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Re-Run

May 18, 2009 By davidebowman 1 Comment

Back in the summer of 2006, I wrote this post about a running program that I was starting: Run Like Hell, Walk Like Hell…repeat | davidebowman

Well, I managed to complete the 1 month program, but alas, my running ended shortly thereafter.

I am happy to report that I am back at it again.  I have been running for a couple weeks now, and I am starting to actually feel some of the benefits – although my knees and ankles might beg to differ.  I am determined to stay with it this time.

I am starting with the same program yet again, as I think it is a great way to get back into running quickly and relatively painlessly.

  • 1R , 4W x 6 times. Week 1
  • 1R , 3W x 7 times. Week 2
  • 2R, 3W x 6 times. Week 3
  • 2R, 2W x 7 times. Week 4
  • 3R, 3W x 5 times. Week 5
  • 3R, 2W x 6 times. Week 6
  • 3R, 1W x 7 times. Week 7
  • 4R, 2W x 5 times. Week 8
  • 4R, 1W x 6 times. Week 9
  • FULL Running for 30 minutes.

R = Run, W = Walk,

Total Time = 30 minutes per day

Just over a month from now I will be running full speed for 1/2 an hour, covering several miles every morning.  For now, I am mixing running with walking to build up my endurance, and strengthen my body.  I am in week 3 and already covering over 2.5 miles per run / walk – not bad for just a few weeks.

My day now starts with writing until I fill up 3 blank notebook pages and then pounding the pavement for 30 minutes.  So, on most days, by 6:30 a.m. I will have created 3 pages of new writing, run a few miles, and drank the first 2 of several cups of delicious coffee.   A great way to start the day.

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Isaac Newton and the Future of Marketing

May 14, 2009 By davidebowman Leave a Comment

Last year I wrote this post as part of my ongoing series The Physics of Markeitng.  The post discussed ways that Newton’s Law of Gravity might pertain to marketing.  There were some excellent comments about the post and it has actually led me to think differently about the marketing – past, present, and future.  Particularly, a comment my brother in law Chad, an engineer by trade, made about the formula for gravity itself.

The gravitational force between any two bodies can be described as follows:

F = G*M1*M2/d^2

So the force (F) is linearly proportional to mass but the distance effect is squared. So if you double the distance (d), the force drops to 1/4th. Being close to your customers is more important than being big.

The last century of marketing was largely about mass.  Limited media channels and constraints regarding information and communication made mass a great approach.  Get big by buying up the media channels for your product, drawing customers in through your sheer mass.  Proximity was secondary.

In the future, I believe that marketing will be much more about proximity than about mass.  Technology plays a large part in this shift.  With fragmented media,  a million channels of distribution, an empowered and consumer driven world, google search, mobile devices, blogs, social networks, and other shifts in how we consume and distribute information, mass is just not as easy as it once was.  However, proximity has never been easier.  People will tell you what they want, when they want it, and often will do so for free.  Now a business can more easily than ever engage with people, know the value they deliver, make friends, and get closer to their customers.

Just as with Newton’s theory, proximity is truly more powerful than mass when it comes to word of mouth advertising.  If you operate in close proximity  to your customers – listening to them and meeting their needs in new and creative ways – you will generate positive word of mouth and grow exponentially.  This costs nothing and yields better results than any form of advertising known to man.  (Except perhaps Richard Simmons / Gene Simmons.  They are of another universe.)

Does this mean big brands and mass advertising methods will be gone?  No, mass will remain part of the equation, but it will be approached with a different mindset.  It will become secondary to proximity.  Mass is more difficult to achieve, and attraction or gravity almost impossible to sustain without proximity.  So as you approach your marketing, think not about how do I “get the word out” to get customers to gravitate to your business, but more about “how do I get and stay closer to my customers and the citizens whom I would like to become my customers.”

Realize though that proximity has implications.  You are going to have to listen to your customers.  You may be forced to actually change your business – and not just your logo -  as a result of moving toward proximity.  If you are up close and personal, customers are going to be able to see through any trickery, so be authentic.  (Keep it real YO!)

Seek to help people, understand people, and listen to people. This is all much different from the Mass approach of just be bigger and louder.  It is also better than that approach in my opinion.   To get gravity, start with a focus on proximity.

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Dave & Derek Take to the Stage

May 14, 2009 By davidebowman 2 Comments

On May 12th, 2009 longtime friend and musical collaborator Derek Wade and I took the stage for the first time in about 7 years.  We were asked by my friend Tim aka – Windsor Knotts, to play at Canal Street Tavern on the Tuesday night open stage.  Open stage may not sound like the big time, but with small children and a busy life, nothing could work better than playing a 30 minute set that ends by 9:30.  This was so much fun to do.  It had been way too long since the last time.  While I was a little rusty and dusty, I loved every minute of it.  Derek was, of course, amazing on guitar.

