How I Made it Here- Overnight Success

Chris, what I like about this and your other posts is how dynamic you are. So many people want overnight success without expecting to do much. Your analogy of the kitchen, where things are cooked and created (and sometimes burnt and thrown away), the business place, where you can see which creations are marketable, and the community where ideas are shared are all concepts that require action. One can't sit back, learn and absorb, and think that's all that's needed for success.

You got it more than all. : )

Aline... You noted a major point in the "burnt and thrown away." :) My kitchen is full of those, many of them eventually (through trial and error) leading to a great dish.

Thanks, Daniel. I keep trying to come up with great dishes, but seem to have more of the burnt ones! :-) And Chris, thanks for the affirmation.

Strong in you, the community is....

Great analogy. Especially the campfire. Bringing others together around something common, telling a story and inviting others to join in is such a great thing. That campfire can be the flame that ignites the imaginations and ideas of many others.

Feelin the Love for the Overnight Success Series ... of course we all know the Overnight Success was 20 years in the making! Looking forward to more. Warmly, J

Fascinating, and I think you're onto something, especially in thinking about what role each of these things played and how interdependent they might have been. What about others who perhaps are as smart, or as talented, but might not have had (or used) the kitchen table or the campfire or the lemonade stand that you had? Can we go one step further and devise a formula or recipe for teaching someone how to create that combination of things that will contribute to the nourishing environment that leads to success?

Another great part of the Overnight Success series. I really liked the analogies you used in describing what got you to where you are today. Thanks for sharing and helping us to be better.

Love this analogy, Chris. Easy to grasp!

You helped me bake it. : )

This works for so much more than just the business world. It's an easy to understand analogy I can use with my 8th graders, I'm gonna see a lot of ahas.

Chris,

For me it has been utilizing my time in both the kitchen and campfire simotanously to get where I am and where I want to be, in regards to my blog and connecting with people.

What you refer to as the lemonade stand, I see that this is how you take what you have learned from being in the kitchen and then apply it to having a greater gathering at your campfire. But, like I touched on before I feel that having a campfire and kitchen in the early stages is very crucial.

Like everyone else has said... I am really enjoying the Overnight Success series and I always look forward to your videos (I don't think you do any of them dangerously) HAHA

Best Regards.

I like this theme very much. I like to use this theme as my blog background. Thank you for publishing a new, simple and attractive theme.

Chris,

Specifically what is your Kitchen, Lemonade Stand, and Campfire in your business? Can you give examples. I'm going to guess these were things like your news letter, blog, and consulting business, but I want to know your answer.

You might note at the bottom of the post that much more information is coming. This is, what they'd call in the business, a teaser. : )

A teaser indeed Chris, but thought-provoking. This is the first of your 'Overnight Success' series that I've watched and I'm impressed; short, honest, packs a punch.
Like Daniel Decker, I liked the campfire analogy:
campfire = warm, inviting, bright, sure, light
people = listeners, gathering, coming together, huddled, sharing
you = storyteller, leader of the pack, spellbinder :)
Anyone for smores?

Haha gotcha, must have missed it. Thanks Chris, will look for the follow up :)

I love this series and really appreciate you sharing like you do. This is a great list of how things work. It does take the experimentation and engagement of a community. Love the analogy of a campfire, one people sometimes forget to do. And yet, as you said, if you don't do that part, you might get there but not stay. Thanks again for sharing.

Three great elements here, Chris, and all are essential. If I could summarize for a more formalized business approach: 1) Plan your work, work your plan; 2) Test and measure; and 3) Get feedback, nurture new ideas and return to #1. Many businesses plan, but few do the other two. Getting comfortable with the risk of trying new things and the desire for immediate gratification hold many businesses back. How do you translate your three things to clients to help them be successful?

Good vid that quickly delivers an excellent message.

Now how many people was like me and wanted Chris to turn the camera around so we could see the boat?

Dude, shield the mic the next time! ;-)

It was a camera in my hand on a windy boat. : ) Sorry.

That wind got insanely loud some days! Surprised you weren't wearing a jacket.

Another great message, Chris. I'd add one more thing to kitchen, lemonade stand, and campfire... and that's a flashlight. No sooner do you figure something out, and you're looking a little deeper in the "cave" to figure out what's coming next. It's what I count on from you most as a Trust Agent.

