Escape from Cubicle Nation

Dang am I excited to see Lynnette Khalfani on Oprah

I just got a message today from Lynnette Khalfani, a former collaborator on an article I wrote for Startup Nation called 3 Steps to Financially Prepare for Starting Your Own Business.  She is going to be on Oprah tomorrow, in a segment on dealing with financial windfalls.

Lynnette found me through my blog right before I was going to write the Startup Nation article, and I jumped on the opportunity to work with someone with so much experience and expertise.  A former Wall Street Journal reporter and financial reporter for CNBC, she wrote a New York Times bestseller called Zero Debt .  She has gone on to write her latest book, The Money Coach's Guide to Your First Million.

But besides all that impressive professional background, the thing that excites me the most is that she is a truly humble, kind and nice person.  She is a working Mom with small kids at home and is very down-to-earth.  Not once during our conversations did I sense any ego, superiority complex or condescension.  She was excited, passionate and helpful.

At the time we talked, Oprah was just launching a season-long segment on reducing debt and she featured 3 financial coaches on the show who worked with couples throughout the season to improve their financial situation.  I told Lynnette "You should be on the show!"  She agreed, but said it was a difficult thing to do.

Fast forward a couple of months, and here she is on Oprah!  Besides that, she just taped a show today for Rachel Ray, and will be featured on Tyra as well.

It is hard to put into words, but I am just so excited for her and feel so inspired that we can ALL think bigger and more expansively about the possibilities in our work.  I know she worked her behind off to get where she is today, and probably spent many many long hours at the computer when she was tired and overwhelmed.  But she kept going and made it happen.

Good for you Lynnette - I can't wait to check you out tomorrow (Wednesday, December 1 - check your local station for listings.)

The next person I plan to see on Oprah discussing the very needed topic of financial education for college students and recent grads is my young pal Ramit Sethi from the very well-written, funny and educational blog I Will Teach You to Be Rich.  Ramit is a 20-something Stanford grad who is taking the world by storm, all with an infectious enthusiasm and sharp wit.  He just closed a book deal to write, not surprisingly, I Will Teach You To Be Rich. The title is a  bit tongue in cheek, for it is not a "get rich quick" scheme, but rather practical, useful financial advice for those that need it most, impressionable college students.

I met Ramit when he interviewed me on his blog awhile ago, and now one of my other very enthusiastic young blog readers Cody McKibben just interviewed Ramit on his blog.  I guarantee you will be inspired by all the things Ramit  is working on.

What I love about people like Lynnette and Ramit is that they are smart, funny and talented, but also genuinely nice human beings.  In my perfect world, these are the kinds of people who should get astronomical exposure so that they can make some big, lasting changes.

Oprah's producers, if you are reading this, (ha ha, talk about fantasies!) you heard me suggest Ramit as a guest first.

Traps to avoid when discussing your career with relatives over the holidays

Maybe because the Favorite Things frenzy is coming to a close tomorrow,  I had holidays on the mind when writing this month's Get a Life ezine.

The topic is helping you navigate through the sometimes emotionally charged waters of describing your new business or career ideas to your family and relatives. 

Why is it that they can press buttons that no one else can?  With the holiday season coming up, it is likely that you will be rubbing elbows with your parents, siblings, Aunt Madge or Uncle Elmer.  If, in your delight to share your new career ideas at the dinner table, you get unsupportive comments, put downs or discouragement, I would rather you don't lose your cool and throw a fork at the wall, or resort to wrestling with your grown brother in the living room in front of your kids.

So I discuss common traps when discussing your career with relatives at the holidays:

• Thinking they understand what you are talking about
• Thinking they understand that you have changed since your failed lemonade business in fifth grade
• Thinking they understand the changing job market
• Thinking they want to hear you drone on about work all day

Check out the full story here, and feel free to subscribe to Get a Life if you don't already!

Do you have any juicy, "career conversations gone bad when discussing with relatives" stories to share?

My entry into Hugh McLeod's call to change the world: The work manifesto

Inspired by the brilliant J Train Minifesto written by my buddy John Dodds of Make Marketing History, Hugh McLeod of the popular blog Gaping Void put out a call for less-than-500 word "minifestos" that can change the world. Probably the most famous manifesto, in the internet world anyway, is the Cluetrain.  Hugh wrote his own version which I also really love called The Hughtrain.

But as he said,

"Why take 50,000 words [the length of your average business tome] to say what you have to say, when 500 will do? Brevity. I love brevity. We're both in a hurry.

