Last week I was at the Inc. 500 Conference and caught a session with Michael Sheehan, CEO of Sheehan Associates. His company helps businesses, people, and government officials craft messaging. At this session he was discussing how hard it has become to get your message right and get it understood by your audience in a world where we all have information overload.

Michael stressed that your message isn’t your brand. I’ll admit, at first I was a bit confused by this. But he went on to give a couple of great examples, one of which was Nike. When Nike got bad press for working with overseas companies that employed young children that were barely paid, “Just Do It” was not their answer. With Coca Cola and the health debate, the “Coke Side of Life” isn’t their answer to childhood obesity. So he stresses that there is a concentration on branding but not necessarily messaging.

In Michael’s eyes we’ve got what he calls the “4 Horsemen of Contemporary Communication”; I call it “What we’re up against.”

• Homogenization of Information – Translation: There are far more channels of information for your customers and prospects to access — it’s not just the newspaper anymore. You need to be defensive and offensive about all of your business communications. In my opinion, that means getting up to speed quick on Twitter to find out what your customers are saying about you in real time.
• Tsunami-like Characteristics of Issues – Translation: We used to have time to get our messaging correct if there was an issue that arose. Now issues hit big. Think Joe Wilson. Think Obama and the Cambridge Police.
• Speed Kill on the Informational Superhighway – Translation: Information is coming in from everywhere; things are covered as it happens. This puts pressure on businesses more than ever to respond quickly.
• One Word or Comment is all it Takes – We need to give more attention to what we say and how we say it so there are not misunderstandings in interpretation.

Finally, first impressions are lasting. Opinions are formed quickly and take forever to change.

What We Can Do About It

Michael must like 4’s because he also has 4 Principles of Bressaging (Brand + Messaging). I like that one BTW.

• (Clutter) – This one is in parenthesis because it’s negative. He quoted a stat that said the average person gets 3200 new pieces of data every day. So we need to learn to not clutter our messaging or our points.
• Salience – By definition salience is the state or quality of an item that stands out relative to neighboring items. How can you convince your different audiences (e.g.: customers, employees, suppliers) about your message and have it clear enough to be noticed?
• Simple – Be as straight forward as possible. Are your employees on the same page regarding what you do when they speak about your business? It needs to be simple or it won’t be heard.
• Repetition – You need to say it over and over, maybe in different ways to illustrate your message. You may have said it a million times, but there’s a new person every day that hasn’t heard it.

Michael ended his session with the advice to watch your language! No, he doesn’t mean cursing and swearing, he means watching the specific words you use. Do you use words that calm people down or create attention? One good example was an HMO he was working with who used the term “subscriber” instead of “patient,” and “provider” instead of “doctor”. It was off-putting to both sets of customers, so they changed how they were communicating. Another great example was the “surge” that President Bush was touting versus the “escalation” that the Democrats were using. It all depends on the message you’re trying to send.

It sounds to me like we all need to carefully watch what we write and how we speak. As entrepreneurs we’re all moving so fast that from time to time we should step back (pull back the camera as Erika Andersen was telling us to do at her session) and look at our key messages to make sure they make sense to everyone we talk to. I know I’m going home to do that at my company VerticalResponse.

Jeff Ello, writer at ComputerWorld, recently wrote in an op-ed that he can sum up every IT Management article/book/etc. that has been published: “Geeks are smart and creative, but they are also egocentric, antisocial, managerially and business-challenged, victim-prone, bullheaded and credit-whoring. To overcome these intractable behavioral deficits you must do X, Y and Z.” (See “How to Make IT Staff Less Angry” for an example.)

Ello believes, however, that this is a patronizing stereotype that is not useful for IT Managers. Rather, he believes that respect is paramount, and offers several ways to leverage it with your IT team.

What do you think?

Curt is the founder & CEO of a timesheet software company in Austin, Texas.

I wasn’t too interested in last night’s episode of Shark Tank until the adorable Sawyer Sparks, founder of Soy-Yer-Dough in Bloomfield, Indiana, appeared onscreen in his introductory video, mixing up gluten-free modeling clay in his modest kitchen with his mom and girlfriend. As soon as he explained that he created the soy-based clay for kids with an allergy to wheat, an ingredient in Play-Doh, I knew the unassuming college kid had potential. I also loved the fact that he wanted to create jobs in his hometown. Still, when he walked into he shark tank, I was worried that Sparks would be gobbled up by the sharks, chipmunk cheeks and all.

