by Thor

I enjoyed Episode 2 a lot more than Episode 1 primarily because I did not know what was going to happen in the Judgement Room! (Don’t forget that those of us who were not in the room don’t know what happened!)

As bad as the first Judgement Room situation went for the Bullseye Group, what happened with Team Kiss in Episode 2 made my time in there look like a picnic. I had no idea there was so much tension behind the scenes with Jamie and Jason Henderson, and I was glued to my monitor as it all unfolded.

Shout Out to the Thor Haters

I received a lot of face time in this episode, and I saw at least one person in the forum write that they want to see less of me.

Each time I went into a confessional I made a point of being specific with names and situations. I was not trying to be rude in Episode 2, I was just being honest.

For those Thor haters out there, I love you too! For those who are supporting me in the NIM forum, on blogs and throughout the web, thanks for your kind words and good wishes.

Who is “Acting” and Who is Real on the Show

In Episode 2 you are starting to see peoples’ personalities and tendencies come out to play a role in the show’s plot. As the show progresses, you will begin to see who is being “real” on the show and who is just acting for the cameras (can you spot them yet?).

Everything is not as it appears in Episodes 1 and 2, and you will definately be surprised as you see which players crack under the pressure, which become combative, and which are simply eliminated.

RECAP by ALISANDE

Introduction

The second episode of Joel
Comm’s Competitive Internet Reality show
was uploaded August 27, 2007. The first episode was about 51 minutes
long, the second episode was just over 38 minutes long.
Format of the show:
1) The Hacker Safe Challenge
2) Snippets of the contestant’s training session with the
Guest
Teacher of the day
3) The Execution Challenge
4) The Execution Challenge Presentation
5) The Judgement Room
6) Contestant interviews interspersed throughout the show to capture
their thoughts on the events and fellow contestants…

The 2nd Hacker Safe Challenge (250 word Blog in
60 minutes)

After aquick recap of Episode 1 (Simpleology), Episode 2 (Branding)
immediately starts with an introduction by Joshua Sloan, Director of
Online Marketing, of 1&1 Internet, Inc., the world’s
#1 webhosting company.

The contestants are asked in the
second Hacker Safe Challenge to create a blog with a minimum of 250
words on a topic each contestant randomly picks out of a bowl. The
twist was that the topics were chosen from information written in their
individual biographies.

The topics picked were as chosen:

Alisande Chan - Basketball,
Jason Henderson - Financial Advice
Jaime Luchuck - Computer Repair
Christine Schaap - Midlife Crisis
Jason Marshall - Costa Rica
Nico Pisani - Visual Basic
Charles Trippy - Illusions
Laura Martin - Wakeboarding
Thor Schrock - Fashion
Steve Schuitt - Psychology

Nico Pisani makes a comment about
“getting the bum end of the deal” by
drawing the topic Visual Basic, a very technical subject which he knew
nothing about.

CharlesTrippy wins this Hacker Safe challenge. His blog utilized a
combination of text, pictures, and a pretend video
clip to talk about his topic of “Illusions”.

It is interesting to note that of all the contestants who participated in this challenge, he is the one who dislikes“blogging,” but was able to deliver the best blog of all the contestants.

Armand Morin (on Branding)

The contestants then sit down for
a very intense session with Armand
Morin on branding and creating a logo for a company.
Many major internet companies typically have their logo in the top
left corner of their webpage.

It is hard to get people to buy once, let alone have a repeat
customer. If they don’t recognize the second product you have
developed, then you’ve lost the trust you received from them
when they bought your first product.

Design a brand around your company, product, or service.

Obvious Marketing - everything about you and your company should be
obvious, your logo and look should be placed in the correct position
so people don’t have to look for it.

The cheapest way to make $ on internet is to improve your look and
feel so that you look like that $5m, $10m, or $100m company.
By creating a brand, you can tap into the trust your previous buyers
have developed in your original product, for the possibility of future
purchases from those same buyers who previously bought from you.

