Profit By Imagination

Profit by Imagination - Six Degrees of Separation

This post is about six degrees of separation – I don’t mean the failed TV show, but as a practical matter in real life. It really is a small world out there. Anyway, last week, I was on the phone Cheryl McLaughlin, founder of the McLaughlin Human Performance Institute, (http://www.cherylmclaughlin.typepad.com, http://www.cherylmclaughlin.com) whom I had never met. Cheryl happened to listen in on last week debut Profit by Imagination Radio Show on Blog Talk Radio. She emailed me with some questions. I emailed her back and mentioned that she could call me if she had further questions. Through our emails we found that we had some things in common, namely we were both former college athletes and she used to live in my adopted home town of Boise,Idaho. She called me and found that we even knew some of the same people and we had a good time just talking about common experiences and our lives in general before we ever got to talking about business. Then after virtually becoming friends over the phone, we got to talking business - helping each other out, brainstorming and even imagining ideas on how we might be able to work together….very cool.

I got to thinking how this is, in part, the Profit by Imagination Philosophy at work.

The Internet has made it easier than ever to come in contact with amazing people. Don’t be afraid to email someone or even call if you have questions, comments, or an idea. You never know what might transpire - what you can imagine and brainstorm together and at the very least you could have a new friend and contact.

Profit by Imagination Radio Show to Debut Thursday, December 8th, 1:30PM EST, 10:30AM PST

The very first live Profit by Imagination Radio Show will begin Thursday, December 8th at 1:30PM EST, 12:30PM CST, 11:30AM MST, and 10:30AM PST.

Ed Forteau of http://www.SuccessRainmaker.com will act as a guest interviewer as I discuss just what the Profit by Imagination Radio Show is all about. I hope you will join us for this live call in show on BlogTalk Radio.

To listen go to http://www.blogtalkradio.com/profitbyimagination or click on the icon below




The live call in phone number is 1-646-915-9646

Be Great!

MB

Profit by Imagination Podcast - San Francisco Funny Girl Sarah Lefton’s Jewish Fashion Conspiracy

I have written about Sarah Lefton in previous posts and thought you might like to hear a portion of an interview I did with her for the upcoming Profit by Imagination Book. Below you will find the introduction and podcast.

Accidental Entrepreneur Sarah Lefton’s funny mind set and her Jewish pride led her to a profitable small business. In this fast paced podcast, listen to how Sarah’s clever word play while at Yosemite National Park launched her into a thriving Internet Business, Jewish Fashion Conspiracy, in less than 2 days! Plus find out how Sarah made some quick cash simply by following the news, using her sense of humor and taking fast action. All at California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger’s expense. Not to worry though, the former Terminator actually bought one for himself!

Click the icon below to listen. 

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Download This Podcast
http://odeo.com/show/2710013/1198016/download.mp3

A Funny Girl and Magic Moments

In my last post relating to Disney having some fun with a cute press release on astronomers declaring Pluto to no longe be a planet reminded me of San Francisco funny girl Sarah Lefton, founder of Jewish Fashion Conspiracy.

Sarah Lefton's funny mind set and her Jewish pride led her to a profitable business. As the marketing director for a Jewish summer camp at Yosemite National Park, Lefton discovered a little doctoring of the word Yosemite would create "Yo Semite".  Amused, she silk screened the term on a few T-shirts for herself. Wearing her clever Yo Semite T-shirts around the streets of San Francisco, Sarah was continually approached by people wanting to know where they could get one. Two days later, she had taken orders for 36 shirts and Jewish Fashion Conspiracy was born.

With the success of the Yo Semite shirts, Lefton has now added additional designs to her product line. Always fun, and sometimes racy, the goal is to create a sense of cultural identify and pride among 20 to 30 something Jews.  The Chanukah panties are a huge hit and promote Jewish sex appeal. An avid baseball fan, Lefton also has designed a "Jews for Jeter" shirt to honor the New York Yankee's star Derek Jeter. Lefton's designs are a way to have fun and be Jewish at the same time. Lefton's clever idea has received media attention from a variety of Jewish publications and Time Magazine.

Like the multitude of Pluto T-shirt, Bumper Stickers and Magnet site that popped up virtually  overnight this week, Sarah Lefton's sense of humor also made her some fast cash simply by following the news and seeing an opportunity when California Republican Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger called the state's Democratic Leadership Team "girlie men" for stonewalling on the state budget. Popularized in a Schwarzenegger-inspired Saturday Live skit about a pair of fitness gurus, the governor's use of the term "girlie men" amused many and angered state legislators, gays and women's groups.

