Something New is Coming Soon!

Something has been bothering me for a while now about my website and how I’m using it. Finally, I figured it out and had another “a-ha!” moment – I need to redesign the site and FOCUS with a renewed clarity of purpose, something I had talked about in an earlier post.

So I’ve got a partial design outlined. I’m bringing in a really awesome young designer to help me. And I’m going to be creating some special content geared towards the big “dummy” in everyone.

You can expect to see some gradual changes like navigation and posts being moved and maybe some additional images. But the big change will come when the new design is revealed just before I go live. This won’t happen overnight. Content needs to be created. Planning needs to be finished. So my timeline stretches to the end of the year.

I just wanted to give everyone some advance notice.

cameron

© 2012 Dummy Zero™ All Rights Reserved

Innovation is a natural process. And it’s Simple. So why the hell do so many people make such a complex voodoo mess of it?

I’ve been reading a lot online lately about innovation. Holy Kwap on a Kwakah – from where does some of that digital dung derive? Talk about painful obfuscation. Acronyms and “business speak” out the gas jets. Pedantic gibberish bantered about as conversation. I’m sure they all knew what they were talking about. But I blew through a couple of my own gas jet gaskets trying to wade through all that morass trying to understand what the hell they were saying.

I’ll dive into creativity and innovation in a later post and instead leave you with one of my favorite quotes.

“Ich habe keine besondere Begabung, sondern bin nur leidenschaftlich neugierig ”

-Albert Einstein

Isn’t this just the short and sweet of it?

P.S. “I have no special talent, I am only passionately curious”

© 2012 Dummy Zero™ All Rights Reserved

It’s Kinda Sorta Official: Harvard Kinda Sorta Says Dummies Concept is Kinda Sorta Innovative…Kinda Sorta!

I was perusing one of my favorite business blogs from Harvard University and read an article that caught my eye: “When You Can’t Innovate, Copy” written by Ndubuisi Ekekwe,  founder of the non-profit African Institution of Technology.

I have to admit that the article as well as the posts were intriguing. No doubt I haven’t read all the books about business or innovation that most of those folks probably have. And I certainly never went to a big name school like Harvard. But the topic of innovation continues to be, and has been, a personal journey for me for most of my adult life.

If you’ve read this blog, you know that twenty years ago when I was just a “kid” I created the Dummies concept. And I spent nearly a year researching the market for that little fifteen dollar book I wanted to write and self-publish. But during that process I had an “a-ha!” moment when I discovered a huge unmet need in the self-help market. This added to and eventually became part of the impetus for my creating the Dummies book concept. And the core of that concept is the primary reason that it continues to be so successful more than two decades later (more than 220 million books in print, 1,600 titles in 30 countries).

The wake of the Dummies concept was also strong enough to “force” other publishers to rethink (copycat) how they presented information and finally give the lay reading public more readable, better structured, and more importantly, more understandable material on virtually any subject. And whether you like that type of book or not, it’s arguably fair to say that the Dummies concept became the nexus for that entirely new genre of entertaining and informative book (and other media).

So I wondered if that makes the Dummies concept innovative.  Hell yeah according to the definitions bandied about in the HBR blog forum! Although products that aren’t high-tech per se aren’t usually spoken of with that term. Perhaps if I wrote a blog post on the HBR blog saying that the Dummies’ concept was an amalgam of many original and “stolen” ideas (more akin to Jobs’ “stealing” quip and not like the Samwer brothers’ shameless model mentioned in the the article)  I’d get my name plastered in the same light as Steve Jobs…lol. (By the way, you’ve got to read about the billion dollar Samwer clone factory- unbelievable that international Intellectual Property laws allow this!)

But judging by the posts on HBR and some cursory research I just finished, it’s reasonably obvious that even for these smart people, innovation is a difficult attribute to define, create, and reproduce consistently. Some people seem to have the impression that innovation is something you pull out of the closet and wear like a tuxedo or evening gown when you want to change your business climate favorably. Others seem to suggest that innovation is an indescribable voodoo process that only a handful of people understand and can wield. Steve Jobs is at the top of that short list.

