Josh Anstey’s Blog

Hello fellow Entrepreneurs,

For anyone that has not yet heard of Earth Hour, Earth Hour is an international event occurring tonight from 8:00pm-9:00pm in your local time, with the aim of promoting the reduction of electricity use and carbon emissions and raising the level of awareness for our environment.

This year, Earth Hour has turned into a global event, with my cities getting on board behind the initiative. Iconic landmarks are going to have their lights turned off to promote Earth Hour, including the Sydney Harbour Bridge, The Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco and the Sydney Opera House.

For more information, see these websites:
Earthhour2008.com
Earthhour.org

This is an opportunity for Entrepreneurs to take a different look at their ventures, their start-ups, and businesses, and join a global movement to make a difference. I know most entrepreneurs are environmentally aware and socially responsible, and donating to many charities. This is a chance for everyone to get behind the same cause.

I hope you all get behind this great initiative.

Feel free to reply to this post with any stories you have about earth hour, or other ways that your business has taken that step forward in helping the environment, community or has been socially proactive and responsible.

The entrepreneur community is a very strong and devoted community, determined to do what is best, so I look forward to reading about what you have done.

Have a great weekend, and on behalf of the hundreds of millions of people joining in Earth Hour this year, Thank you!

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The 10 Millionth Article was written on Wikipedia on March 28th 2008. The article was a Hungarian biography of a 16th Century painter called Nicholas Hilliard.

Click here for the Hungarian version
Click here for the English version

On the 10th of September 2007, the 2 millionth English article was written. I wrote a blog post about it, Wikipedia: 2 Million Articles, and was wondering when the 10 millionth would be written. Well I guess here is my answer.

It is really great to see how the world has embraced Wikipedia, and how quickly it has become such an important source of information.

Well done Jimmy Wales!

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Yes that is right. There are lessons to be learned from stand up comedians.

Before we learn the lessons, let me explain to you the pre-text of this post.

Last week I went to see a stand up comedy show by the great Australian comic Wil Anderson.

Wil has a new show called beWILdered and it is absolutely hilarious. I recommend you check it out. Anyway, at the show it got me thinking about how there are a few things to learn from stand up comedians that entrepreneurs can put into practice.

Stand up comedians are entrepreneurs themselves. They are a perfect example of someone going at it alone, giving it their best shot, getting up in front of a crowd and saying ‘here is what I have to offer; what do you think about it?’

Sometimes this is successful; they are received well and have an audience filled with laughter for the whole show. Sometimes it is not successful, and there is an awkward silence of unfunny jokes, and an unresponsive quiet audience. Regardless of the results, you can bet your dollar the stand up comedians are standing back up on stage the next night giving it another one of their best shots.

Lesson #1 from stand up comedians: Always give it a go. Don’t be afraid to stand up there, be counted and put your ideas out into the open. And more importantly, if at first you don’t succeed, don’t be disheartened, be persistent, confident and get out there and do it again.

Comedians want you to laugh, have a good time, enjoy the show and then go home and tell all your friends and family to come see the show. Stand up comedians spend a lot of time getting to know their audiences, relating to their audiences, and bringing their audiences on the ‘comedic journey’ with them. They want it to be your experience. Why? Well aside from the fact that it makes you enjoy the show a whole lot more, it also means there is a higher chance of you going home and spreading the word about the show. What is this called? This is the great important marketing skill of Word of Mouth.

Lesson #2 from stand up comedians: Relate to your audience so that they are enjoying your product or service. Word of Mouth is the most powerful marketing tool that you can use. There is a much higher chance of someone using your product or service if a friend or family member has recommended it. Never forget the importance of getting your customers, clients or users to promote your product. Make sure they enjoy their experience with your company. For starting entrepreneurs, this is the most cost effective way to kick-start your business.

I hope you are able to put these lessons learned from stand up comedians into practice.

By the way, I really do recommend seeing Wil Andersons show beWILdered – you are guaranteed to have a great night.

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For some time now I have been debating between whether to move to a Blackberry or an iPhone and have still not made a decision.

I have done the usual tech research, I have surfed the net, read reviews, comparisons, played around with both the iPhone and Blackberry and have spoken to users of both. All of this has pretty much left me in the same position – stuck in the middle.

There are so many great features in each phone, and as we always see in products, they each have great features that the other one doesn’t. This makes it quite difficult when you like features from both phones. Why couldn’t they just invent something that was middle ground…like the iBlackberry or something? Surely that would solve the problem!

Anyway, if you have any ideas, suggestions and opinions on this to help me make a decision, please post them.

Looking forward to hearing your thoughts on these great products and thanks for your help.

For your own reading and information, here are a few blogs that compare the iPhone and Blackberry.

• TechCrunch
• Simpable
• Calacanis

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The famous Forbes Magazine has released its ‘Billionaire List’. The list shows the tables have turned and there have been some surprising changes.

After 13 years, Bill Gates, Founder of Microsoft, is no longer the world’s richest man. Investor Warren Buffet has overtaken Bill Gates with a net worth of $62.0 Billion. He is closely followed by the Mexican telecom businessman Carlos Slim Helu with a net worth of $60.0 Billion.

Bill Gates comes in third with a net worth of $58.0 Billion.

Mark Zuckerberg, founder of Facebook, entered the list with a net worth of $1.5 Billion and is also the worlds youngest ever billionaire. Now that is quite an achievement.

Click here to see the full list

Click here to read more about the list on the Forbes website

I am sure this list provides a lot of motivation and inspiration to all the entrepreneurs out there.

It would be great to hear your thoughts on the list. Feel free to leave a comment and let us know what you think.

Have a great entrepreneurial day!

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