You are able to much easier differentiate yourself from similar products
or services of your competitors. Your aim is to make your company a
trustworthy recognizable brand.

Contestants’ thoughts on Armand Morin’s session

Thor said he learned more in an hour and a half with Armand about
branding than what he had self learned on the internet in three
months. Nico was excited about the take aways he got from the session
because he had already been working on creating a brand for his
CostaRicaTravelChannel.com website. Alisande learned that it was
important to brand or you would always be a small fish in a big pond.

The 2nd Execution Challenge (Creating a Logo in 90 minutes)

Since Team Bullseye only had four team members and Team Keep It Simple
Stupid (KISS) had six, the losing team had a 15 second decision to
pick one of the KISS members to join them and even out the two teams
for the Execution Challenge.

In the previous episode, Jason Marshall, who had shown himself to be a
strong presenter and team leader, was immediately chosen by Team
Bullseye. According to Thor’s interview, Team Bullseye’s strategy was
to cripple the KISS team by taking their best presenter.

Each team leader was to present the logo in a 10 minute presentation.
Jaime Luchuck was chosen as KISS’s Team Leader for this challenge.
Team Bullseye picked Nico Pisani to be their Team Leader.

Both teams knew what the challenge was - to create a new logo for The
Next Internet Millionaire….but teams had no idea though how the
challenge was to be carried out.

They soon found out that no electronic technology was to be used for
this task. The teams had to use any combination of paintbrushes,
fabrics, mosaic tiles, glue, or construction paper to create the new
logo. They also noticed that there was no writing utensils, scissors,
or rulers.

Joel Comm offered each group additional supplies for four e-commerce
chips. Both groups accepted and paid him the chips.

KISS was the first to make a decision about buying the supplies he was
offering. They first paid one e-commerce chip to see what supplies he
was offering for purchase. When they saw the basket held felts,
rulers, erasers, and scissors, they gave Joel Comm another four chips
to use the supplies.

Team Bullseye obviously could tell that if Team KISS was willing to
pay for the supplies, then they didn’t need to pay an e-commerce chip
to look as well…and so they purchased sight unseen.

A divider wall separated the teams but each team could view a large
projection screen of a top view of the other team’s table. The two
sandboxed contestants, Debbie Ducic and Carly Taylor, sat quietly and
observed our two teams working.

In interviews, Steve Schuitt compliments Jaime on her organizational
skills in a time pressure situation. Jason Henderson relays “internet
gazillionaires’ ” advice not to concentrate on perfection but to get
the product done and improve upon it later.

Thor Schrock is concerned about how much he can contribute in this
seemingly creative artsy project. Both Thor Schrock and Christine
Schaap are impressed with Jason Marshall’s silhouette cutout and feel
that was what made their team win.

The Presentation (Logo presented by Team Leader in 10 minutes)

Jaime Luchuck presented for Team KISS first. Although Jaime presented
well, the logo looked messy and unprofessional. In an interview with
Christine Schaap, she thought KISS’s logo seemed childlike in its
presentation. Alisande liked her Team’s logo concept and admitted she
was a main contributor to the concept.

Joel Comm commented that he liked the creativity the team used for the
mosaic keyboard but felt it may be a little too edgy. Armand Morin
liked the use of a computer as part of the logo image because of its
association with the internet. Joshua Sloan finished up the critique
with a comment that he felt the target market was too broad.

Team Bullseye was next with Nico Pisani presenting their logo concept.
He seemed nervous during parts of his presentation and at one point
chokes up and becomes speechless for what next to say.

Thor negatively critiques Nico in an interview. After the
presentation, Joel Comm compliments the group on their silhouette, as
does Armand Morin, who also is impressed that the silhouette was cut
out of paper and not drawn. Joshua Sloan comments that the group
optimized their workspace very well and made a very formal looking
logo.