So I'm thinking, well, there's also a lot of people out there besides myself and the bloggers I read, with ideas needing spread. Powerful ideas that could be easily summed up in 500 words or less. And I would really, truly, seriously like to do what I can to help get them out there."

He has gotten over a hundred submissions, by a whole range of people from Seth Godin to my buddy Anna Farmery of The Engaging Brand.

I am never one to resist a challenge, so I threw my hat in the ring:

The Work Manifesto
by Pamela Slim

• Work is your real life.  It is the way you translate your feelings, your thoughts, your hopes and your desires into something valuable, tangible and useful every day. You can choose to make work  into a dreaded, necessary evil that you can't wait to finish so that you can get busy with your "real life."  Why not just do work you love?
• Good work will improve your sex life.  Frustrated employees desperately long for excitement and release in the form of fantasy football, internet surfing, porn, and the affections of their stressed and overworked spouses.  No superhero could fill the gigantic void of a passionless man or woman in a 15-minute tryst in bed.  Express your passion through your work every day, all day, and find that you will  be less needy, more attentive, open, giving and loving to your partner.  Which makes for better sex.
• Your secret desire holds the clue to your best work.  You say that you would love to do meaningful work, but don't know how to find it.  What is your secret desire?  What idea are you a little embarrassed to share with someone because it is so delicate or bold or crazy or exciting?  You often claim to not know what you want to do, but in fact censor yourself from what you  know you want  for fear of appearing ridiculous.
• You can't fool your kids.  Many of you claim passionless, dull and frustrating careers with the excuse that you must provide for your family.  Providing for your family is noble; using it as an excuse to hide from your own greatness is a bad example for your kids.  If you want them to grow up motivated, creative, free and enterprising, be that yourself.  They are watching and emulating  your every move.
• Fear is the great inhibitor.  All of the excuses that you find for not doing work you love have solutions.  You do not enact them because you are afraid: of showing up too big in the world; of failing; of appearing as an imposter; of living in poverty.  There is nothing wrong with fear.  Feel it, talk to it, examine it and walk with it.  Then step out and let yourself show up, warts and all.  It will liberate you.
• Owning is better than renting.  While you may feel "safer" renting out your skills for a paycheck and benefits, you often sell all your energy this way and have nothing left at the end of the day.  If you don't get what you need in this employment arrangement in terms of money, recognition, power or responsibility, you feel angry and frustrated.  Own the means of production and the factory, and at least your glorious disasters will be your disasters.  Accountability breeds passion and desire.

---

Who knows if Hugh will publish mine, but I sure did enjoy writing it! 

And just a word of warning for those of you new to Gaping Void ... some of the content is definitely edgy and  Rated R, so if profanity offends you or is prohibited by your internet surfing policies at work, you may want to steer clear of the site.

The mind/body connection and its relation to blogfat

Come January, you will be most likely deluged by "get rid of that holiday flab" commercials till you can't stand it.  So I don't want to harp on that angle, since I find it personally demotivating to exercise for reason of my jiggly thighs or emerging love handles.  In fact, that just makes me want to eat more ice cream and stuff my face with cookies, since I am a rebel when it comes to any kind of authority telling me what to do.

That said, I strongly believe that physical health contributes to mental clarity, increased energy and overall well-being.  I am a total extremist ... either I work out like a fanatic, or I do nothing at all.  In my twenties when this picture was taken (25 to be exact), I did 17 classes a week of martial arts and had abs that would make Janet Jackson look bad (in her lean and mean phases, of course!).  I then moved on to yoga, pilates and lifting weights in my 30s, which generally made me feel strong and unstressed.

Then I became a Mom and work at home coach and writer, and have found my usual activity level is reduced to walking up and down the stairs a few times a day.  And my late night writing sessions are fueled by cookies and ice cream ... not the celery sticks I really should eat.  Andy Wibbels wrote a very funny post about "bookfat" .. the pounds gained by first-time authors during the year that they write, revise and publish their book.

I am thinking we have a new phenomenon called blogfat ... which is really an aversion to doing anything physical that takes us away from crafting a new post.

So I propose that we support each other virtually to do a little moving and shaking that doesn't involve incoming blog links, but actual physical exercise.

For my part, I joined a local martial arts studio and will be doing 2 short classes a week on Monday and Wednesday evenings.  I had my first class last week and almost passed out as I tried to fire off rapid kicks since I am so out of shape.  But I am willing to try baby steps and take a few minutes each day to do some situps, pushups or squats.