I certainly don’t mean to denigrate all the incredible work and effort that so many people have contributed on this subject. And as I mentioned earlier I am not a scholar by any means. But based on my experiences, innovation for me has become more of a quantum creation and delivery service along a constantly fluctuating continuum that encompasses far more than any business school or book today offers. Maybe this is why it remains such a paradoxical recluse within academia and the business community. I’m exploring the feasibility of a broad-scope program to turn that around now.

But in the meantime, if you’d like to see what all the fuss is about innovation, you should head over to the HBR blog and check out the article, When You Can’t Innovate, Copy.

So there you have it. It’s kinda sorta true that Harvard kinda sorta says that my Dummies concept is kinda sorta innovative…kinda sorta.

Lookout Jobs…there’s a shiny newer kinda sorta apple falling from the kinda sorta tree…kinda sorta.

UPDATE 27 May: I’ve been thinking…ya think lol? Here’s my newest definition of innovation:

“Innovation is the quantum creation and delivery process (service)  moving along a constantly evolving continuum of thoughts, ideas, and concepts – including vicarious and anecdotal experiences – to be sensed and acted upon as necessary to accomplish a task or tasks (call it / them what you need it / them to be) no matter how grand or humble, even if the purpose (or if the fortuitous act) of embracing that continuum is to embody that moment or moments without the physicality of creation. Innovation also has the element of longevity and acts as a singular point of source for copycat and other derivatives.”

My own experience suggests that innovation is more like playing in the Superbowl every day with Warren Buffet, Charles Darwin, Joan of Arc, Stephen Hawking, Walter Kohn, Nostradamus, Alfred Deming, Albert Einstein, Sigmund Freud, Edgar Allan Poe, Led Zeppelin. Gandhi, Mickey Mouse, Attila the Hun, Amit Goswami, and Steve Jobs…and that’s not even the entire roster.

Sometimes you win. Sometimes you lose. Sometimes it’s just one big cluster. And sometimes you just play the game no matter what the circumstances. Even the players change, change teams, or sit out from time to time. But whatever happens the game never ends.

Yeah, that’s weird…but I’m diggin’ it!

© 2012 Dummy Zero™ All Rights Reserved

The Angst Outside

Some say it’s here in the Lowers of the Eastern Mandibles that The Angst began to extend its crystalline Psychic Spinal Readers beyond the Urbans. Those spiny tendrils often searched for Certified Organics like me who hide within the late night dwellings of Creviathon when they appear every three or so years during the quantum summers.

Today is the anniversary of my second season here. I’m not really sure why that seems so important because even a thin slice of soul wedged between two rocky faces was appealing to The Angst -  I’d soon be absolved from my own hyper-bacterial Reincarnation like the others. Usually, there wasn’t time to cry because I was too busy running. But nobody’s around to call me girl anymore…so today might be a good day to practice.

A fiery shard from the Sway’s tirade had lodged itself in my scalp and melted what was left of my topknot to my skin. Hair was still pulsing amber from my tortoise clip. Damn rain clouds. They’re too bloody lame to find a way in to help me – the trickle ebbing from the cracks in their mouths were barely enough for a pinky’s watermark on my belly. I ripped my shirt off to pull out that glowing heckle but as luck would have it a bloody patch of fabric stuck to the mushy crust capping a previous wound that hadn’t entirely healed. I was now grooved and tagged with a stiff whiskery neon scar.

It was quiet now. The deafening melee I had witnessed earlier had fallen as jellied as the Pale’s own dark stain. I feared The Angst could hear the pounding of my own pale blush and that soon the stars would press tight beneath my feet – I’d be joining the Omni Prescience of the Five Orbs as so many others had.

