I found out that the Joker is the perfect personal brand: not only has he got a distinct appearance, does he tell stories on how he got his “WHY SO SERIOUS” smile but he also leaves his business card wherever he goes:)

There is much to learn from movie/tv-show characters like this. These characters have all been given distinct features by their creators; the way they talk, the stories they have, their appearance and also the actions that they undertake. Creators of these characters always try to create different kind of characters that you can relate to or connect with.

The bookCrafting short screenplays that connect by Claudia H. Johnson describes Le Menu for the creation of a character:

1. Name
2. Physical appearance
3. Backstory ( what is you history and how can you create a memorable story)
4. Present circumstances (occupation, income, geographic location, dwelling, key relationships)
5. World view
6. Attitude
7. Opinions
8. Values
9. Believes
10. Imperfections (to know them is to control them!)

Claudia mentions in her book that also 2 questions can be added:

11. Discoveries that make a difference in my character.
12. Decisions that made a difference in my character.

Are you able to put all these points on paper for yourself? Are you able to create your own movie character of yourself? If you are successful doing this you are able to construct a real script on how to deploy your personal brand.
Write your own movie character, let the character come to life and give him distinct features. Think about your favorite movie character or a movie character that you could relate with. Think about the features that you liked or disliked and place them in the points that are mentioned above.

Are you a hero, a romantic, a problem solver, a detective or are you the adventurer? Do you have a specific nickname or a specific reputation? Or did you have some problems with your rug lately?

For example; Think about what kind superhero you want to be; what is your special superhero power (talent)? What is your kryptonite(again: know your kryptonite and control your kryptonite). Do you want to be the prince or princess? What are your fairytale stories? Are you the lover? The smooth operator or the big boss?

Create your own personal movie character, become your character and TAKE THE STAGE!

DropBox is one of those software programs that is definitely a lifehack. Dropbox is a combination between software and an on-line data cloud. Dropbox allows you to easily save files on your computer and directly uploading them to your on-line space. You can reach these files everywhere in the world on any computer by the use of the web based Dropbox or by the use of Dropbox installed on one of your notebooks/Netbooks.

Why use Dropbox?

Below I will give a couple of ways I myself use Dropbox and how it made my life a whole lot simpler.

• File sharing between computers/workplaces.

Putting a file in the Dropbox is as simple as putting a file in a regular folder in your computer. Because of this it is real easy to share files and folders between computers. I have the same Dropbox account installed on both my home computer as well as my portable netbook.

If I’m working on a project I will create a project folder within my Dropbox and save all my files in this folder. By doing so I will always have an updated file to work with: at home and on the road. I don’t have to login every time, I don’t have to e-mail it and I don’t have to bother with USB sticks. Both computers hold the same files and I can be sure that they are updated.

As soon as I will get somewhere and I need a file from my Dropbox and I don’t have my netbook with me I can login to the web application and download it from there.

Fun fact, if you by accident delete a file or folder; Dropbox will allow you to get the file back.
Dropbox also works with syncing : browser favorites, Itunes libraries, password protection software etc.

• File sharing between friends, colleagues or clients.

Dropbox allows you to share folders as well. Invite friends, colleagues or clients to use Dropbox and share files with each other. A couple of examples how I use it:

• I installed a Dropbox account on my girlfriends computer and I share a folder with herin which we share photo’s, document and bookmarks.

• For one of my clients I created a Dropbox account; he needs photos to be retouched (something I sometimes do for marketing purposes). My client takes pictures of the products, put them in the Dropbox, I instantly can see those files on my computer, retouch them and back into the folder.

• I created a whole photo folder that can be viewed by friends and family. I also did this when I was a student and lived in a student dormitory.

• Public file sharing

If you have a document that you want to share with somebody but they don’t have Dropbox(yet). You can put the file in the PUBLIC folder. By clicking on the document you can get an URL that will lead anybody to download the file. This is an easy solution if you need to send documents that are bigger then e-mail allows you to send. This option can also work for hosting a simple website.

• Project solutions

Imagine how you can empower your teamwork. By sharing one single folder with your whole team you can speed things up and make file management more efficient. This is perfect for small operating companies that don’t have the possibility to invest in big network solutions.

• IPhone

As I’m not a IPhone user I can’t be very specific on how it can be used but I do know this from experiences that I had with a colleague who I introduced to Dropbox. We found out that you can play music right of the Dropbox server, this also worked with pictures. This is really easy because this means that you don’t have to use Itunes to load some of your music to your IPhone. When creating this post I also read that there a Dropbox app can be found in the App store.

Dropbox is really one of the best software solutions when you have one or more computers or if you need to share a lot of files with people/groups.

How to get it?

DropBox can be downloaded by clicking this referral link( I will come back to the referral part). When downloaded it can be installed on your computer and by the use of an easy to use wizard it will create a folder on your computer. Also you are asked to sign in for a free account on-line. Once signed in with your Dropbox you can start putting files in your Dropbox.

When done signing in you will have room for 2GB of space in your cloud.

2GB, Can I get more?

Of course you can. Dropbox offers the opportunity to get an extra 3 GB of space, that makes 5 GB in total. You can achieve this by starting to invite people to sign in as well. This works very easy within the web application of Dropbox. There is also the possibility to send a referral link to people around you. This works the same like I do now in this post. With each new signed in invite you will get 250MB.

You want even more space?

You can get a paid account for $9,99 or $19,99 per month. This will give you 50GB or 100GB of cloud space.