Because I know that when I do exercise, my mind clears, ideas emerge, and my intuition feels much more "tuned up," since it usually speaks through the physical, not intellectual realm.

What kind of exercise could you start that would make you feel a little less lethargic, get working on a bit of your blogfat and shake some creative ideas loose?

Favorite Things deadline Tues 11/28 and Free Escape call 12/6

I hope everyone had a nice weekend!

I wanted to share a couple of reminders today.

Promote your product or service!

My Pam's Favorite Things contest deadline is tomorrow, Tuesday November 28 at whatever time I fall asleep (usually about midnight Mountain Time U.S. (GMT -7).  I encourage you or your entrepreneurial loved ones to submit a favorite gift product for consideration.  If you missed the original post with a description of the contest and guidelines, here it is.

And although a few people have scolded me for contributing to the mass hysteria that we call the holiday shopping season, I have received lots of very creative, interesting and inspiring product submissions created by people just like you and me, looking to make a living doing work they love.  I know not everyone celebrates Christmas or New Years on Jan 1, but often it is a time of year when relatives get together and it is nice to bring a gift along.  My business is promoting small businesses, so I leave it to your good ethics and creative minds to not come up with mindless, consumerist drivel.  We will leave that up to the large companies.

Free Escape from Cubicle Nation Teleconference Call on December 6

For the past couple of months, I have been hosting free conference calls on the first Wednesday of the month and inviting blog readers and podcast listeners to join in and share what is on their mind.  Some have been large groups and some very small, but we always have a good time discussing issues and challenges about starting a small business and finding ways to support and encourage each other.  The next call is:

Wednesday, December 6
8-9pm Eastern Standard Time (5pm Pacific, 6pm Mountain, 7pm Central, 2am London!)
To sign up, send a blank email to [email protected]

I have been playing around with the times a bit to make sure I don't leave anyone out who can't participate during work hours.  My U.K. friends got shorted this time, but hopefully some others can join that weren't able to before. 

To make sure that I am not spamming you, you *must* reply to the confirmation message you get after signing up.  It will come from me - pcs (at) ganas (dot) com and the subject will be "Confirm your request for information from dec6teleclass"  Just follow the simple instructions in the email and you will verify your sign-up and receive the call-in details.

If you can't make it for whatever reason, I will record the call and share it with those that sign up.

I look forward to hearing from you soon!

Much to be thankful for

Knowing that Thanksgiving is upon us tomorrow in the U.S., I thought I would take a minute to express my extreme gratitude for all the people who have come into my life in the past year.  Most have come right here through this blog, which has become a comforting, occasionally raucous and always interesting place to host.  I don't see myself so much as the owner as the facilitator, throwing out thoughts that YOU, dear readers, share with me in the form of questions, comments and emails.  I have so much fun writing here that I sometimes wonder when the big joke is going to end and I will wake up and realize it was just a delicious dream.

So thank you for:

• My band of U.K. based buddies John, Robert and Ann who (depending on who is writing) alternately encourage, cajole, tease, reprimand (which Robert does when I stay up too late) and generally make me proud that my ancestors came from those little islands. (Although Robert is from Southern Africa, but resides in the U.K. - he did publish an interview with me today, coincidentally, but that is not why I linked to him!)
• My encouraging and smart friends Philippa, Marilyn, Glenda, Lisa and Matthew. Thank you for  keeping me in line, sharing knowledge, talking me off a ledge when someone blasts me or I get overwhelmed, and generally being fun to hang out with.
• Longtime readers and frequent and prolific commenters Murali, Geoff, Matthew, Paula, Carla, Keith and Jeff.  I appreciate that you have been readers of the blog for a long time and often share your thoughts in comments.  Murali, we don't always agree on everything, but you always make me think and challenge me to do better, and for that I am very grateful.  Thanks Nancy for inspiring this post with yours, and congrats again on being a Typepad featured blog!
• All of you who have provided instant, problem-solving advice for various technical challenges I have faced in publishing the blog and the podcast.  You really should send me a bill!  I don't have the links to all your blogs, but Matthew, Andy, Don, Dan, Andy, Derrik, Kris and many others, you know who you are!
• Suzanne, who got me started on this blog adventure!
• All my clients - thank you for trusting me to work with you.  You let me express my creative self through work and for that, I feel very lucky.
• My "adopted professors" Dr. Bob and Dr. Srikumar who always weigh in with encouraging words and wise perspectives.  You almost make me want to get a Master's degree just so I can spend more time hanging out with you. 
• My "link sugar daddy" Guy who has graciously shared some of my posts this year with his large legion of smart and entrepreneur-loving readers and who is always positive and encouraging.
• Rich and Jeff, thank you for making me feel like an honorary Sloan sister.  I love to watch how you creatively grow Startup Nation, and have been extremely impressed with the integrity you show in working with business partners.
• Garr and Kathy, I worship your smarts, creativity and kick-butt blogs and am thankful that I have good models to emulate.
• My dear husband, family, and best friend Desiree who don't always understand what I am typing at a furious pace most nights, but always are (or act anyway!) excited to hear about my exploits, and share my excitement at the many glorious triumphs of my readers.

