Hot out of the lab! http://ow.ly/129A8 .

Hot out of the lab! http://ow.ly/129A8 … Application (check), Website (check), Social Media…(check) Awesomeness! (check-mate)

Filed under: Uncategorized

Our Blog Went Home!

We decided to move our blog to the main corner6labs web server. Control is the name  of the game and without it we are just puppets. Naw…Just Kidding. We just wanted to do a little house organizing, so please find our blog at it’s new home:

http://blog.cornersix.com

See you there!

Filed under: Progress Report

Social Networking Hub Bub

So I just came back from an event that TCU hosted on the subject of online social media marketing. It got me really excited about the business model of corner6labs because it is becoming more and more evident that the needs centered around clearing up this social media marketing debacle, are getting larger by the day (or BTD..as I like to say…that was just stupid). Anyway, I am finding that more and more companies are using and abusing the primary intent of the online social movement (like we did when we first started corner6labs) and is looking for help to decipher all the crap they keep hearing on how to leverage the platform to their advantage. Shame on anyone for missing it, but in the interest of my daily good deed, here is sorta how it went down.

There were speakers from several powerhouse companies such as Mike Volpe from Hubspot (one of my favorites by the way), Wade Burgess from LinkedIn, Erik Johnson from Saber Holding’s Cubeless Networks, and Will Pinnell from Handango. The field was rounded off by highly respected social media marketing  gurus such as Laura Fitton who is the author of “Twitter For Dummies” and Paul Dunay, Author of “Facebook Marketing for Dummies”.

The speakers gave general advice on how to approach social media as a company, except for the LinkedIn guy, who was mainly raging about how awesome LinkedIn was (I guess I can’t blame him, it –  is –  awesome). There was also a panel discussion where the speakers got to answer questions from he audience.

So what?… well, I highly recommend you look one of these conferences up and check it out ASAP, because if you are just entering the social media marketing scene, then you will attain great insight young grasshopper. Or, if you want to hear us wax poetic on our knowledge around the transformation of corporate social media involvement, and why it’s relevant and important? then drop us a line.

Now let’s have a discussion shall we?…Shoot me an email, or just drop a comment on how do you see social media transforming the landscape of product and service consumption, now, and in the future?

Filed under: Rants & Raves

Quick Catch Up

Boy have we been busy! I promised myself I would write in the blog everyday but it’s just not panning out the way I want. Anyway, quick update… We have been working our butts off and we are finally seeing it pay off in dividends. We have a campaign coming up that we believe is going to be impact-fully disruptive (yes I coined that… I think). We are incredibly excited.

The other day I was talking to a friend and I was asking him about how he likes the blog posts. His reply was “I really think you write well and the posts you have are informative” but he followed that up with “but so what? You need to add something more engaging and interactive”. Now some of you may have gotten offended by that, but not me. I love my friends for their honesty. His reply made me start to think about how to present the information I have trapped in my head in a more engaging format. I will spend the next few weeks thinking of just that. In the meantime, I would love to hear your thoughts on how you think I can spice hings up a bit.

Until next time

Filed under: Progress Report

5 Ways That Helps Me Be More Efficient With Planning – #2 – Scenario Planning

It’s been a while. I know you missed me. Quick update… Since we last spoke, we (corner6labs) closed our first deal and is now working hard to provide quality service to our new client. Things are going really well so far.  We have some awsome stuff in the pipeline (IMO) and I am really excited to see them come to fruition.

Now back to the matter at hand. In my last post, I started talking about a topic that seems to get the better of people on a daily basis, planning.  Now, don’t get me wrong, I am not professing that I am the dilai lama when it comes to planning, but I have picked up a few tricks here and there over the years (as a side note, I am quickly approaching my 31st birthday as of this writing….scary stuff). I must admit that from a programmers perspective and with the fast adoptions of methodologies such as “Agile Development“, my planning techniques have been tweeked here are there, and though this series is not particualary specific to application devlopment planning, the underlying concepts remained the same. I think this is a good time to introduce todays tip:

Scenario Planning

When planning, you should always develop outcomes or scenarios. This means that you have to ask yourself, whats the best that can happen?, whats the worst that can happen? and even some things in between. Many skeptics think this is an indicator of paranoia, but ask yourself, shouldn’t you be a little paranoid if what you are planning for is important?

