June 8, 2010 36 Comments

The Vital Importance of Labs

test tubes and flowers Over the weekend, I launched a new travel blog. It’s part of a new project I’m building as part of a course for the new company I’m about to launch. What I like about it, is that it gives me a new laboratory: a place where I can experiment. ( Ever wonder why my business is called New Marketing Labs ? Not by accident.)

It’s also a place to re-hone my skills in the art of putting together all the various parts of an online business. Having a lab is vital to the growth of your business. Let’s talk about that.

Labs Are Off-Main

First, let’s explain that your laboratory should be away from your primary site or online presence. In launching Man on the Go, I didn’t make it a main feature inside of [chrisbrogan.com]. Instead, I gave it its own domain, it’s own place to grow. With all experimentation, it’s good to try it away from the primary source of your business, at least at first.

Labs Have Goals in Mind

Experimentation starts with a supposition. In the case of this project, I’m building a media site that’s built for content marketing. My supposition is that I can launch a successful media property around the business travel space, even though it’s fairly busy, because I can be successful in differentiating. Judging by my first few videos, I will have a lot further to go to prove this.

But I have a goal in mind, and that’s what matters. In my case, I have about three goals:

  • Write up all details of the experiment for my new course.
  • Earn $500/month or more by month 3 of the launch.
  • Write up all the how-to material to make into an ebook and/or a service offering.

Labs Are For Experiments

I have ideas I want to try out that are more suited for Man on the Go than this site. I will experiment over there and see what comes of it. If some of it works, I might incorporate it back over there. My main goal: not to do the same stuff I’m already doing over here. Why replicate?

One experiment: multiple authors. I’ll open this project up to others, just as soon as I work through how much work will go into vetting submissions, as well as how to properly compensate them, etc. So, I’ll try that on Man on the Go and see if there are lessons I can share forward.

Labs Can Be Home to Failures

They say Thomas Edison failed over 1000 times before he invented a lightbulb that worked, and that he retorted that he hadn’t failed, but instead had simply worked out 1000 ways not to invent one. Failure is part of learning. Do you think I’ve never failed? I fail plenty. I fail often. I just learn fast.

Labs are For Innovation

In the end, the goal of a laboratory is to create breakthroughs. I’m hoping to help others replicate what I learn from the Man on the Go experience and help them achieve escape velocity with their own efforts. That will be one of many innovations I can bring forward to people hoping to grow their businesses.

If You Don’t Keep Your Hands Dirty

If you step away from the processes that make things happen, you fall into the realm of theorists. There are plenty of authors writing books about other people’s work, adding their thoughts and insights, but essentially, reporting on the works of others. I can’t do that. I have to be part of the story.

What I do with [chrisbrogan.com] is often partly an experiment that I can take and apply to partners and clients at New Marketing Labs. What I’ll do at Man on the Go will hopefully help my new business grow. But no one will ever be able to say that I’m not active in the space that I’m talking about. I’m breathing it every day.

Make sense?

Where is Your Lab?

Where do you experiment? Where do you dare to mess up? Where do you take your first steps? And what have you found out through the processes built into making a lab?

Photo credit casers jean

Related posts:

  1. The Vital Importance of Your Network
  2. The Vital Importance of Links
  3. Life in the Labs
  4. Doing Vital Work
  5. The Importance of the Physical World

ChrisBrogan.com runs on the Genesis Framework

Genesis Theme Framework

The Genesis Framework empowers you to quickly and easily build incredible websites with WordPress. Whether you're a novice or advanced developer, Genesis provides you with the secure and search-engine-optimized foundation that takes WordPress to places you never thought it could go.

With automatic theme updates and world-class support included, Genesis is the smart choice for your WordPress website or blog.

Become a StudioPress Affiliate

  • Smthcierra

    I’m breathing it every day.
    e66 white

  • http://www.r4card.com.au/ r4 sdhc

    I had read this article and it is really very informative. It is important to make your lab where you do different different experiments. Very effectively written.