And for the many, many hundreds of you who have shared your stories, your dreams and your fears with me. I don't want to leave anyone out!  I feel very priviledged to have your confidence and promise to do my best to create content that provides a path, encourages you, reduces your feelings of isolation and fires you up to start your own business.  I appreciate the way that so many of you have evangelized this blog and gotten the message out to people who need it.

We are going out of town to Flagstaff, Arizona for four days so things should be a bit quiet on the blog front.  And since I am going to be with my husband's relatives who are Navajo, I wanted to share what we often discuss at Thanksgiving:  gratefulness for family, for health, for life, and for always "walking in beauty," knowing that as their traditional prayers say, beauty is always above you, below you, before you, behind you and within you.

Enjoy!   

Free at last

Another one of my frequent blog readers and commenters, J. Timothy King, informed his friends, family and cyberspace in general that he gave notice at his job and will be formally self-employed by Thanksgiving.  After talking about parallels with recent episodes of Roswell that he was watching, he said:

"Wednesday morning, as my wife was faxing a contract I had signed as a consultant, I asked my manager to chat in the conference room. I told him that I had wanted for some time to start my own business. He knew this, though he may have forgotten or may not have realized how serious I was. I said, “I’m going into consulting, so as of November 22, I resign.”

We left the way open for me to do further work for him, under contract. But for now, I’m really on my way out. The paperwork has officially been set in motion. I am officially now self-employed. Or at least I will be giving thanks for that, come Thanksgiving, whether I want to or not. The consulting job will have me working with an old friend, a developer I met many years ago, while we were still in college. Aside from working with some good developers— I know they’re good: I’ve seen their code. This project will also allow me some flexibility to build my business, to refine the idea and prove the technology. Most importantly, it will force me to treat the job like a business. It will force me to be truly and solely self-employed.

And that’s the scary part. Fear is what actually held back Liz and Max in Roswell. That’s the only thing that could hold me back. What if I can’t find enough consulting clients to provide for my family? What if I don’t have the energy to do consulting and build my business? What if my business idea falls flat?"

The kind of fears that Tim faces as he takes his first steps on his own are unavoidable.  But with planning, connecting with others, optimism, tenacity and a bit of blind faith thrown in, I know Tim will make it through.  I love his parting quote, also borrowed from the diary of one of the characters from the Roswell episode:

"The episode then ends with this passage from Liz’s diary:     'The tough thing about following your heart is what people forget to mention, that sometimes your heart takes you to places you shouldn’t be, places that are as scary as they are exciting and as dangerous as they are alluring, and sometimes your heart takes you to places that can never lead to a happy ending… And that’s not even the difficult part. The difficult part is when you follow your heart, you leave normal, you go into the unknown… And once you do, you can never go back.'

Something deep inside my gut tells me I will never work in a cube farm again. -TimK"

I am very proud of you for making the leap Tim ... as I am sure are many others who frequent this blog.  We can't wait to hear what comes of your new business!

 

Escape Podcast: The customer likeability factor

A conversation with a client last week got me obsessing about ways to further support and encourage him in his entrepreneurial endeavors.  And as I spent more and more time thinking about it, I had a deep insight:

The fact that I care so much about this client is a great clue that I am in the right business!

It  led me to create this week's podcast episode:  The customer likeability factor.  The description:

Knowing what business to start is a huge question for many aspiring entrepreneurs.  Aside from examining your own passions and interests, you can gain great insight into this question by thinking about your ideal customer in the following dimensions:

1. Who would I genuinely like to work with?  What characteristics do they share?

2. What impact would my product or service have on their life?  How does it feel to know I am having a positive impact?

3. How would I feel talking about my business with these customers?

How has this factor impacted your business decisions?  I would love to know.

