The Fibonacci Spiral is an example in nature that applies to the creation and sustainment of almost anything in the discovered universe …even business growth and development. I believe that history created is as relevant to nature as history forgotten. Here is a bit of remembered history, applied to life today, particularly to the growth and development of businesses.

While living during a time of hardship in a city decaying from a recent plague, English poet and critic John Dryden was able to describe the simple form of nature in relation to the world of man. From his poem Annus Mirabilis meaning year of wonders, Dryden indites “By viewing nature, nature’s handmaid art, Makes mighty things from small beginnings grow: Thus fishes first to shipping did impart, Their tail the rudder, and their head the prow.” Though this excerpt can be applied to all things in the discovered universe, as well as bring into question the elegant balance of mans own nature, it says something even simpler about the interworking of nature itself.

I don’t know what Dryden meant by “Makes mighty things from small beginnings grow” but I know that it is true for the creation of almost anything tangible or intangible, artistic or logistic, creating or consuming. The hardest part is always the start but to start you must see the end. Without the end you have no direction, no meaning and no purpose. A plant grows to live, a skyscraper is designed to be built, a package is sent to be delivered. Anything in between is considered chaos and whether it was self inflicted or caused by the randomness (or beauty) of nature, chaos toward the individual architect invokes a breakdown or delay in reaching their end.

Once the end is imagined you need to discover a path, maybe not the entire path at first, and maybe not every minute detail, but one thing you must see and know, is that you (the architect) has the potential, the will, and the vision necessary to find your way through the chaos. You must also understand that a path through chaos is ever-changing, sometimes prolonging, and always challenging. When Dryden wrote about nature it was in a time of complete chaos in the world he knew, which is in parallel today with the (constant and consistent) chaos of our own world. Nature, while being the root of all chaos, is ironically the only fertilizer.

This brings me to the Fibonacci Spiral, something that is found in nature, used to solve almost every quantum mechanical problem, and simple in concept. For business growth, the Fibonacci Spiral can be the conclusion to the question of how to examine and plan for the growth of your business.  Begin with the idea (Personal Computing), develop the ability to create that idea (Founding Apple, Inc.), monetize your idea (Selling Apple 1 to consumers), expand and cover your ass (Apple II, IBM partnership), Innovate (iPod, MacBook), sustain your ground by creating an ecosystem around your idea (iTunes, Apple Nostalgia). Re-Develop your original idea for the modern world (iPhone 4). In this example and in a Fibonacci Spiral each step equally gives momentum to the next step. If done right, more money will mean more innovation, less time will be spent on more progress, and eventually expansion could be exponential.

For those unfamiliar with the Fibonacci Spiral, an example:

The perfect business model is built around this spiral and the concept of even exponential growth. This spiral is something found in nature, you can see it in flowers, sea shells and even galaxies. Every time this spiral is seen it seems to bring order to chaos. So in the chaos of the universe, when trying to grow, develop, and sustain a business; this spiral should be law. It’s not just random in nature, it gives the flower the ability to bloom, sea shells the ability to mate, and sustains the delicate movement of our galaxy. If you move your business out of the parameters of the spiral you create an anarchist to the system, and in turn, create more chaos.

Remember that the easiest and most important thing to do is to begin, to give life, to become a part of the process you envision. When giving life to your creation whether it’s a business, an idea, an expression of art, or a movement; keep in mind that by way of the spiral, everything only gets easier. Now is always the best time, Dryden wrote of beauty in a time of decay when London was nearly burnt to the ground. There is no excuse for not starting, but there is no way to map the perfect spiral, or to foresee ways to create the perfect business. Use the spiral only as a guide, as a peace of mind, and as a way to see through the chaos.

Fill in the blanks:

My company, __(insert name of company)__, is developing __(a defined offering)__ to help __(a defined audience)__ __(solve a problem)__ with __(secret sauce)__.

After you have filled it out, go and watch the video in this blog post about it, http://techcrunch.com/2010/11/03/madlibs-pitch-adeo-ressi-founder-institute/

Rewrite your tag line and compare your notes. How did it turn out?

You tell me.

I wrote a post about how many tags a blog post should have in response to a client question. The post went, up, and within 15 mintues, when a colleague googled the same question, who’s result was 4th on the list?

Pretty fast results – and what I can assume is the benefit of several years of blogging, remaining keyword rich, consistent, and putting out good and sometimes great content.

What do you think?

A little bit – not too much. Here’s why:

The strategy for the formatting vs. not on the daily blog subscription is that when it looks too “formatted” then people assume it is a sales message (through their internal filter) since we scan through our email in box so quickly. When it comes across as text, we are more likely to perceive it as an actual message. Subscribe to Seth Godin’s feed and see how it comes through. It’s more about the content than making it look a certain way. Ultimately, this is up to you. I am a proponent of simple.

If you use the service and would like to make a few of those changes, Feedburner does allow for a bit of html customization with the addition of a header, and choose a background and text color.

In this case less is more, and if you content is good it’s more about the message than the formatting.

As a personal Mac owner, I have learned to work with iMovie, and if you play with it, you’ll be a master no problem.

First things first, open up your application, which will either be in your dock, or in your ‘Finder’,  then ‘Applications’. Once that is open, you can begin your first project. From which ever device you took the video, plug it into the computer, and iMovie will recognize it. Follow the instructions to import it. Then you have free range.

High light the video clip you want, and load it onto the area that says “Drag clips here” or some variation. You’re in business. Keep dragging, switching clips around, highlight bits up top that you’d like to cut off and keep going.

Also, by clicking the buttons in the middle bar to towards the right, you can add music from your iTunes, pictures for stills or “Ken Burns” effects (instead of the whole picture in the shot, the picture either pans or zooms to give it motion), as well as text for titles or subtitles, transitions and some pre-existing backgrounds.

With iMovie, you’ll discover you can add effects to your clips, slow down, speed up, or reverse your footage too. You can change the lighting, and how loud or soft your audio is. Play around, have fun and get blogging- or rather- vlogging!

If this did not help you at all, no problem, just click this link to the Apple website of iMovie tutorials that will not only tell you, but show you exactly what to do.

http://www.apple.com/findouthow/movies/

The InSights Group works with entrepreneurs, small businesses and dental practices on successful social media marketing strategies.

There are two reasons to blog for business promotion. Which reason do you blog?

1) To build SEO (search engine optimization) ranking. Key word rich wording.

2) Telling a great story so that readers will share your message. These are fun, interesting stories told in such a way that people become interested in you and not just your product or service

Unfortunately, most social media people are teaching businesses to blog with key words in mind and not really good  , fun content that is easily shared. They focus to much on old school SEO web stuff and not enough on cutting edge social media strategies. When working with your strategist, Be sure to ask the right questions.

I have been blogging a bit about InSights through blogger and have a few posts up. We are transitioning our website main page to the blog format, and this is my first opportunity to post in the new blog. Talk about pressure! What do I say? What should I write? I’ve been busy this morning looking on the internet for what to write about. As the blog starts growing and I have days and days of posts, the pressure won’t feel so much like I have to be interesting and impactful with every post.

I’ve been working with local small business owners to set up their blogs, with awesome results. Many of the blogs being set up are interesting, relevant, and on target. I enjoy reading the posts, especially some health related information in Kathy’s Blog. So now, the teacher becomes the student, as I work on what to include in this blog. Interesting? Funny? Recap of the days events? Helpful and useful tips and tricks? Ideas and Opinions? Watch for all this and more (I hope) as you follow the InSights Group’s blog.

Thanks for taking a peek!