The Underlying Blog

Fried Chicken is Good and So is Vacation

Folks, it's been a great year so far:

• VisualStrategist.com launched to great fanfare: We're talking people crying in the streets, parades, all-you-can-eat buffets, etc.
• I've put out the VSS (Visual Strategist Solution) FREE Life Management Template Set for MindManager. Personally, it's a pain-in-my-neck because it's made me work so hard to implement (yes, I do eat my own dogfood). Does that make me a pain-in-my-own-ass? Either way, it has given me a framework I trust.
• And I'm finally going to be getting Mindjet Certification Training in late-September. I really hope they have good eats at the certification as I eat like Joey Tribbiani when the food is free/someone else is paying. 
• So, in celebration of Labor Day, I'll be going on my vacation the first part of September and then gearing up for a long-term engagement starting in early October.

Mainly, I have to take some time off to avoid hypocrisy: If you're a client, you know I advocate taking vacations and personal retreats to offset the grueling hours we all deal with. As I've done an absolutely abysmal job of this so far in 2007, the time has come.

The blog will be silent for a few weeks: Never fear though, I shall return after extreme laziness.

Technorati tags: Kyle McFarlin, Mindmanager, VSS, Visual Strategist Solution, Visual Strategist, Vacation, Laziness

Mindjet Training: Matt Mansinne Coming Through

A quick update after my previous posts to let you know that Mindjet Senior Trainer Matt Mansinne contacted me the other day with potential training certification dates in late September. I'm ECSTATIC that we're finally moving forward.

...And the elves celebrate the launch of Santa's Sleigh!*

Technorati tags: Mindjet Training, Mindjet, Matt Mansinne, MindManager, Gyronix, Visual Strategist, Visual Strategist Solution, Kyle McFarlin

*I'd said certification was all I want for Christmas.

The Year of Amish Recruitment: 3 Tips to Fight Future Shock

I've noticed something in 2007: A lot of people making jokes to me about ditching all of their technology, a great deal more than in 2005 or 2006. Could it be the stress of upgrading to Windows Vista, could it be the technology has turned into the Glenn Close stalker from Fatal Attraction?

As I live an hour away from one of the largest Amish communities in the United States, the temptation is EXTREME for me.

And I've got to admit folks, even after releasing a system of life management, VSS, I feel it sometimes too, the desire to go to something simpler and something more pure. Like damn, are we becoming the Borg?

I even get sick of the efficiency of GTD sometimes. Remember when crap used to just go into a big pile... And you kept on ignoring it even when forest creatures made homes in it? Do I see torches and pitchforks in the distance?

Strange world, that those I speak to, Early Adopters on any scale, would reminisce of a simpler time. Is it future shock, or are we finally noticing that there is NO GOING BACK? I think it's the latter.

So, here are 3 tips to fight the shock of no going back:

1. Turn it ALL off on Saturday or Sunday. I know, it follows you, so pick a day and broadcast ferociously to always on co-workers that you're gone on Saturday/Sunday. Seriously, create the space in your life for one day to yourself or with loved ones, where the technology truly doesn't find you. You may just get frisky or find inner-peace... UNINTERRUPTED!!! To put it succinctly, the online world can go to hell one day a week.
2. Check e-mail on your terms, not theirs. I've seen numerous bloggers over the years recommend you turn off Outlook e-mail notifications, and they're all right. And Crackberries... they're great, but the same rules need to apply, even more so. Of all the people who venture toward the edge of Stephen King's classic line from The Shining movie: 'All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy', the Crackberry addicts teeter the most toward drone oblivion.
3. Use a Moleskine to record your thoughts. My buddy Mark Hollander put me onto this, and I'd still say it's the closest I come to feeling like Thoreau at Walden Pond. Sorry Tablet makers, you just haven't come close yet.

And here's a little humor for you that was forwarded on to me from Rob Wendt:

Still want more humor / fascinating-from-nowhere reading, check out Heisenberg Fridays by Walter Terry at ROICopy.