  • http://www.realdelia.com Delia Lloyd

    Thanks for this post, Chris. I also believe in the importance of experimentation and am hoping to try my hand at podcasting (in lab form) before sprining it on the world. This post reminded me why it was important to test drive that idea before going prime time.Thx for the inspiration of your new blog as well. I also do some travel writing in my spare time (mostly to finance family travel through Europe, where I live) so if you ever open this site up to other writers, I'll get in touch. Cheers

    Delia Lloyd
    http://www.realdelia.com

  • Danocon

    Chris,

    Yes, this makes perfect. The machine tool company I worked for wanted to make machines for the Automotive market . So they contracted with Toyota to make 100, 000 widgets per month and built a complete line of machines to accomplish it. In the first year they averaged 2000 incidents (shut the line down) per month. Year two saw 500 per month-Year three-2 per month.

    Ten years later they are a major supplier of machine tools to the automotive industry. Plus they also have six lines making millions of widgets a month with a tremendous GPM.

    Your post is a reminder to me of that time and actually lets me kind of relax about my own site and blog.

    Experiment, learn from it and maybe move onto something profitable. Plus, who knows, in time maybe it will produce millions of widgets per month.

    Thanks

  • Thesomersteam

    Is good to try new things and let things take on a life of their own. Great outside the box thinking in terms of experimentation.

  • http://www.tengoldenrules.com erikabarbosa

    Thanks for this post Chris. It reminds me that I need to get into the lab more often and continue to experiment with new ideas. I admire that about you – as you said – you have to be a part of the story not just reporting on it.

  • http://twitter.com/smartstartcoach Linda M. Lopeke

    We've been running the SMARTSTART Labs for 6 years or so now and teach our business building programs in a live learning environment. Which means we model, experiment, test and report results and share all the inside details from the labs with our members/students on the various things we're teaching. This way, our courses go way beyond theory and our students have real world activities to relate to which greatly enhances the learning experience for them.

    This open approach brings an element and dimension to our work that hasn't been readily available elsewhere — or at least it wasn't when I first decided to run this way. So I was excited to find out a while back that you're planning to use the same approach with your upcoming venture. It's a great differentiator and really makes the teaching experience very rich as well as being great for folks who take your courses. I think you'll be very glad you decided to approach it this way too — have fun with it.

  • RickCaffeinated

    I like the way you've gone about it: building an idea and content around that idea before slowly opening the door to the masses. Looks more refined, more stable, and I would guess more profitable on your side for both its $$-making possibility and the lab options you write about here. Well played. :)

  • http://www.grizzard.com/author/epratum/ Eric Pratum

    This is a point that a lot of people are familiar with, but that I think they end up dropping when they get too busy. We see it all the time in our bosses, friends, even ourselves. You think, I like to be hands on…I NEED to be hands on, but when push comes to shove for most of us, we choose to go with what is most important to us, and truthfully, a lot of people (at least in business) choose the option that will give them the highest return, or at least the highest return right now. (Playing devil's advocate here) I might learn a lot from getting back to what I did to build my business or my career five years ago (10 years ago, 20, whatever time in the past) so that I make sure I'm not out of touch, and I can use the knowledge I gain from this to further my business. That MIGHT get me a higher return in the end than just going about business as usual, but the keyword there is might. If my business is successful currently, I might choose to continue with business as usual because I can more directly tie my success to the work that I am currently doing.

    I agree with you, Chris. I believe that most people do in principle. However, the differentiation comes when someone has to decide what will get them the highest return: a slightly more certain guaranteed return based on what I currently know or a less certain, but potentially higher return, sometime in the future.

  • http://www.lifeliteracylabs.com/ C. A.