If you want to subscribe to the podcast feed, go here.  I publish every other Monday.

Plastics, young man! How to use market trends in your quest for the perfect business

If you have ever seen the classic movie The Graduate starring a fresh-faced Dustin Hoffman, you surely remember the scene where his parent's friend tells him "Plastics, young man!" imploring him to start his career in the latest booming industry.

I fondly recalled this quote as I eagerly dove into December's issue of Entrepreneur Magazine, featuring The 2007 Hot List:  Best Businesses, Markets and Trends.

Before looking into some very cool examples of trends, here is a little context:

• We all know that by the time "hot trends" are published in a mainstream magazine that they are not really "hot trends" anymore.  They were really "hot trends" last year when the lucky rascals featured in the magazine built businesses around them.
• Any trend is set within an economic and political context.  So if the stock market crashes or a significant terror strike occurs or environmental havoc is wreaked in an area where you are starting a "hot trend" business, everything can change in an instant.
• As Seth Godin said in this very true post the other day, the best time to start a business was last year.
• As Guy Kawasaki said in an interview at Startup Nation when asked what business trends were worth examining:

"It's not like you get up in the morning and say "I want to be an entrepreneur.  Should I make chips, software, a dry cleaner, desks?  That is the wrong order.  The right way is you love dry cleaning or software or chips and because of that love of and knowledge of that industry, you are going to change that industry.  If you want to be an artist, be an artist!  But don't do it because you read in BusinessWeek that the market for art is getting bigger.  Quite frankly, you might not have the talent."

So the best way to use market trend research in business design is to see it in two parts:

• Part One:  Do your inner reflection work to figure out the kinds of topics and ideas and people and things that mesmerize, fascinate, light up, wake up and energize your creative soul.  I gave some hints for starting this process here and here.
• Part Two:  Drink up as much information as you can about what is happening in the market and use these trends as creative springboards to "change the industry," as Guy says, or to capture a market segment that will be perfectly served by you.

I'll leave Part One for you as homework.  Now let's dive into some of the trends that I found really interesting:

1. Green products. (pg. 81) I know, I know, this is nothing new based on all the news coverage lately, but I so distinctly remember being a passionate recycler and tree hugger in college back in 1984 and found that besides my granola head friends with me in Northern California, these ideas were definitely not mainstream. There is an opportunity now like no other ... where market conditions, media awareness and political strength are really allied behind being green.  For those of you who have been hiding your leafy nature behind a cube wall all these years, the timing could be great to really move forward some great planet-saving ideas.
2. Creative funerals. (page 87)  I was both fascinated and creeped out by this trend, explained this way:  "Baby boomers who demand that things be done "their way," coupled with innovative entrepreneurs and a trend toward cremations are shaking life into this lifeless industry.  So bid farewell to the traditional church funeral and say hello to memorial services held on golf courses, ashes scattered by skydiving and remains launched into outer space." 
3. Social networking. (pg. 85) is an example of something that feels distinctively "non-hot," after reading it about it for so long on everyone's blog.  An interesting twist was, however  that "smart entrepreneurs will avoid the saturated areas and instead head for niche markets, such as seniors, music fans, groups of local users, pet owners or dating groups.  If you're planning on catching this blazing bandwagon, now is the time...'Five years from now, we won't be talking about social networks - it will just be integrated in every application you see.'"
4. Transition services for seniors. (pg. 87)  With the megatrend of a rapidly graying population, more and more seniors (in the U.S. anyway) are headed out of their large homes and into smaller senior residences.  This transition can be stressful for families who struggle to help elder Mom and Dad manage the emotional trauma of changing homes.  Assisted Moving LLC is an example of a company which addresses this need with the following service:  "...A systematic downsizing plan complete with software showing the dimensions of the new home.  Once the seniors see what will really fit, Assisted Moving helps them decide what to pass on , holds estate sales to sell other items, discards unwanted items and moves what the seniors keep into their new homes." 
5. Minority kids. (pg. 89) "This segment is hotter than ever now that 45 percent  of U.S. children under age 5 are part of a racial minority - Asian American, black or Hispanic.  Children in these rapidly growing communities will need every sort of product imaginable - and winning their brand loyalty today is critical."  I find this trend personally fascinating since I have such a vast web of diverse friends and relatives.  There are so many ways to approach and segment these markets in interesting ways, and to address problems in culturally appropriate ways.  Mainstream media tends to classify "minority" groups as a big segment ... but if you are from a minority background or have spent any time with people who are, you know that any broad sweep category of "Asian" or "Latino" or "Native American" has tremendously complex and nuanced elements to each market.
   