In the end, Joel Comm, Armand Morin, and Joshua Sloan decide to award
Team Bullseye as the winning team of the second Execution Challenge of
the competition.

Although Team KISS lost this task, Jaime stood solidly by the team’s
logo concept, she just seemed frustrated at the team’s inability to
make the logo look professional. Team KISS was now heading for the
Judgement Room.

The Judgement Room

The three judges: Joel Comm, Armand Morin, and Joshua Sloan sit with
the losing team, Team KISS. The meeting between the losing team and
the judges starts off with Joel Comm acknowledging the team “really
did give it what you had.”

Jaime speaks for the team and admits they were not as artistic with
physical supplies as they would have hoped and that they did not
utilize all the tools on the table. She also solidly states the Team
came up with a design they felt represented the target market.

Armand Morin is not impressed with Team KISS’s sloppy lettering,
especially since they had rulers they could have used. He also advises
Team KISS that Joel Comm would not want to joint venture with someone
who made a product that they thought was “good enough.” In defense of
the group, Jaime responds to Armand’s comments and says that was not
the group’s intention and that the group did realize the lettering was
not straight.

Joel compliments Jaime on her leadership style. He felt the group
followed her leadership. He also commented on Alisande taking a co-
leader like role in the group. He also appreciated that she seemed
sensitive to her team mates when he observed her warning them to let
her know if she was stepping on anyone’s toes.

The Judgement Room critiques then focus on Steve’s performance. Joel
Comm noticed that Steve Schuitt seemed to contribute little to the
group efforts. Steve agrees that he was “floating around” and explains
that he is not use to a team environment.

Joel wonders how Steve could JV with him if he is use to working
alone. Steve suggests his young age (21) may have an influence on
others not taking him seriously.

Armand Morin tells Steve not to discount himself because of his age.
Joshua Sloan also suggests that Steve may not be taken seriously
because of his relaxed “comic relief” appearance.

Joel Comm turns the attention to Jason Henderson and states Jason was
“semi-invisible.” Jason explains he was trying to support Laura who
had the idea of using a silhouette as part of the logo. Joel points
out that there was no silhouette used.

Armand is a little more critical in his comments of Team KISS’s logo
than the critique after the presentation. He comments about the
busyness of the logo with all the elements that had been added to the
computer monitor and keyboard.

The next critique is Laura Martin and her unprofessional lettering.
She admits she did the lettering poorly. Alisande comments that she
could have done the lettering as well but wanted to be a team player
and did not volunteer her skill because Laura had volunteered hers.

Joshua Sloan advises that recognizing one’s weaknesses is important
even though “it is not an easy thing to do nor a fun thing to do.”
However, he also commends Laura for coming forward and volunteering to
do the lettering.

Tagging Teammates for Elimination

Joel asks Jaime to start first and tag two people on her team to be
eliminated. She points at herself first, then at Steve for his weak
participation in the group. Steve is next, he also labels himself for
elimination and almost names Laura “for her lettering” but in the end
tags Alisande. Alisande bases her picks on the present task and points
at Steve and Jason as the two who contributed the least.

Laura Martin immediately starts shaking her head and has a very hard
time pointing fingers at anyone. She fears her teammates will hate
her. At Joel’s insistence, she grudgingly labels Alisande and Steve.
Jason’s picks are Jaime for spending too much time brainstorming and
Alisande for staying with her mosaic keyboard idea but not using
Laura’s silhouette idea. Alisande defends herself, after being tagged
by 3 members of her team. She insists the team agreed to use most of
her ideas and that she did not oppose adding the silhouette idea.

The conversation gets a little more heated as Jason Henderson
continues to insist that the silhouette idea should have been used but
that Alisande dropped the ball on that concept.

Alisande addresses Jason in confusion and states she had the
impression he liked her idea and had never opposed anything at all.
All the judges also state they were not present to hear Jason insist
on using a silhouette.

