THE POSTILLION: Innovate...Communicate...Survive...Thrive - Lessons from the Great Depression

The Postillion with Michael Phillips

Profiles in Innovation from Around the World

Bottom Line: (Why you will want to read this article)

• You are in a highly competitive business and want ideas on how to differentiate your emerging enterprise

• You would like to understand how some companies not only survive but thrive in a recession/depression.

The Postillion does not have to tell you that it is brutal out there. Recent indicators show that unemployment is still on the rise. The main place that jobs are being created is in government, adding to our ever growing tax burden and budget deficit. The last things we need are more government bureaucrats adding more obstacles to the success of our businesses! But, even in these hard times some companies are finding ways to succeed. How do they do it? What is their secret? To answer this question the Postillion turned to history…….. the Great Depression to find the answers.

So we think we have it bad now? At the height of the Great Depression unemployment was at 24.9%. The top tax rate was 91% and would stay at least at 88% until 1963. (Note: Taxes were dramatically dropped at that point resulting in one of the greatest economic booms ever known) In this dismal business climate some companies found ways to not only survive, but to thrive. How did they do it? Innovation, communication and the courage to change.


Change

"It is not the strongest of the species that survives, nor the most intelligent, but the one most responsive to change" - Charles Darwin

This may seem obvious but it is amazing that companies become paralyzed in hard times and refuse to consider change. They go into “survival” mode and stop all R and D, stop advertising, lay off staff and start praying. They feel they will be able to weather the storm by not taking on any risk or aggressive tactics. Instead of adopting proactive change they play dead, roll up in a ball and hope the bear does not eat them. The sad part is that once they come out of their self induced progress comma ….if they survive it....they discover a very different business landscape…..one where their less conservative competitors have made great strides forward. They may also discover that their company has become irrelevant. A lesson from successful companies during the Great Depression is that they were not afraid to change and take on risk.

Smart companies took advantage of their comatose competitors and found ways to gobble up market share……realizing that they had to play a numbers game. If less people are buying you must expose your product or service to more people to maintain and grow your revenues. These companies also knew they had to find new products and services that people wanted. Hard times created new inconveniences, pains, and concerns that translated into opportunities for companies who were observant, innovative and not afraid to act.


Innovation

Necessity, who is the mother of invention.

Plato, The Republic
Greek author and philosopher in Athens (427 BC - 347 BC)

Innovation is a word that has been used freely. EVERY company seems to claim to be innovative. But, true innovators are obvious when they appear on the scene and blow away the innovation “wannabes”. For the purpose of this discussion true innovation must:

• Fill a need not currently being filled
• Greatly improve on an old way of doing something
• Combine existing products / services in a way never done before that exponentially increases the value
• Enlighten the consumer to a whole new paradigm of doing things they did not know existed
• Establish a uniqueness that is a brand in itself

True innovation often becomes the nexus of many other innovations…….and imitations. During the Great Depression many companies observed their surroundings and stepped up their R and D to meet current needs and to create new markets. Many new technology companies—for instance, Hewlett-Packard and Polaroid......that became leading innovators later in the century.....were established as entrepreneurial start-ups during the 1930s.

Here is a surprising list of some depression era start-ups that had the courage to pursue innovation. These companies all started off as emerging enterprises in terrible economic times.

Motorola
Hewlett-Packard
Xerox
Ryder
Unisys
Texas Instruments
Revlon
Converse
La-Z-Boy
Interstate Bakeries - makers of Twinkies (Some say Twinkies made during the Great Depression are still edible)

Radio Corporation of America (RCA), the high-tech company whose stock was decimated in the Great Crash, returned to profitability in 1934 as it shifted its innovation efforts from radio to the fledgling television market. (A great example of change coupled with innovation) In total, US companies founded at least 73 in-house R and D labs each year from 1929 to 1936.

Innovation, at its most basic level, is truly driven by necessity. The market you compete in is in shambles. You are holding on by your fingernails while your competitors are going under. You must change, innovate or tank. Think of it as if your market has dried up and turned into a dessert. Your “plane” or business model has crashed into the sand. (Think “Flight of the Phoenix”) Supplies are running low...... it is time to act or perish. If this is your only way out of the desert, how would you reinvent/redesign the crashed plane (value proposition, channels of distribution, etc) to make it fly again? ...... to fly to a new market that is lush with new growth. An example of such a flight would be Circ de Soleil. They reviewed a dying market segment, the circus, and resurrected a truly new and innovative entertainment product that soared out of the ashes.

Another example of finding a new way to approach an old market comes from the spa business. This is close to home for the Postillion since this example comes from the Sol Serenity Spa in Plant City, Florida. This spa is owned by me and my wife Sol. We created our spa from scratch and did all of the remodeling and decorating ourselves. As with all spas, as the economy has worsened more and more clients have decided to stop coming. A massage and a facial is considered to be a luxury they cannot afford. So we had a choice. Do nothing and go out of business or find a way to innovate and survive. We knew we could not count on the amount of traffic currently coming into our single location to stay in business. We had to figure out a way to increase appointments quickly and cheaply. Out of this necessity the Sol Serenity Network™ was born. We gathered together a network of out of work Massage Therapists and Estheticians in metropolitan areas who were willing to take on demand work assignments. We then went to hotels that did not have an in-house spa and offered them a percentage of any appointments generated by their facility through our network. All they had to do was hand out our business card to guests as then checked in. Their guest could then go online or call to make an appointment that would be attended to by one of our local network service providers. During our research on this concept we found that 7 out of 10 hotels did not have their own spa services. We were surprised to see that no one was already doing what we are doing now. This opportunity became possible because of the bad economy. This freed up the good people we needed to be able to participate in the network and service the hotel customers. Now we have the equivalent of over 100 locations that can produce appointments. The appointments are indeed starting to come in. But, it is a numbers game. We now know we will need 1,000 hotels to ensure our success. This is a number that is certainly doable.

