Principles for Building a Successful Internet Business

The Sweet 16: Principles for Building a Successful Internet Business

Writtten by John Audette
October 31, 2006

John Audette's "Sweet 16"

Internet legend John Audette launched, grew, and sold four successful companies during his Internet career. He is best known for founding the Internet News Bureau, an early press release service that was sold to Internet.com, and for his online agency Multimedia Marketing Group, which Outrider.com bought. He was also the mind behind the renowned email publisher, Adventive, which at its peak was home to more than a dozen popular discussion lists (such as i-Search and i-Sales). John describes the Sweet 16 in his own words,

"During my time as an online entrepreneur, I often looked back and analyzed what worked and what didn't work, and I've identified 16 things that have worked well. I introduced "John Audette's Sweet 16 - Principles for Building a Successful Internet Business" at an ecommerce conference in Hawaii. These ideas were well received there which encouraged me to share them with the community. Although much about Internet business has changed since these were first published, I feel they still hold true. I hope you find them useful."

The Sweet 16

1) Maintain Absolute Integrity

2) Niche With Passion

3) Put the Power of Inertia on Your Side

4) Build In Scalability

5) Keep It Lean

6) Remarket

7) Stay Humble - Maintain a Vertical Learning Curve

8) Honor the Customer's Intelligence

9) Communicate, Communicate, Communicate

10) Yoda Says, "Give, Then Take"

11) Ideas Are Only Sparks

12) Tangibilize

13) Build a Three Legged Stool

14) Build Community

15) Respect the Power of the Index Finger

16) Convert Liabilities Into Assets

Principle 1: Maintain Absolute Integrity

There are obviously ancient philosophical value systems that encourage us to act with honesty and integrity in all that we do, whether we're dealing with personal or business relationships. We tend to vary a bit in our behavior depending on the set of beliefs that we subscribe to -- and on the strength of our subscription. That's the personal side of integrity and it's not my role to discuss that. The business side of integrity is what concerns us here.

We all appreciate that the networked environment of the Internet gives us all awesome communications power. The entire world is taking on the characteristics of a small town when it comes to gaining and losing reputations. As we have discussed on I-Sales frequently, the world has been flipped upside down and the consumer, the prospect, the customer, is in charge.

The old saying used to be, "The customer is always right." Well, we all know that is nonsense -- the customer is often wrong. But there is a valid adaptation of that old saying that works in a networked environment, "The customer might not always be right -- but the customer always rules."

Therefore, we must never abuse our relationship with the customer. Forget for a moment that it's the "right" thing to do as regards personal and business ethics. In this context it simply makes sense from a dollars and cents business perspective. There are many examples of how to do this, and fortunately we can always feel it in our gut.

One example that comes to mind from a discussion we had at I-Sales is that we must fulfill the terms of the "contract" that we have with our customers. We discussed various possibilities for e-pub revenue models beyond running ads in the publication itself. One concept I brought up was having people volunteer (opt-in in Internet parlance) to receive commercial messages on topics that they have an interest in. Several people wrote in and said that they would unsubscribe if we ever did that at I-Sales.

Well, I could never do that at I-Sales under the contract that I had with I-Salers. The contract, which was more de facto than formal, stated that we would run ads in the I-Sales Digest, but would never send messages from advertisers to I-Sales subscribers. To do otherwise would have violated that contract. Therefore it would require approval to change the contract before changing the structure.

Just one example. Again, we all know in our gut when we are maintaining integrity or violating it. It's been my experience that is more rewarding, on many levels, to maintain it.

Principle 2: Niche with Passion

This used to apply to small Internet business endeavors, but with the Internet world awash in cash it's starting to apply to larger and larger ones. Back in 1994, when I got started with Multimedia Marketing Group, there was very little activity on the Internet -- therefore the barriers to entry were low. It didn't require a $25M advertising campaign to kick things off. So in those days you could go into a broad category with some expectation of success.

No more.

The game has grown and entry fees have grown along with it. Brick and mortar Big Dogs such as Wal-Mart now believe that the 'Net is for real (duh!) and are entering the game with big bucks and big experience. And the new dotcoms coming in are doing so with venture capital funding in the tens of millions. The belief in first mover advantage has become a mantra and there's a willingness to pile giant amounts of money on unproven concepts. So what's a small business to do? You already know the answer:

Niche -- and niche with passion.

Inventory your list of interests and note the ones that you are most excited about, most passionate about. Those are your potential online businesses. The smaller the market, the more highly specialized, the better. You have a great chance of success:

1. The Big Dogs aren't interested in small niches. They're after the kajillion dollar markets.

2. Some of the new dotcoms target relatively small niches, but most of them are in it solely for the money and will not do as good a job as someone motivated by other things as well.

Passion, interest and knowledge are powerful. I spent many years working as a stockbroker, an environment that was not native to me and therefore was all about money. I made a high income, but never really built up a significant net worth. And I didn't really enjoy the work. So in the late 80s I quit. And I made a vow to myself at that time: never again do anything solely for money.

I decided to make my living doing something that I was genuinely interested in, that I was passionate about. And I made peace with the belief that I would probably not make as much money as I had during by brokerage career. And then a funny thing happened -- I started two Internet companies that would end up being worth $20,000,000.

I didn't start those companies to make $20,000,000. I started them because I loved the Internet (I still do). As an aging child of the '60s I loved the "power to the people" aspect of the 'Net (I still do). I ended up working in niches that perfectly matched my interests and passions. I-Sales itself is a perfect example.

Some of you remember that the INET-Marketing discussion list, moderated by Glenn Fleishmann, was the king of the hill back in 1995. It was a great list with about 7,000 subscribers, huge for that time. I posted there frequently (I still remember how excited I was when my first post was published) and found it to be extremely valuable as I started learning about the Internet.

There was one aspect of INET-Marketing that wasn't perfect for me, however. The discussions tended to get pretty theoretical and often hovered at 40,000 feet. I wanted to get down to ground level and discuss real things learned from experience (a niche). I discussed this with Glenn, and with his permission and support, I launched I-Sales for exactly that purpose. (I know, I know, we have wandered up to 40,000 feet on occasion).

I spent countless hours on I-Sales in the early days with no revenue model in sight. It excited me to be able to provide a forum for others like me who were trying to figure out this Internet thing (it still does). One of MMG's early clients was completely perplexed that I was spending so much time on something that was producing no revenues and criticized me often. I ignored him.

Looking back, it's apparent that I-Sales has been the single most important component in the building of the modest Internet success I have had. So I had that pretty well figured out, right?

Nope. I simply followed my interests and my passion.

It's very powerful to be motivated by forces other than money. It gives you awesome tenacity that those chasing money don't have. It gives you the discipline to give up a quick buck today in return for furthering a relationship that will yield greater rewards over the long-term.

So niche -- and niche with passion.

Principle 3: Put the Power of Inertia on Your Side

Inertia is defined as "Resistance or disinclination to motion, action, or change." If you have ever been on a large roller coaster (a real one -- not the one we know as Internet business), you know what a powerful force physical inertia can be. Well, psychological inertia can be just as powerful.

Even though we live in a rapidly changing world, most of us on this site who are members of the human species are, to some degree, creatures of habit. We have a tendency to fall into comfortable routines, routines that become so routine that they are called habits. And those habits are powerful!

Those who create revolutionary new products and services that call for a user of those products or services to drastically change their habits find out just how powerful those habits are. People are powerfully compelled by psychological inertia to keep doing things the way they've been doing them -- and overcoming that inertia is a real challenge.

Television programmers know all about inertia. Which is why when they get a hot show they use it to introduce new shows by programming the new show to immediately follow the hot one. Now, it doesn't take a lot or energy to click on a remote -- but inertia takes over and many viewers stick around for the new show.

As with all powerful forces, it makes a lot more sense to have the power on your side ("May the force be with you") than to fight it. Doing this properly is a great example of converting what could be a liability into an asset.

I'll give you a recent, real-world example of a case where I failed to put inertia on my side while a fellow publisher, Michael Tchong (publisher of the excellent ICONOCAST newsletter), succeeded. Email publications formatted in HTML and presented graphically are the wave of the future of publishing for a variety of reasons that we won't get into here (I know that many on the Adventive lists prefer text, and that's fine because we will probably always offer our lists in text as well as HTML, but bear with me while we use this as an example of using inertia as an ally rather than as an enemy). Advertisers, the main revenue model of most publications, much prefer to have their ads run in publications delivered in HTML format

Michael's newsletter is a weekly that until recently was published only in text format. ICONOCAST is uniquely suited to being published in HTML, as Michael and his staff are talented in layout and graphics. Their product is professionally designed and the final product is a credit to e-publishing. Michael wanted to convert from text to HTML and to do it rapidly. So he simply did it. He started sending ICONOCAST out in HTML only. There was a fair amount of bitching and moaning, and he undoubtedly lost a few subscribers, but the subscribers he retained simply started receiving the publication in HTML format. Michael knew that inertia would work for him, that people might grouse a bit but that they would stay with the publication as they were used to receiving it. And things quieted down fairly quickly and now Michael has a publication that is delivered in HTML format to 100% of his subscribers, a format that is quite attractive to advertisers -- and he keeps the lights on.

Now let's take a look at how I, in contrast to Michael, am fighting inertia instead of using it.

We also would like to deliver our publications in HTML format. We think it looks nice, we think it's easier to read -- and we know advertisers prefer it (the ones who pay the bills). I thought hard about simply converting like Michael did but decided instead to allow subscribers to have a choice. After all, survey after survey had all indicated that over 40% of subscribers would opt for HTML if it was available -- not too bad. And so what do you think has happened so far?

Out of a total of 104,350 subscribers, 4,848 have elected to receive the HTML formatted version. That's about 4.7%. So, with inertia on his side Michael has 100% of his subscribers receiving the HTML version. With inertia against me, I have 4.7% of my subscribers receiving the HTML version.

What's that? Did I hear you say only 4.7% of our subscribers receive the HTML version because 95.3% prefer the text version?. Au contraire, I say -- why then do over 80% of new subscribers elect to receive the HTML version? I maintain that the main reason so few subscribers have switched over is because of one thing. Yep, you guessed it -- our old friend inertia.

OK, I'll give you another example, a case where I made inertia work for me rather than against me.

Long-time I-Salers may remember this one. A couple of years ago (November, 1998), feeling unusually ambitious, I decided to publish a weekly newsletter written entirely by me. I called it Adventive.com. I guess I was feeling frisky but I took the bold move of sending Adventive.com to everyone who was subscribed to I-Sales, which at that time was about 10,500. Do you know how many people subsequently unsubscribed from Adventive.com? The answer is 22, which is about 2/10th's of one percent!

That means that 10,478 people out of 10,500 stayed subscribed. Why in the world did 99.8% stay subscribed? Was Adventive.com that good??!! You guessed it again! The power of inertia was on my side. If I had launched Adventive.com and invited current I-Sales subscribers to subscribe to the new newsletter, do you think that 10,478 would have subscribed?

Put inertia on your side whenever you can -- it's a powerful force.

Principle 4: Build Scalability

Financial gnomes, such as Alan Greenspan in the U.S., have been confounded by the current economic boom in the U.S. and in many other parts of the world. It's robustness and longevity have few equivalents in history. And the financial generals, so prepared to fight the last war which was inflation, have been perplexed by a combination of high growth, low unemployment and low inflation. They're just now starting to understand what is making that combination possible -- productivity gains created by technology.

The reason that we had such concentrated wealth in former booms, such as the industrial revolution, is that the tools of production were enormously expensive. It was costly to build one of Andrew Carnegie's steel mills. It was costly for Hearst to build his publishing empire. Barriers to entry were high which relegated most to working for those who owned the tools.

Today, technology has given all of us, even very small businesses, access to the tools of production. We all own a printing press. We all have access to a broadcast network. It's simple and inexpensive to build a local area network, even a wide area network. Technology is inexpensive and accessible, making it easy to incorporate it into our businesses.

Following the now modest capital expenses of acquiring the tools of production, the largest operating expense in most businesses is payroll. The most expensive way to fulfill delivery is to do it with a human being (the least expensive way is not to do it at all, a tactic still used by a number of clueless companies when it comes to providing customer service -- but that's another topic). The least expensive satisfactory way to fulfill delivery is with the use of technology.

Today businesses of all sizes are using their inexpensive technology tools to increase productivity. They're increasing their output without increasing their expenses. In other words, they're scaling. Which is why we have such robust growth without inflation.

Scalability is one of the reasons why I like the publishing business. We currently have more than 100,000 subscribers to the 12 discussion lists that we publish here at Adventive. We do this with a staff of eight people and 10 moderators -- and a powerful IT infrastructure. Adventive is growing rapidly and is currently adding almost 5,000 subscribers a week, but the growth puts no pressure on our staff whatsoever. The computers work a little harder, but we can probably handle a million subscribers with our present staff. Nice scalability.

Look for ways to incorporate scalability into your business or department by using technology at every step of the way. The more scalable you make your operation, the more you will facilitate growth and high margins. Try to solve problems with machines instead of people. And there's another benefit as well -- scaling allows you to keep your team smaller, which enables everyone to have a larger piece of the pie.

Principle 5: Keep It Lean

This one seems particularly timely given that the dotcom bubble has burst and many are dissolving into gaseous nothingness. Not too long ago here I ranted about the dotcoms wasting millions and millions of dollars on Super Bowl ads, which to me was the perfect icon for the stupid way many have deployed their over-abundance of capital. Now that the capital markets have dried up, many dotcoms, especially in the business to consumer e-commerce space, are going to simply run out of money before they are able to attain profitability and the ability to run on their own power.

As I mentioned before, I base the Sweet 16 on my real-life experience in building and selling two profitable Internet businesses. Both were built in bootstrap mode with no outside capital. And we were better for it. Of course we were building real companies, not money-losing air charts that we were intending to flip to an unwitting public.