    A huge smile began to cover my face as I read the first sentences of your post. I've just started my own LABS, the Life Literacy Labs, or simply LLL. It wasn't even ready! All the informative pages are full of 'Lorem Ipsum' poetry :) I haven't even put up my bio+story page yet. I couldn't bring myself to pay for professional design when I realized the kind of design I desired was way above my current budget. I'll be relocating to the States soon, and need every dollar. So I tried to do something with Thesis (I love it!) as a total amateur on my own. Trial and error, it was. Mostly error :) Anyway, I read Bindu Wiles' post about her new blog+yoga challenge and told myself, 'Girl, you've got to do this. You've been waiting and postponing just because you're so damn scared of coming up with something mediocre. I fear mediocrity. I hate it. Yet that fear is sometimes a great way of fooling yourself into not moving ahead. Inertia loves excuses. So I just jumped in the water. And I'm going to swim. I'm going to do the breast stroke and the butterfly stroke and everything! LLL will develop into a personal growth blog. I plan to combine it with my life coaching services in the future. I've called it 'labs' because I'll study myself and others. I'll analyze, I'll experiment, I'll learn. I'll work on the three pillars of life. I'll learn to be life-literate. And I'll expand while I help others grow. So as part of Bindu's program, I'll be writing a minimum of 800 words a day and do yoga at least 5 times a week in the coming 21 days. During this period I'll also complete the site page by page so that I can carry on with regular posting and activities after Bindu's project is over. I also plan be a more active part of Inside the Third Tribe because it's absolutely the place that supports the concept of LABS. I'm very scared. I admit. And I know there will be times when I'll fail, but as long as I have the courage to get my hands dirty, the whole experience will turn into an amazing, unforgettable path. Is it not worth it?

  • http://anthonypiwarun.com/ Anthony Piwarun

    Great advice Chris. This is especially true for those in online marketing of any form. Working in SEO and dabbling with landing page conversions, I've discovered that a lab or testing ground is vital to the success of your campaigns.

  • susangiurleo

    I'm adopting the lab model lately and learning lots. Entry into online lab work is realtively low cost and allows lots of testing. One of my experiments has turned into a $2500/month business. Now I'm going to start shifting what I learned in that lab to my main business to grow it more effectively and efficiently.
    This is how HS and colleges should teach. For a $50,000/year (private college tuition) kids better start learning how to do real time, real life lab work rather than figuring out how to get an “A.”

  • http://twitter.com/tonyfarley Tony Farley

    Thank you. Sometimes I feel like all I do is LAB. This makes me realize that some of it, even the things that I put a bunch of work into that whimper out, are actually time well spent.

  • http://christainnewyork.com Christa Avampato

    Hi Chris – thank you so much for this post. I love this idea of needing to ave our own personal online labs. Over Memorial Day weekend, I launched a new business and site as I just got my yog teacher certification and want to build a private client business from it. http://compassyoga.com

    I struggled with just marketing it on my own personal site and decided that ultimately it needed its own place to grow. I have wondered if this was the right choice and your post really helped me see that my gut decision to separate was the best thing to do. Thank you so much!

    -Christa

  • http://therealrusso.com/ MatthewRusso

    The difference between a pro and an amateur in any field is that pros take the time to “practice off the court” while amateurs practice on the job. Labs are a perfect business example of this analogy.

  • http://christainnewyork.com Christa Avampato

    Matthew – I love that quote. I'm going to use it, and of course credit you, on my blog today. What an excellent way to put it!

  • http://www.ipaddaily.com Shane

    Chris – experiements are good. Ideo, a design and innovation firm, does it all of the time and that is how we have some of the best industrial design products in the world. In fact, as you pointed out, some of our greatest achievments have come from experimentation.

    Remember to learn from your successes though, not your failures. Successes are what you are doing right.

    P.S. I wrote up a small post about MOTG, for my iPad readers that are also travelers.

  • http://impulsemagazine.net Impulse Magazine

    I definitely call my office a lab because I am always experiencing with new strategies and tactics

  • http://toddrjordan.com/thebroadbrush tojosan

    The key is dirty hands. Ha.
    Lots of our time is spent 'in classroom' so to speak. That's all 'head space' and not 'meat space' and thus nothing really gets done. Heck, we don't even know if our idea has legs till we pop it out and give it a spin.

    With the increasing flood of ideas from outside, and if you're creative, from inside, it's easy to daydream w/out doing. This post is a strong reminder to – go.do.make a mess.keep going.