So…….innovation can result from observing the same situation from a different perspective. Donald Latumahina in the January 24th, 2008 issue of Featured Productivity identified a key to innovation. Become a great observer. By observing how we and other people do things, we will spot opportunities for improvements. The more we observe, the more opportunities we will find. We then can devise solutions for some of the problems. By becoming a good observer, we will recognize the problems before many people do and have first-mover advantage.

Here are ten things you can do to innovate through observation.

• Don’t take things for granted

There are many things that which look usual on the surface but have some hidden opportunities behind them. So open your eyes to observe even the seemingly normal things. Observe how you and other people do routines, and discover the details you overlooked.

• Watch for inconveniences

Inconveniences are clear signs of problems. Are people waiting too long for something? Do they find it difficult to accomplish certain tasks? If you watch for inconveniences, either those experienced by you or by other people, you can easily find opportunities for innovation.

• Watch for possible gaps for improvement

Sometimes we are so accustomed to doing things in a certain way that we can no longer see it as inconvenient. In that case, it is up to your imagination to spot opportunities for improvements. Maybe the current process is already efficient, but you know of some technologies you can use to improve the process even more. The difference between the current situation and possible future situation creates a gap for improvement.

• Follow technology trends

To help with the previous step, you should closely follow the trends in technology. Familiarize yourself with the latest developments in relevant fields. This way you will expand your horizon of what is possible and make it easier to spot possible gaps for improvement

• Watch how your competitors work

You can get ideas from innovation not only by observing how people work, but also by observing how your competitors work. Is there something they do well that you can learn from? If yes, then don’t hesitate to learn from the idea, improve on it and then implement it.

• Observe different people at different places

To get a broader perspective of a problem, you should go to different places and observe how different people do things. By observing people from different backgrounds in different situations, you will see different dimensions and approaches to the problem. This way you will come up with better, more complete solutions

• Capture every idea

To avoid losing the ideas you get, you should write them down as soon as possible. Otherwise, it is likely that the idea will disappear and will never come back. So you should have a capture tool handy wherever you go.

• Create a master list of problems

By having one central place to collect all the problems you find, you can easily compare one problem to another to find which one is has potential. If you want to, you can also classify the problems to make them easier to sort through.

• Review your master list of problems

Every now and then you should review your master list of problems to see all of the opportunities you have. After reviewing the list, you can take one of two of the problems to work with. The best problems to work on are those which are both painful and solvable.

• Take Action

Now that you have found a solution to a problem you feel can turn into a revenue stream….take action! One hundred other people may have come to the same conclusion.


Communicate

Another aspect of companies that survived during the Great Depression was their continued ability to communicate product brand and value recognition. Better known and advertising, this turned out to be a critical step for survival.

Anand Shah writes in Friday Reflections:

“To begin, not all was gloom and doom during the Great Depression. It was a time when those who knew what they were doing made great economic strides and the very nature of the depression itself was an economic boon for them. It was a time when several companies benefited from aggressive marketing while their rivals cut back. A good example of that would be Kellogg besting C.W. Post during that time. Consumers didn't totally stop spending during the depression, most just looked for better deals and the companies providing those better deals came out stronger after the depression ended. When spending picked up, consumer loyalty to those companies remained."

To state a generality, those companies who not only survived but did well and grew during the Great Depression are those who continued to act as though there were nothing wrong and that the public had money to spend. In other words, they advertised. These are industries who didn't wait for public demand for their products to rise, they created that demand even during the most difficult of times. Because so many companies cut spending during that era, advertising budgets were largely eliminated in many industries. Not only did spending decline, these companies actually dropped out of public sight because of short sighted decisions made about spending money to keep a high profile. These advertising cutbacks caused many customers to feel abandoned and associated the effected brands with a lack of staying power. This not only drove customers to more aggressive competitors but caused a certain amount of financial mistrust when it came to making additional investments in the no longer visible companies.

Both anecdotal and empirical evidence support the case that advertising was the main factor in the growth or downfall of companies during those years. To put it bluntly, the companies which demonstrated the most growth and which rang up the most sales were those which advertised heavily. The Great Depression offers classic examples of the power of brand advertising even during times of economic crisis.”

“As far as the end of your question as to what distinguished the companies that did well during the Depression? They were the companies that kept their name in front of the public and created brand name recognition even during the worst of times.”


Take Action Now

It is hoped that some of the insights of this article will inspire positive thought and actions for your emerging enterprise. Seek out and discover the opportunities for innovation your company can develop. Once you have overhauled your offerings and delivery model your “Phoenix" can take flight. Don’t be shy about what you have to offer. Grab your megaphone and go to the mountain top and start shouting. When you think you have shouted enough……shout some more.

It is time to establish innovation and communication strategies within your emerging enterprise to help weather the current economic challenges. TNNWC Group™ has services that can help.



News Releases, Publicity and Public Relations

Learn from the past. Communicate regularly to the world that you have exactly what your customers need. Now is not the time to cut back on advertising, announcements and public relations. Start making a big noise while your competition withdraws into survivor mode. The opportunity is yours. TNNWC Group™ will help you with your news releases, publicity and public relations. This team knows what it takes to get your emerging enterprise noticed and the orders coming in. Click on the following link to read more about TNNWC Group™ - Services - News Releases, Publicity and Public Relations.
www.thenationalnetworker.com/newsrelease.shtml




BUZZWORKS™

Everyone uses the term “buzz.” At one time, years ago, it simply meant “gossip.” Today the term “buzz” covers gossip, visibility in the news, a grassroots groundswell of curiosity… and an ever-increasingly vast bunch of things. Some people think that buzz equates to advertising. Well…buzz is not advertising, but buzz is a critical ingredient in making your advertising work.

