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Articles by Young Kim

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94 articles by Young Kim · showing 44

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By Young KimRecently published1 topic

Confessions of a Snooze Addict

I'll admit it. I am a recovering snooze addict. I was addicted to staying in bed, wrapped up in its warmth. But it was always temporary, and it was never enough. At first, I only hit the snooze button once. Next thing I knew, I was hitting that button at least ten times before getting out of bed. And this was during the workweek! The idea of getting out of bed to go to a job I loathed was unbearable, and would self-medicate by hitting that snooze button, over and over again. The weekends were worse. My friends were lucky to see me before noon.

Primary topic: Transformation

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By Young KimRecently published1 topic

The Hidden Cost of Free Email

When I attend networking events, I am always surprised by freelancers, and entrepreneurs that use a free email account – like Hotmail, or Yahoo, or one provided by an Internet Service Provider – rather than a vanity email with their own domain name. They have emails like ABC235LLCCorp@Gmail.com ather tha Jane@ABC235Corp.com. When I ask them why don’t just set up a vanity email with their existing domain name, they give me excuses like how they don’t want to track two emails (personal vs. business), or how they don’t want to pay the extra cost to set up a separate account.

Primary topic: Transformation

1,174 views2.7/5 (3)

By Young KimRecently published1 topic

Be an Indispensable Linchpin to the Right People

If you are reading this blog, you have probably at one point either heard of, or read the Seth Godin's book, "Linchpin". If you haven't read it yet, here's the highlight: be indispensable. I would take it another step, and say that you need to be indispensable to the right people.

Primary topic: Transformation

1,538 views3.3/5 (3)

By Young KimRecently published1 topic

Building a Business Around Lazy Idiots

Although I know how to change the own oil in my car, cook my own meals, and process my own photographs, I’d rather have someone else do it. That’s right, I’m a lazy idiot. The businesses that provide these services are making money off of me, but I’m also gaining valuable time by delegating these tasks to them. In the end, all businesses – whether it is a restaurant, a dry cleaner, or a jewelry maker – profit from the laziness and ignorance of others. We all have a little bit of a lazy idiot in us, and it’s okay that we are all lazy idiots.

Primary topic: Transformation

1,259 views3.2/5 (9)

By Young KimRecently published1 topic

10 Productivity Tips for Solopreneurs

Solopreneurs by definition work alone. They are the masters of their domain. They take orders from no one, and they give orders to no one. They are 100% accountable for the successes and failures of their business. There is a thin line between having a successful solopreneur lifestyle and being the unemployed schmuck who sits at home in his pajamas pretending to be a solopreneur. A very thin line. Even though you work for yourself... scratch that... especially because you work for yourself, you have to make sure you are running your solopreneur endeavor as a regular business.

Primary topic: Transformation

2,759 views3.3/5 (12)

By Young KimRecently published1 topic

Share Your Vision, Your Values, and Your Story with Your Customers

In a recent post, I talked about my client, Dale, who is in the craft business. We were on the discussion about his artist bio, and Dale told shared with me his apprehension about talking about himself sound self-important. My suggestion was to him was to focus on marketing himself and less on making himself sound important. Dale thought if he had some business cards and a website that would be enough.

Primary topic: Transformation

1,168 views3.5/5 (2)

By Young KimRecently published1 topic

Half-Baked Ideas Are Better Than None

I hate wasting food. Rather than allowing food to rot, I have to become an Iron Chef sometimes, and think of some way of salvaging the food. Sometimes I perform miracles, and sometimes my creations end up in the trash anyway. Regardless of how many times I've overcooked the fish, under baked the cookies, or made something that was just inedible, those few miracle moments in the kitchen made those half-baked attempts worth it.

Primary topic: Transformation

1,456 views3/5 (3)

By Young KimRecently published1 topic

The "Starving Artist" Meme

Artists seem to avoid entrepreneurship like it is the plague. Many artists think making art for money is "selling out," or that money will somehow pollute their artistic integrity, or that great artists have to suffer in poverty in order to produce great works of art. Where did the "starving artist" meme get started? How did this "starving artist" meme develop such a cult following? The "starving artist" meme is actually an excuse. It's an excuse to fail. It's an excuse for laziness. It's an excuse for mediocre work. In some cases, it's an excuse for drug abuse, and alcoholism.

