Introduction Feel like taking a trip? Then you’re in luck! For this Word Carnival ebook, we’re going to another planet – several of them. Here the fabulous Word Carnival bloggers cross the final frontier to explore the sci-fi side of business, whatever that means to them. From Darth Vader to Dr. Who, we’ve picked some of our favorite sci-fi heroes and villains to boldly go where no Carnie has gone before – to the stars! What’s not possible by Sandy McDonald As the thundering strains of Thus Sprach Zarathustra rose to a crescendo, the apes cowered beneath a towering black monolith. The sun rose behind it and they saw in its rays the bone that would soon become a living creature’s first weapon. This is one in a series of Word Carnival Posts Close Business Encounters of the Sci-fi Kind! Not long after this prodigious opening in Stanley Kubrick’s film, A Space Odyssey 2001, an air hostess wearing grip shoes gently puts a floating pen back into a traveller’s pocket and, a while later, the same man is seen talking to his young daughter while watching her on a colour television screen. It becomes evident that he is on another planet, possibly the moon. I was 16 and completely awestruck by a cinematic unfolding of ideas at that time way, way beyond my imagination. The year was 1968. For anyone living then, this was utterly and completely unrealisable fiction. We lived in an era where the only news was delivered with undisputed pomp via the morning newspapers, the radio and the once-a-night 6pm bulletin on the black and white television. It was nine months before Neil Armstrong was to take his giant leap for man on the moon. My grandparents still had a party line. They would listen for the long, short, long, long ring before answering their phone. And answering the phone was a stately occasion. The whole family would gather in the hallway to find out what portentous news had heralded the call. Completely spellbound by the convoluted and messianic message delivered by the film, I persuaded my English teacher to take the class on a school excursion. The class debated its meaning endlessly, wrote essays and were generally in thrall with the entire concept. And Keir Dullea. I threatened to call any son I had by the same name. The film left an indelible mark. Not least of all its portrayal of a technology that few could have imagined, let alone rendered so faithfully. Many years later, I met the lighting camera man from A Space Odyssey 2001, as I worked in London connecting freelance film specialists to various current productions, using a card file and a telephone. He explained how they’d created a small model to depict the sperm-like space craft. Ahh, so that was how it was done. All of this before the internet. Before personal connection devices, the concept of which had been shown to our unbelieving eyes, four decades previously in the opening sequence of this remarkable film. We knew it all to be simply impossible, just the doodling of an over creative imagination. Really? Now just part of a life later, as I scan the internet in a few short minutes for references and images, keying in to my Mac, answering calls on my personal phone, talking to my friends and family by video call on Skype, I ask myself, what’s not possible? How about a 3D pen. One that creates 3D models of what you write? Not possible? Look at this. How about we fund this idea from random folk all around the world? Not possible? Try crowd sourcing. How about we use the electromagnetic field below a cityscape to float a wheel-less vehicle created from an idea by a young girl in China, Wang Jia. The hover car reacts with minerals to float above the street and is activated by voice recognition. Really? Watch this. Ah but actually, this is just a piece of creative film making. A feat in itself. But no different perhaps to what we witnessed all those decades ago. Even if much of the then amazing technology seems outdated by what we take for granted today. So what seriously, is not possible? The next time you confront yourself with the thought that what you’re trying to do is not possible, think again. The human knowledge bank The point is that even the most spell-binding concepts did not come into being from point zero. They are as an accrual of all of the human knowledge bank and purpose-fuelled passion. The 3D Doodler pen needed a combination of metal and plastic technology and the ability to ask the world for help to fund the project to come into fruition. But without its inventors’ purpose- fuelled passion, the proposal wouldn’t have got beyond an excited ‘what if’ discussion over a few beers. As for the hover car, what made Wang Jia submit her ideas to Volkswagen for a car of the future? What makes Volkswagen capable of a culture that can foster such enthusiastic and powerful creativity from around the globe and allow for the dream by going as far as creating a film about it? Entrepreneurial attributes These are the attributes we need to foster in our entrepreneurial lives. Yes. All the ingredients that nourish the fertile ground of our imagination, our creativity, dreams and conjecture. Yes. Being driven by passion and laser focused purpose. Yes. Being determined and dogged about success. Yes. Doing. Just getting down and doing what needs to be done, step by step, byte by byte, day by day, week by week and year on year. Assistance is the universal, immutable force of creative manifestation, whose role since the Big Bang has been to translate potential into being. To convert dreams into reality. Steven Pressfield. Do The Work. Yes, most importantly, then collaborate. Nothing great was ever achieved alone. Read the acknowledgements at the front of any novel. Watch the credits roll at the end of any film. Listen to the speeches of those accepting awards. Everyone who has done anything good or great acknowledges that they may have had the idea and done the doing, but without those others, it could never have been fully realised. Visit this remarkable community from all over the world, who have diligently made and sent over half a million items to warm and comfort children half a globe away, whom they’ll never meet. It is the power of clan. Those who share your intent and purpose. What’s not possible then? To learn more about how to build your clan, you can book an Online Health Check by skype or attend an upcoming workshops. Business owners can enrol in and benefit from the ClanMaker program through these three options: – 24 week individual One on One coaching – 24 week small group online coaching (maximum four people) – 20 week intensive face to face Clans Masterclass with leaders in each of the seven steps (maximum 30 participants) For more information contact Sandy McDonald About Sandy McDonald Sandy McDonald is the Clanmaker. She works with business owners to build community- contributing clans as a best-practice, business building strategy. She is the founder of The Clan Makers, WhyYouMustBlog.com and the co-founder of Australian charity, KasCare Inc. After 22 years running a marketing communications company, she founded KasCare, an online charity to help the 2. 7 million children in southern Africa orphaned by HIV AIDS and poverty. She used passionate blogging, to build a community online. Now more than 10,000 from 54 countries, they have sent over 70,000 blankets, hats and jumpers to warm and comfort the children. The community has touched an estimated 250,000 people world-wide, raising awareness of the plight of the children. Her marketing experience and the knowledge gained from this extraordinary community form the backbone of her book, Clans. Supercharge Your Business. She believes there has never been a better time to build a clan, and that the blend of head, heart and the Web is a collective power that grows equity in business while reducing inequity for others. Sandy is known for converting a complex online world into exciting opportunities for business owners that supercharge their businesses while making a difference for others. The Writing Biz: Six Lessons from Star Trek’s Mr. Spock by Sharon Hurley Hall I loved Star Trek as a kid; I still do. So imagine my glee when this month’s Word Carnival had the theme Close Biz Encounters of the Sci-Fi Kind. My favorite character from the Original Series (and in fact any series) was Vulcan Science Officer Mr. Spock. He was a man of few words, often choosing to let an arched eyebrow speak volumes. When he did speak, though, he made a lot of sense. I always admired Spock’s analytical approach to every situation so today, I’m picking some of my favorite Spock quotes and seeing how they could apply to the writing business. 1. Are you sure it isn’t time for a “colorful metaphor”? (Star Trek: The Voyage Home) As writers, language is our business – our clients pay us to know and wield the nuances of speech and writing for their benefit. This quote reminds us that it’s our job to know when to dress it up or tone it down. And as Spock was always slightly – make that very – disdainful of human emotion, it also reminds us about avoiding hyperbole in our writing.