This is an OPEN INVITATION to ALL of my friends, colleagues and extended network!
(please read all of this post… kinda long, but VERY important.)
I wanted to make sure I invited all of you to this amazing event, the 2012 Business Growth Summit coming up on the 31st of January!
It’s put on by a group started by some associates and myself about 2 months ago called Above The Line America. We’re a networking group like no other – (no fees, no forced referrals, no stupid clapping – unless you feel like clapping… ).
Above The Line America is focused on building and supporting community first and fostering “Above The Line” business relationships second. It’s geared to bring like-minded leaders and business owners together to change the conversation from “below the line” (blame, denial and irresponsibility) back “Above The Line” (Accountability, Ownership, Respect).
The event is an ALL DAY Business Summit, focused on YOUR business and connecting you with some of the most innovative thought leaders in business and emerging business today.
Learn the process and allow yourself to Dream, Set Goals, Make Plans, and Take Action! Leave the day armed with your overall 2012 Plan and next steps for the first 90 days. Have FUN and connect with 400 of your AboveTheLineAmerica™ partners for success! Eat, drink, plan and CONNECT with the BEST and BRIGHTEST in Business!
I know this invitation doesn’t give much time to decide and some of you may not be in Des Moines, Iowa for the 31st, but I wanted to send out invites to everyone I thought would be able to get value from this amazing event.
If you can’t attend, PLEASE let me know your thoughts and if you’d be willing to attend another event like this on a regularly scheduled basis. And if you know of someone that SHOULD attend that I haven’t reached, PLEASE forward this on to them!
This is a group and an event that is VERY close to my heart. If you can attend, or are interested in Above The Line America membership (go to www.abovethelineamerica.com for more info on that), I’d be MORE than happy to welcome you with OPEN ARMS!
While I try not to mix business, personal life and my public persona with ANYTHING remotely political, I usually refrain from posting content such as this. But in this election season started by the Iowa Straw Polls this week and destined to continue on through the next 18 months and beyond, I had the urge to voice my perspective on our current economic state. Do I think this will “turn on the light or make the issues clearer to the candidates? No.
Maybe this will give some of my readers some perspective on how to address the trouble our economy is in.
Democrat? Republican? I don’t care. I think this issue is RELEVANT to us all.
The 12-Step Evolution of a Down Economy (Or… how to rape the economy and propagate slums in our suburbs):
Step1: Residents tire of rural congestion and discover beautiful, virgin territory
Step 2: Residents settle and develop land for suitable family living (“modernize”) Step 3: Residents draw “new” residents on shiny object & new opportunities Step 4: “Community” develops retail and consumer tax base Step 5: This entices residents into comfort and disillusionment with commercialism and retail tax abatements Step 6: Retail and consumer base offer incentives to “stay and grow” in the area with credit and superficial community amenities (that no one really uses) Step 7: Big Retail and Consumer tax base lulls residents into lethargic, numb zombie-like state of ignorance about economic cycles and surge growth detriments Step 8: Zombies extend credit with little or NO reasonable cognitive control Step 9: Retail and commercial base default on credit as corporate office search “New opportunities” in other beautiful, virgin territories. Step 10: Retail and commercial base close down / move away taking job and retail tax base with. Step 11: Residents default on credit foreclose and lose job opportunities… look for the next shiny object. Step 12: Original beautiful, virgin territory is left — unkempt, uncared for, unmarketable, uninhabitable and is sold or leased to those that will take ANYTHING to call their own, because that’s the American Dream
Are you living the “American Dream?”
Keep Cooking (TRUE Community – not the one we’re being SOLD)
Andrew B. Clark
The Brand Chef
Growth is a positive thing. I mean growth that produces great things:
Business opportunities
Professional credibility
Community ties
Industry stability
Economical security
ALL good things, right?
YES!
So why not join the CreateWOW team and grow with us (me)?
If you have a desire to join a nimble, progressive marketing and communications company with a drive to change how companies use media, then I want to hear from you.
CreateWOWmarketing, LLC has brought on a handful of new clients that will require talent and support from:
Public Relations Professionals
Media Buyers and Managers
Account and Marketing Managers
Creatives and Multi-Channel Graphic Designers
And while I want to “Do It ALL,” I just can’t…
I’M not looking for just anyone. The people that are brought into the CreateWOW culture will need to be inspired by creativity and driven to create WOW for our clients using traditional and emerging marketing tactics.
These positions are to be considered “Internships” until the candidate has proven him / herself in the job.
I do pay my interns.
Don’t throw your resume at me and expect a call. Connect with me on a unique, engaging and relevant level to the position YOU hope to fill. And for God’s sake, be Truthful.
I want the team to reflect CreateWOW. I want the team to GROW CreateWOW.
So, there you have it. The proverbial ball is in your court.
In a conversation with a good friend, we were mulling over the unique challenges we both have with clients, agencies and production houses when it comes to being effective marketers. He made a very valid point that
“…if everyone worked as quickly as his brain, the work would be TEN TIMES as valuable.”
As the conversation went on, I started assimilating marketing to a constantly moving force in search of it’s next meal…
“If a marketing department or even a basic marketing campaign is to have value or any spec of success, it needs to be constantly moving. Like a shark, if it stops, it suffocates under its own pressure and drowns – suddenly, another corpse for other sharks in the ocean to feed on…”
One thing lead to another and the phrase “Sharketing” was coined.
The conversation came to an abrupt stop. Our eyes grew to the size of the plates that sat below us, and we both started laughing.
“Sharketing… Are YOU Sharketing?” I yelled. (to some pretty strange looks at Palmer’s Deli, mind you)
“Ha… what a cool idea.” He added.
So I immediately went back to the CreateWOW office and registered the domain, AreYouSharketing.com and the seed was planted.
Jump ahead a few months and we come to Sunday, February 20, 2011. A day that Sharketing was given breath and the ability to swim in the ocean of marketing phraseology for ever.
Sharketing defines the action that ALL MARKETING AND COMMUNICATIONS professionals should be taking. Ever moving, ever searching, hunting, tracking and focused on the next meal. Sharketing allows the campaign to run, unfettered by politics, red tape and the lack of return.
AreYouSharketing.com is a portal for all marketing communications professionals to gain the speed they need to become TRUE marketers. It’s a resource for learning. It’s a resource to extend your brand equity. It’s a resource for additional outposts for your marketing messages.
Some of the best ideas come quickly and simply. And it should always work that way.
I invite you to go on over the AreYouSharketing.com to see what’s in store. So far we have a handful of collaborators, but we’re always looking for more. If interested, please contact me!
What do YOU do on a Snow Day in central Iowa? Well, if you’re at all involved in social media, you get online and jump into the conversation (ANY conversation). There’s always a chat, a dialogue, a debate or simply silly talk going on within Twitter.
As an experiment, I decided to create ascreencast of the conversations that took place with and around me (@TheBrandChef) this morning.
Featured in this little conversation are friends and associates (and some people I’ve NEVER met, but I consider friends anyway):
I wanted to make sure I invited all of you to this amazing event, the 2012 Business Growth Summit coming up on the 31st of January!
). 
Step 4: “Community” develops retail and consumer tax base
Growth is a positive thing. I mean growth that produces great things:
