It’s clear the Internet is changing our world as we know it and we’re starting to see a significant shift in the balance of influence. American politics is slowly starting to wake up to this reality and only time will tell where we go from here.

But being submersed in the drama of American politics makes it really easy to forget about what’s going on elsewhere. This month’s issue of Wired changes that with a story on what social media’s doing to slowly crack the tightly controlled structure of authority in Egypt & the Middle East:

Back in March, Maher and a friend launched a Facebook group to promote a protest planned for April 6. It became an Internet phenomenon, quickly attracting more than 70,000 members. The April 6 youth movement — amorphous, lacking a clear mission*, and yet a bull’s-eye to the zeitgeist — blossomed within days into something influential enough to arouse the ire of Egypt’s internal security forces. Maher is part of a new generation in the Middle East that, through blogs, YouTube, Flickr, Twitter, and now Facebook, is using virtual reality to combat corrupt and oppressive governments. Their nascent, tech-fired rebellion has triggered a government backlash and captured the world’s attention.

The article also ends with an interesting line of thought:

But Maher isn’t tortured. No one can say why his treatment in custody is more lenient this time around. One possibility is that, lacking specific orders to beat or harm him, his captors in Alexandria just went easy.

There is another hypothesis, though, one that many people familiar with Egyptian politics have suggested: Maher’s star has risen. His real-world profile is now high enough that torturing him could backfire, inspiring countless networked young people to take action. The last thing Hosni Mubarak needs is to turn this Facebooking regular guy into a full-fledged hero.

In a seemingly unrelated event, my favorite news website online, Socialmedian, is releasing an election widget with the Washington Post today:

The http://election.socialmedian.com site aggregates news and user-feeds related to the election and enables users to join in the election coverage and discussion.  We created this site with The Washington Post to enable people to track all the election news from thousands of news sources as well as from Twitter feeds, Flickr photos, YouTube videos, and more all in one place, and (importantly) to join-in and add their own feeds from their favorite sites to provide user reports leading up to and on election day.

You can see what looks like to the right and although It’s not election day just yet, it’s never a bad thing to get a feel for what’s underfoot going into the election, so play with it (click “Join In” on the widget if you’re not a member) and let the games begin! (follow me at follow bushmanbill when you sign up).

*If the whole thing sounds “amorphous” & “lacking a clear mission” to you too, read Seth Godin’s latest book (aptly named Tribes), which is all about movements, what their made of, the things that happen to make tribes possible to begin with and how to keep them going. In what amounts to one long essay that goes by all too quickly, Godin explains the situation and then presents the opportunity:

A tribe is any group of people, large or small, who are connected to one another, a leader, and an idea. For millions of years, humans have been seeking out tribes, be they religious, ethnic, economic, political, or even musical (think of the Deadheads). It’s our nature.

Now the Internet has eliminated the barriers of geography, cost, and time. All those blogs and social networking sites are helping existing tribes get bigger. But more important, they’re enabling countless new tribes to be born—groups of ten or ten thousand or ten million who care about their iPhones, or a political campaign, or a new way to fight global warming.

And so the key question: Who is going to lead us?

“Pay no attention to that man behind the curtain” – The Wizard

When I think of The Wizard from The Wizard of Oz, I think of a question I remember having even at the age of 6 when I first remember watching this movie.  Why is this man hiding behind the curtain?  Why not just come out and say it himself?  What’s the thinking here?

So I’ve pondered just why the Wizard is behind the curtain. I’ve concluded that placing himself behind the curtain offered these probable advantages:

1. spectacular awe-inspiring smoke effects (and impressive green lighting)
2. larger-than-life face
3. louder, more commanding voice
4. better and more impressive visuals
5. increased credibility
6. god-like persona
7. privacy / shielding true identity
8. increased confidence
9. portraying god-like intellectual capability and power
10. selling a story via acting

So there you have it… it’s quite obvious why the Wizard felt it beneficial to place himself behind a curtain.  By changing how he was perceived through utilization of a curtain and some 1930’s special effects, he changed the story.  He came off differently than he truly was.  He was acting, playing a part; acting for the purpose of selling his visitors through power, fear, and wizardry.

What’s the reason I’m writing about the Wizard and how does it relate to you, you ask?  My point is this: when you look at businesses or individuals, try to spot their inner Wizard(s).  Remember that special effects aren’t reserved for the 1930s.  Many individuals and businesses are all smoke and visual effects and it can be hard to part the curtain and look at reality.

Hilarious!  I’d like to do one on social media, would be a lot of fun to add some visuals as well…

Apparently small is the new big.  Seth Godin’s been writing about it for a while now, I hear.  And those guys over at 37Signals have certainly been long-time evangelists.  Here at Epsilon Concepts, it’s been our key mantra.  By focusing on producing the biggest outputs (projects, clients, products, legal insulation, advertising, etc…) for the lowest costs (time/money/resources), you can develop lean habits that will serve you well in business.  All to often, large companies and venture-backed start-ups simply lose sight of a $1.  These $1s add up and before you know it they’ve gone through the garbage disposal of careless spending.