Primary topic: Transformation

2,637 views3.3/5 (4)

By Young KimRecently published1 topic

Turning Trash Into Treasure

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Primary topic: Transformation

1,525 views2.2/5 (9)

By Young KimRecently published1 topic

Andy Warhol and Scalability

A practical article connected into the broader SelfGrowth topic graph.

Primary topic: Transformation

1,466 views2.1/5 (9)

By Young KimRecently published1 topic

Don't Discount Your Value

A practical article connected into the broader SelfGrowth topic graph.

Primary topic: Transformation

1,384 views3/5 (4)

By Young KimRecently published1 topic

The Food Burner: A Parable About Unconventional Thinking

Inside an ancient bear cave, around "the dawn of man"... or, um, actually, around dinner time... LARRY: "Hey, Bob. Your caving paintings are looking awesome." BOB: "Thanks, Larry." LARRY: "So, what smells so good in here?" BOB: "Nothing. Just getting ready for dinner. Wanna join me?" LARRY: "Sure, I'm starving." BOB: "Great! Grab a rock and have a seat." LARRY: "So dude, um, where's the food?"

Primary topic: Transformation

1,547 views2.3/5 (3)

By Young KimRecently published1 topic

Beating Yourself Up for Mistakes is Like Pressuring Yourself to Fail

<img class="size-medium wp-image-149 " style="border: 0pt none; margin: 1px;" title="ideavist_image_20110310_BeatingYourselfUp" src="http://www.ideavist.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2011/03/ideavist_image_20110310_BeatingYourselfUp-300x225.jpg" alt="Beating Yourself Up fo

Primary topic: Transformation

1,582 views3/5 (7)

By Young KimRecently published1 topic

Invisible Crutch

A practical article connected into the broader SelfGrowth topic graph.

Primary topic: Transformation

1,940 views3/5 (3)

By Young KimRecently published1 topic

Believe in What You Sell, and Sell What You Believe In

I ran into an old friend of mine, Brian, at a nearby bookstore, and we immediately went through the pleasantries of finding out what the other had been up to. Brian started telling me about how he and his wife were struggling financially, but that he was hopeful about a new business venture he was starting. Being who I am, I asked him what his new venture was. Brian said that he was going to start selling some kind of weight loss vitamin supplement that someone at his church had told him about.

Primary topic: Transformation

1,686 views2.7/5 (6)

By Young KimRecently published1 topic

Failure is Not the End of the Road

My girlfriend and I are "American Idol" (FOX) junkies. We promise to stop watching year after year, but we keep going back. This is the first year that she watched the auditions, which happens to be my favorite part of the series. The phrase that always bothered me is when a contestant says, "This means everything to me." Are you serious?! It's this contest or nothing? First of all, "American Idol" is not a contest. "American Idol" is a televised audition. Let's get that's get that straight first.

Primary topic: Transformation

1,460 views3.5/5 (4)

By Young KimRecently published1 topic

Give Yourself Permission to Succeed

Many of my clients seek approval from friends, family, industry leaders, and colleagues before pushing the "go" button. They feel they shouldn't move forward unless they have everyone's approval or permission first.

Primary topic: Transformation

2,096 views3/5 (3)

By Young KimRecently published1 topic

Saving Money Can Lead to Business Opportunities

When he was a teenager, my brother was a huge tennis freak, and he would have to get his racket restrung all the time. It started to cost a considerable amount of money. One day, while getting his tennis racket restrung, my brother asked the guy at the sporting goods store all sorts of questions about stringing a racket. My brother then hunted around for a used tennis racket stringer, and began stringing his own rackets. This saved him tons of money. On top of that, my brother started stringing rackets for all his tennis friends, and started making money doing it.

Primary topic: Transformation

1,245 views2.2/5 (9)

By Young KimRecently published1 topic

PinkBerry in My Gut

My father used to have this exercise where my brother and I would try to come up with new business ideas, and we would all try to see what it would take to make it work. My brother and I would pitch idea after idea, and my father would have some kind of objection to each one. Soon, even my brother would start to have objections to the ideas. The entire exercise became very discouraging.