Lefton acted quickly and designed a T-shirt with the slogan "Sacramento Girlie Men."  She set up a website and sent out press releases to major media outlets and low and behold Sarah's funny T-Shirt got picked up by the likes of CNN and Fox News - exploding her sales at $24.00 per t-shirt.  She also added a little political activism and more humor to the equation. "And 20% of proceeds will benefit the California Democratic Party, which as you may have noticed, could use the help," the Sacramento Girlie Men Web site read. The website is no longer active because topical protects have a short shelf life.

Capitalizing on topical feelings, trends, fads, or slogans like Sacramento Girlie Men or Pluto that can evoke emotion in a humorous and tasteful fashion is an excellent

I am a great admirer of Walt Disney who knew that if he could get people to smile, a Magic Moment for that person had been created.

Like Walt Disney did in his day and the Walt Disney Company contiunes to do today, Sarah Lefton through her Jewish Fashion Conspiracy business and her other short term sites like Sacramento Girlie Men makes people smile.

If you have an existing small business or home based business think of what you can do to add a happy twist and make your customers smile. If you are just ready to launch your company or in the process of formulating and refining your business idea do the same thing and you will be ahead of the game.

The bottom line: Magic Moments equals Profits.

way to make some extra short term cash (until the trend, fad, or situation fades) and perhaps support your cause at the same time.

You will be able to read more about Sarah Lefton and hear from her directly in my upcoming book, Profit by Imagination. To get a 25% discount when the book is released and a free bonus special report right now on how to get a Top 10 Google News Ranking, click here. You can read a couple of sample chapters from the Profit By Imagination book by clicking on the following links: It's Magic, The "Eyes" Have It.

Profit By Imagination - Pluto Downgraded to Dwarf Planet, Disney Responds - What We Can Learn

Below is a fun post I added to our other blog, 60 Second Ideas that is also appropriate here.

Disney had some fun with the news this week that the planet Pluto (and namesake of one of Disney's most beloved characters) was not a real planet at all - just a dwarf planet.

Here's The Disney Press Release...
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24 August 2006

    Despite Planetary Downgrade, Pluto Is Still Disney’s ‘Dog Star’

    BURBANK, CALIF (Thursday, August 24, 2006) – In reaction to news today that Pluto was demoted to the status of “dwarf planet,” the Seven Dwarfs issued their own short statement:

    “Although we think it's DOPEY that Pluto has been downgraded to a dwarf planet, which has made  some people GRUMPY and others just SLEEPY, we are not BASHFUL in saying we would be HAPPY if Disney's Pluto would join us as an 8th dwarf. We think this is just what the DOC ordered and is nothing to SNEEZE at.”

    As Mickey Mouse’s faithful companion, Pluto made his debut in 1930 – the same year that scientists discovered what they believed was a ninth planet.

    Said a white-gloved, yellow-shoed source close to Disney’s top dog, “I think the whole thing is goofy. Pluto has never been interested in astronomy before, other than maybe an occasional howl at the moon.”

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Not that Disney needs more publicity, but this press release will likely be picked up by media from around the world.

Why?

- It's newsworthy - the Pluto Downgrade was announced just this week.
- It's Fun - It makes people smile and the media is always looking for feel good stories in spite of what it looks like sometimes.

Disney watched for something in the news, and took the opportunity to make it a fun press  release that related to their business. That is very smart. As small business owners or home based business owners we can learn from Disney and do the same thing.

By the way, if you are not using press releases as a part of your marketing strategy, you are missing one of the most effective low or no cost ways of promoting your business. The Internet has made it a whole new ball game. To learn how to get a top Google News Ranking every time you issue a press release and achieve hundreds to thousands of incoming links to your website, take a look at our special report ebook, The Power Press Marketing Strategy.

Profit By Imagination - It’s Magic

Kent Cummins
Magic Camp
http://www.MagicCamp.com

Articulate, overachiever, and passionate does not even begin to describe Kent Cummins. A former restaurateur, US Army Veteran, and MBA, Kent has had a lifelong love affair with magic, puppeteer, and juggling. While having breakfast one morning, a police officer friend who ran the McGruff Crime Prevention  program in Austin, Texas, for which Kent volunteered, suggested he combine his expertise in puppeteer, magic, and juggling into a kids summer camp.  Kent responded with "that's very interesting." 'No, that's not interesting, it's a business plan!” responded the officer. Taking the advice of his friend to heart, at age 50, and wanting to give something more back to his community, Kent founded Magic Camp, to teach life skills to children while they learned magic. He enlisted friends and family and was able to start this project with almost no capital and was in profit his first year. His most important advice; "do what you love."