The folks at TNNWC Group™ and BUZZWORKS™ know that “Buzz” means a very specific three-part process.

• The first part is cutting through all of the media noise and getting the attention of your prospective market, and of other allies who may help promote or distribute your product or service (even if the product is You, personally);
• The second part is to get a message or an image across to that prospective market, and to use that special message or image (your “brand”) to symbolize and represent your company, product or service. It is your signature, your fingerprint, your essence – it is your identity at the conscious and subconscious levels;
• The third part is to build sufficient curiosity, eagerness and credibility in that message or image that your market is attracted to your company, product or service.

Let the BUZZWORKS™ team work their magic and augment your traditional advertising campaign with the latest methods and techniques to convince the world that they just HAVE TO HAVE what you are offering…….NOW!

Click on the following link to read more about TNNWC Group™ - BUZZWORKS™ - Branding and Social Media Domination.
www.thenationalnetworker.com/buzzworks.shtml




The Institute of Innovation

The newly formed Institute of Innovation is working to help organizations establish methods and procedures to proactively identify opportunities for innovation with your company and marketplace. A library of informative articles and white papers is being formed to help educate emerging enterprises regarding the art of innovation. A certification program is being established to train and develop individuals to become Chief Innovation Officers for their companies. This certification process will ensure that each cIo embraces the both methodical and imaginative steps needed to seek out and implement innovation. The Institute of Innovation is currently seeking out leaders to help launch this much needed service and certification program. Please contact the Postillion at michael@thenationalnetworker.com and get involved.

For more information on company survival in the Great Depression please click on the following link “Lessons from the Great Depression (Bloomberg / Business Week)”

http://images.businessweek.com/ss/08/10/1017_depression_lessons/1.htm

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Michael Phillips, A.K.A. the Postillion, lives and works in Tampa Florida and has over 30 years of experience in leading development and trends within the information technology industry. Mr. Phillips has established a methodology for discovering, developing and implementing innovation. As the founder of the Institute of Innovation he provides organizations with education on innovation and encourages the addition of Chief Innovation Officers (cIo) into the "C" Suite. Mr. Phillips often speaks to organizations and conferences on the importance of innovation. Comments and suggestions for future articles can be emailed to ThePostillion@gmail.com.

For more information, please visit Michael's TNNWC Bio.

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Capital, Traffic Building, International Customers and unique SERVICES.
The National Networker Publications™ produced by TNNWC Group, LLC
“Empowering Emerging Enterprises”

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THE POSTILLION: Innovate...Communicate...Survive...Thrive - Lessons from the Great Depression

THE POSTILLION: The Dynamic Virtual Enterprise – The Power of Many

The Postillion with Michael Phillips

Profiles in Innovation from Around the World

Bottom Line (Why you will want to read this Article)

• Learn how my company can collaborate with others

• Learn about collaborative business organizations and tools

• Learn how your company can have a much bigger business footprint

• Discover the “Power of Many”

Times are tough for emerging enterprises. You know you have top notch products and/or services. It seems that no matter how hard your work you just don’t get the recognition, acceptance or credibility to compete with larger companies. These are the “big stack” players who feel they can bully niche players into folding a winning hand. And sadly…..way too many emerging enterprises are being convinced they cannot compete. They have innovative products or solutions, but just don’t have the critical mass to stay in the game. The Postillion says ENOUGH! It is time for innovators and risk takers to unite! (Scene of angry mob with pitch forks in hand)

In this economy the time is right for emerging enterprises to come together to create a larger business presence and footprint. The infrastructure for this exists. With the ability for companies to form coalitions through the Internet and targeted social networks there is a potential for the dynamic creation of opportunity driven, agile, flexible, living business organisms that strive to create a symbiosis for success. This symbiotic business organism has been called a Virtual Enterprise.

The concept of a Virtual Enterprise is not a new one. It can be defined as a temporary alliance of enterprises that come together to share skills or core competencies and resources in order to better respond to business opportunities, and whose cooperation is supported by computer networks. Another take…a temporary network of independent institutions, businesses or specialized individuals, who work together in a spontaneous fashion by way of information and communication technology, in order to gain new business through a combined competitive edge. The bottom line is the Virtual Enterprise is based on the ability to create temporary cooperation and to realize the value of a business opportunity that the partners cannot (or can, but only to lesser extent) capture on their own.

All of these definitions indicate a number of characteristics common to Virtual Enterprises. The specific features can be summarized as follows:

• boundary crossing


• complementary core competencies


• geographical dispersion


• complementary nature of the partners


• participant equality


• extensive use of information and communications technology


• temporary / dynamic / (for each opportunity)


• no creation of a new legal entity

In the Beginning……..

The first primordial stew to incubate the Virtual Enterprise movement was spawned from the nexus of the Internet, the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA). DARPA was established in 1958 to address a serious problem. The Soviet Union had surprised the U.S. by the launching of Sputnik in 1957. DARPA’s main mission was to keep U.S. military technology more sophisticated than that of the nation's potential enemies. But this soon surfaced another problem that threatened this mission. Complex military weapon systems were simply costing too much, and some systems were unattainable at any price. The management systems of the large defense system integrators were simply responding too slowly to technology cycles and market needs. The DARPA research program provided a way to address this problem. DARPA incubated or enhanced nearly every advance in information technology, including the Internet. The result was an agile environment where small niche players could come together in a nimble, Wild West environment to rapidly innovate. It worked………..too well. The large defense contractors realized they were being out gunned and out maneuvered by uncontrollable opportunistic coalitions of hungry, aggressive, lean and bright companies. The behemoths could not compete with better, cheaper, and faster. Several quality initiatives were canned or dissected through blunt force lobbying. But the lesson of the power of the Virtual Enterprise……the power of many….was not lost.