It’s not just about cash.  Sure, in this scary economy we call ours, “cash is king.”  But being small is about more than money.  It’s a paradigm.  It’s a strategy.  It’s having workers telecommute when it saves money, increases productivity and helps the environment.  Or keeping them closeby when it’s quicker, helps the client, or aids communication.  It’s not a black and white point of view; being small is all about gray.  There are countless gray areas in life and business and the smaller you are the more ability you generally have to interpret a gray area and follow-through with a response that fits your paradigm.  In larger organizations a good idea can be shot down quicker than the pace of our government debt.  And the larger you get, the more money, time, and resources you throw at endeavers that maybe make sense on paper, but not in real life.

Being small allows you to wear a kind of glasses that filter your decisions with an eye for improvement.  When you’re small, every opportunity counts, every improvement aids the bottom line, and every weakness is a pounding infection demanding a root canal.  You feel it more when you’re small and this feeling keeps you on your toes and quick, ready for the next problems (opportunities).

In continuation of my points, a few words of wisdom from heroes of mine:

“The media and the tech blogs glamorize businesses that act big. They write about the big checks VCs hand out and they lionize the organizations that make a splash. The untold story is in the organizations that are close to the customer, close to the product and close to each other. Thinking small always pays off.” – Seth Godin

“Another thing I want to take issue with is this notion of “good times.” What was so good about the times a few months ago or even a few years ago for these companies? If you had to keep borrowing to stay afloat, were those good times? If you were running a business with no revenue coming through the door, were those the good times? If you were hiring more people than you really needed, where those the good times? There’s nothing easier than spending other people’s money. So fun and frivolous times, maybe, but good times, no.” – Jason Fried

“Be fearful when others are greedy, and be greedy when others are fearful” – Warren Buffett
RB’s note: aka now is the time to break out of the race if you can.  Be greedy when others are fearful and insulate yourself or your business while the times are tough and most are avoiding new opportunities!

-Robby Berthume
Join me on Facebook and LinkedIn and Twitter!

The cell is the basic unit of the human body. Each cell is made up of unique little parts that make it run do and do what it needs to do. Cells then group together to form organs, which in turn group together to form organ systems. This is what makes up the human being and everything else that goes along with being one: going to work, paying taxes, not slamming the jerk that just cut you off  (also known as living everyday as a human being).

We all in turn exist in a world with other humans and as the relationship between cells progresses to the level of human interaction, an even more complex and varied group of connections begin to unfold (and if you want to get some really interesting perspectives, you could try to include our relationship with the rest of the galaxy, universe, etc.. No word yet on how far out you can go though).

Still, at it’s most basic form, everything is good for something. A wiser man than I currently am put it like this: “There’s an opportune time to do things, a right time for everything on the earth.”

That is what being useful is all about: doing the right thing at the right time. For example, it’s not cool if my kidneys decide to take a short break from filtering liquids because everything else is working just fine. Just like it’s not cool if I don’t come through and we’re not able to meet the deadline or see the whole show. When that happens, it means something, somewhere is not working as it should and needs to be fixed. The human body has all sorts of fascinating mechanisms built in to anticipate and correct almost anything that comes it’s way. The human mind on the other hand has a much more complicated system of handling these situations and the results are sometimes entertaining when the wrong solution is implemented because the right problem wasn’t correctly identified in the first place (other times, it’s just plain disaster).

Tradition* has figured out a lot of that stuff for us, but thankfully, there’s still some excitement considering how we can’t seem to get it right a lot of the time. To be fair, to those working with tech (especially the Internet), a serious obstacle to getting it right is the advances and improvements that we can’t stop ourselves from producing on an alarmingly regular basis. A decade ago, modems that are now a part of distant memories were a very real part of the Internet experience. And even with much faster connections today, I don’t think you could crawl the Internet for a week and come close to scraping the bottom (and that’s assuming you’re looking through just the good stuff. But I digress**).

It’s not all about gloriously solving world problems, building castles in the sky, or taking over the world, although the principles of being useful still apply there. Being useful is about being a funny video if you’re supposed to be a funny video, making kick-ass apps if that’s what you do or enjoying the privilege of playing catch with your son.

That is how to take over the world.

Any thoughts? Is this a useful/good idea at all or is it more romantic and hairy-eyed? Tell me what you think in the comments section.

* This is the definition of tradition I like best: customs, beliefs and practices, accumulated through the history of their development, which form the views and ways of a society (link here)

** To digress even further, see the section on creativity in Only Good News from the Dilbert Blog

Epsilon Concepts Testimonial from Christopher Simonetti & Josh Gooden of
Where To Get Engaged, Inc. on Vimeo.

“Epsilon Concepts is a true Blue Ocean Company!!! Robby, Samuel and their whole team has a “Penetrating kind of energy” about them. Their ability to take our idea and turn it into a reality is truly out of this world. Six months ago we began this project and like fine Swiss timepiece the perpetual motion was unstoppable. The communication we were able to achieve thru base camp is unheard of in today’s business models. Our relationship with Epsilon Concepts and all their talented partners has just begun… I look forward to the future…”

Christopher Simonetti
Founder
WhereToGetEngaged, Inc.