If you borrow from the logical IF…ELSE operators in most programming languages, creating scenarios using this form will prove invaluable in the future. Think in outcomes and steps. What are the possible outcomes of my mission? IF everything doesn’t go right, THEN, How can I adjust? Write them down in short note form.

Now, I know you can’t possibly plan every scenario, but having an idea of how you will react to an outcome will make it easier to adapt and achieve a graceful outcome. Having these scenarios in mind, and outlining the steps to achieve what you want to achieve, will result in a critical part of any mission (desired outcome), your tactics.

Filed under: Tips & Tricks

5 Ways That Helps Me Be More Efficient With Planning – Number 1 – Map it out!

Since we are brand new entrepreneurs, we find ourselves in a constant state of planning. So it shouldn’t be a mystery that we have had to find ways to plan more efficiently.  I found five neat and simple ways that have been helping me, and I wanted to share them by doing a series on the subject.

Number 1 – Map It Out!…Mind-Map that is

You may have already heard of the term “Mind Mapping” but have never explored it.  According to Wikipedia,  “A mind map is a diagram used to represent words, ideas, tasks, or other items linked to and arranged around a central key word or idea“. There have been times that I have used some form of mind mapping technique, but I recently discovered a set of methodologies and free tools related to the subject.

Mind Mapping helps you organize your thoughts into a very powerful visual representation of a central idea. You start with a central keyword or phrase and branch out to related items for that keyword.

As a developer, the concept of mind mapping followed nicely with the way I have always done the preliminary architecture of an application, or even how I approach Object Oriented Programming through class definition. In fact, I recently applied the mind mapping technique while ideating (I term I first heard on an IBM commercial) classes for an application I am building. By focusing on one class, and one class only per map, you can derive the functionality you need to encapsulate within that class. From there, it was pretty easy to know the methods required to make the class work.

With the use of dedicated mind-mapping software, I was able to use the fact that I am a visual person, which for me, translated into more efficient planning sessions.

Here are some of the other reasons I like software based mind-mapping

1. I can ideate visually
2. Easy to learn
3. You can personalize them
4. Digital format for easy archiving and retrieval

There are many uses of mind maps, and when used properly can turn you into a mean planning machine.

Do you have comments on ways to be more efficient with planning? Drop me a comment. Let me know

Filed under: Tips & Tricks

The Ins and Outs of Biz

We are still here. I have had my head down with work over the past few days and I have hardly had time to take a breathe.

I can’t express what an incredible experience I have been having with corner6labs so far. I am learning so much, and Jose and I have been learning different ways to work with each other that is making us more and more efficient each day.It’s been such a blessed ride.

I am hoping that the next time I write, we would have close several deals we have been working on.

Filed under: Progress Report

Fitness Gone Mental

After a great meeting with a prospect today in Dallas, I was invited and had a chance to go work out with the guys over at the Fitness Combine in Cedar Hill. These guys may have something here. The combine/bootcamp is run by Troy & Brad who  have so many accreditations, I can’t list them all. In fact, Troy who is the primary instructor played national arena football and is a nationally recognized, certified,  fitness instructor.  Send Brad an email and he can tell you all about the dynamic duo.

I have been to a few fitness “bootcamps” but none quite like this. It would be good enough for some people to go get a work out, or maybe even a tip here and there about their nutrition. Expect more than that when you go to the combine. Brad and Troy administers a holistic approach to your workout. They start with a word of the day, today’s word was “Change”. “Change only comes to those who want it”, said Troy, “Change your attitude, change your image, change your lifestyle”…words that stared you deep in the eyes. Troy goes into a 300-esk speech that lacked only the words “This is Sparta!”…and thus the workout commenced.

