This folklore has been disproved by other scientists actually testing the theory of bumblebee flight and recalculating how a bee takes flight.

But its an interesting piece of folklore to think that the bumblebee doesn't know any better and flies anyway. Isn't that how we should approach most things? Don't listen to the naysayers that tell you that you can't do this or you can't be that because of some supposed limitation you have.

Why not always try? Most successful people didn't listen to those that told them they can't, they did it anyway. You won't go to your grave with the things that you failed at on your mind, you'll go to your grave with the regrets you take with you – the things you didn't try.

If you're team wins, who is responsible for the win? Ultimately it isn't the cheerleader. A good football team can win a football game with no cheerleaders at all. Without a coach, without a quarterback, without a defensive squad? Not so much. Yet, having a cheerleading squad can be the difference between a win or a loss. Each part of the team has a role in the loss or win. Each part of the team has a function that they must fulfill that could be the deciding factor to a winning or losing season.

Just like a winning or losing football team, your company's team members have a purpose and each team member needs to know that they make a difference in the day to day operation of your business. You're the coach if you own the company. You're also the cheerleading squad. You're probably the quarterback too. You are responsible for the failure or the success every day. You can't sacrifice the cheerleading just because it doesn't fit in as a 'real' part of the business. The 'feel good' part of your business should always be important.

A cheerleader makes the team feel good about being a member of the team. They make them feel capable of winning. They feel like they can pick themselves up and go on. They make them feel like they are appreciated.

Its an especially important part of doing business in this economy. We're all feeling pretty depressed about our state of finances – individually and as a country. Pep talks are even more important during a losing game than during a winning game.

Make a difference in your team today. Give them a good pep talk. Talk about your achievements, your victories, your failures. Let them know what you plan to change, what you'd like to see done differently, what's being done right. You don't have to wear a short skirt or balance your secretary on the top of a pyramid. You won't have learn any fancy yells. But take a lesson from the cheerleading squad and give them a good 'Go Team!'.

I hear it all the time from clients and from my own mouth. We want to build a new business by building a fourteen tower building before we've even got the foundation up. Small Biz Trends has a great post on keeping it simple for small business owners.

No doubt you’ve heard the term ‘core competency.’ It refers to that which a company or person does best.

The best way to build a business is to start out offering only what you do best.

Yet, we're always trying to build the biggest and the best with a one person team.

I've never been a fan of branding over all the other things that are important in developing a new company or product. In utilizing branding as the key to marketing a product you usually spend lots of money to 'brand' something that hasn't even been tested in the market. Money that goes down the drain when the product fails. On the other hand, you can't just label a product 'Glop', slap a white label on it and hope for the best either. There does have to be a happy medium.

From Murketing's post, it appears that formerly generic products have found that medium. By branding their products, they've achieved customer knowledge, but with low cost production and marketing methods. In these economic times, we have a tendency to reach for cheaper goods, but may not have to sacrifice quality by selecting what works for our pocketbook.

Yet, its also stated that the only important statistic is the bottom line. If you make hamburgers, it doesn't matter how many burgers you sell, it only matters how much money you have left over after you've bought the meat, prepared it and sold it. The ultimate measuring stick is the money you have left over.

Can both be true? I think what's important about both statements is the act of measuring and measuring the right things. Marketing departments have a habit of measuring a campaign's effectiveness, not how much money resulted from the campaign. If your campaign results in an increase in the number of people who visit your website, what difference does it make if you can't measure how many new customers bought your product or service as a result?

Is anything measured as effective without increasing your sales and profit?

As I was writing a response I was reminded of a television show I watched last night. Ramsey's Kitchen I believe was the name. I've watched it before on BBC. He has also had a similar show here in the states. He takes a faltering restaurant and makes it over. He uses a consulting method, not a coaching method. In other words, its his way or the highway. The result is usually a successful restaurant, but at what cost? He injects his own flavor, his own way of running the business, even his own menu and decor. The restaurant owner is usually thrown out of the kitchen and placed in the role of greeter or host. Not always where they want to be.

I was struck by comparing this to my client's predicament. Her strength is consulting, but she's growing weary of the travel and the one-on-one. She'd like to abandon that role. Yet, if she does, she's afraid of handing it over to another person. She's afraid of losing her business identity. What would she do in the business? Would her clients stop using the business if she wasn't the consultant? Who could she trust with such a strong role?

When you're the product how do you find a replacement that won't drive you out of business?

New look, new outlook, new branding. Actually, the branding is going well for a change and I have a concept of how I want it to flow. I've been reading Zag and The Branding Gap. In the Branding Gap, logos are declared as dead in favor of icons and avatars. The concept is that everything used to be for the printed media and now it has to be reinvented for the 3d media. I've re-thought my old logo and come up with the mariner's compass in burgandy. I'm going to animate it. What do you think – flash or just a plain old animated gif file. I'm thinking flash.

When she's typing I hear her fingers flying across the keyboard. I'm a bit jealous given that I'm a programmer and should have flying fingers as well. So I took a typing test at TypingTest.com. I'm sure she'd beat me easily, but I scored a 50WPM – not bad.

I'm going to add increasing my typing speed as a goal for this year. What's your typing speed?

Ambient Orb

What he doesn't know is that I didn't order this one for the content – just the material. What I mean is I'm very interested in how the big guys are packaging their 'boxed material'. I've setup websites for people that create products online. Those types of products are great if your client base is technologically saavy. But what if they're completely inept at using a computer – or don't have the time – or the inclination to use an online system.

Yes, its true. There are folks out there that have no interest in downloading audio to their iPods. They couldn't care less about ebooks and ezines. They haven't the slightest idea what you're talking about and wouldn't have any interest in purchasing your products if they are all online. They don't care that they can get your product at three am. They'd rather have a pretty box delivered to the front door, everything they need in the package. They want something tangible to slide into the CD player, something to read in front of the winter fire. They want a book, with pages they can turn and highlight and dogear the corners if they feel like it.

And so, I'm checking out the real stuff. Who is selling what, what's it look like, how's it feel in my hand?

So far, I'm impressed with the Wealth Cycle, by LLoral Langemeier. Not just the material, but the content as well. After all, I bought it, I better use it.