  • http://gregcryns.blogspot.com greg cryns

    I wish someone would do a lab on business blogging and publish the results. Has that been done? I'm having trouble justifying starting a business blog to my client.

  • http://twitter.com/cksyme Chris Syme

    You are in the minority my friend, to have learned that failure is an essential part of success. I love the fact that you said you fail a lot but learn fast. Tryin' to gain more confidence there. Don't doubt you are active in every space you talk about. My question is, do you ever sleep?

  • Colleen Zimmerman

    One of the best testing grounds is public transit (or talking to strangers in general). You don't even have to approach them, they will come to you. It's easy to convince yourself that people you don't know are not worth the investment or are creepy-weirdos. As long as the weirdo level is low there is no reason not to engage someone. Talk about what they are interested in. Talk about the weather. It's interesting to have those random conversations with another person. They don't expect or even want you to be their new best friend. The point is that when the time comes for you to talk to the people you want to know you will be practiced and ready. You could even tell a fabulous story of this strange but interesting gent you just met on the bus.

    Another great testing ground are student films. This is where I try out what I've practiced as an actor. Something new can be tried out for little to no cost. A new technique that may not have been test driven in a real setting. a way to interact with directors. A way to get my point across that I am right for this part without telling someone I've just met all my dirty laundry.

  • http://www.uggs-outlet-store.com UGG boots

    I am also a XX fan who really like this! I also like XX, and purchase lots of it every time, like-minded friends can have a look ,we can communicate by the way~~

  • mbt shoes

    Hhe article's content rich variety which make us move for our mood after reading this article. surprise, here you will find what you want! Recently, I found some wedsites which commodity is colorful of fashion. Such as mbt outlet store that worth you to see. Believe me these websites won’t let you down.

  • Mbtusashoes

    every body hope can get cheap mbt shoes , it never a dream, mbt lami caviar is one of mbt lami . mbt shoes are on promotion now . only 99.99$ can get one pairs

  • Mbtusashoes

    MBT sandalssale there,Would you want to experience the wonderful feeling in MBT Habari ,here you can enjoy the MBT Habari sandals,buy a MBT Shoes uk

  • http://www.memorybits.co.uk/ sd card

    They do not expect or want you to be their new best friend. The premise is that when the time comes, you can talk to people you know you practiced and prepared. You could also tell a great story of this strange man, but interesting just met online.

  • http://ivanhernandezonline.wordpress.com/ Ivan Hernandez

    Hi Chris,

    Excellent post. Actually your post is the 'tipping point' for a new project I have been thinking about for a while. I have been trying to work-out how to “connect” with the different projects I have running and that has caused me to slow down and lose focus. After reading your post, I have decided to “use the lab” and set, not one, but two ideas on their own, and thanks to what I am learning at Third Tribe, I will be able to experiment there without affecting my ongoing business.

    This is what I love about reading your stuff man. As soon as I read it I am not only “inspired” but I am also motivated (and ready) to take action!

    Thanks for everything Chris!

    Ivan

  • Yyziye
  • http://www.mbt-outlet-store.com mbt shoes

    Hhe article's content rich variety which make us move for our mood after reading this article. surprise, here you will find what you want! Recently, I found some wedsites which commodity is colorful of fashion. Such as mbt outlet store that worth you to see. Believe me these websites won’t let you down.

  • Pingback: Friday Roundup

  • matthewcornell

    You've hit on some good points, Chris. In fact, I'm working on a philosophy of life based on the scientific method that treats *everything* as an experiment. It's what's behind Think, Try, Learn. If you want to try experiments and get comments from others, check out http://edison.thinktrylearn.com/

  • Pingback: Surf’s Up, Condensed: Top Creativity Links for July 1, 2010 « Creative Liberty

  • Pingback: Cause Marketing: The Best CSR Laboratory? | InCouraged

  • Pingback: ThinkBreak Friday « ThinkLAB (UK)

  • moncler outlet

    [url=http://www.moncler-france.com/]Moncler Vests[/url] and [url=http://www.moncler-france.com/]Moncler coats[/url].Allin stock.