Primary topic: Transformation

1,727 views2.7/5 (3)

By Young KimRecently published1 topic

An Argument for the 9 to 5 Lifestyle

I think the “start-your-own-business” peddlers need to stop belittling the 9 to 5 lifestyle. Stop assuming that people aren’t living the life they were meant to have. Surely you guys can peddle your goods without making people feel like crap, right? Telling everyone they “must have their own business” is just as absurd as telling everyone they “must become a jazz flutist.” Let’s face facts. Entrepreneurship isn’t for everyone, and not all entrepreneurs are rich.

Primary topic: Transformation

1,351 views3.2/5 (6)

By Young KimRecently published1 topic

The Habit of Completion

In the movie, "The King's Speech," the speech therapist (Geoffrey Rush) provides the stuttering King George VI (Colin Firth) with a set of exercises to keep his body and mind moving forward while speaking. By keeping his body and mind in a state of flow, King George VI was able to keep his speeches moving forward whenever he had the urge to stutter. The speech therapist was teaching King George VI the habit of completion.

Primary topic: Transformation

2,026 views3/5 (3)

By Young KimRecently published1 topic

Imposter Syndrome

The "Imposter Syndrome" is when a person feels they don't deserve a title or identity because they are not the best in their field, or because they feel they lack some form of credential, whether the credential is necessary or not. They are the kind of people who say they are an artist on-the-side, or that they have a side-business. They believe that because they aren't making a living off of their art, that they can't call themselves an artist. Because they haven't made a million dollars off their business idea, they are afraid to identify themselves with their business.

Primary topic: Transformation

2,160 views2.6/5 (5)

By Young KimRecently published1 topic

Social Relationships Are More Important Than Social Networks

Social networks existed before Twitter or Facebook. Social networks existed before the Internet or the telephone. Your online followers only make up a part of your total social network. What you have to consider is how many people you actually have a relationship with, both online and offline. This is known as your social relationship ratio. To see what your social relationships ratio might be, run one of these three experiments on yourself: EXPERIMENT #1: The Memory Test

Primary topic: Transformation

1,547 views3/5 (3)

By Young KimRecently published1 topic

A Job Is a Gift

One day at my parents’ laundry mat/dry cleaners, my father saw a homeless man rummaging through our garbage dumpster looking for aluminum cans and glass bottles. For some inexplicable reason, my father asked the man to come into the dry cleaners, and to pick out some clothes from a box filled with dry cleaned clothes that customers never picked up. The clothes fit the homeless man awkwardly, but he seemed okay with them. Then my father gave the man a broom and a dustpan, and headed out into the parking lot. Within a few hours, the homeless man had cleaned up our parking lot.

Primary topic: Transformation

1,377 views3.2/5 (10)

By Young KimRecently published1 topic

Why New Year's Resolutions Fail

It's that time of year again where we make a list of things to accomplish in the upcoming year. And 365 days from now, most of us will fail at achieving most of those things on that list. The reason isn't because I'm a cynic. The reason is that most New Year's resolutions aren't resolutions at all. Most New Year's resolutions are actually superficial goals like losing weight, or making more money, or finding the love of your life.

Primary topic: Transformation

968 views3/5 (3)

By Young KimRecently published1 topic

Push Yourself Out of Your Comfort Zone

I was at the gym the other day, and I happened to step on a treadmill where the electronic display was broken. See that the gym was so full, I was glad to have a treadmill at all, and I just started jogging. I had no idea exactly how fast I was going, what my heart rate was, what incline I was at, or how many calories I was burning. The only thing I knew was how long I was jogging based on the clock in the gym. I just kept adjusting the speed until it felt about right. I would slow down when it get too difficult, and speed it up when it got too easy. I was making adjustments constantly.

Primary topic: Transformation

2,297 views3.8/5 (4)

By Young KimRecently published1 topic

Apple's Business Unit Strategy

Admiring Apple for only its well-designed products and clever commercials is only scratching the surface. Apple is actually a great case study on brilliant business modeling. Apple treats every product as its own business unit. What this means is that every product line could exist as its own standalone store. Even though all Apple products fit into each other in some way, every Apple product also has to standalone in terms of generating revenue.

