21 July 2006

Topics The Jenius Passed Up

How can You write so often?

I've been asked that fairly often about The Jenius and the answer is quite simple: I have a lot to say. For some reason, that answer tends to evoke almost no response. It's as if the person is (a) Mulling it over for accuracy, (b) Waiting for the punchline or (c) Unimpressed.

In My Opera bookmark files (I use Opera, which is what Firefox wants to be when it grows up), I have a "Gil The Jenius" folder. It contains a sub-folder called "Post Launches" and that virtual Fort Knox contains six separate folders with 347 bookmarks that I thought I should write about.

Let's look at one of these sub-folders and a handful of the topics I have not written about. Under "Entrepreneur" The Jenius has these unremarked finds:

--- 100 Ways to Be a Better Entrepreneur: A long, chunky article that has some keen insights, some "duh-level" advice and some stuff I don't agree with. Why didn't The Jenius write about it? It felt too long for one post and not-important-enough for two. But it's been in My files for several months now and it still has meaning. So go read it if you're into building your own business or career.

--- Outspend or Out-teach: Working with start-ups in Puerto Rico has taught Me--and anyone else who's done it for more than a year--that "shoestring" is the only budget you really have. Because I never took a business or marketing course, I didn't have to unlearn crap to get to the point of successful marketing: give needed information simply. This article summarizes the key difference with laudable brevity and expanded links. If you wonder why your marketing budget swells but your sales don't, take a look at this. Why didn't The Jenius write about it? I think it's because I wanted to stay ahead of the pack by not "revealing" My method/point of view. Either that or I forgot this was in the files.

--- 9 Must-Reads Before You Launch a Start-Up: This kind of "list post" is extremely popular in the blogsphere, but unlike most of their ilk, this one is very good. It balances theory with experience, practicality with visionary and even throws in a voice that argues against being an entrepreneur. Why didn't The Jenius write about it? Several of the links were commented on individually and that stopped Me from writing about the whole list as I felt it would have been redundant.

--- The Personal MBA: As a self-educated consultant, business developer, entrepreneur, etc., I've always been keen on reading the best and the brightest. In fact, I put more stock in Best Seller-dom than it actually warrants. So when I found Josh Kaufman's Personal MBA list, I was thrilled. Of his 42 resources, I had read 19 (now up to 22) and though I disagreed with a few of them, you could do far worse than follow Kaufman's suggestions. (Like, for example, actually getting an MBA.) Why didn't The Jenius write about it? Because I felt I'd have to provide My own list of "Personal MBA" sources and as time blew by Me, I barely got a list together of 14. Not enough, so here's Kaufman's list and you can get to work on it.

--- Cash Flow: To your business, cash flow is like oxygen to your brain: when it's missing, nothing else matters. Here's a simple, powerful primer on cash flow. Why didn't The Jenius write about it? I tried to once, but there really is no way to improve on this piece and simply saying "Here, go read this" seemed lame. So I drop it in here and say "Go read this." Lameness bypassed.

--- Here's To The Crazy Ones: Why didn't The Jenius write about it? Because all I could say was "Amen."


The Jenius Has Spoken.

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