GoHuman Blog

Over the last couple of years, there’s been a lot of talk about greed being one of the main drivers of the global financial crisis. And that talk rings true. After all, greed is an inherently selfish motive that disregards the harm it causes to others or to ourselves. And as the crisis has illustrated, the more power and influence a person or organization has, the more damage their greed can cause. 

We now have a bigger problem than we did when the Great Recession started back in 2008… the ten largest banks in the country now control 64% of the country’s assets in 2011, up from 58% in 2006 and only 25% in 1990 (source: Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas).  Talk about too big to fail… yikes! 

Peter Schweizer recently shined a spotlight on Congressional insider trading, corruption and graft, and we are now seeing the cockroaches scramble.  60 Minutes has further exposed what we knew all along:   the more power you have, the more opportunity you have to abuse it.  And unless we create and enforce regulation to stop this bad behavior, such widespread abuse will continue to take place.  It’s pervasive on both sides of the aisle, from John Boehner to Nancy Pelosi. 

It’s been a very tough year for many, including GoHuman.  We pre-launched in Beta two years ago, on Labor Day, with grand ideals around helping the “little guy” compete.  Over the past 12 months we’ve failed miserably in achieving our goal.  This was largely due to internal misalignment at the partner/owner level.  These issues were finally resolved last Friday, and GoHuman can now move forward, proudly, true to our vision and ideals.

We represent a new and different model than the failed systems and methods of the past.  Aggregation of wealth and power in the hands of big business place an unsustainable burden on humanity and the planet.  In the US our economic challenges have evolved into a type of class warfare.  A materialistic mindset had us all believing in a kind of Casino salvation – that if our system celebrates greed and excessive wealth, that’s OK, because maybe I’ll get a piece of that pie some day.  GoHuman’s internal struggles mirrored this tendency, but we have survived, and we have learned.

Bottom line, raw capitalism harnesses greed as an engine, which ultimately accomplishes more harm than good.  Here’s an article from way back in 2006 that serves as food for thought as we lean into our Thanksgiving meal this year.  It quotes Warren Buffet saying  “There’s class warfare, all right, but it’s my class, the rich class, that’s making war, and we’re winning.”

As we pause to celebrate Thanksgiving in the U.S., I’m thankful that we’ve made it through the past year, and that the coming year is poised to be better.  We look forward to a better year ahead, resolute that what we stand for will ultimately win out despite the challenges of getting a start-up off the ground, not to mention one that is radically different and perhaps still ahead of its time.

Please join us in our mission to Change the Way Your World Works.  Get involved in the GoHuman.com Marketplace – as a small business using our platform to market your services, or as a customer of small local businesses.  Let’s build a better marketplace together.

Learn your fear of raising prices and stand up to it. Don’t allow the fear you have about money and prices to be the decision maker. Acknowledge the fear, set it aside, and then get creative and make a non-emotional decision, regarding your prices.

When you’re having a conversation with a customer, whether in person or via advertising, focus on “the value” of the product/service you offer. People love to hear stories about other happy customers who have experienced the joy of doing business with you. Talk more about value and less about the price. Being enthusiastic and passionate about what you do is viral. Customers want you to believe in yourself and your business. They want to buy from someone who is proud, passionate and confident about what they do.

When you raise your prices, you’ll have more money to gain more, and better customers. The additional income allows you to market, advertise and promote your business in ways you couldn’t afford to before.

Operating a small business is vastly different than running a corporate giant. Small businesses can be more creative and opportunities to succeed are greater. Very few principles can be taken from a corporate giant and applied to a small business with similar results. Your advantages in a small business are the complete opposite of theirs. They have mass volume, distribution and leveraging advantages.  You don’t. Don’t be misguided by the pricing war behavior they engage in because thankfully, it doesn’t apply to you!

One falsehood many people fall for is that by lowering their price, they’ll “make it up in volume.” Here’s a great example…..a guy buys a boat load of money change-making machines and someone says, “How will you make a profit? People put a dollar in and you give them four quarters. How in the world can you possibly make any money on that deal?” The guy responds by saying, “I’ll make it up in volume.” Really?

Much of the fear of raising prices comes from the whole small business self esteem factor that says, “I’m not worth it and would feel guilty raising prices because my customers trust me for this price and therefore, if I raise them, I’m taking advantage of them.” Really?

Take yourself back to the state of mind you had when you first started your business. Remember all that energy you had? You were so excited that you stayed up all night researching and writing down all the limitless possibilities you could create? Never lose that game element because it’s what keeps every business’s energy and creativity flowing.

There will never be a shortage of opportunity for you to raise your prices, when you are continually raising the value of the buying experience. You won’t lose customers, you’ll gain them.

Communication is key to creating, building and growing relationships, whether in our business or personal lives. We spend our days in various forms of communication to enhance relationships. Everything we say and the actions we take are a direct reflection of ourselves and our businesses.

In business, advertising; a website; making client calls and networking, are all forms of communicating your message to contacts, clients and prospective clients. Having a conversation about your business with someone is a direct opportunity to demonstrate the value and service you provide others, who will want to pay for your product/service and do business with you, or refer you to someone who will. People do business with people they know, they like and they trust.

Communicating the right message and in the right way can be the link to creating successful, life-long relationships with clients, associates or new acquaintances. Being genuine, trustworthy and in integrity to those you connect with shows how much you value the relationship as a solid foundation for you both to build upon and use for improving business.

