Chris Crosby

Last summer I wrote a post about the book A Billion Bootstraps which led to Amy and I getting involved in Microfinance. Since that time, I’ve been wrestling in my mind with how to combine some of the most successful elements of capitalism with those of non-profits in order to create charities that are self-sustaining. The idea is to structure companies in such a way that they could generate their own consistent revenue stream by other means than donations and bake sales. The companies however would still be non-profit and targeted on specific philanthropic initiatives.

Well, long story short, I got a little distracted last fall and was never able to reconcile the concept in my mind. That is until I picked-up Muhammad Yunus’ new book Creating a World Without Poverty: Social Business and the Future of Capitalism. After reading this, its safe to say that the creator of Microfinance has done it again. 

In this book Yunus introduces the idea of the Social Business model which he defines as:

a non-loss, non-dividend business. Rather than being passed on to investors, the surplus generated by the social business is reinvested in the business. Ultimately, it is passed on to the target group of beneficiaries in such forms as lower prices, better service, and greater accessibility

Yunus’ first voyage into Social Business was a joint effort between Grameen Bank and Danone to offer highly nutritional yogurt at prices that are affordable to the poorest people in Bangladesh (great overview available here).

It only took until Chapter 2 in the book before my head was spinning with ideas about, not only how to expand this concept to address our country’s poor, but also what will be required to create a true Social Sector and bring the idea of Social Business mainstream.  Thoughts of creating Social Venture Capital Funds and working with Congress to create new and unique tax and entity structures is rather exciting. Expect to hear more from me on this in future posts.

I also have to think that the answer to America’s (and the world’s for that matter) Health Care crisis lies not in relying on our Government to push some type of “Universal” Plan, but rather in creative individuals creating a social business model to redirect industry profits back into solving the problem.

A couple months ago I was in my local book Bookstore looking for Al Gore’s “Assault on Reason” (forthcoming review) and happened to stumble on a book called “A Billion Bootstraps“.

Being new to the idea of Microcredit, and a philanthropist at heart, this one caught my eye. I have to say, this book is a great introduction to the world of Microcredit and is a must read for the philanthropist or anyone trying to make a charitable difference in the world.

Microcredit essentially facilitates providing the world’s poorest “entrepreneurs” with operating capital to grow and expand their businesses. The only real difference between Microcredit and what you would expect to see in Small Business Loans in America is the fact that these loans are usually in very small amounts, sometimes just a couple hundred dollars. And the businesses the recipients are growing are to support their families and pull themselves out of poverty.

After reading the book, there are several highlights about Microcredit programs that grabbed my attention and have garnered my full support, interest, and investment dollars:

1. It’s sustainable. The borrowers have to pay the money back to the bank, and that in turn is recirculated to other borrowers. This non-handout approach ensures that your contribution is helping multiple families over the course of many years.
2. The small dollar amount of the loans means that a given amount of money can impact more people.
3. We often take for granted that in America there is an infrastructure that empowers people to help themselves. In some of the world’s poorest nations, this simply isn’t the case. This program focuses on teaching these people some of the fundamental skills that we take for granted and gives them a ladder to pull themselves up on.
4. It’s not just throwing money at a problem that perpetuates itself. It’s designed to solve a problem. 
5. Being an Entrepreneur and “Business Guy”, I can appreciate the value of capital in growing a business. I find it fascinating that the same concepts applied on such a small scale to individuals around the world can have such a big impact to peoples’ livelihood.

A Billion Bootstraps has several Appendixes with information on where to get started, as well as how to perform due diligence and research on the funds or programs that you are interested in.

Here is an example from the sample book chapter found here:

“Microcredit in Action

The Mikhayloynas were struggling in Ukraine. They were living in an unheated, half-built house that they could not afford to finish, and their government pension barely covered the cost of their food. With no money for medicine or other necessities, Galina Mikhayloyna started selling milk in jars at the local outdoor market where vendors sell everything from hand-knit socks to home-baked bread. She soon was able to add grain to her
merchandise, but did not have enough money to build up her supply or to stock other products. Galina obtained a $400 microloan which she used to increase and diversify her inventory with a variety of popular household products. Sale of these additional products produced enough extra income for the Mikhayloynas to be able to finish their house. Subsequent loans helped Galina move up to the best selling place in the market. She now has many customers and is known throughout the market as a strong businesswoman and savvy entrepreneur.”

