BlogThe latest and greatest thoughts on Setting Ideas in Motion™

Stop. Pause for just a moment and listen to whatever’s around you. While you’re listening try to identify the source each noise you hear. The number of sounds that permeate our existence is incredible – sounds that we simply don’t hear unless we try. Opportunities are the same way. Opportunities to help someone in need, to [...]

Goodwill is one of the most powerful forces in the world. What is it? It’s a feeling. It’s the “wow” you get when a complete stranger shows you some unexpected kindness. Or when a customer service representative bends over backwards to solve your problem. When you open your new iPad to use it for the [...]

Bad customers – we’ve all had them. They suck the joy out of your work and make you wish that instead of being a creative professional you were some type of low paid menial laborer. (Actually, working for bad customers usually means you are a low paid menial laborer) On the other hand good customers [...]

I guarantee you will fail. There, I said it. A rather brutal and unpleasant assessment, I know – but it’s the truth. Nothing goes as planned, few things work the first time, setbacks happen, and most ideas take a completely different shape than you originally envisioned. To some, failure comes as a debilitating shock and [...]

One of my goals is to write one blog post here on LaunchThought.com per week. Normally, coming up with ideas to write about isn’t a challenge. In fact, every time I write a blog post, my handy little Moleskine ends up with at least two more ideas brought on by whatever it is I’m writing. [...]

Limitations aren’t the joy-squelching productivity drains you might think. To the contrary – you can use limitations to unlock massive untapped potential. Here are three ways limitations can make you ultra-productive. The Zone Don’t you love it when you are in the “zone”? Hitting that magic point when we possess the near superhuman ability to [...]

In his now-annual post encouraging bloggers to keep churning out high-quality content, Chris Shiflett asked his readers to write about why they like blogs. The answer he was looking for probably has to do with reading blogs, but I took the other view and thought about what I like about writing. ROI “Return on Investment” [...]

I am thankful for the Lean Startup movement, which has been spawned and promoted by brilliant entrepreneurs like Eric Ries, Steve Blank, Ash Maurya and many others. The simple, yet powerful Lean Startup principles have saved me countless hours of frustration and large amounts of money as I evaluate and build ideas.  BUT… As I observe [...]

Trust drives action. Without trust, you will never develop a deep relationship with your web audience. Your users will never enter their email address, they won’t give you permission to market to them, and they most certainly will not pay their hard-earned money for something you offer. Here are seven ideas on how you can [...]

Never before has it been so possible for people to do what they are passionate about and be rewarded for it. The world is craving artisans – people who are willing to reject the status quo of “cheap” and do things right. Artisans are profiting from being different (and better) everywhere you look. From tiny [...]