Technorati tags: Technology, Future Shock, GTD, Blackberry, Crackberry, Stephen King, The Shining, Amish, Mark Hollander, Rob Wendt, Fatal Attraction, Gyronix, ResultsManager, MindManager, Visual Strategist, Visual Strategist Solution, VSS, Walter Terry, ROI Copywriting, Henry Thoreau, Walden Pond, Tablet PC, Mindjet

Mindjet Training - Rising out of Hell: Mindjet Responds to John Galt and Waldo

As promised, here is Mindjet's UNEDITED response to my recent John Galt & Waldo posts and a conversation I had with Michael Pricer, VP of Sales and Service - Americas yesterday. I applaud Michael and Mindjet for responding, and without further ado, ladies and gentlemen, Mr. Michael Pricer:

Kyle -  We regret the lack of responsiveness over the past several months.  Providing closed loop communications is something that Mindjet and I hold in high regard and going forward we will make sure we follow through on this commitment.  I have taken immediate actions to communicate this expectation internally.  Thank you for your candid feedback. 

I am glad that you and I outlined a plan of action beyond getting certified that can integrate you closer to the Mindjet family;

1. Provide you certification training as soon as your schedule permits

2. Integrate you into the Central Region sales team to leverage you and your certification training

3. Once certified provide your listing on our website for interested customers

In summary, we take our customers feedback seriously and we are always looking for areas to improve.  Our growth at Mindjet has been significant over the past 12 months and hopefully this can be a way to grow our relationship with you and other interested training partners. 

Sincerely, Michael Pricer

VP of Sales and Service, Americas

Again, I thank Michael for responding and look forward to a closer working relationship with Mindjet. To be a bit more clear on point (1) above, Mindjet will be picking up the $1500 tab for certification as recompense for 7 months of dead air. Another quick point partially covered in Michael's note, I've also requested that Mindjet follow the suggestions alumnist and now Microsoft employee Michael Scherotter outlined regarding Kyle McFarlin in a recent post:

1. If he meets the certification requirements, make him a certified trainer.
2. Aggregate his blog on the Mindjet Labs or the Mindjet Blog.
3. Do an in-depth interview on video of why he loves MindManager so much: post the video interview everywhere.
4. Do a case study about his Visual Strategist Solution
5. Ask him what Mindjet could be doing better (besides the obvious)
6. Ask him how he would make MindManager better
7. Bring him to customer visits.

Trust but verify.

Onward and upward.

Technorati tags: Kyle McFarlin, Knowledge Mapping, Mindjet MindManager, Mindjet, Mindjet Training, MindManager, Mindjet PR, Mindjet Customer Service, Mindjet Sales and Service, Michael Pricer, Matt Mansinne, Gyronix, ResultsManager, Gyronix Training, Customer Failure, Customer Service, John Galt, Atlas Shrugged, Mindomo, MindMeister, OpenMind, ConceptDraw, The Brain, The Personal Brain, Waldo, Mindjet Labs, Mindjet Blog

Mindjet Training Hell: Where's Waldo?

In my previous post on Mindjet training hell, I covered my odyssey through attempting to contact Senior Trainer Matt Mansinne and Mindjet Training over the past 7 months with a couple of questions about becoming a certified trainer, with my net level of success at absolutely zero until yesterday. You know every time I think of my odyssey, I think of the Waldo character who you're always trying to find across different land- and city-scapes: It's the perfect analogy for what I endured, trying to 'find' Mindjet Training.

Paging Don Corleone and Gordon Gecko...

What I didn't cover beyond the 40 or so phone calls and 10 or so e-mails I sent to Matt Mansinne and Mindjet Training, is how many Jumbo-wigs in the field I had attempt to reach him as well. I had current employees at Mindjet attempt to reach him - most were very accommodating, but there was one who should get a late night TV CD-ROM course on politeness (Like, how dare you be offended your calls are not being returned!). I even had a former C-Level Executive attempt to reach him. I had thought leadership in the mind mapping world attempt to send the olive branch. Hey, I watched the Godfather and Wall Street, I know how relationships work. And yes, I did try Mindjet's standard support line to reach Matt Mansinne and Mindjet Training, just thinking it might get placed in the CRM System. All that and I didn't hear a peep until yesterday.