If you are building a real company, as opposed to a burger (one designed to be flipped via an IPO), then you must be focused on economic viability. And when there is a scarcity of capital it forces the operators of a real company to keep their eye on economic viability, which in a real business is defined as profitability.

Too much capital can cause the operators of a company to forget that profitability, for themselves, their employees, and their share-holders, is their central mission. When the business operators are young and inexperienced, a large amount of capital seems infinite, and they do stupid things with it. We've all read about the excesses in the dotcom space: lavish parties and trips, $50,000 conference room tables, leased automobiles, poorly thought-out marketing plans that waste millions -- the list goes on.

When your funds are limited you are forced to think in terms of ROI (return on investment) for every single expense. Will this expense have a positive impact on earnings? How long will it take? A lack of capital enables focus and forces discipline.

In the early days of MMG, when I did multimedia presentations and website design, I frequently needed to scan images. At that time a good quality scanner cost close to $1,000. The company had the money, but I was unwilling to spend it. Instead I used the scanner at the local Kinko's (which meant I had to go there at 3:00am because it was the only time it was available).

Was that stupid? Should I have increased my efficiency by having a scanner in my basement office? I don't think so. The nightly trips to Kinko's kept me disciplined and focused -- and provided me with enormous motivation to build MMG into a successful company, one that owned a scanner.

Money can often be an inferior substitute for passion, energy and commitment. It can make you lazy and complacent. Keep it lean -- even if you have the capital. Your company will be better for it.

Principle 6: Remarket

Hopefully this one has become obvious to everyone by now, so I'll keep it short. In my career as a stockbroker I was taught a number of cliches, all of them true (seems like most cliches are). The one that applies here is -- your best prospects are your current customers. No need to explain that. But how to implement it?

Communication.

And fortunately, technology has given us the tools to maintain communications with our customers as never before. We all have the ability to maintain a detailed database of our customers and to use e-mail to communicate with those customers. We used this principle at MMG to build what we called Client Development Services (CDS). CDS fueled our overall marketing strategy (that we used on behalf of our clients).

It went something like this:

Strategic Planning --> Implementation --> Measurement --> Feedback --> Strategic Planning -->

A continuous modified loop where the modifications occurred as a result of CDS, the feedback that we got from our client's customers.

The Internet gives us unprecedented opportunity to listen to our customer base -- and listen we must as they are in charge. And the more we listen and respond appropriately (i.e. serve their needs), the more business we do with them.

Principle 7: Stay Humble - Maintain a Vertical Learning Curve

I have a feeling that the timing in introducing this particular Sweet 16 principle might be pretty good. With the dotcom body count growing daily, arrogance and hubris in the Internet space is quickly being replaced by humility. And the first prerequisite of achieving a vertical learning curve is humility.

This one intertwines with several of the other principles, especially: 8: Honor the Customer's Intelligence; 11: Ideas are Only Sparks and; 15: Respect the Power of the Index Finger. The key here is that in an environment where the market has absolute power, it's important to stay open to continually learning about (a) what that market wants and (b) how to give it to them.

It's really pretty simple to learn what they want -- all we have to do is listen. But we don't listen if we think we already know all the answers, if we are not open to continual learning. A vertical learning curve cannot be attained if we cling too closely to our theories. We must be open to the Scientific Method:

1. Start with an hypothesis

2. Test it extensively

3. Process the results of the tests. Either...

    a. discard the hypothesis, devise a new one and go back to #1
    b. fine tune the hypothesis and go back to #1
    c. move the hypothesis to a theory and go to #5

4. Test the theory extensively

5. Process the results of the tests. Either...

    a. discard the theory, devise a new one and go back to #5
    b. fine tune the theory and go back to #5
    c. move the theory to a law and go to #8

6. Run with it

7. Bank it, Danno

A problem that many have is that they jump from hypothesis to law based solely on their own convictions, what has become known is "drinking your own KoolAid," or "breathing your own vapor." We have learned (and continue to learn) that both of those substances can be deadly. My Papa Grogan used to sum this up pretty well many years ago with the expression: "Saying it doesn't make it so."

OK, let's assume that we have managed to stay humble, to test our hypotheses and theories in the marketplace, and to refine them based on the feedback that we receive. We've managed to avoid drinking our own KoolAid and to avoid breathing our own vapors. Good for us! We're learning and we can rightfully claim that we are building a market-driven business.

Now we're on to the second component of maintaining a vertical learning curve -- how do we best give our market what we now know they want? In our environment, the environment of the Internet, we have the ability to use some pretty formidable technology tools. But our tool set changes rapidly and staying fully informed in such a dynamic environment takes a real willingness to learn on a continuing basis. Fortunately, on the Internet we have tremendous resources available to us -- all we have to bring is the willingness to use them.

There are many other positive aspects of maintaining a vertical learning curve, such as: it keeps you young; it keeps you vigorous; it keeps you alert; it makes you more interesting to others; it's more fun than flossing. Maybe I'll discuss those in a book.

Principle 8: Honor the Customer's Intelligence

Hopefully we all agree that in the business environment of the Internet the customer is in charge -- totally in charge. Many implications flow from that premise and this is one of them. I first wrote about this four years ago in a welcome message on the MMG website. I'll quote from that message (that has changed very little over the years):

"When faced with the challenge of marketing on the Internet it's tempting to simply adopt the techniques that have proven effective for many years in the environment of the older media, such as print and broadcasting. The problem with this is that many proven and familiar marketing, sales and advertising techniques just don't work in the brave new world of the Internet.

"The Internet represents revolutionary change, as opposed to evolutionary change. When faced with revolutionary change, we naturally try to hold to what is familiar. This usually entails extending metaphors from the older models with which we are comfortable. This is what psychologists refer to as "falling into a cognitive trap". We under-estimate the magnitude of change and we try to drag all of our old adaptations (i.e. tools and strategies) into a very different model.

"An example of this as pertains to online marketing is that many traditional advertising agencies try to use their old strategies in the new model of the Internet. These agencies have become enormously effective marketing in the environment of the older media. However, the Internet is different from old media in many ways.

"For instance, traditional media are all limited by space, time, or both. As a consequence, there are limits on how much content can be delivered in an advertising message. Traditional ad agencies have adapted to these limitations extremely well. They have found that there is sufficient space and time to appeal to emotions and to stimulate an emotional response. Ad campaigns are designed that do just that.

"To quote fellow I-Saler Leo Sheiner,

"The cost in conventional media of informing people at a cerebral level about a product or service is simply too high. It is more cost-effective to grab them by the subliminal subconscious gut reaction. There is neither time nor space to genuinely inform."

"The Internet is the first communications medium that is unlimited by space or time: the message is available seven days a week, 24 hours a day; and there is endless ability to supply information. Which means we now have the opportunity to appeal to the buyers' intelligence, in addition to appealing to their emotions. I believe that this fact is lost on many marketers when dealing with the Internet. That's why they are so infatuated with glitz and push -- those are familiar and comfortable tools in the old media."