For a while, things didn’t seem to be going well for Sparks. He seemed a bit flustered when the sharks started questioning his business motives. I felt particularly bad for him when Barbara Corcoran acted like he was an idiot for wanting to create jobs in his town. She seemed really confused about that concept, which is disturbing. Shame on you, Barbara! And what’s with Kevin O’Leary and his obsession with money? Who actually asks people things like, “Do you love money as much as I do?” I loved Spark’s response to the question: “Probably not.” That’s because you still have a soul, Sawyer! At that point, I was hoping Sparks would run out of the room.

But Sparks turned out to be tougher than he looks. First, he casually mentioned to the gang that he, his mom, and his girlfriend had sold thousands of units of Soy-Yer-Dough online in the past year. Then he let slip that Play-Doh had approached him multiple times, offering him half a million for his idea, which is protected by a provisional patent! At that point, I realized Sparks could handle his potential investors. It was great to see everyone begin to salivate.

Now for the deal: Sparks came in requesting $125,000 in exchange for a 25 percent stake in his company. O’Leary, a licensing expert, offered to give him that amount, but for 51 percent of the company. Sparks was understandably averse to ceding ownership of the company, especially since that meant there was no way to guarantee O’Leary would follow his wishes for the company. There would be nothing stopping O’Leary from simply accepting the $500,000 offer from Play-Doh and doubling his investment, a poor deal for Sparks all around. I liked the fact that Robert Herjavec jumped in, offering Sparks $125,000 and a controlling stake in the business. Clearly, O’Leary’s licensing background made him the better partner, but he seems less than trustworthy. His whole argument that he wouldn’t be able to negotiate a good deal with Play-Doh unless he had a controlling stake in Soy-Yer-Dough made no sense, as Herjevac pointed out.

In the end, it seems like Sparks made out pretty well. Daymond John and Herjevac joined forces with O’Leary to sweeten the pot, and Sparks walked away with $300,000. The downside is he had to cede 51 percent of his business to the three sharks. Though I doubt Sparks will achieve his goal of creating jobs in Bloomfield this time around, perhaps he can use whatever money he winds up making off a deal with Play-Doh, which I assume is in the works, to start other companies in his town. Since the show was filmed this past August, it’s too soon to tell, but I’ll be keeping an eye on this budding entrepreneur.

I wasn’t too interested in last night’s episode of Shark Tank until the adorable Sawyer Sparks, founder of Soy-Yer-Dough in Bloomfield, Indiana, appeared onscreen in his introductory video, mixing up gluten-free modeling clay in his modest kitchen with his mom and girlfriend. As soon as he explained that he created the soy-based clay for kids with an allergy to wheat, an ingredient in Play-Doh, I knew the unassuming college kid had potential. I also loved the fact that he wanted to create jobs in his hometown. Still, when he walked into he shark tank, I was worried that Sparks would be gobbled up by the sharks, chipmunk cheeks and all.

For a while, things didn’t seem to be going well for Sparks. He seemed a bit flustered when the sharks started questioning his business motives. I felt particularly bad for him when Barbara Corcoran acted like he was an idiot for wanting to create jobs in his town. She seemed really confused about that concept, which is disturbing. Shame on you, Barbara! And what’s with Kevin O’Leary and his obsession with money? Who actually asks people things like, “Do you love money as much as I do?” I loved Spark’s response to the question: “Probably not.” That’s because you still have a soul, Sawyer! At that point, I was hoping Sparks would run out of the room.

But Sparks turned out to be tougher than he looks. First, he casually mentioned to the gang that he, his mom, and his girlfriend had sold thousands of units of Soy-Yer-Dough online in the past year. Then he let slip that Play-Doh had approached him multiple times, offering him half a million for his idea, which is protected by a provisional patent! At that point, I realized Sparks could handle his potential investors. It was great to see everyone begin to salivate.

Now for the deal: Sparks came in requesting $125,000 in exchange for a 25 percent stake in his company. O’Leary, a licensing expert, offered to give him that amount, but for 51 percent of the company. Sparks was understandably averse to ceding ownership of the company, especially since that meant there was no way to guarantee O’Leary would follow his wishes for the company. There would be nothing stopping O’Leary from simply accepting the $500,000 offer from Play-Doh and doubling his investment, a poor deal for Sparks all around. I liked the fact that Robert Herjavec jumped in, offering Sparks $125,000 and a controlling stake in the business. Clearly, O’Leary’s licensing background made him the better partner, but he seems less than trustworthy. His whole argument that he wouldn’t be able to negotiate a good deal with Play-Doh unless he had a controlling stake in Soy-Yer-Dough made no sense, as Herjevac pointed out.