If you want to help make a difference in the world, head to the bookstore and pick this one up today.

I recently finished reading “Bill Snyder: They Said it Couldn’t Be Done” and thought it a noteworthy recommendation.

This book is a narrative about one of the greatest turnaround stories in college football told through a personal interview with the man that made it happen.

I grew-up in Manhattan,KS (home of K-State) at a time when the wildcats were consistently ranked at the bottom of the NCAA. So, my childhood memories consist of going to home games at an almost empty stadium and getting excited if we won a game (any game).

Then in 1989 things started to change. We didn’t know it at the time, but what would happen over the next 17 years would not only reform a football team and a university, but would revitalize an entire community. Needless to say this book touches a bit of a personal cord with me as it recounts some of the events that impacted my own life.  

A warning for the non-football junky, this thing is chalked full of stats and game talk. However, underneath the numbers is the story about how Bill Snyder’s vision, fortitude, management principles and unwavering expectations accomplished near miracles to create one of the best football programs in national history.

It goes on to get Snyder’s own perspective on the key events that shaped the program. A couple of my personal favorites: K-States first big win over Nebraska in 1998 and curb stomping #1 ranked OU in the Big 12 Championship in 2003. It finishes with an emotional and insightful look at the events ultimately leading up to his retirement decision at the end of the 2005 season.

This book is a good read for any manager, leader, coach, teacher, or anyone with an eye on making yours or others worlds a little better.

With the right vision, attitude, accountability and focus anything can be done.

-Chris

I’ve seen a lot of discussion lately around the likes of Coghead and other Do-It-Yourself (DIY) coding apps. To date most of it has been the developer community dismissing the idea that anyone outside the ivory tower could possibly have the mastery skill sets required to create a software application on their own. Well guess what guys, the party’s over.

So far this whole thing has been analyzed from the wrong angle. Developers are thinking that non-programmers are going to set-out and build the next generation killer app. Which, as has been pointed out is simply ridiculous. Even if the software could support it, the average Joe doesn’t understand architecture and design. But this doesn’t mean that we throw the baby out with the bath water.

Let’s step back and look at this from the consumer level-up vs. the developer level-down. Personally, I have been waiting for something that’s a notch above FrontPage but not as developer centric as say Visual Studio.

New technology creates new niches.The advent of affordable, super mega-pixel cameras created a niche for the ”prosumer photographer”. These cameras function right above point-and-shoot, but just below what would be required by a professional that wants to make money at his trade. I don’t recall seeing any headlines that mentioned any Professional Photographers loosing their jobs or their market shrinking due to the entry of the Prosumer. In fact, those that understood the market capitalized on it by offering tutorials, classes and equipment sales to this new class of users.

Another example of this prosumer market entry is Legal Zoom and other DYI law services. A great deal of attorneys view the services offered on that site as low lying fruit that they don’t want to deal with anyway. This frees them up to charge more for higher-end and specialized services.

So back to DIY Coding. Coghead claims 13,000 in their beta program. Certainly not Google-plex beta numbers, but nothing to scoff at either. What it tells me is that they have people’s interest and attention. If they execute this correctly, they could create an entirely new market here.

So, my message here is ”Mr. Developer, tear down this wall!”  Your jobs aren’t going anywhere. But, if I were in your shoes, here’s what I would do:

• Instead of emphasizing the rules and limitations to what can’t be done with DIY tools, evangelize what CAN be done that would make your day easier (all developers like their day to be easier). 
• Offer services and consulting around that. Prepackaged, vertical templates will be a hit. You only have to look to Salesforce.com appexchange to see that.

What Coghead essentially has done here is create the prosumer developer.

Well I’m a little overdue in my book review of Jeffrey Gitomer’s Little Black Book of Connections: 6.5 Assets for Networking Your Way to Rich Relationships, but I thought since he released his new book today Little Gold Book of YES! Attitude: How to Find, Build and Keep a YES! Attitude for a Lifetime of SUCCESS, I should probably get my thoughts up here before I move on to his newest work of mastery.