That pretty much says it all. And perhaps the requirement to honor the intelligence of the customer will, over time, produce a less cynical, less manipulative advertising industry. One hopes.

Principle 9: Communicate, Communicate, Communicate

It's not exaggerating to say that Multimedia Marketing Group and the Internet News Bureau were built mainly by e-mail. This is one of those simple things that has power far beyond its appearance. We've all agreed here that the Internet has flipped the world upside down. Here's a snippet from an article I wrote for the Adventive.com newsletter a few months ago...

ASTEROID IP HAS STRUCK PLANET EARTH

The dinosaurs had a nice run. But about 65 million years ago, theory has it, they were brought down by a large rock (an asteroid more than five miles in diameter) that crashed into the earth somewhere around Club Med in Cancun, causing an explosion 10,000 times greater than could be produced by all the nuclear weapons currently on earth. Evidently the rock changed the environment on a global scale.

Though it pales in comparison to the run of the dinosaurs (or even "Cats" for that matter), business has had a nice run since the Industrial Revolution. And no big rocks appear to be on a collision course with our modest little sphere, allowing the topless sun bunnies to lounge comfortably on the beach in Cancun. But a radical change in the environment is underway nonetheless -- caused not by big rocks from outer space, but by the little grains of sand that pad those sunbathing bottoms.

Silicon chips, linked together in a global network, and communicating in the standard global language of Internet Protocol (IP), are causing immense global change. And many businesses, well adapted to the old environment, are having a hard time adjusting.

You hear a lot about "getting it" or "not getting it" when people talk about the Internet. Do you ever wonder just what that means? Well, here goes. I'm going to tell you what it means to get it -- at least in a business context. Ready?

The customer is in charge.

If the customer is in charge then we need to communicate with that customer in a responsive one-to-one manner. You or your company simply MUST answer all e-mails the same business day -- you have always returned phone calls the same business day, right? It amazes me, but in todays business world it's actually a value-add to return communications the same business day that they're received. Many "businesses" never return inquiries at all. That dog won't hunt in a world where the customer is in charge.

And you must try to be as personal in your response as possible. Autoresponders are an effective tool, but do not use them as a replacement for personal contact -- use them as a supplement.

Timely communications can be a daunting task -- one that I have not always been able to do. In the early days of MMG especially, when I was a one man operation, I would often receive over 300 e-mails addressed to me personally every day. Not spam, but personal messages. I was usually able to answer every one personally. While it often kept me up until 2:00 in the morning (or later), I built hundreds of relationships that have resulted in business opportunity and personal friendships.

I'll close with a recent real life story about the power of timely communication. My wife and I have dreamed for years of owning a place on the island of Maui in Hawaii. Our recent business transactions have given us the ability to fulfill that dream and I started doing a little research on the 'Net. I found a few websites produced by realtors in Maui and liked the tone of a couple of them, so I sent them inquiries via e-mail.

I'm still waiting to hear from one of them. I received a personal and informative response from the other in less than two hours, which told me a few things: (1) this guy is wired, (2) he believes in customer service, (3) he knows his market.

We went back and forth via e-mail, arranged to get together when my wife and I were in Maui, and we subsequently bought a property with his help. The moral of the story is that I found the realtors on the Web -- but I formed a relationship and did business with one of them as a result of his *timely* response to my e-mail inquiry.

Personal and timely communication is vital if you want to business on the Internet.

Principle 10: Yoda says, "Give, Then Take"

Every issue of the I-Sales Digest (and now the LED Digest!) has the following at the top:

Data -> Information -> Knowledge -> Wisdom

In a networked system with open access, many people have the opportunity to be a publisher. Therefore, data and information quickly become free and ubiquitous. The cliche on the 'Net is "Information wants to be free." I have a personal tendency to share anyway, but that tendency has proven to be an effective way to do business on the Internet. I think the main reason is that, with mountains of data and information available, the true value comes when we are able to move further along the continuum -- to knowledge. Give data and information freely and then find a way to build a revenue model for knowledge.

Kevin Kelly, in his outstanding book "New Rules for the New Economy: 10 Radical Strategies for a Connected World," devotes an entire chapter to the topic of freely sharing information and why it's a model that works on the Internet. He is much more erudite about it than I am and you might want to read his book.

As for me, all of my Internet marketing knowledge has been gained as a result of experience. Let me tell you a story of how I discovered the "give, then take" principle.

In the very early days of Multimedia Marketing Group our major service was registering clients websites with the top directories and search engines. There were literally hundreds and hundreds of them in those days vying for position, and it was very difficult to determine where you should spend your time registering your site. I spent a great deal of time evaluating them and compiled what I believed were the best ones into what I called the "WebStep TOP 100." I created a web-based, annotated, hyper-linked listing of the best 100 places to list a website.

MMG was using contractors to do client registrations at that time and I made the WebStep TOP 100 available to them as a password protected internal resource. As I recall, we offered the service for around $295 -- and we did a lot of them.

I received an e-mail from someone who had heard of the WebStep TOP 100, couldn't afford the $295, and was wondering if there was any way he could have access to it at a lower cost if he did the submissions himself. I gave him the access information and it occurred to me that perhaps we should make it a freely available resource to all. It did live a bit beyond information on the continuum, and we could probably justify charging for it. But I knew it would drive traffic to MMG's site -- and it just felt like the right thing to do. A friend of mine thought I was absolutely crazy to give away what were MMG's crown jewels at that time.

So... Back in 1995 I made the WebStep TOP 100 freely available to all. What do you suppose happened?

The word spread quickly as it was a somewhat unique resource at that time. Within a short time we were receiving over 100,000 unique visitors to that section of the website on a monthly basis, which was very high traffic at that time. And then we were visited by serendipity -- our paid registration business exploded. A number of people found the TOP 100 but preferred to pay MMG to do the submissions and save the 16 hours. They also started inquiring about what other marketing services MMG had to offer.

Making the WebStep TOP 100 freely available turned out to be one of the key steps in the development of MMG.

The concept of "give, then take" is pretty well known now and hopefully you have found a way to use it. But we felt pretty brave using it in those early wild and wooly Internet days.

Principle 11: Ideas Are Only Sparks

"Having just a vision's no solution, everything depends on execution."

(lyrics from "Sunday in the Park with George")

This is probably the most obvious of the Sweet 16. After all, Thomas Edison said it a long time ago, "Success is 1% inspiration and 99% perspiration" (something my Papa Grogan was all too fond of quoting to me when I was a little skipper).

But it's worth repeating -- and more importantly, observing. My experience in running a major interactive agency is that many people out there think that a good idea has some sort of intrinsic value -- and they won't give you any details until you have signed a Non-Disclosure Agreement (I have often thought that it would save a lot of time if we all printed a tiny NDA on the backs of our business cards).

Well, a good idea *is* a spark, a place to get started. But that's it. The value is all in the implementation, the thousands of little things that when done properly add up to a significant cumulative result. God is in the details (or, if you're a pessimist, the devil is in the details).