When you speak with Kent it becomes obvious that his business is not only unusual, but the perfect outlet for his love of magic, passion for helping children, and giving back to his community.

Kent is an excellent example of how one can use their talents and hobbies and creatively put them together to create a thriving business.
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Profit By Imagination - "The Eyes Have It"

Joy Durham
Sunshine Scarves
http://sunshinescarves.com

Joy Durham is a stunning model, actress and now entrepreneur but her real “joy” is her two children, Sunshine and Jory. Spend any time at all with Joy and you quickly realize she is also passionate about making a difference in this world. Joy’s company, Sunshine Scarves was born as a result of then 5 year old Sunshine suffering a tragic accident and losing her left eye. After years of medical treatment and surgeries, Sunshine ultimately received a prosthetic eye, an extremely expensive process. A couple of years later, a nephew asked Joy to make him a scarve. Not even knowing if she could even remember how to crochet, Joy gave it a shot anyway. Once the garment was done, she asked Sunshine to try it on. Needless to say, Sunshine loved the scarve and refused to take it off.

The story does not stop there however. Believing that Sunshine’s accident and their journey into world of prosthetic eye care was a sign to help others and make a difference, Joy not only launched Sunshine Scarves with a mission to create awareness of children in need of prosthetic eye treatment but also a non profit foundation called The Sunshine Foundation to help other children without financial resources obtain the eye care they deserve.
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How to Use The Profit By Imagination Blog

14 years ago, former New Jersey Golf Course Superintendent David Marks discovered that his pet Border Collie was the only thing that worked in chasing geese off of his course.

The proverbial light bulb went off and today, David’s company has 44 dogs policing golf courses and other venues all over the country.
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Joking with friends that your community has not really arrived until you have your own beer brand, California’s Jeremy Cowan, decided to do something about it.

Jeremy created Hebrew Beer with the tagline “Don’t Pass Out, Passover!” Cowan sells Hebrew Beer in high end retail outlets and grocery stores such as Safeway.
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Judy Henderson-Townsend had come to buy a mannequin for use as a backyard sculpture. The seller casually mentioned that he was moving east, closing shop and that there would no longer be anyplace to rent mannequins in the San Francisco Bay Area.

Seeing a gold mine, Henderson-Townsend bought his entire stock of 50 mannequins. 5 years later, Judy Henderson-Townsend’s Mannequin Maddness has an inventory of over 1500 mannequins, renting and selling them to clothing stores, brides, artists, theater groups and even lawyers for demonstrations in court.

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Remember The Mary Tyler-Moore Show Theme Song – “Love Is All Around”? If not, that’s okay. We are not here to talk about television theme songs. With apologies to Tyler-More and the song’s writer, Paul Williams, if we were to write a Profit By Imagination theme song, we would title it, “Ideas Are All Around.” The Profit By Imagination Blog is about ideas – good ideas, creative ideas, unusual ideas, and sometimes, just plain wacky ideas. More importantly, it’s about money making ideas, no matter how outrageous the idea may seem at first glance. Yes
Virginia, you really can make a living with an idea, no matter how wild, crazy, or even normal it appears.

As the Profit By Imagination Blog moves along, you will meet inspiring entrepreneurs, real people just like you, making an excellent living with creative, unusual, and simply amazing ideas.

The Profit by Imagination Blog is designed to inspire you with the incredible ideas these bold entrepreneurs have imagined, developed, implemented, and are profiting from.

If you are just starting out in your own business or thinking about starting your own small business or home based business, it is my sincere hope that something you read or hear in this blog gets your imagination in high gear and motivates you to imagine your own ideas and start your own small business or home based business. 

If you are an existing entrepreneur, small business owner or home based business owner, you can use the Profit by Imagination Blog to help you imagine new products and services for your own business.

I have been finding, interviewing and studying extraordinary entrepreneurs with amazing ideas for over two years now and am often asked, what is their formula for success.

Here it is: Passion + Imagination = Success

With passion and imagination you are literally unstoppable. I hope you enjoy this blog.

Be Great! MB