Thanks Chris and Josh for the kind words!

With context and patience, you can navigate the hurdles of even the most “stressful” life. Whether you’re a CEO, janitor, laborer, or stock broker, we all have career stresses at varying levels. Some more than others. And this doesn’t take into account stress from families, finances, relationships, deaths, moving, etc…!

I think and write a lot about stress. I think it’s probably because I’m always stressed out. I wake up to 50 or so e-mails in the morning, handle calls and internal and external meetings in the mornings, and then work through projects and problems in the afternoons and evenings. Even in the evening and over the weekends, my mind is still consumed with work, whether I’m in front of my MacBook or not. It’s not that I’m complaining or impassioned about my work, it’s that I’m passionate to a fault, passionate to a point where I feel like I can’t breathe sometimes without the weight of work on my chest. It’s part being the owner and CEO of a busy small business in a down economy, part the cost of high-intensity projects.

My life drives my work and my work is driving my life. This year, I’ve been working round-the-clock to reduce stress and to nix avoidable stressful elements and activities out of my life. Whether via time management, additional resources, narrowing focus, or saying “no” to certain projects, the goal has been to filter what comes in so that what comes out is the highest quality from the right paradigm. Why does it seem that though there is light at the end of the tunnel, stress is still as prevalent as ever?

There’s certainly some things that are unavoidable. Deadlines. Employee illness. The economy. In my opinion, you have to put your head up and dive right in to the task to chip the bulk of the stress away by sheer force. Other times, you have to prioritize stresses, dealing with the biggest problems first. And still other times, you have to call on the troops or step back to gain perspective on the situation.

If you’re a high-strung individual, a perfectionist, struggle with OCD tendencies, or always feel stressed out, don’t just try to shoot for vacations or allocate time for doing nothing at all. It doesn’t always work for me and may not always work for you. Instead, funnel your energy into a distracting and rewarding activity. Maybe hanging out with some friends over drinks, visiting a theme park, or sky-diving. The point is, funnel your energy towards exercise, activities, and distractions when you need a break. Otherwise, you’re time spent “relaxing” and doing nothing will turn into you sitting on the couch feeling even more overwhelmed and held by a downward spiral of negative energy, while your pile of stress feels like it’s growing by the minute while you’re not doing anything about it!

If you have stress in common with me, let’s both take solace in that we can overcome and persevere. As humans, we have a remarkable ability to supersede our own fears and worries. Stress and worry are byproducts of passion, commitment, values, and hard work. It’s our natural response to help us elevate to deal with problems. In the words of Devlyn Steele of ToolsToLife, “remove ‘problems’ from your vocabulary; problems are simply opportunities.” Opportunities to get a new job, step up to the plate and earn respect, get involved in a better relationship, or learn something important.

Don’t just take my advice, here’s a few more ways of reducing your stress: 1, 2, 3, 4

-RB

If you’re a regular reader of our blog, you may have noticed that posts have been a little less frequent and a bit more sporadic over the last few weeks.  We want to assure you that we haven’t gone anywhere, we’ve simply been hard at work launching some critical and exciting projects and re-designing our own website and blog plus working on the release of our upcoming Digital Directory in beta this weekend.  We think our website is cleaner, clearer, and better practices our design and development methodologies (less is more).  We hope you like the new look and invite your feedback, positive or negative.  Blog posts will be back to regular in the coming weeks and we look forward to having some guest bloggers, some social networking site reviews, and more local LA social media / web coverage.

We’re also working diligently on the alpha launch of an innovative and usable social networking website for one of our clients.  More details and a review/case study coming soon! We also have a kick-ass custom-built e-commerce website with countless customizations and innovative features launching soon. Our team is hard at work to launch both projects.  Again, more details and a review/case study coming soon.

In addition to our operational work, we’ve also been busy networking and attending industry events, interviewing for opening positions, and have been quite busy with some great client relationships.  In the coming days we’re launching a European and Asian division and website of Epsilon Concepts, we’ll be tripling our ad budget, and we’ll be looking to beef up our team more and more in the new year, despite the slowing economy.

We’re also planning a revolutionary website concept in outsourcing/offshoring that combines many facets in a unique and compelling way.  Everything is in stealth-mode now, but it’s been something I’ve been working on the details for, for about 4 years now.  We really think it will change the way businesses do business, across the globe.  More details coming soon.

Additionally, I recently posted a review of You2Gov.com here on the blog and a press release was generated out of it that was distributed though many media sources.  Check out the press release on Forbes here.

I was also mentioned by Fast Company blogger Francisco Dao of The Killer Pitch in his blog post on The Smart Show entitled “The Next Generation Of Entrepeneurs”.  Thanks for the mention, Francisco!

Finney and Sam were in attendance at last week’s Digital Drinks event here in LA at The Roosevelt and enjoyed the pool atmosphere and the great company!  Thanks to everyone who said hi!

Until next update, have a good weekend!

-Robby