I love long relaxing weekends, as it allows me to detach and really think about things. It is also a great time to read and catch up on RSS Feeds. Lately, I have been reading a lot about Tim Ferris, and his book The Four Hour Work Week.
Tim has an interesting blog post from last week Start-up Strategy: To Change the Game, Change the Economics of How It’s Played which includes an interview he did with Alan M. Webber co-founder of Fast Company magazine and former editorial director of the Harvard Business Review. Apparently Alan developed a very interesting habit more than 20 years ago, when he began to carry a supply of 3 x 5 index cards wherever life took him. He wrote down and collected the lessons and insights he gleaned from his experiences traveling the world and in his interactions with people ranging from CEOs and spiritual leaders to basketball coaches, novelists, and stars from dozens of other worlds…
Alan goes on to say;
“The game today is all about changing the game. Competing head-to-head on products and services is table stakes. Innovators are looking for a new business model that will destabilize their rivals and produce a breakthrough opportunity. In fact, in a recent survey of top-level executives in established companies IBM found that the biggest shared concern is that somewhere in the world—in a garage or a dorm room— someone is coming up with a new business model that will overthrow their established way of doing business.
What would Craigslist founder Craig Newmark do to our beloved Apartment Rental Business?
What would happen if what we typically charge for, say rent, were Free? Free, as the saying goes, is a pretty good price. What if we did what King Gillette did and give away the razor? What would we charge for?
There are a lot of ways to reinvent an economic model. But most established companies are unwilling to do it because it would mean destabilizing their own operation. The Trail Blazers, those who really turned the model inside out changed forever the way business is done on their given fields.
What can we do in the apartment business that creates a model that will Overthrow the Established Way of Doing Business.
Eric’s background is rooted in the rental and real estate industries. He founded metro Detroit’s Urbane Apartments in 2003, after serving as senior vice president for a major Midwest apartment developer. He established a proven track record of effectively repositioning existing rental properties in a way that added value for investors while enhancing the resident experience.
He also established The Urbane Way, a social media marketing and PR laboratory, where innovative marketing ideas are tested. Eric has been featured in Entrepreneur Magazine and Business Week Magazine.
You can connect with Eric_Urbane on Twitter.
Eric also writes regular articles for the following publications;
Related Posts -
Brand Camp University Founder Hajj Flemings talks about upcoming event, personal branding This morning, I had the chance to snag Hajj Flemings, personal brand strategist and founder of Brand Camp University, for a quick chat about his upcoming event, Brand Camp '10, as well as some observations he's made recently about personal branding.Held at Lawrence Tech University, Brand Camp '10 is scheduled...... -
It is more fun to make the rules than to follow them As the economy softens we will all get a Reality Check, like it or not. Irrespective of our own often times flawed perception of reality; a tougher economy will further create pressure to perform better than your competitors. The fractures in your performance will begin to surface quicker than normal....... -
New York City-based 4food aims to change the way burgers — and social media — are done Social media has been a game changer for many people for a variety of reasons. Some people use it to tweet their prayers. Others use it as a way to grow their business. And now, some people are using it to share their “build-your-own burger” masterpieces — and can get...... -
Lead to Tour, Tour to Lease Apartment Marketing Done Differently We are setting up for a pretty exciting series of experiments here at the Urbane Laboratory, to start in August. We believe that the manor in which most apartments are marketed and leased is really fragmented, and that the current methods are dated and have not...... -
Blog Traffic Exceeds Web Traffic; Apartment Marketing is Changing There is continuing confirmation abound that marketing and advertising are changing. I just saw a tweet from Kim Duty, VP of Communications for National Multi Housing Council, referencing my old boss, and mentor, Jonathan Holtzman on his presentation;The apartment industry spends 75%-90% too much on marketingWow, that is a pretty strong statement. It is fascinating to see the tweets coming......
Related Websites -
Creating Value in Your Marketing Just recently I witnessed Frank Kern launch hi Core Influence Campaign, Which lead nicely into his List Control Product which if I remember correctly was like $2997, I think he sold over 1000 copies in one day.. I could be wrong but I think it's somewhere around there. Much of...... -
Baghdatis Takes Title in Stockholm ATP World Tour Tournament In Stockholm, Sweden, Marcos Baghdatis managed to take his first title in the ATP World Tour since February of 2007, after having defeated Oliver Rochus from Belgium with 6 - 1, 7 - 5 during the If Stockholm Open during Sunday. He has become the tenth unseeded winner to claim...... -
A Strong Week in Tennis for Champion Players This week, there were a few different kinds of games going on throughout the world. These different matches pitted some of the top ranked players in the world against one another to be able to earn the title. While these smaller tournaments might be dwarfed in the shadow of the...... -
Our 3D Sonogram! This weekend we got to experience an amazing thing! We got to see our little boy face to face! We have seen him in sonograms in the past, but the 3D sonogram experience is completely different. This type of sonogram allows you to see features, and when they put it...... - Aim High With Your Goals For the past few months, I've been working for an online advertising company. Basically, people pay us to send them traffic. It works similar to AdSense and AdWords, but we have more control over the type of traffic you receive and over the quantity. People come to us when they......