I agree with Daniel.. Excellent points Chris and Daniel really got it. Coming together and sharing, collaboriting and building relationships is what it's all about. We can't do this by ourselves, we need each other. I am always glad to meet wonderful, brilliant, interesting people!
Again, thanks Chris for their is a lot of wisdom in your simplistic explanation of success!
RM - InBoundMarketingPR

Chris,

I've been loving the overnight success series. One thing that I think you may have left out though is that I think you were an early adopter and one of the first peeps out there to talk (very effectively) about the role of social media in business but more specifically - the power of online COMMUNITY.

That's not to say anything you mentioned above was wrong. I just think you also had the advantage of staking your claim first before there were tons of other huge players in that space. Of course you also have walked-the-walk when it comes to engaging which doesn't hurt.

Just my .02. Thanks for another great video and enjoy the rest of the cruise.

Campfire is the community in this one. : )

The lemonade stand analogy is the one that resonated with me. I very much believe that before I can teach others to use social media to market their small business, I need to have done that already for either myself or others. I don't start talking about any strategy until I have tried them out and gotten good results. I don't want to tout a strategy only to find out later my clients received no results from them.

So Chris, If I hear you right - we can improve ourselves, our position in business, by coming up with a plan then putting the plan into motion or spinning it out there and watch what the reaction is- improve as needed.
Thank you

Kitchen
Limonade Stand
Camp Fire

The more I follow you the more I would like to know what kind of groupe activities you have done as a kids.

You rock and keep following your nose!!!

Olivier
www.bzhnetwork.com
The power of a "Small" tribe that think "Global"

Thanks Chris- EnJOY your ride... Great message.... Best, Brian-

Hi Chris;
Great analogy. Broadening it to encompass every business out there, I would say:
1) Your kitchen table is the product or service development lab. You build something you can sell.
2) The Lemonade Stand is your market research (although a stand is more about 1:1 interactions, while MR is usually more about 1:Many marketing). This is where you test your product, place, pitch, promotion and price in the marketplace.
3) The campfire is your Store. In your case, a virtual one based around conversations/content and ideas (all "virtual" or abstract concepts, thus allowing your transaction to be entirely virtual).
All of us who launch and grow businesses tend to do these things, but perhaps we have done so less consciously than we could have.
And a comment on one of the other comments regarding the time it takes to be successful. Steve Jobs was being interviewed after "Toy Story" was released, and Pixar's shares rocketed through the $1 billion mark. The journalist asked Jobs what it was like to have yet another overnight success under his belt. His response was that Overnight Successes have a habit of taking 10 years.

Let's not forget that there is a lot of luck in our lives, bad or good.

I may be wrong, but I think your presence on Twitter had a lot to do with your success and I think you caught the Twitter tide at exactly the right moment.

Whatever, you are a great asset for us Internet addicts. ;)

Great way to explain the starting points. Of course, it gets me thinking about my kitchen, lemonade stand and campfires. Looking forward to more!

Simple analogies are always the best.

Great analogies, Chris. Interesting that you kept it to three--did Steve Jobs teach you or did you teach him?

Nice post again . Really tremendous charis. I am regular reader of your blog. You have always write something new and extra . Just continue writing this kind of post. I will be your loyal reader. Thanks again.

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You are a great inspiration to people in the business and a great reference to clients wanting to learn.

Chris -

Loved that you pulled this off while "on a boat." Great to get some quality face to face time in on the #socruise. Pretty sure one of my favorite convos was the "roundtable" discussion on blogging. Great to hear that even some of the "pros" are learning.

Keep kicking some tail.

DJ Waldow
Director of Community, Blue Sky Factory
@djwaldow

To be honest I dont know if your really telly us anything or just keeping us here with teasers ....!?!

Good video Chris - I like the way you diconstruct the creative process into the various parts of your development 'laboratory'.

Rich

Hey Chris!

If only Murray Hewitt would take your advice to becoming an overnight succes, the poor guy is struggling I feel!

He looks a bit like you too...
Go to min 1:15 of the following video - he's taken your fashion advice by the looks of things though - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SBPnJUs_1pI&feat...

Keep it up mate,

It's all good! Interesting video with good analogies

Cheers
Jon :D

loving your overnight success series! keep it up chris. when are you coming to seattle?