Wonder what C’Tian would think about my new do? I’d like to hear her voice again before I drip like a slice of syrupy French toast. Maybe if I think louder she’ll hear me again.

Damn.

I so want her lips right now.

© 2012 Dummy Zero™ All Rights Reserved

The Five Orbs of Creviathon

I sat on the ledge outside my deep dish crystal-bedazzled hovel letting my heels scuff against the cliff’s stubble underneath. Over my belly and past six ingrown toenails of painted obsidian below, I saw the Pale moving amongst the Clefts. A husky red ant trail slithered nearby…what were the Radii thinking? Everyone knew the Pale is only the Chins to hunt. But the switching red tails signaled the Radii’s vicious intent. And they had already managed to flank the herd.

The Chins lived deep in the shadows of the Five Orbs. They liked to plant themselves along the base of the taller hills to the south where the Pale are known to feed on the soft shells found along the upper stream beds. At dusk the Chins are hard to spot. But tonight I was lucky – I caught the flash of their scaly wrinkles pulling taut, exposing multiple rows of razor sharp grinders. They must’ve just fed because giant glowing fireflies were darting in and out of their open mouths. These were the Symori, six-foot-long foil-like winged worms who lived inside the Chins.

The Symori were allowed to feed on the remains of whatever was stuck in the Chins’ teeth. As they moved around each tooth their abrasive casings also polished those pointy obelisks to a swift and final justice. Very handy I thought if ever I could find a dropped tooth. Occasionally, a Symori or two would get too eager to feast and end up ground to minced pulp with the rest of the Chins’ meal. The delicate meat of the Pale is the Chins favorite prey but whatever it was this time was too pulverized to recognize.

In return for a safe haven and easy meals the Symori agreed to act as centurions for the Chins, alerting them to any danger – they could detect the different “smells” of an intruder’s thoughts. The Chins didn’t really need the Symori’s help and could easily rule the outlands here. But for the most part they were good neighbors and hosts. And friendly encroachment was tolerated politely. But the pungent, warring whooshes of the Symori’s tails set the Symori to pulse bright red and warn their hosts. Grinders started whirring and clicking…the Symori closed ranks quickly and retreated to unknown regions inside the Chins probably anticipating another gooey meal.

Teams of tie-dyed Chins warriors scrambled before the Pale to face the Radii hunters. Their bobble-headed frenzy was frightening, especially when their grinding gnashers were buzzing full speed. Usually this was all it took to ward off even the most determined poacher. Didn’t matter this time. The Radii plunged head first into those fearsome Sumolings with their pointed lances jabbing forward above their shoulders.

I picked up my thoughts as best as I could and paced my breathing to calm the heaving scribble of my pen. No need to disturb the humming fluorescent-like embers still perching and flitting within the angular Proboscis where I was encamped. Alerting them would only silhouette me to the bloody chaos playing out just a stone’s throw below. It’s easy to become someone’s tidy meal out here on the Lowers. But I didn’t give it another thought because the spectacle I was witnessing was good fodder for a new chapter in my journal.

Strange how red ink Rorschached freely on my pad. And again. And again. My fingers doodled between the splotches for a moment, the spattering trail from my fingers taking root on my shirt and pants. A rush of hot dewy air washed over my body like a damp sponge bath. I looked up.

The Sway of the Inflamed Fans had swooped out of nowhere. One by one they stooped their immense heads low, sapphire eyes and mouths agape, to gorge on the acid reflux flowing down through the craggy arroyos striating the valley below me. Some had already cinched their enormous carefree whorls above their heads into caustic knots of acid rain and slung them with impunity at everything in their path. Giant orange-veined wings fanned the wet fire bellowing from their flaring nostrils.

I threw my hands up to protect my face but too late. The silent acridity of that cacophonous brew rolled my fingers in my palm like morning bacon curling in a smoking pan. And my mouth was muddied with the gritty afterthought of the wind so I could only gurgle a scream.