You have to take those ideas and run with them, work them, flesh them out, find great ways to use them. Implement, implement, implement. Don't play the "Good Idea Game." You know, the one where you remark on someone's success and say, "Big deal, I had that idea years ago." So forget the NDAs. No one is going to steal your idea. The winners are too busy implementing their own ideas to steal yours. And the losers don't believe in implementation as it takes too much effort.

In my opinion we had a lot of good ideas in the building of Multimedia Marketing Group and the Internet News Bureau. But the way I checked our progress at the end of each day was by asking myself the following question before I could go to bed: "What did I do to move MMG forward today?"

So repeat after me: A good idea by itself isn't worth squat. One more time: a good idea by itself isn't worth squat.

Principle 12: Tangibilize

This one is a biggie. The Internet is a virtual environment, an intangible medium. Many of us distinguish between the Internet and everything else by referring to things outside the 'Net as the "real world". This is compounded by companies selling services, which are also largely intangible. For example, MMG delivers services, intangible services. There's no physicality to them whatsoever. You can't feel the texture, you can't smell them, you can't pick them up to see how much they weigh (fortunately you can measure most of them).

Intangible services in an intangible medium.

Companies selling products have it a little better, as a transaction is completed with the customer receiving something physical. But the transaction still occurs in an intangible medium. A medium filled to over-flowing with scam artists, charlatans, fly-by-nights and others with less than honorable intentions. If the customer has not dealt with you previously they are probably doing so with at least a little trepidation, which may prevent them from consummating that critical first transaction. How do you overcome that trepidation and build their comfort level to the point where they are willing to do business with you? By establishing credibility.

Fortunately there are a number of ways to do this. Most of them are part of a process that I call tangibilizing. Forgive me for slaughtering the English language, but this is a word that has become a mantra at MMG. Tangibilizing involves finding ways to make yourself real to your prospect. The more real you become, the higher your credibility. There are many simple ways to tangibilize:

1. It's important to have your contact information, including your physical address, on every page of your site. At the very least you should have an "About Us" section on your site. Many visitors will want to know more about you.

2. Introduce people to your company with staff bio's and pictures.

3. Have a personal welcoming letter from someone in the company and be sure to include their scanned signature at the end -- and an invitation to e-mail them directly.

4. Use testimonials. This is perhaps the most powerful one of all. I'll illustrate with an example that involves the Internet News Bureau.

A few years ago I was looking at the INB traffic logs and I noticed that only about 30% of those making it to the order form were actually sending in an order. I had just finished reading "Crossing the Chasm" by Geoffrey Moore (highly recommended). To quote the review on Amazon: "His chasm theory describes how high-tech products initially sell well, mainly to a technically literate customer base, but then hit a lull as marketing professionals try to cross the chasm to mainstream buyers." He then recommends a number of different strategies for "crossing the chasm" with your product.

One of the strategies recommended by Moore is testimonials from the early adopters. INB specialized in sending press releases via e-mail to subscribing journalists, which was a new concept in those days. It had been successfully used by many companies and I had just received a very positive, unsolicited testimonial from one of those early customers. I asked him if I could place his comments on the INB website, and he agreed. So I went ahead and placed it at the top of the order form page. I thought that a little dose of positive encouragement might be the boost that people needed to go ahead and complete their order.

What do you think happened?

The percentage of people who visited the order form page and subsequently placed an order doubled -- it increased from 30% to 60%. It's worked so well that the original testimonial is still there. My estimate is that this single effort at tangibilizing increased the value of the Internet News Bureau by $2M at the time of sale.

Tangibilize. It may be bad English, but it's good business.

Principle 13: Build a 3-Legged Stool

One of the most valuable of the Sweet 16, the 3-legged stool, is another principle that applies to businesses in the real world, but is particularly important when building an online business. And I learned this one the hard way -- by failing to implement it in the early days of my career. So take a moment to read this -- and learn from Your Sincere Moderator's mistakes.

The three legs that support our little stool, the three fundamental ways in which you can receive compensation for your business efforts are:

1. Generate current income
2. Build equity
3. Increase income and build continuing cash flow with leverage & scalability

The truly good news is that it's possible to receive all three types of compensation if you apply your efforts properly. To illustrate, I'll give you an example of an endeavor that, on the surface looked pretty good, but was seriously flawed.

As many of you know, I spent the first half of my business life working as a stockbroker and Branch Manager for a NYSE brokerage firm. I made a high current income, had a nice corner office, and on the surface it looks like a pretty good job. Right? Wrong. Let's take a moment and grade that job in terms of how well it succeeded in fulfilling the potential of the three legs of the stool:

1. Generate high income

The job performed excellently here and we have to give it the maximum score of 5.

Score: 5

2. Build equity

There was some equity built in the form of reputation and client relationships, but it wasn't the type of equity that could readily be sold.

Score: 2

3. Establish leverage and scalability

First of all, what do I mean by that? By leverage I mean the ability to do something once and get paid for it many times. The software model of Microsoft is a good example that has worked well for Bill Gates and gang. By scalability I mean the ability to produce more and more widgets without a concomitant increase in costs. Henry Ford was the first to apply this model with his assembly line at Ford. And, as with Bill Gates, Henry did OK.

The brokerage position has some leverage, as it was possible to come up with an investment idea that applied to many of my clients. So I was able to do the work once and receive commissions from many of my clients for the same idea. And that idea had infinite potential scalability -- the more clients I had who were suitable for that recommendation, the more commissions I made, up to a point. But there was a lot of effort involved in building a relationship with a client, so there were practical limits. More so, than say, Bill Gates and Henry Ford faced.

Score: 2

Total Score: 9

On a potential score of 15, my position as a stockbroker produced a total of nine points, only 60% of the potential. Not too bad, but it should be possible to do a lot better. In comparison, let's take a look at the Internet News Bureau (INB) that I founded and subsequently sold to internet.com:

1. Generate high income

INB was solid here. Expenses were low and revenues were good.

Score: 5

2. Build equity

INB became a well-established brand with a well-establish repeat clientele. Not a Microsoft, but a good solid equity build.

Score: 4

3. Establish leverage and scalability

Leverage is only so-so, as press releases are sent for individual clients. However, INB scores strongly in scalability. As demand for services grew it was possible to use technology to build in scalability. Thus, revenues were able to grow much faster than expenses.

Score: 4

Total Score: 13

Which is why I was able to sell the Internet News Bureau for several million dollars.

Look for ways to incorporate the 3-legged stool into your business model. There's only one of you, you work hard. You owe it to yourself to build a model that compensates you in multiple ways for your efforts.

Principle 14: Build Community

Build community! I can just hear you gasp with wonder at that insight. You're thinking, how does John come up with these revelations? Never heard of building community on the Internet!

As I mentioned before, I base the Sweet 16 on my real-life experience in building and selling two profitable Internet businesses. Both were built in bootstrap mode with no outside capital. And we were better for it. Of course we were building real companies, not money losing air charts that we were intending to flip to an unwitting public.

OK, OK, so building community has become a cliche on the Internet. Hey! Be careful about invalidating things just because they are cliches. My Papa Grogan filled my head with cliches when I was growing up -- and over the years I have learned that every one of them is true.