In the end, it seems like Sparks made out pretty well. Daymond John and Herjevac joined forces with O’Leary to sweeten the pot, and Sparks walked away with $300,000. The downside is he had to cede 51 percent of his business to the three sharks. Though I doubt Sparks will achieve his goal of creating jobs in Bloomfield this time around, perhaps he can use whatever money he winds up making off a deal with Play-Doh, which I assume is in the works, to start other companies in his town. Since the show was filmed this past August, it’s too soon to tell, but I’ll be keeping an eye on this budding entrepreneur.

How to face a well-funded competitor. Ryan Janssen was all set to launch his startup, SetJam, a TV Guide for the Internet. But, just weeks before he was ready to go live, he learned of a well funded competitor, Clicker.com, which had just launched. Clicker has raised $8 million in venture capital funding, compared to $50,000 for SetJam. As Janssen writes, “the URL of the startup — ‘clicker.com’ — probably cost more than the life savings I’d put into SetJam.” So what’s his plan? Janssen says he’s using an affiliate marketing model that will allow his site to be profitable immediately, and he plans to turn a his company’s weakness–a lack of funds–into an advantage. “SetJam is stripped down to the bare essentials,” he says. “I’ll let our users tell us what they need instead of deciding for them.” (Via Hacker News)

Facebook helps you go global on the cheap. We’ve written before about Facebook’s innovate approach to translating its website into other languages–the company lets its own users do the work. Now the site is offering its users’ language services to other companies. Erick Schonfeld of Techcrunch has the news and says it could be a boon for small companies looking to expand globally. “The Internet is a global platform, which makes translation a must for sites both large and small,” he writes. “Even if the translations aren’t top-notch off the bat, they will improve over time if enough people who speak a particular language care enough about a site to fix it.”

The next wave of hip, young cities. When the economy bounces back, which cities will be lucky enough to welcome the throngs of young graduates who have a knack for revitalizing local economies? The Wall Street Journal is willing to take a guess, with their list of the top five youth-magnet cities that will likely emerge after the recession lifts. The most notable aspect of the Journal’s predictions is the move away from smaller, trendy cities, especially ones in the Southeast, and a return to big cities. Washington, D.C., Seattle, and New York City take the three top spots, which the Journal’s panelists attribute to young people being more pragmatic after being stung by the recession. But quirky cities still have some sway over young people; Portland, Oregon and Austin remain among the top five destinations for twenty-somethings looking to settle down.

One developer’s Kafka-esque nightmare with the Palm Pre. A few days after the Palm Pre was released, developer Jamie Zawinski created the second and third apps ever available for the phone: a restaurant tip calculator and a clock program. Now, months later, neither app is available in Palm’s App Catalog. Zawinski says “if you, a developer, want to get your software into the hands of your customers, you have to beg and plead and wheedle Palm to distribute it for you.” (Hat tip, AllThingsD.)

Maintaining morale in a recession. Even if things at your company are going well, stress can still worm its way into the workplace. Jennifer Walzer, the founder of Backup My Info, writes for the New York Times about how simple things like an open door policy and a “pat on the back” system that keeps everyone focused on positive accomplishments, whether that means solving a client’s problem or running a marathon, keep morale high during a recession. You can also see what Kevin Plank of Under Armour has to say on motivating employees in tough times plus eight more tips on the subject from the Inc. staff.

Tax deadline approaching. If you got an extension on filing your company’s tax return back in April, you probably know that October 15 is now your due date. But if you’re thinking about blowing off this deadline, too, the Associated Press explains why you should reconsider. (Via the Chicago Tribune.)

Get your tuition’s worth from research labs. Lately, there’s been a lot of talk about how entrepreneurs can save the economy. Just last week, Commerce Secretary Gary Locke announced at the Inc. 500|5000 Conference that the Obama administration would create a new office to help entrepreneurs and innovators. Today, TechCrunch has a post about how young entrepreneurs can use their university’s research facilities to help shape and commercialize their ideas. Though researchers in university labs often come across breakthroughs in technology, as Vivek Wadhwa, an Executive in Residence at Duke, writes, they rarely see the light of day because of a lack of funding. To bridge the gap, he suggests talking to tech transfer offices, engaging well-connected faculty members, and joining university entrepreneurship groups.

The latest from Inc. A new issue! Read about the future of manufacturing, the new entrepreneurial health care companies, and how Wolfgang Puck built a culinary empire. It still only costs ten bucks for a whole year.

