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I often get asked, “How do you find your content to write your blogs and articles?”

The answer is simple. I pay attention and try to stay in the moment. If you’re creating intellectual property (IP for the rest of this article), then you need to find a way to use real-life, every day events that people can relate to as a metaphor for not-so-simple “stuff.”

Take Jerry Seinfeld. The dude made a boatload of money over 9 years making a television show about “nothing.” Add to it, that all of that material came from a highly successful comedy act, which he still uses today. Making money on “nothing.” That nothing, however, is what we deal with in our daily lives. One of my favorite episodes was when the gang lost Kramer’s car in the mall parking lot. An entire episode was dedicated to the goofy search for the car. How many of us have ever lost our car in a parking lot? I have…and recently at a grocery store when I realized that I have a new car and I should stop looking for the old one! That episode, as well as all the others take a real-life situation and engages the audience because we can relate.

If you follow my blog posts, my newsletters, and my speeches, you will hear stories about my dogs, my kids, my wife (although she scares me most so I have to be careful), my parents, my basketball coaching, my cooking, and my professional experiences. You’ve heard about me walking the dogs, moving furniture, burning my hand, hitting poor golf shots, and walking around New York City with $5,000 in cash. Why? Because you can relate to all of these things. They make the “stuff” I talk about – insurance, crisis leadership, risk management, executive leadership, and change management more palatable. I hope that when I draw a metaphor, the light goes on and you say “Ah Ha!”

So when you write your next blog post, article, or executive brief OR present your next speech or video, consider your uniqueness. As my professional mentor, Alan Weiss always says, there is nothing new under the sun. You’re methodology, theories, strategies, and the like are not necessarily new. However, you are unique and your experiences make your IP different from everyone else!

To create great IP, you have to add one key ingredient…YOU! Pay attention to your life. Don’t think nothing happens to you. It does. Be in the moment and find those crazy little things that make you chuckle or shake your head. Most likely, it’s the start of a great new story.

Now, if you only had a neighbor like Kramer…

© 2012 Dan Weedin. All Rights Reserved

From my February newsletter – to subscribe, click here

Your Secret Sauce to Success: 
Re-Purposing

© 2012 Dan Weedin. All Rights Reserved

This article is from my monthly column for the Kitsap Business Journal…

Be smart with your smarts — Protecting your intellectual property brand

It never ceases to amaze me how often I see business professionals overlook protecting their intellectual property and brand. How do you do this? Let’s start by backing up and discussing the concepts of intellectual capital and intellectual property.

“Intellectual capital” is what’s between your ears. It’s your industry “smarts” that you’ve accumulated over time through experience, education, and knowledge. “Intellectual property” is the manifestation of that intellectual capital through products and resources like books, articles, white papers, teleconferences, videos, workshops, speeches, systems, etc.

Intellectual capital is critical for people in professional services industry, e.g. consultants, speakers, architects, attorneys, web and graphic designers, and technology gurus to name a few. These folks make their money because business owners and executives sorely need their “smarts.” However, there are growing numbers of other entrepreneurs who are discovering ways to harness their genius into intellectual property to generate additional income and gravity.

Here are my rules of thumb in dealing with creating and protecting your intellectual capital and property:

Don’t just give away all of your “smarts.” Yes, you should make your articles, blog posts, video blogs, and executive white papers free. Giving away a certain amount of your expertise is needed to gain credibility, create momentum, and raise awareness. However, you need to know where to draw the line. You invested blood, sweat, tears, and money on your “smarts.” Don’t give it all away.

Create intellectual property. Find ways to provide value to others by reaching them in different ways. This is critical for those in the professional services business, but also in other industries. Here are a few examples — blogging, YouTube video, social media platforms, booklets, e-Books, manuals, publishing, and workshops. Spend at least an hour a week in “creative mode,” and consider ways to provide value in clever ways.

Be in the moment. Some of the best ideas for intellectual property that I’ve used have been provided to me by other people. Keep your ears and mind open. Believe it or not, our prospects and clients know what they want and need better than we do! They often tell us in ways that we are not ready to assimilate, so we need to stay in the moment and be excellent listeners.

Copyright and trademark your work. Everything you create that is your own needs to include the copyright mark — ©. You need to include the year, who owns the IP, and the words, “All Rights Reserved.” You have the right to copyright all your work — articles, videos, blog posts, etc. There are no requirements to doing this, other than the work must be your own. I even copyright my proposals because they are proprietary.

If you have a brand that is unique to you, consider trade marking it. If it’s a specific brand name, training, or workshop, you want to make sure it’s name is exclusive to you. I’m not an attorney, so I can’t give you the entire process. Contact a trademark attorney to find out.

Track your name and brand through Google Alerts. It’s a free service and will update you daily on where your name and brand are appearing in cyberspace. You can also check for plagiarism through outlets like Copyscape.

Creating intellectual property is important for every single business out there and that includes yours. It’s an opportunity to improve the condition of others with your “smarts,” as well as generate revenue for you. Find time in your week to be creative and listen to what your clients and prospects are telling you they want. Create intellectual property in various forms and then protect it with copyright and trademark. This final part is crucial to minimizing plagiarism and improper use of your work. Be smarts with your “smarts!”

© 2010 Dan Weedin. All Rights Reserved