People do business with people they know, like and trust. In fact, many of us do business with people we know, regardless of whether we absolutely like them or absolutely trust them, just because we are familiar with them. Obviously, the most powerful aspect of the Internet is the ability to interact, to communicate. Communicating builds community (come to think of it, those words look a lot alike). In a business context, if you can build a community that is comprised of people who are potential buyers of your product or service, it will be a potent part of your marketing.

I-Sales is just such a community (and so is the LED Digest!). I started I-Sales way back in 1995 as a labor of love. I was sincerely motivated by providing a forum for those interested in Internet business (still am). I was also involved in building Multimedia Marketing Group (MMG) at that time and I was aware that moderating a discussion list like I-Sales might give me some visibility, but that was the extent of my business purpose at that time.

I-Sales had no revenue model and I remember being frequently criticized by one of MMG's clients for spending so much time on something that had no immediate monetary return -- and no monetary return in sight. Longtime subscribers to the I-Sales list (and members of this community) know what happened. MMG became one of the most successful interactive agencies and was subsequently sold to a $5B international media agency based in London for an eight figure sales price.

Want to venture a guess as to what the primary factor was in the development of MMG into a successful major interactive agency? The I-Sales Discussion List.

Over the years I have established many, many relationships with I-Sales subscribers. Relationships that resulted in new accounts for MMG. Relationships that resulted in speaking engagements all over the world. Relationships that resulted in friendships I will have for the rest of my life. Relationships that resulted in the ability to have a beer with an I-Saler anywhere in the world. The I-Sales community made MMG -- and it has been the main driving force in the success that I have enjoyed with my modest Internet endeavors.

I wish I was smart enough to have thought all this through when I launched I-Sales. I wasn't. Fortunately there are times in life when serendipity plays a large role in things -- and this was one of them. Remember my friend who criticized me for putting so much time into I-Sales when there was no apparent business return? His dot com has since gone out of business. Me? Sometimes a blind dog finds a bone.

Something you hear me say frequently here is that the best opportunities are in niches, particularly niches that you are passionately interested in. I'll add to that. Once you identify your niche, find a way to serve it. Best of all, a way to serve it and to build community at the same time.

Build a community around your niche. It's rewarding on many levels.

Principle 15: Respect the Power of the Index Finger

You might recall from previous Sweet 16 principles that the world has been flipped upside down and the consumer (the market) is now in charge. They have almost infinite choice and unless you give them what they want they let their finger do the walking. (It's interesting the powerful role that index fingers have played in building history -- first with guns, now with mice).

In the physical world a retail business often makes a sale despite the fact that they have ignored many of their customers needs for years. This can happen just because their store has the most convenient location, or because they are the only ones to carry particular items in the area. The customer puts up with poor service and/or high pricing because they are out-weighed by the convenience of location or availability.

I call this the sales push model. Many businesses are constantly looking for ways to operate their business more efficiently or cheaply, and they focus almost exclusively on what's in it for them -- as opposed to what's in it for the customer. We all know phone companies that operate that way, computer superstores, airlines, and the list goes on. Wouldn't you love to be able to delete them from your life with a simple click of a mouse?

Well, you can do that on the Internet. As opposed to the sales push model of much of the real world, on the Internet sales are pulled. All stores are located side by side, availability is abundant, and that powerful index finger is put to use. In this vast video game we call ecommerce, if you don't give the consumer what they want they will in effect blast you to bits with their mouse by clicking to a competitor.

Is this good or bad?

Depends on how you approach it. If you try to do business the old push way and simply focus on what you want and try to jam products or services down the markets throat, then it's bad. In fact, you don't have a prayer of succeeding.

On the other hand, it's very easy for you to convert this potential liability into an asset (Principle 16: Converting Liabilities into Assets). Not only should you respect those all-powerful index fingers, you should intensely observe what they are saying. The feedback loop of the Internet is incredible. It's fast, candid and accurate. Listen to your market and serve their needs. You will convert the index fingers of your market from fingers triggering destruction to fingers triggering sales.

Principle 16: Convert Liabilities Into Assets

I've saved the best for last. This, I believe, is the most powerful principle in business.

There are many definitions of business, but the one I like the best is that it is essentially a continuous problem solving exercise. Every business encounters a myriad of challenges as it moves forward: What does the market want? What does the market need? How to set pricing? How to handle complaints? How to market effectively? How to handle personnel issues? The list goes on and on.

Solving these problems, meeting these challenges, is at the foundation of building a successful business.

But it's not enough.

The most successful businesses not only handle these problems and challenges as they encounter them -- they convert these potential liabilities into assets by learning macro principals that they can apply moving forward. How do they do this?

They use inductive reasoning, perhaps the most rare and most valuable skill that one can have in running a business. The Webster definition of inductive reasoning is "reasoning from detailed facts to general principles." Inductive reasoning enables you to build a macro structure while responding to micro details.

Using inductive reasoning, you will find that many times a small short-term problem can reveal a large long-term opportunity. Solve the small problems, but in doing so ask yourself how what you have learned can be applied as you move forward. That's inductive reasoning, a powerful way to convert short-term liabilities into long-term assets.

Comments (14) add comment

Trevor Johnson said:

There is an inherent contradiction between Principle #1 (Maintain Absolute Integrity) and the pro-spamming example about the launch of Adventive.com touted as being 'good business' in Principle #3 (Put the Power of Inertia on Your Side.)

The misuse of mailing lists for the purpose of unsolicited bulk emailing - aka spamming - remains as repugnant now as it was back then. Just because it was 'successful' does NOT make it legitimate.

October 30, 2006 | url

Nathan Holley said:

It wasn't actually the launch of Adventive, but the "Adventive Report," that this is referring to. Adventive published the AR along w/ the other dozen or so lists.

I think the point is that John could get away with this kind of thing because he had established trust and credibility w/ his audience. Also, I disagree that it was spam - more like Unsolicited Uncommercial Email. Besides, this was like 6 years ago - get over it!

October 30, 2006 | url

Thom Reece said:

John was the keynote speaker at my E-Commerce 2000 Conference in Hawaii and he presented his "Sweet 16" for the first time to a very eager audience.

The presentation was a rousing hit and attendees still comment to me to this day about how important that presentation was to their online careers. John gave out small wallet-sized laminated cards to the audience which featured his "Sweet 16" points and I still refer to mine. It's a bit dog-eared... but a great reminder of some wonderfully crafted information shared by one of this industries smartest and best.

October 31, 2006 | url

Barry Mills said:

Trevor Johnson wrote...

There is an inherent contradiction between Principle #1 (Maintain Absolute Integrity) and the pro-spamming example about the launch of Adventive.com touted as being 'good business' in Principle #3 (Put the Power of Inertia on Your Side.)

The misuse of mailing lists for the purpose of unsolicited bulk emailing - aka spamming - remains as repugnant now as it was back then. Just because it was 'successful' does NOT make it legitimate.