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Dell has unveiled a new laptop in its Latitude line that is turning heads this week.

The feature on the new Latitude Z that is getting the most attention is its wireless charging dock that works sort of like one of those cordless toothbrushes. It just sits on a docking rack with an “inductive charging pad”. Bottomline: no wires.

Cool!

Price for all the wireless docking accessories: $400; which is not so cool.

But wait there’s more!

The 16′ Latitude Z, billed by Dell as the lightest and thinnest notebook in the world (this week), is James Bond slick and weighs about four and a half pounds.

I really don’t care as much about the weight or thickness. However, there are a few other features that do impress me.

1. It has a second low-voltage processor dedicated to turning on the laptop with a instant boot up called “Latitude ON”.

2. It also has a webcam that uses Dell’s face recognition software called FaceAware. It’s a great security feature. You step away from the camera and within seconds your computer shuts down requiring your login to get back in again. Other faces need not apply.

3. Want more security features? The Z also has a smartcard reader and a fingerprint reader. It does not, however, have a feature to make the whole thing go up in a puff of smoke should you choose to accept your mission.

4. The built-in webcam doubles as a scanner for business cards. Just hold up the card and swipe it in.

All that and it’s pretty.

Expensive, but pretty!

The honorees on this year’s 30 Under 30 list are perhaps our most
dynamic group yet — building successful companies online, overseas,
and in the skies above us (literally). Meet America’s coolest young
entrepreneurs.

Some of the biggest names in business got their start before their 30th birthday.

Do you fantasize about doodling on your office walls? Want to host your own live TV show online? Are you craving truffle oil popcorn? The companies on this year’s 30 Under 30 list might have just what you’re looking for.

Last week, I heard Jill Blashack Strahan, CEO of Tastefully Simple, speak on the main stage at the Inc. 500 Conference. Today Tastefully Simple is a $140 million company that sells easy to prepare food for busy people.

Jill’s story is interesting and inspirational. It actually started with the death of her brother when she was just 26, which was a major wake up call and ultimately what motivated her to start her business. The saying “Life is Short” became very real to her and she decided that it was time to DO something. She has three major points she lives by: Just Start, Know Where You’re Going, Don’t Stop.

Just Start

Jill claims that often times it’s actually the start that stops us. Many people just stop before they even have a chance to really start. You may or may not have a plan, but you’ve got to give yourself a shot.

Tastefully Simple started with $36K, and Jill’s mom kicked in another $15K just in case she needed it. She started her business in a shed with no running water, and packed packages on a pool table.

She had one employee (herself), and for a long while, she didn’t even take a salary. That was never really problem for her because at the time, she had never earned more than $14K in one year. I know a lot of business owners that have lived the “no pay” story, including myself.

She asked herself, “What’s the worse thing that can happen if I just start?” I think that was one of the best parts of her session.

Know Where You’re Going (not necessarily what you’re doing)

What I loved about Jill’s story of starting out was that she admitted she was clueless. Furthermore, she hated to cook, which actually became her message. She talked about how easy it was to prepare these meals, and that if she could do it, anyone could. In the first six months, she had seven consultants and $100K in sales. Jill’s biggest selling point was she believed that her business concept would work, and that in turn translated to customers.

Once she had faith, she was able to focus and pinpoint where she was going. She told herself and her employees that in five years the company would do $11 million in sales. Five years later, Tastefully Simple did $11.8 million in sales. It was about dreaming, believing, and working hard.

Don’t Stop

Two months after she started Tastefully Simple, her brother David was sentenced to prison for 20 years. Eight short months later her husband died, and she had a five-year-old son to raise on her own. Talk about a strong woman!

Jill told us that during that time, she thought a lot about giving up, and that’s what happens when we allow feelings of fear to take over. In her mind, fear is the gatekeeper to strength. She went on to say that we only get stronger when conquering our fears. Her best advice: get through fear.

In her situation of continual tragedy, she said to herself: “I will not accept this.” And she didn’t. Another great motto Jill lives by: “Get through it one minute at a time.”
How does she do it? Here are her tips:

1 – Compartmentalize in your mind; you have to put some things aside so you can control your present actions.
2 - Get through fear; get better or get bitter.
3 – Hang on to your supporters, your sunshine people. These are the people that walk into the room and make it light up.

All in all, this was a moving and inspirational story of a successful entrepreneur persevering and conquering the odds. Do you have a story where you persevered and conquered your own odds? Comment!