Friday Five time! I hope you’ve had a productive and rewarding week, and have plans to relax and decompress this weekend. In today’s roundup, I have the privilege of introducing you to some truly amazing thinkers. The links below outline: new Facebook features that are guaranteed to save you time, a plea for specializing, a strategic way to look at your invention, and more. I was educated and inspired by these articles, and I hope you have the same experience. Enjoy!
1. Facebook Finally Lets Admins Schedule Posts, Have Different Roles
People often ask me how to be effective with social media without spending all day on it. The secret, of course, is scheduling as many social media updates as possible, freeing you up to produce real work but jump into a conversation when you have some down time or need a break. My proclivity for scheduling is one of the reasons I was thrilled to see Emily Banks’s (@emjbanks) article about Facebook’s new built-in scheduling features. This Facebook upgrade also allows different settings for different admins–which is long-overdue functionality.
2. “I Am An Entrepreneur” – A Manifesto for Us All
My friend Jessica Williams (@TechBizGurl) tipped me off to this brilliant manifesto by Matt Cheuvront (@mattchevy) of Life Without Pants. While I don’t share Matt’s disdain for manifestos–in fact, I spent quite a bit of time creating The Irresistible Words Manifesto, and I love it–I do agree the word is going the way of “authenticity.” In other words: great concept, overplayed term.
None of which detracts in the least from Matt’s Entrepreneurship Manifesto–which just so happens to be available for sale. How great would that look in a home office?
Side note: You’re probably going to want to chat with this guy on Twitter. I’ve only talked with him a bit, but he already has me cracking up and looking at things anew.
{The point of my “Entrepreneurship Manifesto” wasn’t one focused on entrepreneurship at all, really. Rather, it was a manifesto for us all. A manifesto for the rest of us. One that defined not a way of working, but a way of living.}
Excerpt from Matt’s manifesto. Click to visit his site and read it in its entirety.
3. 5 Reasons You Should Specialize Right Now
Penelope Trunk (@penelopetrunk) is one of the highlights of my RSS feed, what with her frank honesty and talent for seeing and explaining trends. If you want an entertaining and tell it like it is take on business–from resume writing to founding a startup–Penelope’s your gal.
This article about specialization is particularly important for entrepreneurs, as so many of us seem to have “I can help everyone! I’ll try to do everything–by myself!” tendencies. Surprise, surprise, that is not the path to tremendous success. But specialization can be.
{I have told all of you about the research that makes it clear how important it is to specialize, but I often wonder if I’ve ever converted anyone. If you don’t specialize you’ll be unemployable, and if you don’t specialize your life will get boring. For the most part, I think people don’t specialize because they are scared. But you’re kidding yourself if you think you have a choice.
1. Specialists garner special help from other people…
Specialists stick together and help each other. There is a mutual respect. A specialist is a hard worker, and committed and diligent and other specialists are encouraged to help because of that. Which means you get more access to a wider range of help if you specialize and risk needing a wider range of help.}
4. 6 Tips to Get More Blog Comments
Tara Wagner (@OrganicSister) is an absolute gem. She lives in a way that is fiercely true to herself, her beliefs, and her loves, and she generously shares her point of view with readers of The Organic Sister. In this piece about getting more blog comments, Tara’s signature mix of thoughtful reflection and business acumen is on full display.
{So before we even look at any tips to get blog comments coming in, I want to talk about INTENTION.
It’s important to know yourself and know why this topic matters (or if it really matters). Do you:
- Hope it will increase readership?
- Want to experience more connection with readers?
- Wish to facilitate connection in others?
- Use it to bolster your own sense of approval?
- Just think a successful blog “should” have lots of comments?}
5. How Does Your Startup Idea Fit Into the Patent Landscape
When I started reading Anup Desai’s article for Women 2.0 about his business Patent Unaverse, I was admittedly wary. I always look at promotional articles with skepticism, but was won over by three key factors: 1) Patent Unaverse is free to use, 2) they respects your privacy, and 3) it just plain looks like a great service. I’m a big believer in market research, and that’s exactly what Desai’s website was created to facilitate.
{Let’s say that now I have a unique solution, and I want to understand my competitive landscape and the competitive barriers (e.g. patents) that exist. After combing the Internet, should I proceed with seeking counsel from a patent attorney or a patent research service? Both tend to come at significant expense. Certainly, you could check a patent database, but this might not provide a complete picture, and leave you feeling a little uneasy.
My solution to this particular problem is Patent Unaverse. I created this free-to-use site so that entrepreneurs could visualize how their ideas fit into the patent landscape by industry. The website also has a wiki component that allows for continual input from registered users, thereby providing a platform for crowd-sourcing the arduous task of patent research.}
If you found these articles useful, please share them with other small business owners and entrepreneurs. I’d love to read your thoughts in the comments, and, as always, let me know if you’ve written a piece you think would be a good Friday Five feature.