Now folks, here's the point. If you need to get a hold of someone at Mindjet for training, support, etc. and you don't have the industry connects, just what are you going through? Are they getting back with you, or do you feel like a pawn sweaty from futile effort? I'm among the lucky who were able to get through, having used the power of the blogosphere. But what if it weren't there for me, what if I was still on hold? Folks, this has to change.

Hey Waldo, No One is Being Certified

Oh, and have you looked at the Mindjet Certified Trainer page? Notice anything interesting? Yep, you got it if you guessed that no seems to be getting certified. But wait you say, there are lots of names on the page! Yeah... for MindManager X5 and before, there are 14 certified trainers. So, at a time in which Mindjet was much, much smaller than they are now, not even at half a million users, they had certified 14 people. And then, between 2005 and now, when MindManager 6 was released and dominated the marketplace, bringing Mindjet to over 900,000 users as of a couple of months ago, there were a whopping three MindManager 6 trainers certified. Nothing like a declining number of trainers when the number of software users is swelling. You go Waldo!

The Cost of An Ignored Marketplace to Mindjet

And money is the lifeblood of a company, so let's dig into the cost of ignored customers:

• Let's just say for a second that 50 potential trainers have been ignored in a similar fashion over the past 12 months.
  • That's $75,000 dollars down the drain for Mindjet on training certification (50 x $1500).
• Then, let's say each of those 50 trainers would have caused an average of 100 MindManager 6 or 7 sales at $300 per license ( a slight discount on the retail price of $349) this past year.
  • That's $1.5 million dollars down the drain for Mindjet on software (50 x 100 x 300)
• That's a total of $1.58 million dollars lost to Mindjet potentially over the last 12 months due to Mindjet Training negligence.
• And who knows how many scorned defectors to up-and-coming visual mapping companies such as Mindomo, MindMeister, OpenMind, ConceptDraw, and The Brain. My calls weren't returned until yesterday, and I'm tempted to switch.

Roadtrip Solution!

If you don't have a platform to preach justice from such as a blog, just what should you do? Have you given up? Well, I've got a better idea if things don't get better: Get in your winnebago and drive to Mindjet's San Francisco headquarters, which I've actually considered doing. And hey, if I did, I've got the perfect sign to take with me (see left). It would sure send a message, and would Mindjet have any choice but to feed us? I mean c'mon folks, anyone else think a Million Mind Mapper March would be one helluva good time?

Leave a comment, good or bad. I'm sure some of you have had a Disney-like experience with Mindjet and that is what I hope you have had. Sadly, the Mindjet Training aspect of mine has been Walt's nightmare, and I'm guessing that my experience could be indicative of a trend. Let's hope not as in the end, we all live and breathe in visual maps to become better, more productive, more prosperous people.

Progress

In response to yesterday's John Galt Post, Matt Mansinne and Mindjet are now in touch with me with seeming resolve to fix the situation, so stay tuned for more. I'd give you more information now, but there is nothing concrete yet to share - you know I will when I have something in hand! And to conclude, I've invited the good folks at Mindjet to send a statement to me which I'll post, UNEDITED.

Technorati tags: Kyle McFarlin, Knowledge Mapping, Mindjet MindManager, Mindjet, Mindjet Training, MindManager, Mindjet PR, Mindjet Customer Service, Matt Mansinne, Gyronix, ResultsManager, Gyronix Training, Customer Failure, Customer Service, John Galt, Atlas Shrugged, Mindomo, MindMeister, OpenMind, ConceptDraw, The Brain, The Personal Brain, Waldo

Mindjet Training Hell: Who is John Galt?

At the conclusion of 2006, I decided becoming a Mindjet Certified Trainer would be a good idea. You know, why not have the Pope's blessing?

Rollercoaster Descends

So I started trying to get in touch. And I tried some more. And then some more. More again. Some more after that. Well, my ridiculous BS meter exploded recently, and you're reading this post:

7 months, 40 phone calls and 10 e-mails later, I have not been able to get in touch with Mindjet Senior Trainer Matt Mansinne or Mindjet's Training Department.