I stood up and ran like hell back into my cave. The Sway’s molten shrapnel pitted the air behind me while earth and rocks stuttered upwards like fountains around my feet. I dove between two pillars of bedrock jutting from the cave floor and rolled over on my back, digging my heels into the ground in front of me to brace myself. Sweat and red ink were filling my goggles and pinching my eyes shut but nothing I could do except hold on and wait. A flaky peel from a black blister on my hand dropped onto my mouth as I nudged the goggles aside. I flicked it off…at least one finger still worked a little.

But I didn’t have time to think about what I’d do next – the moribund howling from those unfortunate souls who were caught outside made me wince harder. The Sway would flee if they could.

And then it began. Velvety fangs of fresh bloody dirt and dark crystals now chastised me with the pithy abandon of sparking daggers careening inside a screaming blender. My hair was still streaming smoke but I didn’t care. I closed my eyes so I wouldn’t witness my own murder.

I was outnumbered and a stranger in my own home. It was a good day to cry.

The Angst was approaching…

© 2012 Dummy Zero™ All Rights Reserved

New Product Introduction – Z-Kup! The Koolest Sticky Kup on the Planet!

Finally finished the website for our new Z-Kup™!

This is the original sticky cup developed for the action sports industry to hold drinks (okay, beer especially those smaller Coors Silver Bullet cans) so it wouldn’t spill over – so our cup grips like an octopus’ tentacles to most any non-porous dry, damp, or wet surface.

Cool, bright colors, too. Plus, we have the only glow-in-the-dark Zombie Glow™ sticky cup around. Woo-hoo!

Watch my videos I filmed (with my trusty Blackberry). In fact, check out my run-in with Red Bull! What I didn’t mention in the videos is that I actually reached speeds of 85mph – and the cup and my HUGE Monster Energy drink (and the humongous 44oz am pm drink still stayed inside their  Z-Kups™ – and the Z-Kups™ still gripped the hood of my car without letting go of those drinks!

Visit our Z-Kup™  website. You can see all our current videos on our Z-Kup™ YouTube Channel! UPDATE: Got some good news today. Some really exciting videos coming!

© 2012 Dummy Zero™ All Rights Reserved

Inspiration – A River Runs Through My Own For Dummies® Book Cover

They say that imitation is the sincerest form of flattery (that’s me on the faux For Dummies® cover holding the cd except that that point should’ve been on the top of my head ha!).  So what can I say? I’m feeling a little feisty today and thought this would be fun to put up here.

In fact, I’m creating a bunch of fun goodies like t-shirts and stickers for all of us Dummies – you know, we simple folks who have special ideas that just don’t quit…that invade our thoughts and days without effort…that wake us up at night…and “talk” to us in our dreams, waking and not.

Writing this got me thinking that sometimes our thoughts flow through us like a river untamed. But a river does not just flow – it cuts rocks, carves mountains, moves boulders, and leaves behind pieces of what it’s collected along its path. A river has a goal, too – create a path to allow the current to find a way to keep moving towards the ocean.

Every day is an opportunity for you to move one step closer to your own ocean…even an inch is progress…so let yourself flow! See how this process works? Inspiration is everywhere if you just let it in…even when you’re poking fun at yourself in a goofy book cover.

P.S. Maybe I will go to Comic-Con 2012 this year in San Diego with “Big Dummy” on my chest. Whatta ya’ll think of that? Now all I need is an illustrator to make a Dummy Zero™…a super hero! No tights. But a cape and cool mask…hmmm…ideas?

I crack myself up sometimes…8-)P

©2012 Dummy Zero All Rights Reserved

What if you only have 365 days left?

Take another look at your life…your friends…your family…your lover…your business…your neighborhood…your hopes…that girl or guy you want to ask out. What if you only have 365 days to make your dreams come true or repair a relationship or get married and start a family or make a new friend or start a successful business?