Here and Now…..

There are many reasons today for emerging enterprises to form virtual coalitions:

• Competitive advantage


• Sales opportunities and combined prospecting


• Joint Market Research


• Joint innovation projects


• Shared human resources


• Shared technology and systems (Cloud Solutions)


• Access to new sources of venture capital and cash flow options

As a member of a Virtual Enterprise you become an integrated piece of a dynamic business presence that is exponentially stronger and larger that the individual members.


Virtual Enterprise Movements

In Europe there are several groups that have initiated projects focused on Virtual Enterprises:

• Business Integrator Dynamic Support Agents for Virtual Enterprise (BIDSAVER)
  http://cordis.europa.eu/fetch?ACTION=D&CALLER=PROJ_IST&RCN=54837


• Working group on Advanced Legal Issues in Virtual Enterprise (ALIVE)
  http://cordis.europa.eu/fetch?CALLER=PROJ_IST&ACTION=D&DOC=1&CAT=PROJ&QUERY=1177336189612&RCN=54091


• Legal issues for the advancement of Information Society Technologies (LEGAL-IST)
  http://cordis.europa.eu/fetch?CALLER=PROJ_IST&ACTION=D&DOC=1&CAT=PROJ&QUERY=1177337662233&RCN=71925


• European Collaborative networked Organizations Leadership initiative (ECOLEAD)
  http://cordis.europa.eu/fetch?CALLER=PROJ_IST&ACTION=D&DOC=1&CAT=PROJ&QUERY=1177337407414&RCN=74487

There is a large community of European Virtual Enterprises that gather annually around the PRO-VE conference. http://www.pro-ve.org/

The need exists today for emerging enterprises in the U.S. and internationally to establish a dynamic infrastructure that can accommodate the on demand creation of virtual coalitions to rapidly capitalize on short windows of opportunity. This infrastructure requires special access to collaborative software that allows for the sharing of ideas, development, opportunity discovery, teaming, partnering, joint proposals and links to supportive products and services.

Fortunately for all of us, our own TNNWC Group™ is leading the way in the development of this supportive, international, collaborative infrastructure for emerging enterprises. Through the creation and stewardship of TNNWC Group™ , the GICBC™ - Global Interworked Cooperative Business Community™ has been established to develop this much needed infrastructure. Your emerging enterprise can become a Member of this important initiative for free. Your membership gives you access to all products and services and also allows you to help shape the direction and design of this cooperative business community. Every TNNWC Member throughout the world becomes a full participant in this interactive, Internationalist Community - an open forum where Members can interact directly with other Members.

This “critical mass of mind power” provides a productive exchange of information, advice, support, mentoring, connections, relationships, constructive feedback, clients, partners, preferred service and product providers and many other power tools to bootstrap and accelerate your business growth, as well as the growth of every other Member’s business.


The GICBC™ Philosophy

Through cooperation, collaboration and coordinated teamwork, every individual Member’s ability to be successful is increased exponentially.

Entrepreneurial and emerging enterprises working in combination can have the aggregate resources, lobbying power, bargaining strength and other advantages currently enjoyed only by a few “Big Fish” conglomerates. When emerging enterprises unite in spirit and focus, they become a powerful force, with unlimited growth potential for the benefit of each and all.

Collaborative Power!

Read more about the GICBC™ by clicking on the following link:

http://www.thenationalnetworker.com/gicbc.shtml


Cooperative Business Committee™ (CBC™)

TNNWC’s Cooperative Business Committee™ (CBC™) is headed by The Joy Of Connecting Founder and CEO, Bonnie Ross-Parker. Bonnie, along with 8 other specially-selected delegates of member organizations will comprise the CBC™, which are the Active Governing Board (and dynamic nucleus) for the larger group, the CB Community™), which will be infinitely-expandable.

Read more about TNNWC’s Cooperative Business Committee™ by clicking on the following link:

http://www.thenationalnetworker.com/cbcommittee.shtml


If you would like to learn more about Virtual Enterprises the Postillion recommends the following book: The Networked Enterprise by Ken Thompson – available at Amazon.com

# # #

Michael Phillips, A.K.A. The Postillion, is the Chief Innovation Officer (cIo) for the National Networker Companies Group. He lives and works in Tampa Florida, and has over 36 years of experience in leading innovative development and trends within the information technology and business communities. Comments and suggestions for future Postillion topics are welcome and can be emailed to michael@thenationalnetworker.com.

For more information, please visit Michael's TNNWC Bio.

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Capital, Traffic Building, International Customers and unique SERVICES.
The National Networker Publications™ produced by TNNWC Group, LLC
“Empowering Emerging Enterprises”

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THE POSTILLION: The Dynamic Virtual Enterprise – The Power of Many

THE POSTILLION: Interviews The "Connectrix", Ann Barczay Sloan

The Postillion with Michael Phillips

Profiles in Innovation from Around the World

Bottom Line (Why you will want to read this Article)

• Learn insights on creating a social network
• Insights on Women’s’ networking
• Inspirational life story of a fellow entrepreneur
• Learn about two interesting and soon to be published books, "The Power of Passion: Winning Women Reveal Their Success Secrets", and "How to Use the Pieces of a Broken Heart: Recipes for Rebirth".