No Way Trevor, I'm not having that. John Audette was/is one of the great anti-spam champions of the internet industry. He hates spam with a passion. So did most of his subscribers - I know this because I moderated I-sales for a while and every time the subject came up we were bombarded with posts. Absolutely no-one felt they were being spammed by Adventive, or by John.

Spam is a bad thing, and fighting it is good, but some perspective and common sense are needed. If a computer supplier sends a (printed)catalogue to random addresses, that's junk mail. If they send a specific offer of an accessory to people who've previously bought from them the type of computer the accessory is for, that's not junk at all, it's just good customer service and good business communications. Similarly, sending a sample publication to existing regular subscribers of a sister publication is not spam by any legal definition I know of (certainly it would be 100% legal in the UK, and we have strong anti-spam laws) nor by any rational one. It isn't unsolicited, there is an existing business relationship, and there is a very strong reason to believe that readers of one publication would be interested in the other. Most readers of I-sales or other publications, myself included, saw the Adventive.com list as a useful addition that helped us get more out of our subscription by summarising the key topics of the week and providing a sign-board to the full discussions on issues we might have missed. The handful that didn't like it would have had no concerns about unsubscribing, since they would have known that Adventive was a well run organisation who would act immediately on their unsubscribe request, and treat their data and privacy with respect.

It's very important that people in the internet industry continue to give mind share to the combating of spam, as unchecked it is a genuine threat to the usefulness of e-mail as a communications medium. But the pathological defining of virtually any business e-mail as spam is almost as destructive to the medium as spam itself. Normal people WANT companies we deal with regularly to communicate with us, and we EXPECT them to do so, without us having to go to the trouble of pro-actively requesting each and every individual communication. Please let legitimate companies communicate normally with their customers unmolested, and don't confuse them with real spammers in your arguments, or you will simply discredit the argument in the eyes of most people and reduce the chances of authorities and the wider public ever taking the spam issue sufficiently seriously to address it.

Barry S Mills

October 31, 2006 | url

John Smart said:

There is a line between valid UCE and invalid UCE.

We have a mailing list for our clients where we occasionally send notices (planned down time). But we have used it very rarely for promotions too. If we are joining with a third party spam filter (which we have) is it wrong to mail our clients to let them know about it? They did not sign up for such e-Mails, but it is a service that may have a value to them, and it is related. So would it be improper?

Most (if not all) of my clients would like to do better in Google et al. Would it be inappropriate for me to mail a link to the LED and a brief blurb about how much good it could do for them, if they can make the time investment.

I get UCE from companies that I do business with, and within reason, I do not mind – it is how I find out about new things. Most of my credit card bills come with UCS (Unsolicited commercial Snail-mail) Are they doing something wrong? I usually just throw it away, but sometimes I see something interesting to me.

There is so much stuff out there that most of us do not know about, and will not find out about in our usual course of business. Not all companies can afford TV/radio adverts. If I tell you about Mousestuff.com – a great place for an unusual gift of a character computer mouse (you can, of course, get a gift for yourself!!) is that wrong? I mentioned my shopping cart software here the other day, so Adam may stop me blatantly pushing myself like this – but the question is valid to the conversation – if I had a 6 line signature at the end promoting computer mice in this forum, that would be inappropriate. But a little plug like that – is anyone really offended?

What if I mailed all my hosting clients in regard to the mice? Maybe that would be a little uncool. How about if I offer them a discount? Are they even aware that such a thing as a pig style computer mouse exists? Probably not – so how will they ever find them? I can be number one in Google, Yahoo, and everywhere else for ‘Piggy Mouse’ but if that is not being searched for – what good does it do me?

We need advertising so that we know what is available, UCE is cheap advertising that small companies can afford. Huge Bulk mailings that are untraceable, and pushing drugs, surgery, diet pills, or anything else that plays on peoples fears should not happen – no question about that at all. What about mortgages? I get a million mails a year offering me cheap mortgages. I delete them all. But the fact remains that I would have never considered looking online for a good mortgage deal had I not received at least one of those. One got through my spam filter today for a radio controlled toy helicopter – I have wanted one of those since I was 6! Now there is a cheap – easy to use one. Had I not got that spam, I would not know about that. Now I want to go get one. Not through the company that spammed me though. Even though they educated me!

The problem with spam is quite simple. We all want no spam. Except for the spam that we want!

October 31, 2006 | url

Al Toman said:

I take interest in Mr. Trevor Johnson's post, "There is an inherent contradiction ...", about Sweet 16. Mr. Johnson is correct in his assessment. However, spam is not the point in Mr. Audette's sweet "Sweet 16".

UCE is a multi-billion dollar W.W.W. disease on the internet. However, less than 1/2 of 1/2 of 1% of ALL internet users are the least bit concerned with fighting the disease of UCE (look at what it took to fight yellow fever in the United States). Look at what internet users are interested in by using Wordtracker, Google Adwords, or Yahoo Overture Inventory. It ain't spam.

I've read through almost the entire http://www.dcita.gov.au/communications_and_technology/policy_and_legislation/spam of 2003, which is 100,000 times better than the "Yes, You CAN SPAM US in the USA" legislation penned by the United States. I'm sure the Brits have an ACT that fits somewhere in between these. I'm also well familiar with the FTC, "we're here to collect our paychecks, collect the benefits, and retire wealthy". Thank God for spam!

If anything is repugnant, it's the careless, carefree attitude of all of these countries. Mr. Johnson's web site clearly and correctly states that attacking UCE needs to be attacked at the source (though his source is wrong in my opinion). None of these countries' statutes are effectively attacking spammers' spam. The true repugnance is, is that the millions of internet users, worldwide, are not demanding their countries to take action. Our "inertia", as a Global People, smells bad, tastes bad. And Mr. Audette knows all about that. Mr. Audette sweetly hit the nail, square!

Though Mr. Audette has incorrectly used the analogy of inertia (see below), the point is, is as long as the millions of internet users do not have to cash out for UCE, UCE will continue in its same "inertia" path.

Mr. Audette is most likely a calculated risk taker. The creators of that "your space dot com" web site are, as well. They already stood before Congress!!! What happened? Nothing (Mr. Audette's inertia). Except maybe they were later invited to the White House for din-din on fancy stoneware. Heck. I'd spam if ALL it meant was a hot meal and a chit-chat with Laura at the White House, too~! That web site is NOT a product of ethics and responsibility! It's the same case with most all of the "social network" web sites.

Anti-spam is analogous to the anti trans-fat news story that hit us in yesterday's national news. Eateries could have eliminated trans-fats from their eats years ago. They did not. Now, the powers-to-be are winding up to slap the eateries (the same U.S. attorneys who won their bank accounts $255 billion in the anti-tobacco settlement scandal). The eateries are smartly saying, "no way, no how".

If these same attorneys started looking at webmasters' websites with the same glitter of gold in their eyes, 90% of UCE would stop dead in less than 24 hours.

Mr. James Miller stated http://www.led-digest.com/content/view/1297/55/, "I would also agree that spam is increasing. Look at the entry from my blog." Yeah. So? Mr. Miller uses E-Blogger which opens the door, welcomes, espouses, embraces, and permits UCE. Simply, shut the door. No spam. My E-Blog reports "0" spam!