In the middle of what was a pretty rigorous workout, where I was seconds away from calling “Earl”, Troy preached self affirmation techniques that not only made the workout feel easier, it also built focus on each movement to produce a goal. They atmosphere harbored a sense of unity amongst the participants, and even though I was huffing and puffing, at the end of it all, I still felt pretty darn refreshed.

If you are the in Dallas / Fort worth / Cedar Hill / Arlington / Grand Prairie / Duncanville, area, check them out. You will be glad you did.

Filed under: Rants & Raves

Web Applications in an Iphone World

I know what you’re thinking, another IPhone evangelist. Well, kinda but not really.  The first thing I must do is set the topic straight by letting you know that this post is not about enabling your web application for the Iphone. The post is more about what people have come to expect in the way they interact with an application. Since Apple came out with the iphone in 2007, and I guess even before that with the MAC OS (I wouldn’t know, I am a PC… thanks to all of you leaving for stopping by) … mobile users have changed their expectations on what they expect from their User Interfaces. Apple did a good job creating a UI where you can pretty much get to anything with at most 2 clicks, a slide, a shake and a pop…try it…I am not joking. Don’t belive me, check this out… in 2008, apple only controlled approx 3% of the mobile phone market share, by 2009 they owned 13.3%. Yeah 13% is nothing compared to Nokia’s 45%, but with a growth rate that big and almost exclusive control over the mantra of the simplistic approach to usability… inevitability is just a matter of fact.

So with the ground work out of the way, now down to the real topic at hand. You launched a great web application, or software as a service, whatever you want to call it, and now you are thinking, we need to keep our clients engaged, we need to add more features. IMHO, trying to engage your customers by adding more features is like fishing with dynamite, you might get more fish but hey will be all wrangled and dismembered (for the record, I hav elways hated that term). If anything , you should be looking to simplify your application. This aint field of dreams, if you built it, they won’t come, but if you make it usefully simple and simply useful, they will flock to you like 14 year-old-chicks to the Backstreet Boys, who by the way apparently have a new album…what?…why are you looking at me like that?

Before you go putting another sardine in your application tin can, consider the following:

• Ask yourself, is a feature addition necessary/ is it a preemptive strike. Your application can’t be stagnant I know, but simpler changes can make a big difference. Changes such as themes or layouts or simplifying the process to complete an action can make you look like a genius.
• Don’t spend time building, spend time learning. Find out what the pains are from your customer….Hint, they really do know best. Surveys and feedback sites such as Get Satisfaction can help you make your application more customer centric..and trust me, that’s all the rave these days.
• Always have an application log, and check it always. Your server logs can tell you a whole lot about how your clients use you application and besides, working out those very quiet bugs that just rare their ugly heads every now and then is way more important that adding a jet pack to your app.
• Check with your marketing department, find out what keywords make you pop up in search results. No, I am not saying build your app away from your core services, I am saying make sure you know what the craze so you don’t miss out on opportunities. Make of that what you will.
• Is my interface crisp, clean and inviting. Can users get to what they need in 3 clicks or less.

This is not meant to be a comprehensive list of do’s and dont’s for your app, all I want to do is give you pause. With cooler technology comes greater expectations on how to use it.

KISS ..google that $#iT

Filed under: Tips & Tricks

Do you have a card?

Why yes I do! We finally got our business cards in, and I must say they look pretty good. As usual, we stayed pretty simple. We wanted to leave enough room for those who like to use business cars as micro-notepads. Check it out

Other than that, we also have our first proposal out and looking forward to closing a deal here very soon. We have made some very good relationships over the past couple weeks, and we are confident they will pan out in mutual interest. We are experiencing a shower of blessings right now and I thank God for the gifts.

Filed under: Progress Report