Joel Comm closes the critiques and summarizes his observations. He
once again reiterates his appreciation for Jaime Luchuck’s leadership
style, acknowledges Alisande Chan’s focused strength and sensitivity,
comments on Steve Schuitt’s lack of desire to win, says to Jason
Henderson he is not seeing what he expected to see out of him, and
gently tells Laura she may yet not be the JV partner he was looking
for.

Joel Comm then announces that Laura has been targeted for elimination.
He turns to Jason Henderson and Steve Schuitt and says he would like
to see them step it up.

Steve Schuitt’s original comments about being on the show to learn
first and the desire to win second may have been the last nail to seal
his coffin. Joel also targets Steve for elimination.

As in the first episode with two contestants being sandboxed, Joel
tells Laura and Steve that they will be able to redeem themselves at a
later date and that they will now be sandboxed like Debbie and Carly.

Confessions out of the Judgement room

Jaime Luchuck tagged herself for elimination but later in her
confessional says she really wanted to name Jason Henderson. She
comments unimpressed about his “claims” of stepping up and demanding
the team follow his ideas. Steve Schuitt admits he didn’t
intentionally want to give Joel the vibe that he was not committed to
winning. Meanwhile, Jason points at Jaime for failing to lead Team
KISS to winning the challenge and maintains his confidence as the best
performer during the second Execution Challenge.

———————————————-
You can visit Alisande’s site at: http://www.thisalicat.com
–——————————————-

By Debbie

As this show unfolds over the next few months, I encourage you to set aside some time, get onyour computer instead of your TV and watch each episode with a keen eye to what’sREALLY happening. Although the main purpose is sheer entertainment, if you like to study people, experience emotion and root for the underdog, it’s WORTH the RIDE!

Feel the PAIN as cast members are chastised for their mistakes. It IS part of the human experience that we’ve all lived! Failure is only failure when you allow it to be and you give up.

Take part in the forum to offer ENCOURAGEMENT to those you are rooting for. Offer your experience and expertise about how you overcame such challenges.

Send them advice on how they can use what they’ve just gone through to be better in the future.

Feel the EXCITEMENT of the game and the THRILL of the WIN. Then e-mail those who did things well and congratulate them…

Encourage them to spread their talents and skills across the world. Check out their websiteofferto joint venture or promote with those you are simpatico with, have the same market as or want to learn from.

LAUGH at the HUMOROUS antics the cast members display in heaps throughout the show! Both the obvious and the sly humor is plentiful! You’ll be shaking your head and grinning at this cast of FUNLOVING & UNUSUAL individuals! Each one is AMAZING once you get to know them.

LEARN about internet marketing as well as traditional marketing…not in depth, of course, butwhat if you get just one idea from the “Guru’s”, the Judges or from the “Challenge” presentations that will be worth CASH in YOUR POCKET?

At the very least, you’ll get to see who these guys are and what they have to offer, and then YOU can decide for yourself who you might choose to align your marketing with.

I know I learned TONS!

I will be using that knowledge myself and will be passing it on to BABYBOOMER BUSINESS WOMEN & WORK at HOME MOMS who decide to align themselves with other GutZy Women; Women, and the men who love them, who want information & support to get over the fear of technology, online marketing and self-promotion at their own pace in order to create the lifestyle that’s best for themselves and their families.

EXPERIENCE IT and become a part of it!

LOVE
Debbie Ducic (Do You See??? I see!!!)
GutZy Woman

By Thor

The first day on the set was really surreal for a lot of the contestants. I remember waiting outside the COMMplex on day one wondering what as in store for us. I had never met Joel Comm before, and like most of you I had formed opinions about the other cast members based on their audition and acceptance videos.

The only thing I knew for certain is that I was a competitor and I simply wanted to win. Heck, I didn’t really have a complete understanding of what it was I was competing for, but I knew I was going to fight for it all the same.