Mr. Leonardo da Vinci blogged some 5,000 journals (see the UK Library), permitted comments, and wasn't spammed once. What have we, as a Global People, learned from Leo? Nothing. Mr. Audette calls this our "inertia".

Inertia, its moment, is very tricky to calculate. The mathematics of calculus would be very, very helpful in calculating the moment of inertia the same as it would be for SEO, Search Engine Optimization. However, I can almost guarantee you that less than 1/100th of all who claim to be or to know SEO know squat about calculus, the mathematics of Search Engine Optimization, much less Search Engines. I know. The Adam guy wanted to talk less on search, search, search but I had to throw this tid-bit in here!

All in all, the MARKETING point Mr. Audette is making is a true and tried point, even though it has nothing to do with inertia. And, you, Mr. Johnson, know better than many of us, that it works for UCE, as well. That is, UCE lives as long as we permit it to live and our "inertia" currently says, "Live On, Spam".

Mr. Johnson, it is both your job and my job to cause the future Mr. Audette's to pay $100 per subscriber, 10,478, using high-end math here, $1,047,800 to solicit them. However, Mr. Audette asks, "If I had launched Adventive.com and invited current I-Sales subscribers to subscribe to the new newsletter, do you think that 10,478 would have subscribed?".

My assessment is, is that Mr. Audette would have successfully used his "Sweet 16" expertise and gained the 10k subscribers rather than shelling out a million bucks, hey? But at the time, in his case, "the force be with Mr. Audette".

Spam is for eating, not emailing. How Sweet it is!

Al Toman

October 31, 2006 | url

Mike Banks Valentine said:

Commenting on the Sweet 16 is like commenting on many other things considered "Truths" because you just can't get a handle on anything you disagree with beyond minor semantics. Although someone inevitably disagrees with the meaning of a phrase (as in the spamming comments above - first attacker, then defender).

Agreeing in a "me too" fashion with those 16 principles is rather pointless as well and doesn't contribute to a conversation either. All we can do is nod our heads as we read. We should occasionally revisit and reread and nod some more, then contribute thoughts as they relate to new developments in online business.

Many of the latest developments in online business have much to do with community (#14) with the label of "Social Media" applied to them. Social bookmarking, tagging, photo sharing, review sites... So at times, one principle or another is emphasized as the latest success and everyone goes stampeding toward that principle to the detriment of the others. (Hey, there's a new principle - #17 Don't over-emphasize any one principle to the detriment of the others.)

While I agree with the 16 principles, there is one thing I believe is a bit understated:

"I wish I was smart enough to have thought all this through when I launched I-Sales. I wasn't. Fortunately there are times in life when serendipity plays a large role in things -- and this was one of them."

We simply can't know everything or deal with every aspect, regardless of our thorough business plans. Serendipity plays a huge role in both our personal and business lives. We simply need to choose a path, pay attention to events and adapt to them with Integrity (#1), then see how that fits our Passion (#2). The rest (#3-16) each follow in their place.

Mike Banks Valentine

October 31, 2006 | url

Adam Audette said:

Really good points Mike:

We simply can't know everything or deal with every aspect, regardless of our thorough business plans. Serendipity plays a huge role in both our personal and business lives.

Fortune is such a huge factor in all things - business is no exception. How many of us have had a seemingly minor coincidence or serendipitous event suddenly springboard our projects or partnerships to a new level? Or blow them up to a new low? If life is a game then the fortune factor is one I want lots of. My Dad always says, "I'd rather be lucky than good."

Speaking of... I've been trying to get him to post a comment here. He's too busy http://www.audettecollection.com to care though. Hmm... that blue and gold logo looks familiar...

October 31, 2006 | url

Allan Gardyne said:

I've taken to heart one piece of advice John gave (I think it was at Thom Reece's conference in Hawaii). John said something like this: "Do something every day to improve your business - no matter how small."

He described how he'd be about to go to bed, and would ask himself, "Have I done something today to improve my business?" If the answer was no, he'd go back downstairs and do something.

It's so easy to get bogged down in daily trivia and lose sight of the big picture.

I believe that remembering this tip and trying to apply it every day since has played a major part in the growth on my one business. Thanks, John!

November 01, 2006 | url

John Audette said:

Greetings...

Interesting to follow the discussion about the Sweet 16. As many I-Salers who are on this list know, I wrote the Sweet 16 as Moderator's Comments in I-Sales over a period of a couple of years. I'm pleased that they still hold some water after all these years.

Adam has been encouraging (goading) me to post here, and he finally got me after sending me the following comment from an LEDer:

"I used to read and participate in LED when your Dad was the moderator. I noticed in todays LED people seemed to be talking about him in the past tense. Is he, uh, still with us?"

Well, I'm still kicking. As Adam mentioned, I'm pretty much consumed these days by my #1 vice -- old Porsches. I restore 'em, work on 'em, and drive 'em at the track. There's always more to learn about working on them and driving them, so it gives me an opportunity to keep on striving.

My very best wishes to everyone on this list who is involved with shaping the Internet on a daily basis. What a great time to be alive!

Your Striving Subscriber,
John Audette

P.S. It's still *early*.

November 02, 2006 | url

wayne said:

Great advice, it will help with my future online business.

November 25, 2006 | url

Beth said:

Hello John -
If someone was to ask me 30 minutes ago, 'Who is John Audette?' I would have replied 'I have absolutely no idea. Should I?!'

And the answer would have been YES!

I cam to this article from Ken Evoy over at Site Build It! He strongly suggested we (new SBI-ers) read it. And I am now so glad I have -- you have added more sparks to my flame! Having researched Internet Marketing a great deal this past month (I'm technically 'unemployed' so I have alot of hours) I've begun to notice a division between those who play the 'fast buck' game and those like Dr. Evoy and yourself advocating the opposite.

Yes the 'fast buckers' make a TON of money. Who WOULDN'T be lured by that!? But another factor enters into the equation especially if you're approaching midlife as I am, and that is, just how DO I want to spend my precious time?! Do I want to write 100 ads today so that 10 people will buy my eBook on How to Use AdWords and then do it all over again tomorrow etc etc.?

Or can I earn money while at the same time sharing my love and enthusiasm for, art? Or music? Or Philosophical Questions like what is the meaning of life?

That's the beauty of the Internet - it's big enough for someone to make money in a variety of ways and so I'm choosing to do the latter.

BTW illustration is one of my strong interests, check some scribbles out at www-dot-planetbeth-dot-com.

Thanks for your article again.

July 26, 2007 | url

SEOIreland said:

Some great food for thought here John, thank you!

Mike.
www.ridge-web.ie

November 13, 2007 | url

Daniel Gardner said:

I had saved this post away in my online files to get around to reading, and came across it today. I am currently building my own website, to better be involved in web entertainment. I printed out these sweet 16 and will read them like a Bible.
Thank you John!

December 21, 2007

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John Audette's "Sweet 16"

The Sweet 16