This month’s Postillion features author, editor, educator, and Internet entrepreneur, Ann Barczay Sloan. I can also add actress to the list since I have discovered Ann has performed her own one woman play for the great enjoyment of Pacific Northwest audiences. To sum Ann up in a sound bite, she has “a passion for passion” that she has been true to for her entire life.

Ann, herself, has conducted many interviews as an accomplished writer for TNNW. Knowing this, the Postillion, sent out my Watergate style “plumbers” to abscond with the personal list of questions Ann has subjected her own interviewees to in the past. It is with mischievous joy that I now turn the tables on Ann and have her answer her own questions. (sounds of devious laughter)

The Postillion: First of all, how would you briefly describe what you do? (e.g., your “elevator pitch”).

Ann Barczay Sloan: I do two things: One, I am a transformational author whose passion is to produce creative works that serve to awaken, entertain, empower and enlighten people worldwide.

Two, I am called “The Connectrix” because I have a passion for connecting hearts and minds, individuals and communities, and for being a purveyor of information on profitable opportunities and progressive paradigms.

The Postillion: What makes you / your company unique? In other words, what is the so-called Unique Value Proposition (UVP) of your product or service?

Ann Barczay Sloan: My company – i.e., the forthcoming publishing association in which I am a partner – is very much in the formative stages. I can only speak of my own role at this time. I may say, what distinguishes my contribution to our creative enterprise is my own unique international-minded, cosmopolitan, artistic, intellectual, and spiritual perspective. My multi-faceted outlook has been born out of my eventful and challenging life history, some key years of which were spent in the turmoil of WWII Europe and its aftermath. I may say that few people in my milieu have had exposure to this dimension of experience.

The Postillion: What is your mission, the primary goal of what you do: i.e., your work, profession, etcetera?

Ann Barczay Sloan: As you can imagine, the work of refining my mission and vision statements is very much in process at this time. I am presently in the midst of a major personal shift. That is, I am making an important transition from regarding myself as an Author, Editor, Educator, “Solopreneur”, and so on – to becoming part of a much bigger circle, greater sphere of influence. For starters, this means TNNW and its emerging enterprises, one of which is our brand new publishing partnership. I will now also be part of the circle of 17 women who star in my forthcoming book: The Power of Passion: Winning Women Reveal Their Success Secrets – plus their various tribes, some of which are extensive and on an international level. Alliances with these groups remain to be developed to full power over the coming months. What exciting opportunities I / we have to look forward to!


In the context of “Mission” and/or “Goal”, I am intent (as are countless other well-intentioned men and women) on “making a difference in the world”. I put this phrase into quotes because it seems a cliché ─ though at a deep level of course it is the Truth. Also, I want to amend this phrase to “making a positive difference”, because unquestionably, individuals such as Hitler and Stalin and Pol Pot have made their own “difference” in the world as well.


I would like to share two powerful insights that just now came to me:


(A) I feel a very special mission to connect with, to be a resource and a blessing for individuals who feel lonely and alone and unsupported. Out of my own life experience, I feel a close kinship with women who keep on struggling in confusion and alone, and feel they must bravely uphold as much of their world as they possibly can – yet are sadly lacking support for themselves in return. Some of this lack shows up because actually so many of us have serious issues with asking for, trusting and accepting support – but this is a huge separate topic in itself, to be dealt with elsewhere.


Another way of viewing the essence of my mission: I want to be of service by helping to heal that painful (though illusory) sense of disconnection and separation so often prevalent in our lives. (Sounds like a job for SuperConnectrix, yes?)


(B) At a macro level I might say:


My mission is to help eradicate spiritual as well as material poverty in this world.


What I call “poverty of spirit” is a huge topic in itself: much has been written about it and much more needs to happen to address and heal this issue. In my view, I might summarize it as an erosion, a shrinkage, a starvation of heart and soul, an anorexia that keeps out beauty and love and deep meaning and satisfaction and joy.


Another way of looking at this mission of mine: I would like to be of service by healing that painful yet illusory sense of separation so often pervasive in our lives. For myself, ideally I would like to live – and empower others to live – in the space of knowing that instead of being alone, in Truth we are All One.


Yes, I realize I am “going metaphysical” here – but no apologies.

The Postillion: What are your passions in life?

Ann Barczay Sloan: In essence, my passion is expanding creativity, connectedness and consciousness.

Another way of expanding on this topic, my passion is passion. What does that mean? In essence, that means I deeply treasure (in myself and in others) a depth of caring: i.e., care-full-ness; precision; intensity, courage, dedication, commitment.

I have a passion for what has been called the True, the Good, and the Beautiful. I would add two more eternal verities (though they are probably subsumed within the first three): Compassion and Joy. And Joy of course includes Laughter: yes, capital L Laughter.

For example, one of my greatest pleasures is putting on my performance art shows – crazy costumes, audacious stories, farcical songs and all – and seeing my audience get into the drama, and abandon themselves to the laughs.

The Postillion: Please describe briefly how you got started in all this work, and how you arrived where you are currently.

Ann Barczay Sloan: Briefly? Ha! What a challenge! And what a path of twists and turns it has been!

For starters, I can honestly say I’ve always wanted to be a writer and thought of myself as a writer, even as a child growing up in my native Hungary. I wrote my first poem at age five; I created my first little story book (complete with illustrations and stitched-together pages) at age ten. And all of this is based on my passionate love of books from the very start. I grew up speaking and reading Hungarian and German simultaneously (folk and fairy tales to this day are a big pleasure for me.

After the war, during our refugee years in Germany, I attended a French-language school and thus learned French very well. In every school I attended, classes based on reading and writing were always my favorites.

After my family and I arrived in the U.S., it was the same. I learned English quickly. I always wrote stuff (I’m especially fond of satire), but also worked on various arts projects. As a teen living in Detroit, Michigan, I took voice lessons, and was part of a Hungarian folk dance group. (Oh yeah, I also had four years of Latin in high school.)

