sales approach as well as being willing to engage in the act of performing those marketing / sales activities. As I discover them, I will report on them here.

Life Box and Bio-Mimicry [Again]

An earlier entry (The Life Box – Is It Biomimicry?) posed a question but gave no answer. Since then, I have found an answer. The question was left unanswered because I didn't know if ideas used in the making of the Life Box had been "taken from the genius of the natural world" (in the words of Janine Benyus, who coined the term). In hindsight it seems obvious, but I wanted to double-check with the inventor of Life Box – just to be sure.

Paul Stamets is the inventor of Life Box. He is founder and owner of Fungi Perfecti and author of five books on mushrooms. I had Thanksgiving Dinner at his house. (In the interest of full-disclosure, I must mention that Paul is my brother-in law).

I asked Paul Stamets whether the genius of nature had inspired him in creating Life Box. His business, growing mushrooms at Fungi Perfect, requires paying close attention to the patterns of Nature. Paul pointed out that he had used cardboard as compost for many years. Turning a shipping carton into ready-to-use compost, then, is a pretty obvious match for any self-respecting, self-composting gardener. And we have one example of bio-mimicry.

Then, there is the relationship between trees and mushroom mycelia. That pattern in nature is pretty hard to miss. So putting mushroom mycelia with the tree seeds in the Life Box just mimics one aspect of the ideal conditions that nature provides for tree seeds. That the seeds and mycelia may have traveled thousands of miles together in a freight train filled with Christmas presents is beside the point. And this is another example of bio-mimicry.

Then there is the manner in which the Life Box seeds are made to germinate. You put the Life Box into a very cold place – either outside or in a freezer – for two weeks. This mimics the "wake-up" call that nature gives to seeds to let them know that winter has come and gone. Once again, an example of bio-mimicry.

Three examples of how elements of Life Box were inspired by the genius of nature. How cool is that? There are doubtless other examples, but for my purposes three is sufficient.

Paul showed me a Life Box that is the perfect size for shipping books. The timing is could not have been better because I need a box with just that size. My website sells Kill A Watt power meters. The book-sized Life Box is the perfect size for shipping them in. I also sell online a computer programming book that I wrote; it should fit perfectly as well. (Life Box comes in other sizes, but I didn't see them because dinner was ready and we had to get to the table.)

As soon as we get our supply of book-sized Life Boxes – early in 2010, I expect – we will use them for all orders for Kill A Watt power meters and also all orders for my books. I can't wait!