Your work ethics and communication skills with others not only enhances the relationships you create in business, but also has a huge impact on the personal success you achieve in life.

The gift of “giving” inherently, means you must be open to receiving, as well. Being a good and effective communicator provides many opportunities for rewards, from gaining new clients and more financial stability to new friendships that are life transforming. By routinely communicating with clients and contacts, you’re building relationships that will support every aspect of your business and personal life.

When GoHuman decided to launch its Beta Phase on Labor Day we knew we had the right idea.  Political events in recent months have led to elected officials attacking the core ideas behind Unionism.  Highlighting the roots of, and what went wrong with the Union Movement, is critical to enabling U.S. Citizens to make better informed decisions.

Reflecting on this is also a good time to announce GoHuman’s interest in Yes! Magazine.  A headline article will help our members and readers understand why.  Not only do I personally live in Madison, an epicenter of the resistance against newly elected Governor Scott Walker, and not only does Yes! Magazine, in another recent article, highlight the connection to the Packers, of whom I just declared myself a fan, but our understanding of the causes of the problem, and the types of solutions we propose, seem to be in complete alignment.

This is why I recently gave a gift subscription to Yes! Magazine to several GoHuman Co-founders and other supporters, and why I’m reaching out to explore other areas of support and alignment with the Yes organization.  The problems we face are immense.  We’ve all got to sacrifice, even the teachers, policemen and other government employees.  But we need to do so with an attitude of positive cooperation, not with what amounts to a war-like attitude.  Solidarity with a magazine called Yes! seems timely and right.

I married a Milwaukee girl and, expecting our first child, moved to Madison, WI in 2008.  The move had nothing to do with Cheeseheads, except for two of them – Grandma and Grandpa.  While I can enjoy football if it’s on, I never sought it out and know nothing about it.

Which explains why I didn’t know that the Packers are the only NFL team not owned by big money.  But last week an article titled “Support Green Bay, annoy the rich” caught my attention.  It explains that the Packers are “still, effectively, owned by the town of Green Bay, population 102,000.”  And more importantly, “The Pack has 112,000 stockholders. No kidding. None is allowed to own more than 200,000 shares — a tiny stake. That’s how they got to keep a major franchise in a town of just 102,000 people.”

It floored me that, according to the article “the NFL won’t even allow it anymore. No team is allowed to have ownership rules like this. These days, each team is required to have to have a small number of rich owners.”

Then and there my heart warmed to the Green Bay Packers, and the fans keeping their dreams alive.  Football may not be the place I would have chosen to stake out the issue of ownership vs. disenfranchisement.  But one of the reasons I co-founded GoHuman is exactly this point.  That ownership and control needs to be managed in a democratic, sustainable manner.

There’s something just wrong in millions of Americans supporting ideals they disagree with, because the rich and powerful keep their agendas hidden, and are adept at managing information, communication, perceptions, moods, attitudes, and ultimately, votes.

So the Green Bay Packers have one more loyal fan this year.  Go Pack!

GoHuman.com celebrates the small business owners helping us build a powerful new kind of Marketplace for the 21st Century.   We know you depend on us to help you grow and expand your business, the marketing guidance you so sorely need in today’s world.

To further our mutual goals, GoHuman.com is proud to add a noted marketing professional, author and successful small business owner/manager as a regular contributor to our Blog.  Starting this week, Jon Johnson, CEO and President of Red Spot Marketing will be providing invaluable advice in a “Monday is for Marketing” blog series.

Jon has marketed hundreds of small businesses in over 10 countries, including Australia, UK, Canada, USA and Thailand.

His success lies in bringing a simple approach to each company’s marketing and helping them implement more elements of the marketing mix to get better results.

“Blended” is Jon’s first book and draws upon his experience from marketing vastly different types of companies worldwide and seeing the challenges they all face.

Jon holds a BA Hons Degree in Marketing from Bournemouth University in England, and lives in Ontario, Canada with his wife Dr. Joyce Johnson and their two daughters, Olivia and Charlotte.

We often remind ourselves how wonderful it would be to be young again. Children love and enjoy the planet they live and play on. They reinvent themselves every day. Their spirit is everywhere – flowing through the air.  Crack a window open and hear their shouts of joy, laughter and (on occasion) frustration, next door, down the road, at the school playground. “Hey! You’re not the boss of me!” Or, “You can’t catch me!”

In a place of business full of adults, the shouts of joy are nonexistent. Where did they go? What happened? We grow up and decide we’re no longer creative, imaginative or extraordinary and so we quit. The spirit has gone into complete hiding, waiting only for a dramatic outside event to fire it back up. However, for many of us, quitting becomes too painful to live with. We don’t have to wait for such a crisis, we just need to find a way to wake up and live again, create again, dance again and love again.

Life is an eternal internal flame. We can reignite it and make it burn brighter than ever, if the will and commitment to do so is present. It all comes down to how we perceive ourselves and others. We can reignite that flame by finding the words to think, the words to say, and even the words to sing, if we want. Suddenly our life improves dramatically. Every moment is a new beginning and a fresh moment.

“At times our own light goes out and is rekindled by a spark from another person. Each of us has cause to think with deep gratitude of those who have lighted the flame within us.”  ~Albert Schweitzer

*Speaking of “reigniting flames,” stay tuned for more information to be posted here on my blog, about an elite women’s success group a colleague and I are starting called, “Ignite-Creating the Fire for Women in Business.” A launch date of April 1, 2011, is tentatively scheduled to kick-off our program…More information to follow.