I had decided that after high school I would attend Wayne State University and major in art. But as soon as I heard of the brand new Communications / Broadcasting department just opened at the University of Detroit, I totally knew that’s what I wanted to do. In addition to my Bachelor of Philosophy degree I was earning (oh yeah, and four years of Spanish) it was so much fun to work at the University’s TV station after school!

My dream (after I graduated from U. of D.) was to go to New York and get into the glamorous worlds of publishing and/or TV. But again, my plans drastically changed; I ended up in Pasadena, California instead: the next town over from Hollywood. Why? The young man I’d met at U. of D. had taken off for California. I missed him terribly, so I took the long trip out there. Compared to Detroit, this was all so sunny and lush-green and beautiful, even a bit exotic ─ I felt like I’d arrived in Paradise!

We married the following year, and I entered graduate school at Cal State University, L.A. to start work on my Master’s Degree. Yes, my plan was to become an English Professor – from the outside, that lifestyle seemed so appealing to me!

I was not “working” in those days – much too busy bringing four children into the world in rapid succession plus working on my M.A. part time (that took me seven years all told.) However, a couple of years later, my brief entry into Academia (teaching freshman English part time) quickly met with disappointment. I loved talking with and inspiring students ─ and hated the organizational politics (not to mention all those papers to grade.)

Several years of struggle and one divorce later, for a couple of years I successfully taught at a local Community College some personal growth / mind-development classes I’d designed myself ─ that was great! Years later, I’d run into former students who told me my classes had shown them a whole new life.

After some more financial struggle as those classes petered out for lack of funding, I “by chance” found myself a new, better-paid career as a Technical Writer, writing and editing software user manuals. I was proud of myself for how well I learned this skill, given I had no tech background whatsoever: every single thing I learned about computers I learned on various jobs. (Some might laugh on hearing that when I got into that world, the operating system in use was DOS!)

Right after 9/11, the IT job market took a big hit. I was fortunate to find a few interesting clients for my editorial services (mostly via CEO Space) ─ but this income source proved to be insufficient ─ so my personal finances eventually took a big hit too. A few more years of money/career struggle ensued ─ yet all the while I felt, I knew there had to be something else, something bigger and better in the realms of writing and editing out there for me: a new opportunity wherein I could express much more of my creative talents.

This pretty much brings me to the time in 2007 I was invited by Adam J. Kovitz, Chairman of TNNWC, (via my CEO Space contacts) to serve as what was then called the “Women’s Networking Editor” for The National Networker. This involved writing a monthly column, which was a lot of fun as I got to interview women I knew who were doing (in my estimation) interesting and inspiring things with their business enterprises. I continue to be happy because the extensive new exposure being a Featured Columnist for The National Networker has provided me.

Then, when Douglas Castle came on board at TNNWC, I suddenly had a quantum leap breakthrough. Though we’ve never yet met in person, he and I discovered that our minds seem to harmonize in an amazing way. Douglas invited me to send him sample pages of my book, How to Use the Pieces of a Broken Heart: Recipes for Rebirth, and as soon as he read them, he declared: “We have to publish this!”

You can imagine I was thrilled to hear this after my years of waiting, given that the text of my book has been finished since 2002 (though we still need a number of illustrations.) Then another breakthrough, months later: I suggested to Douglas we might collect some of my women’s articles and publish them as a book. He found this idea exciting, so between the two of us we crafted the title The Power of Passion: Winning Women Reveal Their Success Secrets and also came up with a terrific name for the associated web site-to-be: TheWinningWomensVortex. So now this book is slated to be published first, ahead of my …Broken Heart … book.

And now here we are ─ we’ve arrived in present day!

The Postillion: Which of your projects are you currently most excited, most passionate about?

Ann Barczay Sloan: Clearly, it is my forthcoming book: The Power of Passion: Winning Women Reveal Their Secrets of Success – along with, of course, the other ancillary projects such as the web site, Forums in the planning stage, and so forth.

I am proud and happy to say this book will be published by TNNWC. As mentioned earlier, a new publishing partnership is being formed between Adam J. Kovitz, Douglas Castle and myself as Author in the larger role and context of “The Connectrix”! Hence the name of the partnership: Connectrix Publishing Associates.

The Postillion: So how did you come by the nickname, “The Connectrix”?

Ann Barczay Sloan: The Connectrix moniker originally popped into my mind as far back as 2004, as even back then I was always deriving pleasure from (and getting happy feedback for) connecting up people, organizations, opportunities. “She” is my brand now, and I am daily exploring the scope and definition of what The Connectrix is and does, and what that might mean – not only in the context of my publishing project but for my life (i.e., my life purpose, life mission). Of course, it is an ever-evolving role – and quite probably (beyond the external role as in what I will be ”do-ing”), I realize it is actually a state of “be-ing”.

The Postillion: How much of your work is focused specifically toward women?

Ann Barczay Sloan: My current work ─ this above-mentioned “Power of Passion” book, which we fondly call the “Winning Women” book ─ is focused on women, simply because it is comprised of a selection of 17 articles I’ve written and published in the Networker blog. (There were a lot of articles to choose from: two and a half years’ worth!) To reiterate, these articles consist of interviews I’ve done with a number of interesting, dynamic and dedicated women whom I personally selected, because I knew them and found myself admiring their work. The women I did not know and found interesting from afar, I simply contacted ─ and almost without exception they accepted my invitation to be interviewed.

The Postillion: Whom / what does your network currently include? How far does your network extend?

