Tag Archives: building expertise

Conventional Wisdom Will Kill You

Posted on January 12, 2011 by Charlie B

I heard this phrase at a creativity seminar, and it caught my eye. Conventional wisdom exists to help mitigate risks. In business, we often use conventional wisdom to reject ideas quickly, but this can be a critical mistake. Some high … Continue reading →

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Indy Game Economics 101

Posted on November 15, 2009 by Charlie B

I recently entered the Indy gaming market, a crowded market if ever there was one. I liken being an Indy game designer / programmer to being a first cut author, except without an entire publishing industry looking for hot talent. Imagine being an author and getting your first book put on Amazon for download, or included in an online store along with millions of other titles, many of which have name brand recognition, thousands or millions of dollars in marketing spend backing them, or a lower price point (free). Your book is new, it touches universal themes, the writing is solid, and the characters alive. Still, it is useless unless people see it and buy it. How is such an author to make enough to feed the family?

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Turn Every Opportunity Into A Business Opportunity

Posted on August 29, 2009 by Charlie B

How can you start to evaluate every day occurrences for opportunities? Like most things, it starts with looking inside yourself. Getting to know your own strengths and weaknesses (and not the kind that we might state in a job interview, but the real “I’m scared of this thing inside of me so I’ll pretend I know everything and argue with anyone who says differently” kind of weakness). There are three main places to find long term opportunity: The people you interact with, the events you observe around you, and the random everyday happenings of life. Continue reading →

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