Yes, I check my junk e-mail. Yes, I e-mailed both training and Mr. Mansinne. Yes, I've called Matt on both his work phone and mobile phone. Yes, I check my voicemail.

I, Qualified Patriot

I've come to the blogosphere regretfully with this. Then again, if to love the United States of America is to be questioning of it, then Mindjet, 'here's your sign' as Larry the Cable Guy would say.

Now, why would I deserve to be a certified trainer, why would I make a good one you ask?

1. I have built an entire FREE life management system in MindManager, the Visual Strategist Solution (VSS), which thousands of people have downloaded. So, to recap, I'm the guy who advocates that yes, you can live in your maps after all.
2. I have hundreds, if not thousands of hours of training and consulting with corporate C-Level executives and high-octane entrepreneurs under my belt in Mindjet MindManager and Gyronix ResultsManager as a Gyronix Certified Trainer (If you're not familiar, ResultsManager is a tool that allows you to drive your projects from hundreds of visual maps in consolidated Dashboards.). Again, helping people stay in the MindManager environment ALL DAY.
3. 7 months of persistence gives me a crucial quality: Relentlessness.
4. I sell MindManager at my website, which means more education can never hurt. Let's say I were an idiot... wouldn't Mindjet want to educate me before I told everyone MindManager is the prelude to a new type of Eggo waffle?
5. BECAUSE I'M WILLING TO PAY THE MONEY IF MY QUESTIONS ARE ANSWERED TO SATISFACTION.

Please Hold... for 7 Months

Yes, I've made sure Mr. Mansinne is not sick and has not left the company. Turns out, Matt simply isn't returning my calls... any of them. Okay fine, it's not uncommon for people in corporations to be difficult to get in touch with... BUT 7 MONTHS?!? Further, this is a guy who is in a retail position: He sells training, and I've been trying to pay him $1500 for the privilege of his services, just needing a couple of questions answered. And not a damn thing back via e-mail or phone.

Last month, I reached out to two of Mindjet's PR/Customer Advocates with the belief they would make something happen. Okay, it's been 6 months I told myself, and these people have a mandate in their job titles to make my issue right. So, they forwarded me on to Matt Mansinne as a potential job hire in an open training position. And wait, no, hallelujah-holy sh*t (National Lampoon Christmas Vacation anyone?), I haven't heard from him!!! Okay fine, he doesn't believe in returning customer calls, you know, the people who bankroll the tools for him to avoid with and hide behind. Now, that was a fine first step on the parts of the PR/Customer Advocates... but at 7 months, it should be them following up with him and me, ENSURING that I get a callback. Keep in mind I wasn't seeking a job, I was seeking certified training. So, I'm still on hold.

And here's the scariest part of all: I'm a known commodity as a blogger and thought leader in the visual mapping field, and this is how I've been treated (or not treated). In my next post, I'll speculate a bit more about what the average user must be going through if I'm encountering this kind of BS. Stay tuned...

Technorati tags: Kyle McFarlin, Knowledge Mapping, Mindjet MindManager, Mindjet, Mindjet Training, MindManager, Mindjet PR, Mindjet Customer Service, Matt Mansinne, Gyronix, ResultsManager, Gyronix Training, Customer Failure, Customer Service, John Galt, Atlas Shrugged

Beyond Mind Mapping: ResultsManager articles and webinar

Nick was really nice when he said he had requests for these articles on how to maximize your ResultsManager usage. Personally, I had a recurring To-Do to harass him everyday until he put them up: Lucky for him, he did it quickly! Check'em out here: 

Beyond Mind Mapping: ResultsManager articles and webinar

Also, looks like Gyronix CEO Nik Tipler is going to be doing some free productivity/prosperity webinars, also covered in Nick's post.

Technorati tags: Gyronix, ResultsManager, Mindmanager, Mindjet, Knowledge Mapping, Kyle McFarlin, Nick Duffill, Strategic Planning, GTD