Ann Barczay Sloan: We’re just at the beginning with this publishing project. I’ve built my own personal list over the years, but it’s been on a very informal basis, and still needs to be aggregated. We will of course have the extensive, ever-expanding, TNNWC list (including international subscribers) at our command. The extra-exciting fact is that each of the seventeen women whose interviews we’ve included in our book has her own list – in some cases, quite sizeable. So we will get to see how this all works out – that is, in what way(s) we may have access to these ladies’ lists.

The Postillion: What has been the best about building a network: Positive experiences? Benefits, expected and unexpected?

Ann Barczay Sloan: First of all, I love networking – period. It’s instinctive with me (perhaps because I was so often lonely in childhood and teen years?) I really got into it in my college years, though “network” as verb probably did not exist at that time. I’m very sociable (though I have a very introverted side as well). I enjoy meeting interesting people – especially ones from unusual areas of life, from other countries near and far. And beyond just meeting people, I love to introduce and re-introduce, connect and combine and re-combine them to foster new synergistic possibilities. I feel that making connections is an art form, in a certain sense…

The last few years – especially since the time I started writing the Women’s Networking column for TNNWC – I’ve found it especially gratifying that numerous people I’d connected with in my past years in Southern California organizations (including but by no means limited to CEO Space) have turned up in my life once again. I can see I’ve gained new benefits out of our earlier association in ways I could not have anticipated at that time. It feels like being on a higher turn of my life spiral, as it were…

Yes; it’s been a pleasure to see how much “relationship capital” (to use Adam J. Kovitz’s very apt phrase) I have accumulated over the years simply because it came naturally to me. I clearly see how true it is that building relationships is a major key to success!

The Postillion: What challenges (if any) have you found in your networking experiences? Any unexpected events? Any benefits emerging from challenges in the long run?

Ann Barczay Sloan: Challenges in networking? What’s most frustrating to me is simply the lack of time to maintain communications with people: old connections or new. I personally find that even e-mails take a long time! I admit I have trouble keeping my letters brief, but on the other hand one can’t build much of a strong relationship via 20-word e-mails or 140-character tweets. Perhaps my extensive studies of literature are a handicap in this regard: I recall with nostalgia those lengthy beautifully written letters we used to study at University: epistles crafted by famous artists, writers, musicians, philosophers and statesmen. Those were the days!…

The Postillion: Bottom line – What do you feel is really working well for you / your company?

Ann Barczay Sloan: We’re just at the beginning of the beginning of this publishing company. However, as for my self I have many years of experience teaching adult education, leading groups and workshops, dealing with private editing clients (….used to call myself a “Book Midwife”), and so forth. In fact, I feel that my business experiences in general, added to my extensive experiences in the worlds of education, publishing, IT consulting (technical publications), as well as the experience of meeting countless people of various sorts in various different places and countries have prepared me for what is to come next.

All that being said, of course I realize that life and learning are full of surprises, so I can’t say I know for certain what is to come next in this grand entrepreneurial adventure!

The Postillion: What’s the achievement, the accomplishment you’re most proud of at this time?

Ann Barczay Sloan: Frankly, most of the time I don’t think of my “accomplishments” because they feel totally “normal” to me. However, from an outside point of view they may sound impressive (even to me) because I clearly know the challenges I had to overcome to attain all that.

My proudest achievements include:

• My four adult children: my sons, Sean and Stephen, and my daughters, Andrea and Joyanne. I am immensely proud of their skills and talents – and above all, deeply moved by seeing what strong aware loving men and women of integrity they have become. They are clever, courageous, resourceful, funny – and best of all they live their lives according to solid values. And between the four of them they have brought eight gorgeous and super-smart offspring – my grandchildren ─ into the world!

• Persevering through years of varied challenges to finally earn my Master’s Degree, and a California Community College Teaching Credential as well.

• Learning to become a skilled Technical Writer: a profession that involves much more complexity than just “writing”. I am proud I had the courage to forge into the unknown with no prior training and eventually did very well!

• Envisioning and writing my book, How to Use the Pieces of a Broken Heart: Recipes for Rebirth. It was this manuscript – actually only a 20-page selection out of 50 pages total – that powerfully brought me to the attention of Douglas Castle shortly after he joined the TNNWC. Of course, it helps that I already have close to 30 laudatory reader endorsements I’ve gathered over the years: some from well-known individuals in the personal growth field, including Chicken Soup books co-creator Mark Victor Hansen.

• Underneath all, having the perseverance, courage and sheer fiery will to forge forward in life, even through some devastating challenges and reversals. Several times I have had to re-invent myself: create a brand-new life for myself, often in brand-new locations. In fact sometimes it feels as if I’ve condensed and lived several lifetimes in this one…

The Postillion: In conclusion, anything you’d like to add for our readers? Some words of encouragement, inspiration?

Ann Barczay Sloan: First I would like to say that I’m feeling grateful for this opportunity to answer your questions. (They sounded vaguely familiar……hummmmm) I have not shared personal facts about myself at such length since I can’t remember when ─ perhaps never!

I suddenly realize this little exercise has somehow served to un-block my personal “authentic voice” of mine that I will need to tap into soon, when I’ll be blogging for the “Winning Women” book and web site project. This definitely feels like a new breakthrough for me. I feel happy about that!

I just ran across this passage minutes ago: well-known, frequently quoted words attributed to Maryanne Williamson:

"Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure."

Why did this statement strike me so much? Because I now realize it describes my inner state a large part of my life. The question is: Why do I fear my own power? Why are countless men and women frightened to explore and express their own power and magnificence?

This article is not the right place to find that answer. Yet here and now is the time for each of us to go forth in full passion and courage, to step firmly into that world of vast power and potential that has always been our birthright.

