Face book marketing...

Marketing on facebook is an interesting thing. It can be very successful if it is not used or abused.

Now I need to clarify the word marketing, for a lot of people that aren't 100% familiar with the term it can relate to 100's of different ideas and strategies to get a specific word out to the masses. This is not a Webster's definition!

We did marketing on facebook a couple of days ago. It consisted of sending a message to friends that care about me and any business I might own, start, or are running. The message was in a light hearted manor, with a free prize (or in this case, prizes) for the winner of a small contest to get people involved in our business 3vine. So far it has gone really well!

I really appreciate friends that take interest in any business Three Dot, Inc., might have. It means a lot to me personally. We did find some things that we could modify along the way, but it isn't anything huge.

I guess what I am saying is, if you have a trusting friend base over a social network and you send them messages that might benefit both parties involved, there is nothing wrong with that. Enjoy being creative in how you market yourself and your businesses.
~Chais

Here is a look at the event that started our facebook business involvement: Create A Name, Win Some Wear!

www.3vine.com

We just launched www.3vine.com today and we want your criticism. Please look at our site, tell us if something could look better, if something should be different, it something is spelled wrong, etc. We want to know your thoughts. If you go to our contact us form and fill out any info you would suggest (positive or negative) we would really appreciate it.
Thank you,
~Three Dot, Inc.

Following up on... Creating a Fad or a Trend.

My business Partner David Lano and I, are trying to make something that is not currently popular, popular again. We are trying to change the status and symbol of what hemp jewelry is known for (necklaces that pot smokers make in their spare time) to what it will be (a clean, alternative fashion accessory and symbol that goes with just about anything).

To do this we developed a couple of few ideas of how this can be accomplished. First is to create a brand worth buying, because of what it stands for or what it makes you feel. Second is to allow the product not just to aim at a certain audience, but to open it up to a wide range of people. Third is to create a free prize (or a few of them if needed) to allow any potential customer to get something for their time and money. Here is what we did:

The Challenge: Make Hemp jewelry a popular item again, even after the fad and trend has run its course.

Where we are currently:
We've created a Brand that makes and sells its own jewelry with the potential for many other items to be added in the future. This brand is called "3vine", it is an online only reseller that has a clean. fresh, simple feel to it. The website address is www.3vine.com (we will be launching the beginning of this week). We created a brand worth selling because of what the company is, the company image, and what it does for person that goes to our site (It Complements Your Style).

3vine's About Page:
"We don't know you.
We don't know your style, and each person has their own.
We do know our products and what they do for us.
Our products complement who and what we are everyday.
Use our wear to help accentuate what you love about yourself.
Be yourself and wear it proud.
3vine: Complementing Your Style"

Our Product:
We have over 130 different styles of Hemp Jewelry ("Wear" is the term we are using to replace the word jewelry) but we will only list somewhere in the neighborhood of 25-40 max (between the catogories "Ankle", "Wrist", and "Neck"). We want to be broad enough to reach the gamut of audiences, but not too broad where the number and supply is overwhelming. Too much supply means not as much demand.

Our Free Prize (by the way, you should read this book):
We believe any one company should have multiple free prizes. One of ours is free shipping. another one will be the convenience of our site. On every product detail page for each piece of jewelry, we will have a printable version of a ruler for potential customers to be able to size them self up right there. We will be adding more free prizes all of the time.

This is where we stand right now with an attempt of making hemp jewelry more popular again. We will be constantly updating as we add or find additional avenues to sell our brand and our Wear.
~Three Dot

Distress is Bad, Eustress is Good...

Below (which I found to be amazing...) is from the book, The 4-Hour Work Week.

"Unbeknownst to most fun-loving bipeds, not all stress is bad....There are two separate types of stress, each as different as euphoria and its seldom-mentioned opposite, dysphoria.
Distress refers to harmful stimuli that make you weaker less confident, and less able. Destructive criticism, abusive bosses, and smashing your face on a curb are examples of this. These are things we want to avoid.
Eustress, on the other hand, is a word most of you have probably never heard. Eu-, a Greek prefix for "healthy", is used in the same sense in the word "euphoria." Role models who push us to exceed our limits, physical training that removes our spare tires, and risks that expand our sphere of comfortable action are all examples of eustress--stress that is healthful and the stimulus for growth.
People who avoid all criticism fail. It's destructive criticism we need to avoid, not criticism in all forms. Similarly, there is no progress without eustress, and the more eustress we can create or apply to our lives, the sooner we can actualize our dreams.
The trick is telling the two apart."

It's A Place To Start...

Challenge your self always!

Take a look at Thomas, he took a silly challenge with a friend and decided to get a life lesson from it. If we could all think like this, we might have some more self dependent people in our society (I'm leaving that open so you can think of what type of person might fit in the Opposite category. If you'd like me to elaborate, I would love to.)

~Chais

Selling ideas on Ebay...

We did it!
We sold our first business idea on Ebay!
Oh, you better believe that we are so well known that we can sell our ideas for money to a random person we've never met before. This is an amazing feat, starting us on a path of riches and glory. Do you think it matters that we only sold our idea for $3.25 before any expenses were taken out? No...I think it is a starting place to a new type of industry...Maybe.
We will definitely try it again after we finish spending the time to complete the idea that winner chose, and we think of additional ideas.
Very Interesting Starting Place...
`Three Dot

PMBA...

We are working on the PMBA list and our goal is to have all of the PMBA books read in 2 1/2 years or less. Here is a list of books from the PMBA that we have purchased to read, are reading, or have read. We will update you with our progress as we continue.
`Three Dot...

1. How to Read a Financial Report: Wringing Vital Signs Out of the Numbers (How to Read a Financial Report)
2. The Bootstrapper's Bible: How to Start and Build a Business With a Great Idea and (Almost) No Money
3. The Goal
4. The Dip: A Little Book That Teaches You When to Quit (and When to Stick)
5. The 4-Hour Workweek: Escape 9-5, Live Anywhere, and Join the New Rich
6. How to Win Friends & Influence People

Marketing (in the form of advertising) affects who it affects...

Words following this statement might be something like this:
Duh...
No, Really...
Wow, That's deep (with a hint of sarcasm)...

But it is so true and simple that we (especially myself) forget about it.

I was with my mom watching television last week and we saw an Alltel (cell provider) commercial that has the 4 guys (they represent the other cell phone companies) and "Chad" (from Alltel). The four guys always do something silly or stupid to make Alltel look like a better company. My mom loves these commercials (absolutely loves them...) and I...not so much.

So, I think to myself that this commercial is a waste of time and money and that if I were to do it, I would do them it a different way (I don't everything about commercials, but I know my own tastes and what effects me). The interesting part is that my mom loves it the way it is, maybe my way wouldn't effect the people that it currently does in a positive way.

Using myself and my views as a basis to judge whether all marketing is good or bad, is an incomplete way of looking at it. I need to view it (marketing) from other's points of view (my mom and people like her), as well as from my own. This combined point of view is the middle ground that every non niche company tries to find. It requires more work and is more time consuming, but it is the area that I need to be shooting for.

What I learned:
1. Look into marketing deeper (my own, other company's and individual's)
2. Don't judge what works or doesn't off of 30 seconds of thought (I need to push myself to grow).
3. Don't forget about the customers / partners / investors that don't think like me!