Blogging from Bar Harbor

I’ve been vacation in Bar Harbor, Maine this past week. This is my fourth visit to Mount Desert Island and Acadia National Park in 12 years. My wife, Cindy, and I honeymooned here and we made it back for our 12th anniversary. While one of the best things about Acadia is its timeless beauty that changes in terms of geological time and not Internet time the Internet has not missed the island. For one thing, I enjoyed wireless access to the Internet from the campground where we parked our RV. There are wireless hotspots all over the island including the city park in Bar Harbor. Twelve years ago I would have been lucky to find a 33 kbps modem connection. Another interesting memory involves the use of cell phones. When Cindy and I were on our honeymoon we attempted to make a call on our cell phone from Cleftstone Manor, the Bed and Breakfast we were staying at. The phone was in a leather case about the size of 8x10x2 inches. When we dialed our number an operator came on the line and asked us if we were sure we really wanted to complete the connection because it would be very expensive. We she told us the cost we decided that the phone call was not worth it. Today we can call for free as long as we are within our allowance on our plan’s minutes.

One of the first activities we did on the island, because it was a rainy day, was to visit the Seal Cove Auto Museum. It was really thought provoking to see how the designs and the technology have changed over the years. Even more thought provoking was seeing all the different U.S. companies that made cars that are no longer in business. Although there are some specialty auto makers (like Tesla Motors) we typically thing of the Big Three (GM, Ford, and Chrysler) today. In today’s global economy we are seeing them falter too. Another thing I saw at the museum was an electric car that was made in 1903. It was not a prototype either, it was a finished product. This is an idea that is still struggling to find acceptance, for instance Tesla Motors and the EV1 which is no longer produced by GM.

Something that hasn’t changed, though, is the abundantly filled, starlit night sky.

Technorati Tags: Acadia National Park, Bar Harbor, Tesla Motors
, cell phone

Mind Shift

Once again it’s been a while since I posted. I’ve been doing a lot of thinking lately. The day after I made my last post I found out that friend from the neighborhood that I grew up in died of brain cancer. It was hard to believe that something like this could happen to one of my friends. He is the same age as me. I always admired his intelligence and he became successful as the director of a local television station. The world has lost one of its best. Recalling the memories of my childhood friend sent me into deep contemplation of my own life, what I have done, and what I will do.

Around the time that this happened I was doing some environmental scanning for what could be one of the next big significant trends. I came across the webpage for Paul Zane Pilzer. He claims that the next trillion-dollar industry will be in the health and wellness business. That seemed plausible to me. But reading deeper I found that the health and wellness industry mostly comprised of people peddling vitamins using multi-level marketing (MLM) tactics, also known as network marketing. He claims that this is going to produce a significant number of millionaires. Pilzer seems like a really intelligent guy, but I’m just not buying it. I do believe that the health and wellness industry is going to be huge. This is in large part due to the baby boomers wanting to maintain their health as they age. But I don’t get the MLM connection. Donald Trump and Robert Kiyosaki have a book out called, Why We Want You to be Rich. In there they also promote MLM as a way to attain riches. Frankly, I don’t want to live in a world where I am constantly being approached by MLM’ers. The thought repulses me and I don’t believe that it is a good path to being a millionaire any more than winning the lottery.

Scott, you say, where are you going with all of this? Well, these things combined had me thinking about what defines success, how money is made, and how I measure up. While I’m not a big fan of the MLM model I do believe that if you want to make money sales is the place to be. I read an interesting line in some literature on the Landslide website: “A company doesn’t exist to make things. A company exists to sell things.” I thought that was a very powerful statement. I also believe that the health and wellness industry will be as big as Pilzer says it will be. This is definitely a trend to watch. But, there is much more to it than peddling vitamins. Health (and youth) is what people are after. Really, the best thing that anyone can do is exercise and eat a healthy diet. That is what I try to do. Yes, I take some vitamins too, but they are more for enhancement than a foundation (see Joel Garreau). Unfortunately, most everyone has heard and understood the message but they still won’t do what it takes to be healthy. The even bigger trend is biotechnology and new methods of diagnosis and new surgical methods. My conclusion is that, while it is perceived that futurists like to dream big dreams, my personal emphasis will be on sales strategies. Sales is a more complex field than most imagine and it is evolving everyday. Sales is about offering solutions and solving problems. If you don’t know how to sell your solution you don’t make any money and people’s problems don’t get solved. Being a success requires being successful in sales. This is true whether you’re trying to convince a colleague in the next cubicle to "buy" your way of doing somehting or if you are trying to sell the next breakthrough in biotechnology.

Technorati Tags:
sales
, Paul Zane Pilzer
, health
, Donald Trump
, Robert Kiyosaki
, Joel Garreau
, MLM
, biotechnology