The Postillion thanks Ann Barczay Sloan for this in depth interview. We wish her great success with her new book and a long and successful partnership with TNNWC Group.

Ann can be contacted at: annbsloan@gmail.com

Michael Phillips, A.K.A. The Postillion, is the Chief Innovation Officer (cIo) for TNNWC Group. He lives and works in Tampa Florida, and has over 36 years of experience in leading innovative development and trends within the information technology and business communities. Comments and suggestions for future Postillion topics are welcome and can be emailed to michael@thenationalnetworker.com.

For more information, please visit Michael's TNNWC Bio.

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The National Networker Companies™ and TNNWC Group, LLC

“Empowering Emerging Enterprises”

Membership in TNNWC’s Global Interactive Cooperative Business Community is free of charge and entitles you to receive both The National Networker Newsletter and The BLUE TUESDAY Report, as well as access to our unparalleled Suite of Business Services.

Join Us! Simply click on http://bit.ly/JoinTNNWC

Visit our website at http://www.TheNationalNetworker.com

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THE POSTILLION: Interviews The "Connectrix", Ann Barczay Sloan

THE POSTILLION: Back in the Saddle Again

The Postillion with Michael Phillips

Profiles in Innovation from Around the World

I first want to thank all of my friends, family and readers from around the globe who have offered their prayers and kind words of encouragement for my wife, Sol, for her recovery from her recent stroke. Your prayers are being answered as Sol's recovery has been remarkable and swift. We expect her to to fully recover within the next few months. We have been very blessed.

When major events happen in our lives one often finds time to reflect on what is truly important. Of course my faith, and the love and caring for my family top my list. But, as a Boomer of 56 years, I now find myself asking what would I leave behind in this world as a legacy if God choose to take me tomorrow. This kind of thinking will result in a re-prioritization and culling of how one focuses their time and energies. Only activities, projects and commitments of true and lasting substance can survive such scrutiny. I am happy to now share with you why my involvement with The National Networker Companies (TNNWC) continues to merit my attention, time and dedication.

I have been very blessed to have experienced an exciting and diverse career as a consultant discovering and molding emerging technologies and best practices into integrated and innovative solutions. It has been great fun sniffing out each wave of opportunity and then crafting my surf board to ride it to success and adventure. I have caught some exciting waves in my 36-year career, such as telecommunications, database management, enterprise modeling, strategic IT planning, personal computing, system integration, the Internet, Service Oriented Architecture(SOA), enterprise architecture, cloud computing, and on and on.

The trick has been knowing how to identify the wave, knowing when it is time to build the board, and knowing how to time the wave just right and stand up at the precise moment required for the optimum ride. Many people are uniformed, and don't even know a wave is forming. Some see the wave coming and do not prepare for it and are left behind. And some actually see the wave, build a board and still miss the wave by not standing up on their board at the right time. They are left bobbing in the surf watching with envy as the "lucky ones" surf off to glory.

So what does all of this have to do with my continued involvement and commitment to TNNW? It is simple... I see a new and powerful wave forming. This new wave is driven by the positive energy of providing innovative services to emerging enterprises. An energy that strives to generate good will and improve mankind. This wave had its genesis in the positive energy that TNNW Chairman Adam J. Kovitz brought to humanity's grid when he plugged the world into The National Networker five years ago. This energy grew exponentially over this five year period through the addition of ideas-dynamo and Vice Chairman, Douglas Castle, and the addition of thousands of readers and member companies. There is now a new era for TNNWC about to launch out of the critical mass of this wave of positive energy.

This new era for TNNWC is driven by the principle of providing services and refuge to emerging enterprises who struggle against all of the negative energies and obstacles that are forming a very dark wave... a dark wave that is fed by the negative energies of a looming global economic crisis and the collapse of morality and ethics in business. The results of such a dark wave can be devastating.

The TNNW organization is now on a rescue mission to build an "Ark" of safety for member companies and subscribers. This "Ark" will be a safe haven to keep companies from being washed away by this forming dark tsunami. The TNNWC "Ark" will house innovative services and products to help member companies not only survive, but to thrive during the coming challenges. These services and products will be boundless and will knock down obstacles that block the way to success for emerging enterprises. It is this rescue mission... this forming positive wave of "success integration" to which I pledge my precious time and energy.

My pledge to TNNW includes my monthly article, The Postillion. My column will take on a new focus in support of TNNW rescue mission. My column will now focus on featuring new innovations in technologies and best practices that directly support emerging enterprises. My pledge also includes directly providing consulting help to TNNW organization and support the building of the "Ark." This is a wave I intend to catch... one that you should consider catching as well by offering up your services and expertise. Make sure your company does not get left behind. Become a member of TNNWC today.



I am honored to become a part of this noble endeavor. My involvement will result in a wonderful legacy I will leave behind. Be sure to watch TNNW closely as this new era of service is unveiled. You will not want to miss it!

Michael Phillips, A.K.A. The Postillion, lives and works in Tampa Florida, and has over 36 years of experience in leading innovative development and trends within the information technology industry. Comments and suggestions for future interview personalities can be emailed to ThePostillion@gmail.com.


For more information, please visit Michael's TNNW Bio.

---

The National Networker Companies™ and TNNWC Group, LLC

“Empowering Emerging Enterprises”

Membership in TNNWC’s Global Interactive Cooperative Business Community is free of charge and entitles you to receive both The National Networker Newsletter and The BLUE TUESDAY Report, as well as access to our unparalleled Suite of Business Services.

Join Us! Simply click on http://bit.ly/JoinTNNWC

Visit our website at http://www.TheNationalNetworker.com
Forward/Share This Article With Colleagues And Social Media:

THE POSTILLION: Back in the Saddle Again