AB Tech Business Incubator Reception

They just can’t get my name right. “They” is everyone. Usually it’s “Siegler” or “Zigler” but this time “Siglar.” At least I had a name tag waiting for me and didn’t have to roll my own with a Sharpie!

Glad I went. I’ve been involved with the Incubator in one way or another for the last few years. Recently I started offering pro bono consulting (marketing), along with several other folks including lawyers, accountants, etc. This is consulting for the entrepreneurs in residence. And there are some very cool startups in there.

One of the coolest, and I’m surprised I hadn’t heard about them yet, is Airplanes Direct. That’s right, it’s like Autotrader for planes. In fact, one of the partners founded Autotrader.com, if I heard correctly. They got an award for “fastest launch” or something similar. The guy who spoke for the company said they figured when the economy is bad people will be selling planes and when it’s good people want to buy planes. Makes sense to me.

Another thing I learned is that this business incubator is the largest of its kind on the East coast. Check it out.

Town Mountain Time Trial in Asheville

This was a painfully fun 24 minutes and 11 seconds. About 60-70 folks participated. My time put me pretty much in the middle of pack for the Men’s Masters class. Like a moron I rode it the night before in about 25 minutes just to get a feel for it. (Amazing how much harder I had to push to shave a minute.) I ride the upper section of this course a couple times a week on my way up the mountain, but I never ride the steep part at the beginning because it’s out of the way. I’ll plan better next year.

Big thanks to the Asheville Women’s Cycling Club for putting on this event. Also thanks to all the volunteers!

Here’s a nice video of the 5 mile Town Mountain Time Trial Hill Climb. It’s hard to get a feel for how steep it is though.

I made this flyer recently for my club’s (Asheville Bicycle Racing Club) big annual race: French Broad Cycling Classic. It’s called an “Omnium” because over the three day event there are time trials, road races and criteriums.

You can get the full size flyer (PDF) and more info about this great bike race FrenchBroadCyclingClassic.com. The site is still being updated. Come out and watch the crits if nothing else. More on that later…

Go, Mars, go! He’s in the t-shirt with black and white circles. Every year the middle school kids at Rainbow Mountain Children’s School put on a show. This year’s show has a USO theme, and for part of the show the kids needed to learn the Lindy Hop. Show time tomorrow night! I think they’re ready. The kids seen here are actually the entire middle school. Crazy man.

I can’t stop playing with Camtasia. This is a ridiculous and self-indulgent video, but I’m sure someone will like it. This is a great bike ride, and if you’re in Asheville I recommend that you check it out. For my out-of-town friends: come visit and we’ll go for a ride. I have some extra bikes!

UPDATE: The castle I mention in the video is Seely Castle. I believe he was the son-in-law of Dr. Grove and he built the castle as his home while he managed the Grove Park Inn. And, yes, Obama did stay at the Inn, I believe when he was preparing for the last debate. It was interesting to watch because the Inn is literally my next door neighbor.

Also, the times I mention in the video, e.g. 85 minutes to Craggy would be pretty fast for someone who is just a weekend warrior. Plan accordingly.

To make sure people enter real email addresses I make it clear in some agate text next to or below the opt-in form that I will email a link to the thing I’m offering. I set up the first autoresponder email to do just that, and nothing else. I just fulfill on the promise and don’t try to sell to them yet. The next day, the second email goes out and I use this one to get some input from the subscriber. I’ll write something like this:

“I hoped enjoyed the free report on basket weaving.

It’s not easy weaving baskets. If you can spare a minute I would love to know what specifically is your biggest challenge when it comes to basket weaving. Is it:

(I just list the most obvious hurdles I can think of for the niche.)
1. The cost of basket weaving?
2. How to get started?
3. Having enough time?
4. Having a plan with instructions?
5. Knowing where to get the supplies?
6. Something else?

If you want to, just hit “reply” and type one of the numbers above. Of course, if it’s number “6″ I would appreciate a couple extra words. ;-)

Thanks for your help.

Bill Basket”

If you want to throw in a “P.S.” with a mention of the product you’re marketing and a link that might be OK. I prefer to wait until there’s some commitment to the relationship from the reader, or at least until the third email. I’ve been surprised how many people respond, almost 20%. Usually the response is just “1 and 3″ but occasionally someone will write an essay, and some others will want personal coaching! I usually ignore that last group, depends.

Then, I keep track of the results and use those insights to retool my landing page. If it’s clear that most people are having trouble with “5. Knowing where to get the supplies?” then I definitely will focus on that pain, not just on the landing page, but also in my follow-up emails. Of course, if you’re going to develop your own product for a niche this kind of information is priceless.

You may be surprised what most of your audience tells you. I know I was.

We went to a great bonsai expo at the North Carolina Arboretum in Asheville. (Don’t let that old school web site fool you, the Arboretum itself is stunning.) I have been interested in bonsai forever and decided to get this Mugu Pine from a vendor in the marketplace. I asked the seller “what kind of tomatoes are these?” but I don’t think she was amused. The truth is that joke is an accurate representation of my gardening and bonsai experience, but I had to get the little guy. Some of the big ones were thousands of dollars. The expo had exhibitions by numerous bonsai clubs from several states. Just as impressive is the permanent bonsai exhibit at the arboretum. I took a bunch of pics and you can check them out at Flickr. Hey, there is a sample below…

We got some kick-ass peppers in the garden, but we don’t know what they are. Mary bought bell peppers and banana peppers, and we’re pretty certain this is neither. You can see the scale in the image below; that’s a quarter next to the pepper. It took forever for this baby to turn red. He gave his life for good cause, Friday night’s dinner. Bigger images at Flickr.

More stuff from our garden. Vegetables are just so photogenic. They look good enough to eat. Click ‘em to big ‘em.

I got tired of looking at those mystery person silohuette avatars I have on the various social sites so I made this graphic. To me, it’s funny. Those fists are actually Hulk Hands ™ that I bought on eBay and sprayed with chrome paint. The knuckle letters were inspired by some of the ideas at KnuckleTattoos.com. But “GIVE” and “TAKE” actually came from a drawing in the liner notes of one of the more recent Metallica albums.