Seth Godin, of course.

No need to explain who Seth Godin is I guess. If so, read this and come back.

There's something very special about him. He's considered as a marketing guru because of his ideas and the way he talks and writes and shares and teaches.

His vision of marketing is simple. He adds the human side to it and always pushes people to think their business communication differently and to seek quality more than quantity. It may sounds like a well-known statement but it actually is something companies tend to lose because of how apparently easy it can be to reach many potential customers through the internet.

Seth Godin fights this marketing scheme of a product advertised through mass media again and again and again until customers buy it. Customers today have a need to claim their identity and have a perfect medium to do it. They think they deserve more than average products and services and they are right to think so.

They matter and we need to do better each day and never stop questioning ourselves and our decisions. I like this vision. His vision.

I don't exactly know why but I'm sure Seth Godin is a very loyal and faithful friend. He's brilliant, he really is, and it's mostly because he believes in honesty and human values in business. He puts a finger on the essential.

My advice : follow his blog, right here. You have no idea how useful and powerful his posts are. I mean it. No surprise he's a great blogger. One post per day at least to really say something and make readers move forward with new tools and strong ideas.

Seth Godin helps me to DARE and build my own Purple Cow with ethic and originality.

He'll probably never read this but I'd like to say thanks to him.

Here is one of his precious talks at the TED conference. Inspiring.

American Express inspires me !

Six months ago I was looking for a business idea, for inspiration, for something, someone, to bring out my entrepreuneurial mind and push me to transform thoughts into action.

I googled many things in French. I found one book, blogs, forums, official website of the Chamber of Commerce... I must admit that I am easily tired of the French business approach because it never goes beyond what I expect. It never reaches the point where, seated in front of my laptop, an uncontrolable smile on my face, I think out loud "YES !".

So I searched in English and I discovered two precious websites :

http://www.coolbusinessideas.com/ and http://www.entrepreneur.com/.

About the first website, everything is in the title ! As for entrepreneur.com, there also are business ideas sorted by industry, interest or profession. They also mention the startup costs and if franchises are available.

Precious.

Their newsletters are brilliant, the information is clear and inventive. I always look forward to receive them.

But things really changed for me the day I found the Open forum by American Express.

This website is what I was looking for without knowing it. The website itself, its structure, is easy to use and pleasant. You can watch videos, read business stories, follow the blog. And you can sort all this by topic: finance, marketing, innovation, leadership, management.

Through the short videos that I watched on this Open forum, I met the american way of thinking business. I watched people talk with passion and faith and simplicity about their business, about ideas, solutions, advices, services, company's ethic, and so on.

What I realised then was this simple fact :

Business is about people first.

Here is a very short video about blogging with Seth Godin and Tom Peters.

Enjoy.

By the way, Seth Godin will be the subject of a forthcoming post. Come back soon or follow this blog !