I hope you enjoy using Dropbox. If you have more innovative ideas on how to use Dropbox you can write them down in your comment so we all can enjoy.

Greets,

RJ

Ted.com is one of the most inspiring sites on the web. If you like key note presentations

Ted.com will be a big eye opener.

TED are frequent conferences where important keynote speakers come and tell about their latest occupations.

Join Evan Williams, co-founder of Twitter talk about the creation of Twitter. Listen to Bill Gates talk about Malaria and education. Seth Godin will introduce you on the idea of “Tribes”. Malcolm Gladwell, David Logan, Julian Treasur, these and many more are in the Ted.com video archive.

Check it out!

If you found something interesting, feel free to share it and post it in the comments.

www.ted.com

Greets
RJ

Welcome, How are you doing!

How did you feel the last time you were a guest somewhere? In a hotel, restaurant or in somebody’s home? How were you treated? Didn’t it feel nice that somebody asked you  everything was to your liking or if you needed something?

Some of you might know that I worked at Walt Disney World in Orlando Florida. In 2006 I became a real WDW Castmember. So far one of the most influential periods in my life; not only did I enjoy learning about excellent leadership and service creation, I also had the honor to follow “Traditions”.

For every Disney Castmember the word “Traditions” is related to the first day at Disney. Traditions is the introduction of the company, its history, its founder, missions, visions and values. But most of all it is about guest experience. I will try to tell you more about these topics later on but for now I want to address one very important one.

Every customer, every client, every person that walks into a Disney store or a Disney park, is never addressed in the term of customer. Each and every person that comes in contact with the Disney Company is a guest! One of the things that a Castmember learns: GREET AND WELCOME EVERY GUEST! A Castmember is there to nurture and to take care of every wish. He or she needs to do everything in his or her power to make the guest leave happy and fulfilled. This all is taught in Disney Traditions training. Disney is such a successful company in my believe because of the effort they make to train Castmembers and to make them knowledgeable.

What would happen if you would call your customers “guests”? How would you react on them? Notice that when you treat somebody as a guest you treat them differently? You start to become more aware of their needs and you want to take real care of them. It is an immediate paradigm shift that can help you do better business.

START WELCOMING YOUR GUEST!

Take care,

RJ

Do you poken? With this catch phrase the Poken was introduced last year.

The Poken is a small usb-stick like device that is said to be the next-gen business card.

When installing your new buddy you can enter your contact information, social media profiles and other notes onto the Poken. Once installed, you can carry the Poken with you on your keychain; it is not bigger than 2.4 inches and contains a cord. If you meet somebody interesting and they happen to have a Poken with them, you can high five the hands and the information will be exchanged. The very effective part of this all is that once at home you can plug your Poken into your computer and you can immediately transfer all that information into your social profiles and your outlook. No more typing out business cards and look for people in social media.

The Poken is marketed very broadly and is mostly sold in gadget stores and on-line. I think that the company has the intentions to make the Poken not only a business thing but also a very new way for teens and students to interact. These groups, being the web 2.0 generation, are likely to use more of these devices that will make the social media part of their lives more accessible.

I have been carrying around a Poken for the last few months now and I notice that it starts to become more and more known. Even at my graduation they gave out Pokens that had the university logo printed on them. It is much like the introduction of the fax machine; the first person that owned a fax couldn’t do anything with it. The fax machine became popular and even regular to use when more people owned one. In the end all businesses where expected to have one. The same went for e-mail and the mobile texts. Will the same go for the Poken?

I mentioned earlier that Pokens are seen as the next-gen business cards. Although I see the efficiency value of this device in not having to search and type out contact information, I don’t believe that it will ever ban the business card. In my experience in networking I noticed that giving and receiving a business card is something special. It is the act of giving and receiving that makes it feel important and personal. This gesture is really significant if it comes to building rapport and creates a new step in starting off a relationship. With a business card you really have something tangible that you can touch, something that is missing with the Poken interaction. More about this in the article on business cards.

Another thing that I’m curious about is how to know that somebody carries a Poken. In the beginning I always asked people if they had one. Now a days I don’t ask anymore, the only thing I ask for is a business card. How can we make it more visible that somebody has a Poken. Once I visited a trade fair where I saw a man walking around with the Poken around his neck; very good visiblity but it also had something geeky to it. So how to solve this problem, post suggestions in the comments and I will post the top 10 in a new article.

So there are some pros and cons to this device and I let the future decide if the Poken is going to be a trend or an ongoing thing.

The Poken comes in all kinds of appearances; pandas, aliens, bees, squirrels and other creatures. Different companies can also support you with Pokens that carry your logo.

The Poken only cost around 10 to 15 dollars each and can be bought on-line.

Look forward hearing your comments.

Greets,

RJ

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OTO Eyewear is vanaf eind 2009 de distributeur voor Initium Eyewear in de Benelux. Initium Eyewear word ontworpen in California met de muziekwereld als grootste inspiratiebron. Het is dan ook niet gek dat menig artiest en celebrity in Los Angeles graag gezien wordt met een Initium bril.

Om de verkoop te ondersteunen heeft MarketingYou OTO bijgestaan in het in de markt zetten van het merk op de Nederlandse markt. Te denken valt aan het creeren van een website en het maken van een verkoop brochure. Hier is sterk gekeken naar het merk zelf en is geprobeerd om zo dicht mogelijk bij de filosofie uit Amerika te blijven.

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