Off Like a Herd of Turtles…

That day I learned that I do well with my Schrock Innovations team in Nebraska because I picked them for their skill sets. I am used to running my own business, and I tend to get along very well with my employees. We usually all find our niches and we hit our goals with precision and efficiency. The Episode 1 Elimination Challenge taught me a lot about myself and what makes up a successful team.

The Bullseye Group was an unknown quantity made up of people who had met that morning at breakfast. We barely even knew each other when we were paired off into teams, let alone each of our strengths and weaknesses.

A Quick Overview of the Bullseye Group - Day 1

Even though I introduced Carly that morning in the HackerSafe Immunity Challenge, I had no idea that her strength was copy writing. I knew Debbie was doing something with “Gutzy Women,” but the details were a mystery to me. I didn’t expect much out of Charles and I didn’t know what to think of Nico. Christine and I seemed to be cut from similar cloth and we gelled almost immediately.

I was extremely frustrated with myself in the elimination challenge because I didn’t know how to help my teammates find their niches. It seemed like we were all floating in our own little realms and happened to bounce ideas off each other at random from time to time. Nothing was getting accomplished and the clock was ticking.

What was That About flies and Vinegar Again?

So I found myself as a member of an in-cohesive team that was being less than productive in a competition that I wanted to win. I didn’t pick the people, I didn’t pick the task, and I wasn’t sure how we would win the challenge. I was not used to a situation like that, so I decided that I was going to try and give our team a macro direction in hopes the micro direction would trickle down based on each of our skills and abilities.

Also, for those of you who are wondering, in this episode Debbie and I didn’t really have any kind of a knock down drag out disagreement. At one point I was stumped for direction so I sat next to her and asked, “what now coach.” Debbie was able to fill in the blanks for me and I thought the two of us made an awesome leadership team.

And From the Chaos Brilliance Almost Emerges

Finally toward the end of the challenge people’s skill sets started to emerge. Nico and Charles started to draw a storyboard for a commercial, while Carly and Christine started to craft the copy. Debbie made sure we were following the Simpleology path and I started working on a web page to contain the copy. Finally we all had niches, direction, and a clear goal.

Unfortunately there was not enough time to polish our end product and craft counter-arguments to the challenges we knew would be coming from the judges. That fact became clear in the presentation and we paid for it with the loss of two team mates.

I have been in some tough situations and negotiations in my life and I can tell you sincerely there is nothing that can prepare you for that Judgement Room. I knew walking in there that I had laid it on the line by being aggressive with my team during the Execution Challenge. I knew we lost, and I knew I was not happy with my individual performance. When I walked in there I thought there was a chance I would be going home on day 1.

Off to the Wood Shed

Joel’s words about my tongue hit me like a sledgehammer. I tried to take solace in the knowledge that if I would have sat back and been agreeable I would have been chastised for not doing more. Mark explained very diplomatically that I had the right idea, but went about it in the wrong way.

Based on the days events, I learned that I needed to find a new way to achieve the same goals if I wanted to be around for long on the show. I also learned that there are only two ways out of that judgement room (unless you pull a Jason Marshall and snap up that HackerSafe shirt like a bargain shopper at the church bazaar). I definately did not want to see that room again in the near future.

So What was My Plan for Day 2?

At this point of the competition I was most concerned with Jason Marshall. His presentation skills were top notch, he was quick on his feet, and he was a natural leader with personality. I knew he was either going to be a tremendous asset or a terrifying liability to my desire to be Joel’s next JV partner. I was going to have to figure some way to leverage his abilities in my favor.

P.S. One thing of minor importance I noticed was the number of biblical references in the show. The COMMplex was HOT like hell under all of those lights, the losing (i.e. dead) team is sent to the judgement room to be judged by Joel Comm (initials J.C. like Jesus Christ), and two team members who were dead (eliminated) were resurrected (the sandbox). Did you see any others that I missed?

During episode two, Armand Morin delivered two hours worth of great content on the topic of branding. Check out this clip where Armand talks more about branding.