The Age of DIY

Business

The Age of DIY

By Ken Burbary ⋅ November 25, 2008 ⋅ Post a comment

Filed Under DIY networked community business change

I’m a big believer in DIY – Doing it Yourself. Call me old fashioned but it’s something I learned at an early age from my late father. If you don’t know something, learn it. Need a piece of info? Find it. Need specialized expertise? Seek it out. No one else is going to do it for you (usually), so you better take the initiative and get it done yourself. Like life, business is littered with challenges and obstacles that you will encounter along the way. How you handle these obstacles, what you do next, usually determines whether or not the outcome is successful.

Sound like a lot? It certainly can be. No one I know has the time, nor aptitude to be proficient in every topic and/or skill, let alone acquire deep expertise. Fortunately, the rules of the game have evolved and changed to point there where they favor YOU.

For example, until recently, if you were a web developer and needed to build a new application on a emerging platform (let’s say RoR – Ruby on Rails), what options would you have to solve the problem?

You could:

Learn how to write RoR code yourself
Hope someone within your network already possesses the skill/knowledge
Pass on an opportunity because you didn’t have the answers, right partner, etc..

That’s hard if you aren’t a technologist who can quickly adapt to a new technology platform (I know some rock-star developers out there, like David Hinson, can do this without skipping a beat).

But I’m not a techie you say. This doesn’t apply to me. Ok, what if you’re the brand manager in the marketing dept. for a successful consumer products company. You’ve been asked to develop the social media component of an integrated go-to-market plan for your brand. Social Media? Doesn’t that mean Myspace or Facebook? You don’t have experience with social media and aren’t sure where to start, so what options would you have to solve the problem?

You could:

Learn as much as you can in a short time and write the strategy yourself, hoping for the best (not advisable!)
Hope you can find an expert in your network who has the knowledge/expertise in Social Media
Recommend a plan that has no social media component, and miss a golden opportunity to engage with your customers

Do any of these sound good to you? Hardly. There is a better way forward, and it’s available to you because the world has changed and unleashed a new power for individuals. The network allows you to crowd source a problem. The network allows you to community source a problem. The network exponentially increases your capabilities, through the reach of others.

In the networked DIY age, the problems above get solved quickly because you have the necessary relationships and resources available to you. Don’t believe me? Try this example here, here or here. Answers come in minutes. The network allows you to move fast enough to meet business challenges thrown at you every day. However, it’s not something you get without first putting in the work yourself. How? By becoming active in the network. Establishing relationships, initiating dialogue w/others, helping others grow, so you can be in a position to benefit when you really need it.

This is available to anyone willing to take advantage of it. How? I suppose I could elaborate in extensive detail, but many others, far more knowledgable than I, have already provided the roadmap. You should read these blog posts on how to get started:

And then reach out to them.

The most important takeaway in all of this is: PARTICIPATION. Remember, it’s the age of DIY, and success can’t happen unless YOU are the one doing. The revolutionary difference about this is that you’re now able to contact these subject matter experts, build relationships with them. In some cases form partnerships with them. Ultimately, you’ll be in a better position because of it, and make better decisions about you business. Help yourself by helping others grow. The more you give, the more you get.

Let’s reexamine the hypothetical problems I described earlier, but in the DIY age. New options are available through crowd sourcing, or directly engaging subject matter experts who are part of the community. You’re able to go directly to the source for expertise. Establish a dialgoue, here (RoR Expert) and here (Social Media Expert), and work together to solve the problem. Experts can be instantly referred to you by colleagues in the network, or by contacts they have. The irony is, despite what the DYI term implies, you’re anything but alone in the DIY age.

Individuals over the world are adapting to the network so they can solve business problems, build new (and otherwise out of reach) relationships, build new businesses, even change countries.

How are you adapting to the DIY age? Do you believe in its ability to transform the way you work? The way you live? You should. It’s changing your world whether you like it or not. As Charles Darwin famously said:

It is not the strongest of the species that survives, nor the most intelligent that survives. It is the one that is the most adaptable to change.