6. Employee screening. (91) As an example of making lemonade from lemons, all the fear of drug-crazed employees, terrorism, espionage and theft is making employee screening services extremely popular. I see many ways to turn this industry on its head by both providing excellent screening services and maintaining the esteem and dignity of the screened employees so they don't feel like they are being questioned under a single hanging light bulb in a dark room with their hands tied behind their back.
   
7. Inclusive design. (pg. 90)  I was very interested to read that "fifty million Americans have some sort of physical limitation that makes it hard for them to use tools or function in environments designed for the able-bodied. When they look for products that make their lives easier, they often find that these products are, in a word, hideous."  A sharp entrepreneur capitalized on this with her new company Great Grabz, which manufactures grab bars in stylish materials like brushed nickel to match the house decor.
8. Expanded living spaces. (pg. 93)  With the slowdown of the housing market (we are really feeling it here in Phoenix), people are looking to redesign their existing spaces instead of adding more square footage.  "Garages are among the spaces getting extreme makeovers to be used for hobbies, parties, wine storage and even cooking."  Wow, that would really piss off my homeowner association, who already glares at us for occasionally parking on the street. (Don't even get me started on homeowner associations ... if anyone can find a business niche to run them out of existence, you have a devoted evangelist here)

These are just a handful of examples of interesting opportunities arising due to social, technological and demographic changes.  I really encourage you to read this article and see how your particular business idea could take advantage of some of these factors.  You can ask yourself:

1. How might this trend open up a unique and profitable niche that I would be perfectly equipped to serve?
2. How might I create a joint venture with someone already serving this market segment well?
3. Is this an area that could be immediately wiped out by an environmental disaster, act of terrorism or economic downturn, or does it seem to be more stable and bulletproof?

My ultimate dream?  That next year, some of you will be featured in the article as shining examples of businesses that took advantage of emerging trends.

Ready for some fun? Submit your product for 'Pam's Favorite Things 2006'

I can't stop from cracking up at my hubris even when writing the title to this post, which makes me want to write it even more.  Oprah be damned, I am taking this entrepreneurial bull by the horns.

I had a very fun brainstorm today while talking to my very creative friend Marilyn on the phone:

Why not ask my readers to submit their products for a Pam's Favorite Things feature post in anticipation of the spending spree we call the holiday season?  I often wonder what I can do for you readers to further expand your business growth, get the word out about your products, provide support and encouragement and help you break into new markets.  Instead of spending our hard earned holiday dollars this year at behemoth companies like Nordstrom, Walmart and Toys-R-Us, why don't we direct them towards our sister-en and brethren who are working hard to build a business?

This seems like a really fun way to get a little friendly competition going and generate some buzz for our shared mission here at Escape from Cubicle Nation which is to promote liberation and creativity through new business ventures.

So here goes ...

The process:

• From now (November 15) until November 28, send me an email with the subject line "Pam's Favorite Things Submission" and tell me about your product, why you think it would be a great gift, and how you got your start as an entrepreneur. Send it to pcs (at) ganas (dot) com.
• I will sift through the piles of excellent entries and choose the Top 10 to be included in the post to be published here on December 1.
• Feel free to spread the word to other creative entrepreneurs who want to join in the fun.

Basic guidelines:

• Submissions should be for products that one would actually consider giving to someone else for the holidays.  If you are a Java programmer, a package of 10 free programming hours may not be the ideal gift for this contest.  Then again, I guess it depends on who is on your list.  I look forward to your descriptions of why your product should be on the list as much as a description of what it is.
• Please, no bigger companies disguising themselves as smaller companies.  What I want to promote here are examples of people who have crossed the great chasm from corporate drone to kick-ass entrepreneur and have some great products to show for it that would make fun, valuable, interesting and off-beat presents.
• No need to send samples unless it is high-quality chocolate or coffee.  Then I must sample it to ensure it is as good as you say it is.  I am not running this contest to subvert my own holiday shopping by getting a bunch of your freebies, although now that I think about it, that is an excellent idea.  Ever hear of "re-gifting?"  Seriously, don't worry about samples.

Oprah can promise overnight millionaires by her "recommendations" ... I may generate enough sales by my recommendations to help you pay for the postage on the gifts you ship to your relatives.

But I guarantee you one thing - it will be fun!  Please join in.