As I look at how I’ve handled my own life it would seem that I’ve “wasted” so much time. Unnecessarily, too. I’ve let others walk in front of me to get what they needed first. I’ve let others take the last cookie. Or the best seats. I waited too long to put the For Dummies® team together. I waited too long to tell a woman I loved her. I waited too long to enjoy my kids and family the way I should have. I waited too long to launch my business ideas, instead I helped others with their projects. In fact, I think it would be safe to say that I’ve put my “self” on hold so much during the past 20 years it’s a wonder that I even know who I really am. I sometimes imagine what I could have done by now for myself and others if I had just focused on me and mine for a while instead of chasing butterflies as I’m wont to do…acting as if I had all the time in the world

So my question to you my friends is – what if you only have 365 days left? Are you going to wait for your planets to align or a warm tide to wash over your feet at midnight or the phone call from God to bless you? I’ve done this and I have paid the price for living paralyzed by my own selfish selflessness and my “what-ifs”. I took baby steps when I should have sprinted. I shut down when I should have been turned on. And all too often fear and desperation became intimate partners in my life because I’ve doubted my abilities – can I create another success like the For Dummies® concept? But lately I’ve been given a vision and understanding that I may not have to. And I’ve realized that it’s not the magnitude of the success but the magnitude of trying that’s important. This is exactly what I did in the beginning – I moved forward and took the steps necessary to change the path of my life. What  happened next was out of my control and took on a life of its own. And that was okay because I did what I had to do.

I’ve discovered that more so than ever the universe seems to be listening to me because I’ve met some amazing people recently who seem to share a similar vision and sense of life, spirituality, passion, and business. And I seem to be renewing and re-inventing my sense of self daily as I pursue my dreams yet again…but this time with clarity of purpose. My new friends are trying to do the same I think.

So I’m telling you – no, imploring you to stop wasting bloody time. It’s 2012 dammit. Strut your stuff. Ask him out. Ask her out. Launch your bloody business. Say hi to your neighbor. Visit your friends. Write your novel. Start your blog. Tell that asshole to fuck off. Start a family. Tell someone you love them right now. Plant that tree. Grab your man, hold tight, and make love until your neighbor’s cows come home. Kiss that woman like it’s going to be your last kiss. Wear your hopes and dreams and aspirations on your sleeve like a lion watches over his pride.

And don’t give up who you are…or what you want…or your dreams. For anyone. Ever.

You only have 365 days left. Now what are you gonna do?

© 2012 Dummy Zero™ All Rights Reserved

My Phoenix Rises from the Smoldering Ashes of a Love Letter

As I get involved with more projects aka “butterflies” I’ve found that I’ve gotten further from my roots. First and foremost I am a writer (okay an inventor, product developer, and creative marketer, too, but a writer first). I’ve written everything from resumes to business letters to newsletters to marketing and technical white papers to instruction manuals to direct mail letters and web content (even a movie script).

Just recently I wrote a love letter that fell on a deaf heart. At first I was crushed and felt as if I had lost some direction in my life. But reflecting on that loss I had an epiphany that everything would be just fine – it’s not the right time for me to travel in that direction…and with someone who doesn’t share the same vision with me anymore. And within that introspection I found clarity of purpose for both my personal and business lives.

So why am I letting you inside my personal love life and what could it possibly have to do with my Dummy’s blog? Everything my friends. We don’t have inspirational, a-ha, or life changing moments in a vacuum. We learn from our various lives, our heart, and our gut and move forward wiser and happier and wealthier (yes, one is hopeful). It’s give and take. So sometimes life and those in our life let us know when our direction is right – or just the opposite – when it’s not and when it’s time to say goodbye as it was in my case. This holds true in business as well because at some point we may need to evaluate what’s best for us and our business – after all it is a relationship, too.

