ABV Pilot

In addition to providing examples of ABV at work and deepening my own learning of the concepts through blogging, I'll also be "pulling back the covers" occasionally on parallel efforts. One of these is a pilot that I've started to prove out the ABV concepts. Questions that I'm curious to answer:

• How do the five modules of ABV--Full Expression, Branding/Marketing, Networking, Technology, and Community-Building--interact with each other?
• Are these the right modules? In what order should they be approached? 
• What does it look like to prepare to monetize and still keep the focus on the five modules?
• Does it really work to focus on community-building before monetizing? 
• What kinds of individuals are best served by the ABV model?

Over the last month, I've assembled a dynamic team of five consultants (including yours truly) to cover the five modules of ABV. You'll see and hear more about this team over the coming months. We'll be working in pairs in each area to help pilot clients, innovators who have remarkable wisdom, "find their lucrative markets and create lasting change."

The pilot runs from April to June. As I learn more, I'll report out here. And luckily for me, the other four consultants are eager to blog. Look for guest bloggers in the future.

A few other observations:

• The process of doing a pilot, with four other people, has been extraordinarily helpful. It moves me from theory into practice in a hurry. The issues that we are navigating provide a wider set of perspectives and a depth of understanding that I wouldn't have gotten otherwise. For everyone out there who has wanted to study and plan a bit more before moving into action, I vote for action. Quickly. Now.
• I'm enjoying working on a team again. The solopreneur thing is great for awhile. Then I long for more interaction, more perspectives, more variety.  And while I've had biz partners after starting my own business, two is different from three or four or five. The last time I was on a vibrant team of five (or more) was from my corporate days at Avaya. Fond memories and it's even better when there's no company box to fit into...other than the one I'm making up.
• The team is virtual and international--one person in the Midwest, two on the East Coast, one in New Zealand, plus me in the West. We are all learning how to work effectively over space and time, especially given lots of creative thoughts and experiences are being shared in the process.
• We are eating our own dog food. So everything that we are asking pilot clients to do, we are trying out for ourselves. Including telling our stories to each other. Fascinating when people are thousands of miles away, even half-way around the world, and they give you a glimpse of who they are in their story and what their remarkable wisdom is.  This is also what happens, I'm hoping, with the ABV model--creating virtual communities that provide the human connection we all crave. We need to hear each other's stories, more than we realize.

So stay tuned. Lots more to come....