Primary topic: Transformation

10,048 views3/5 (4)

By Young KimRecently published1 topic

Constructive Feedback vs. Destructive Feedback

Feedback is a tricky thing. First of all, a critique or criticism is not necessarily the same things as feedback. What separates criticism and feedback is the intent. The intention of a critique or criticism is to convey an opinion. Some critiques are negative, some positive, some articulate, and some are crass. A critique is neither wrong, nor right. It's just an opinion. A critique would be something like, "I hated your story," or "Your story really moved me."

Primary topic: Transformation

9,733 views3/5 (5)

By Young KimRecently published1 topic

Never Too Young to Learn About Entrepreneurship

My first lesson in business did not come in a classroom. I received my first lesson in business from my father when I was just a kid. Back in the 80’s, our family bought our first computer. It was a portable computer that was the size of a small sewing machine, and had a five-inch monochrome screen. It took us a while just to figure out how to turn it on. When we did turn it on, we sat there for a few minutes just looking at the blinking cursor not knowing what to do next. We took it to a friend of my father’s who happened to know a lot about computers.

Primary topic: Transformation

1,042 views3.3/5 (9)

By Young KimRecently published1 topic

Copycats and Creative Commoditization

The famous Ansel Adams photograph, “Maroon Bells” (1964), is possibly one of the most replicated photographs among nature photographers. Run a Google images search on “Maroon Bells” and you’ll see what I’m talking about. Walk into any art store in Colorado, and you will find at least a dozen photographs of “Maroon Bells” on sale. Some will be in black and white, some will be in different seasons, and some of them will be night shots. The composition, however, will not vary by much. In the photography business, this phenomenon is known as commoditization.

Primary topic: Transformation

1,643 views2.9/5 (7)

By Young KimRecently published1 topic

Reinca ated on Groundhog Day

One of my favorite movies is “Groundhog Day” (dir. Harold Ramos). It stars Bill Murray as the weatherman who keeps waking up to the same Groundhog Day over, and over, and over again. The movie has special meaning to me because, to me, the movie is about what I refer to as “everyday reinca ation.” Don’t worry, I won’t go too Buddhist on you. And, by the way… SPOILER ALERT!

Primary topic: Transformation

1,866 views3.5/5 (4)

By Young KimRecently published1 topic

Constantly Creating

When I used to work for a photography agency, I'd get to sit in on a few meetings with photographers as they presented their books. Having just started in photography, I was always impressed with their photographs. My boss, however, was not.

Primary topic: Transformation

1,621 views2.7/5 (3)

By Young KimRecently published1 topic

Customer Loyalty and the Art of War

My father can’t stop thinking about business. It’s as if he believes that his business would collapse if he stopped crunching the numbers. To my father, there is no such thing as a part time entrepreneur. To my father, a casual relationship to his business doesn’t make sense to him. My father is the type of businessperson that likes to get his hands dirty, and wants to know every aspect of his business. His attention to detail and work ethic probably comes from his military background, which would also explain why he approaches business like war.

Primary topic: Transformation

777 views3.3/5 (7)

By Young KimRecently published1 topic

"American Idol" Survival Guide

"American Idol" (FOX) isn't just a singing contest. It's basically a televised audition process to produce the next pop music star. Year after year, teens and adults audition for the show hoping to make it onto the show, and eventually win the show. Having watched every season, I've developed my own list the 12 habits, skills, qualities and traits that the winners of "American Idol" have exhibited in the past seasons. I call it my "American Idol" Survival Guide.

Primary topic: Transformation

1,984 views3.5/5 (6)

By Young KimRecently published1 topic

7 Step Perfect Elevator Pitch Program

I once had a client, Zach, who wanted to start some kind of online auction business. He would describe to me in detail how the auction software worked, and the different kinds of products that would be auctioned off, but he could never articulate how his auction site would be any different from eBay. All he told me was what he wouldn't be selling, like junk, clothes, computer parts, etc. He just kept talking about baseball cards and comic books. So we sat down and tried out my 7 Step Perfect Pitch Program. The program takes less than an hour.