I just finished reading a blog post written by John Jantsch, author of Duct Tape Marketing. In his post, he describes my recent processing – you need clarity of purpose to really be successful in business and to enjoy your life. Clarity of purpose helps define you, your role with your business, and your business. That got me thinking: if you can’t delineate what it is that you’re doing for yourself and for others clearly – and understand the need or want for what you’re offering – then why are you doing it in the first place?

As I mentioned earlier a business is more than just an idea it’s a relationship…with a beginning, middle, and an end (sometimes). And just as with any relationship, to be successful you need to accept that it’s a living process that needs constant nurturing and food for thought to help you maintain that clarity of purpose. I’ve found through my years that introspection is a powerful tool to bring to the table when you’re evaluating your business for yourself and its intended purpose. How many times lately have you held on to an idea or belief or hunch that what you’re doing is absolutely right – yet little or no fruits from your labor seem to be blossoming? How many red flags have you been missing or avoiding or refusing to acknowledge because this is the way you’ve always operated your business?

Am I saying that the clarity you have right now couldn’t be right about your idea or business? Nope. I’ve read that Colonel Sanders tried selling his chicken seasoning recipe 1,009 times over a two year period driving across the U.S before he had his first sale. So it’s quite possible your idea or business is right on. But keep in mind that Colonel Sanders must have had a total clarity of purpose to do what he did and he was driven – maybe being broke helped.

But what if you’re not sure that you have that kind of clarity for your own business or business idea? What can you do to give yourself a swift kick in the parts and a help you get a clearer vision of what you’re doing and why? Here’s some food for thought to get you started:

Consider asking yourself why you’re approaching your idea as a business for yourself or for someone else – does it make sense in the form that you’re imagining? Does it make sense at all? How do you know? Or even more importantly for a going concern: does it make sense to continue your business in its current operating environment – retail, wholesale, online only, etc? For example, Qualcomm stopped making cell phones and started licensing their technology to companies whose core business was making phones. Can I repackage my idea, product, or service as something else? Is this really a brick and mortar business? Would digitizing it work perhaps as a web application instead of something more labor intensive? Would someone else be better suited to running my business? Can I lease or sell or insert my business, idea, product, or service into someone else’s idea, product, service or business? Should I consider getting outside help – physical or consultative? Have I already been down this road before? Should I close up shop or expand? What do I do best and what do I really have to offer and is it worth it to any of us?

If you’re sitting alone – trying to go it alone – or you feel alone answering these types of questions probably the best thing you can do is visit and participate in discussions on blogs and join Meetup groups. Thousands of blogs and Meetups are out there that you can explore. Talk to friends and family for other points of view. I think you’ll find as I have that someone else has been down your road before. Pick their brains because knowledge and wisdom is out there for those willing to ask for it. When I first started my publishing company I did it all by myself. Research. Writing. Binding. Pitching. It was a lot of work. But one day I just knew that if I didn’t get help nothing was going to happen. So I reached out to my friend in the publishing business and asked for help. You know the rest of the For Dummies® story.

I’m not saying that it’s an easy process. I sure as hell am not 100%…but who is anyway. Look, you don’t have to have to wait for a heartbreak like mine to have your Phoenix rise as mine did. Get clarity, keep it simple, and then move forward with conviction and with a renewed sense of purpose. It’s a safe bet that you can recover from those eventual stumbles and blind corners a bit faster and with more confidence.

It’s working for me – I’m writing again – and loving it.

Your turn.

© 2012 Dummy Zero™ All Rights Reserved

Watch our Feuille Hawk™ in action!

We’re very proud of our introductory video that demonstrates how to create the Feuille Finish™ using our patented Feuille Hawk™.  Please humor me and take a look.

And now we’re one step closer to the full launch – all of our legal protections are in place or in transit (some are a tad slower, especially the fed-end of it).

Grab some popcorn first, then play the video.

P.S. By the way, our official YouTube channel is “TheFeuilleHawk”. We’ll have a series of videos as our launch proceeds.