* Big thanks to my good friends Blagica Bottigliero & Alan Wolk for helping shape some of these thoughts

http://www.stickyfigure.com Steve Woodruff

Part of being the one most likely to survive is being the most “networked,” which is your point. The networks we build provide expertise, connections to other resources, and boundless potential opportunity (see: http://is.gd/42ev). It makes no sense to leave all that on the table by ignoring community networking!
http://www.buzzgain.com Mukund Mohan

Ken
DIY is the most fulfilling way to learn, so you are spot on. The one other thing I would add is to be proactive not reactive. If you are reacting to what’s being said in the news about yourself, your brand you are behind the 8 ball anyway.

Mukund Mohan’s last blog post..Why dont technology startups leverage PR even if its more effective?
http://altitudebranding.com Amber Naslund

“Remember, it’s the age of DIY, and success can’t happen unless YOU are the one doing”.

This is critically important. DIY says “DO” as the first word. The overwhelming amount of information and knowledge available to us can trick some into being complacent, content to absorb and hope that the hard work will come through osmosis.

It doesn’t work that way. So to me, the critical component of making the myriad connection is the step that comes after: taking that knowledge and doing something with it. Today. Rolling up your sleeves and refusing to wait until someone else guides you, but blazing a trail for others to follow.

Thanks for a well-thought post, Ken.

Amber Naslund’s last blog post..ROI Begins At The End
http://www.toadstoolblog.com Alan Wolk

This reads much better Ken. Well done.

What’s great about this new world is that it gives power to people who previously didn’t have it– information socialism, if you will. We all have the ability to know things now that were once only available to a select few.

That’s a huge benefit.

Alan Wolk’s last blog post..Your Obama Is Not My Friend
http://adamhcohen.com Adam Cohen

Great post Ken. What’s fascinating is that with an area like social media being so new for corporations, many folks (like yours truly) have taken it upon themselves to immerse in it. It’s the only way to learn. I also agree with your emphasis on participating. You can start by listening, but it’s the participation that makes all of these tools and interactions meaningful.

Adam Cohen’s last blog post..Twitter: The Value of Good Conversation
http://www.shorespeak.com/blog Rob Shore

Great insights, thanks. What I notice is that the brand manager you reference in your post has little to no idea where to start the social media journey. This makes their DIY road long and bumpy – and leaves the door open for experts to assist companies with their social media challenges.
http://www.toadstoolblog.com Alan Wolk

Excellent point Rob (and one I had just come back here to add)

The biggest danger of DIY-ism is when people fail to realize how much they don’t know.

That’s as true for bathroom tiles as it is for social media.

Too many people who know nothing about say design and layout will read an article or two about it and do it themselves. The result won’t be blindingly awful, but it will be strikingly amateurish and the money they’d have spent on an actual graphic designer would have made a world of difference and made them and their company look a lot more professional and polished.

In other words, don’t do-it-yourself just because you can.

Alan Wolk’s last blog post..Your Obama Is Not My Friend
MOM

Great Article Ken! Your Dad and I are so proud of you and your accomplishments. What a great acknowledgment to your Dad. Change can be very powerful if we empower it. Progress usually involves a risk, however you can’t steal second base and keep your foot on first.
Tim Jasper

You make a very good point, Ken! We live in the day of extreme specialisation, nobody bothers to do anything for themselves anymore. I went to the hardware store the other day to purchase appliance parts for broke down vacuum cleaner I wanted to fix, and the clerk asked me if I'm a professional, I said no, and he couldn't help wondering why I just don't go out and buy a new one.
Puppet_Micha

I definitely agree. I've been in so many occasions in the position to pass an opportunity, business wise or any other kind, like going to the store and try to get Kenmore Parts because I didn't have the inside knowledge that I decided to become a learner. My life is so much easier since.
http://security-wire.com/02/how-to-remove-internet-defender-rogue-anti-spyware.html remove Internet Defender virus

Yeah, this is the age of DIY!