I want to thank Windsor for inviting us to play, and thanks everyone who came out to hear us hoot and holler for 30 minutes.  I hope you enjoyed it 1/2 as much as we did.

For those that could not make it, my friend Doug Dockery was kind enough to shoot some video, which I will share.  It is all 6 songs that we performed, including his favorite, which happens to be my father in law’s favorite as well, Ol’ Hamm Crowe.  Enjoy the videos and share them with others if you think they might want to check them out.

We will be back at Canal Street on June 16th at 9:00pm.   If you are free, come and check us out.

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User Generated Health Care

May 8, 2009 By davidebowman 2 Comments

I have an idea that would help improve the health care system.  This idea would dramatically speed the process of diagnosis, reduce unnecessary testing, more quickly identify effective courses of treatment and radically reduce the costs associated with the entirety of it all.   I call it User Generated Health Care.  The idea is simple as works as follows:

  • You visit the doctor as the result of an unknown problem with your health, or the health of a family member.
  • The doctor asks you an initial set of questions allowing for a preliminary diagnosis.
  • Based on your answers, the doctor loads a specific set of questions onto a mobile device,  which you take home. (Could be secure web site, or other technology tool.  This is the easiest problem to solve.  Could even be as basis as refurbished cell phones and sms)
  • The mobile device prompts you to answer a few short behavioral questions, documenting diet, medication, mood, sleep, and overall wellness at specific intervals or times of day.  These questions are numerical in nature so that they can be mapped relative to other pieces of data.
  • The device prompts you weekly to answer a more extensive questionnaire – explaining your overall impression of how a specific course of treatment is working, documenting symptoms and side-effects and ranking your overall state of health.  Again these pieces of data are set up in such a way so that value can be attached to them.
  • You return to the doctor, who has already analyzed the aggregated data you have provided.  Because this data is digital, data analysts could examine the data for statistical correlations that would yield actionable information for doctors and medical professionals to present to you.
  • You talk to the doctor about the next 6 weeks and what you will do, instead of the last 6 weeks and your vague recollection of what you did.
  • Your conversation includes charts, graphs, and statistics about the information you provided.
  • You are given another course of treatment (or kept on the same) based on the careful analysis of factual data.

Doctors repeatedly say that patients are one of the most valueable sources of information.  Yet the gathering of information from patients is typically restricted to the 15 or so minutes you get to discuss your situation.  If you or they are tired, having a bad day, distracted, hungry, having a good day, or are in essence “human,” the gathering of this data is highly flawed at best. The entirety of the conversation is going to be shaped by the feelings of the doctor and patient in that moment – which may be very different from general reality.

This would provide a steady stream of measurable data.  This data could be kept private very easily.  This data could be combined with video testimonials capured on demand.  This data could be combined with the opinions of others (with their consent of course) as to observable changes.  This data could be aggregated across demographic, geographic, and sociographic groups to look for overall trends – helping to yield further insights.  This data could be used ot alert us of new diseases, new medical breakthroughs, and new techniques that yield tangible results.   All it takes is a few minutes to answer a few questions that would explain “how are you doing?”

I know the idea is not perfect.  I am not certain that it is not in use somewhere.  I can say that I have never witnessed it for any of my friends or family members, and that I would welcome the opportunity to help create and participate in such a system.  If this idea is already out there, then consider this my vote of support.  If not, then consider this a call to help me fix something that is broken.   Either way, I am good with the outcome being better information for the hard working medical professionals who care so much and work so hard to keep us all alive and healthy, and ultimately better care for those who need it.

For the time being, if you like this idea, you can vote for it on CincinnatiInnovates.com. If it wins, $25,000 will be donated to bringing it to life.  I will donate that money to a health care organization with the express purpose of piloting it.  You can vote for it daily while the contest is active.  I doubt it will win, and really don’t care about the money, but mention it none the less.  More importantly, I hope this sparks an idea – perhaps one very different from this one – that helps.

Once the contest has elapsed, you can help by discussing this idea, improving this idea, and making this idea – or some morphed for of it – a reality.

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Leaders Make Change

May 7, 2009 By davidebowman 3 Comments

I started running again.  (Please don’t inform me of the over / under on how many days until I quit.)   Anyhow, I decided to combine my love for books with my need to exercise in an effort to make the most of each run.  I have loaded up some audio books onto my ipod, and now can run and learn at the same time.  I hope that my thirst for knowledge will help to offset my love for sleep – and subsequent reluctance to drag my butt out of bed, lace up my asics, and get after it.

This week, while pounding the pavement at the crack of dawn,  I am listening to the audio version of one of my favorite books  – Tribes by Seth Godin.  A quote from that book stuck with me all day today.  “Managers make widgets, Leaders make change.”  I love it.  I am working on becoming an effective leader.   Just like running… it is not easy work, but I know I am better off for doing it.   You?

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