First of all, as I’ve mentioned in the past, Jeffrey Gitomer is one of my favorite authors for sales & marketing. His straight forward, easy to follow writing style gives solid advice to anyone in the Business world.

In this edition, Gitomer stays committed to his underlying theme of providing value and establishing yourself as an authority in your discipline. Although the book doesn’t speak to it, what I find interesting is that this is exactly what is happening on the web right now. People have figured out that content = web hits = leads = sales. It’s almost a “build it and they will come” approach to attracting new business.

I can attest, the arch enemy of the sales guy is the “cold call”. This book demonstrates in practical terms how to get your phone to ring vs. the other way around.

-Chris 

In my last post I referenced the following quote from Jeffrey Gitomer’s “Little Black Book of Connections” about building success strategies:

“The only difference between where you are right now, and where you’ll be next year at this same time, are the people you meet and the books you read.” — Charlie “Tremendous” Jones, author of Life is Tremendous

Now think about that for a minute. Think back over the last year and how the people you’ve met have impacted where you are today versus then. I know for me there have been several influential people that have had an extraordinary impact on not only my business but my personal life. I’ve met new customers, prospects, business associates, magazine editors, industry analysts, company presidents, and new friends.

Now make a list of the top three people you want to meet over the course of the next year. This should not include Brad Pitt or Angelina Jolie, unless you are looking to participate in their humanitarian efforts. These are the people that can impact your life or career somehow.

Here are Mine:

1. Barack Obama – United States Senator from Illinois
2. Rahm Emanuel – U.S. Representative from Illinois’ 5th Congressional District
3. John Chambers – CEO, Cisco

Now comes the part where you get to figure out how to accomplish this.

-Chris

-part of the 60 ideas in 60 days series-

If you have never read a Jeffrey Gitomer book, now is the time to sprint to the bookstore. There are good books, great books and what I call "mantra books". Those books that you build professional and life strategies around. The 2.5 that I have read over the last two years fall into the mantra book category. They are quick reads, packed full of creative approaches and practical lessons that I’ve applied to build Latigent into the industry trend setter that we are today.

In his latest book, "The Little Black Book of Connections", Jeffrey talks about making your success plan and uses the following quote:

"The only difference between where you are right now, and where you’ll be next year at this same time, are the people you meet and the books you read." — Charlie "Tremendous" Jones, author of Life is Tremendous

This couldn’t be more true. I’m going to start with the book side of this equation, in the next post we’ll talk about people. Think right now about what you’re self-development program looks like; and I’m not talking "self-help" books, but those books that you are reading to further your education and better your career and life. Then make a list of the next five books you’re going to read.

Here are mine:

1. "Audacity of Hope" – Barack Obama (almost finished)
2. "Little Black Book of Connections" – Jeffrey Gitomer (almost finished)
3. "Little Red Book of Selling" & "Little Red Book of Sales Answers" – Jeffrey Gitomer (these are actually quick rereads because they’re so good).
4. "Bill Snyder, They Said It Couldn’t Be Done" – Mark Janssen w/ Bill Snyder (if you haven’t ever read "Leadership Lessons from Bill Snyder" do it now; you don’t need to be a football fan to learn from this book).
5. "An Inconvenient Truth" – Al Gore

You will see this is quite a variety of topics. I believe that you need to strike a good balance between "business books" and "life" books. (Although Jeffrey’s books seem to be a good balance themselves).

-Chris

-part of the 60 ideas in 60 days series-

While I’m on a book theme, another one to read is David Allen’s "Getting Things Done". David lays out a clear strategy for getting yourself organized and staying that way.

The first step in his process is to do a memory dump. Grab a notepad and pen and just start writing down all of the open "to-do’s" in your life. This is everything from remembering to fill up the car on the drive home so you don’t have to do it in the morning to submitting your 2007 capital budget requests.

The key is to get everything out of your brain’s "RAM" and onto a sheet of paper that you can then start to organize and establish follow-up items, next steps, due dates, etc.

Reserve about an hour to do this first time. It will amaze how much you come up with. I must say though it feels pretty good to get everything down on paper in front of you.

-Chris

-part of the 60 ideas in 60 days series-