Primary topic: Transformation

1,995 views3.2/5 (5)

By Young KimRecently published1 topic

Don't Let the Recession Drive Your Prices Down

In a time of recession, there is a reluctant tendency to lower prices. Rather than targeting people who can’t afford your services, target the ones who can. Think of creative pricing strategies to keep your existing customers and to get new ones. Offer discounts to only your loyal repeat customers, and or only for premium purchases.

Primary topic: Transformation

1,154 views3.5/5 (4)

By Young KimRecently published1 topic

Being Mindful of Money Means Having a Mind Full of Pennies

I once saw my mom pick up a penny that she somehow saw in the middle of a parking lot. She waved it in the air as if it were a blessing, and placed it carefully into her purse. I asked my how she was able to see that penny? She said that pennies are everywhere, and that all you have to do is look.

Primary topic: Transformation

1,460 views3.7/5 (3)

By Young KimRecently published1 topic

By Any Means Necessary

I come from a family that believes that if you can’t find a hammer, use a rock. If you can’t find a rock, use your shoe. Because my parents grew up poor, they believe in the idea of making do with what you have instead of complaining about what you don’t have. My entire family lives by this mantra. In my mom’s case, it’s if you can’t find filet mignon, use hot dogs and Spam.

Primary topic: Transformation

1,358 views3.4/5 (13)

By Young KimRecently published1 topic

Knowledge is Not a Skill

I used to be friends with a guy, Chad, who was a big movie buff. He knew every thing about movies. He fancied himself to be on par with Martin Scorcese and Quentin Tarantino in terms of being an encyclopedia about film. Although he aspired to be a filmmaker, he actually never made a movie. He did take dozens and dozens of screenwriting classes, and read just about every book there is to know about screenwriting, he never had any of them produced into an actual movie. Even though he knows a lot about movies, he doesn’t write up movie reviews.

Primary topic: Transformation

1,497 views2.7/5 (3)

By Young KimRecently published1 topic

The Art of Reinventing Yourself

Oprah Winfrey is an artist, and her life is her canvas. She is a woman who constantly reinvents herself. She started out with a tabloid television show, and then transformed it into an iconic television show focused around self-help and spirituality. Then she transitioned from being a television host to owning her own network; it’s literally called the OWN Network. Although these changes may seem inevitable in hindsight, in the moment, they are giant leaps forward. She is a master at reinventing herself.

Primary topic: Transformation

1,980 views3/5 (3)

By Young KimRecently published1 topic

Make Your Own Creative Class

I have an associate who was a stand-up comedian for a little while. For right now, let’s call him Bill. Bill started out on open mic nights at a local comedy club, and then began touring as an opener for a headline comedian. Bill eventually stopped performing stand-up comedy for reasons I have yet to figure out. But for the short time that he was a comedian, he ended up creating his own course on the art of standup comedy.

Primary topic: Transformation

1,356 views3.7/5 (3)

By Young KimRecently published1 topic

Not All Artists Need to Become Entrepreneurs

I run into a lot of artists that want to sell their artwork, or to turn their artwork into a business. I am all for the idea of sharing creativity. I am not, however, one of those coaches that will tell every artist that I run into to turn their art into profit. Sometimes a hobby should just stay a hobby.

Primary topic: Transformation

1,224 views2.4/5 (11)

By Young KimRecently published1 topic

Workshops Generate Repeat Customers for Small Businesses

I have a friend who runs a doggy daycare business. Every once and a while, he’ll run a doggy obedience boot camp for his existing clients. He encourages his clients to bring friends. Those friends sometimes turn into new clients for his doggy daycare business. And the cycle repeats. This is a great example of how workshops can generate repeat customers. Here are some other examples of how small businesses can use workshops to do what my doggy daycare friend does: * Hair salons… creative hair braiding classes * Comic book stores… illustration workshopsr

Primary topic: Transformation

946 views3.3/5 (3)

By Young KimRecently published1 topic

The End of Call Centers

If your customers have to contact your call center to ask for help in using your website, or to find information on your website, you have failed in providing good customer service. If your customers have to pick up the phone after visiting your website, that counts as an unnecessary transfer, and customers hate being transferred. Your website isn’t just a digital billboard, or payment processing tool, or a conglomeration of information. It’s also your customer service representative. You should treat your website as the first customer service representative your customer will interact with.r

Primary topic: Transformation

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