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You may remember the book “Because a Little Bug Went Ka-Choo!“. Well, it was my favorite as a kid and now I read it to my son Conner as much as possible; in fact I almost know it by heart. To make a long story short, the sneeze of a little bug causes a chain reaction for the community which involves worms, turtles, cows, farmers and a circus parade. Don’t worry, this DOES relate to us as innovators and early adopters. As a member of one of these two categories we are most likely in another group which Seth Godin frequently refers to as Sneezers, an individual that is likely to spread an idea. So, as a Sneezer, what do we have affects on?

About a week ago we had a birthday party for myself and my son (we actually have the same birthday). About an hour before the party I went to pick up my son’s first birthday cake, a giant head of Elmo. We were all excited, it really is for the adults because the kids have no clue. We chose to go with a local bakery in Knoxville called SugarBakers. They don’t actually have any bakers on staff so we communicated with one of their contractors. All we needed to do was pick the cake up by 4pm and pay SugarBakers. Well, I did my job (I was there at 2pm) and the contract baker did her job (she baked the cake and brought it to the store), but when I arrived the cake was missing. Turns out that somebody else showed up that morning expecting an Elmo cake from a different contract baker. I think you know what happened, yes my cake was given to them with Conner’s name on the cake. The only employee in the store that day was unable to help me saying, “That’s between you and the baker.” That kinda pissed me off because she was the one that gave my cake away. I left the store thinking I needed to make a cake shaped like Elmo (HA, not a chance). Before I left I wanted the employee to know that I would do my best to spread their business tactics throughout Knoxville doing what I know how to do, talk to people and give my honest opinion. I was ready to get home to start blogging and commenting wherever possible. I was ready to go. But things changed. The owner called my wife apologizing for everything saying he would do everything possible to get us a cake ASAP. He came through and the cake was free. So now I need to change my tone. SugarBakers came through. While the employee at the store did not handle the issues correctly the owner really cared and wanted us back. I will go back to SugarBakers for our next Birthday and you should too.

Now you didn’t get this far to just hear about our cake issues. The idea for this post came at our first Knoxville Tweetup lunch. We had a great turnout, 13 actually. With a table like that we expected gratuity to be added, however a 18% service charge AND a 18% gratuity was added. None of us really challenged it, but it brought up the comment of “Don’t piss of a Sneezer.” I believe this is really true, in fact one member of the lunch agreed saying, “They don’t really know who we are when we walk in.” Not that we should be treated like Food Critics, but businesses need to treat everyone like they can affect tomorrows customers. Only a small group of businesses think this way.

So, how have you affected a business good or bad because of service that was rendered to you? Do you know of others that spread their thoughts about a business so much that it was accepted by other communities and what affects did these actions have on events days, months or even years down the road?

Maybe its because I’m turning a year older or maybe because I’m at a point in my career wondering if its time for a change, regardless, while looking at Jim Henson’s Wiki page this morning I wondered if I too would have a Wiki page when I die. I’m sure we would all like to have our names etched in stone or a reputable online imprint when we’re gone. For me, I can only hope it’s not about a ton of pictures on Flickr of me playing the guitar with somebody’s leg or giving the camera a "Rock On" symbol with one hand and holding a red cup with the other. I definitely don’t want it to be stories about me on Facebook and how I was one guy who never missed a party. So what does it take?

My New Year’s resolution was to "Make a Difference." I didn’t care what it was for, as long as it was something I was proud to accomplish. This is inline with the last few books I’ve read including "The Adventures of Johnny Bunko ", "Purple Cow " and "Free Prize Inside ". "Leave an imprint when you leave here" and "Be Remarkable" are two quotes from these books. "Leaving here" could mean leaving your current project, job, city, or even death. I’m not saying that my ultimate goal in life is to have a Wiki page, I guess I’m just wondering if anyone will remember or talk about anything I’ve done. Will I have succeeded in making a difference. I know many of you may be thinking as long as I make a difference in one person, whether that’s my child, friend or a random person, isn’t that enough? You know, it probably is. But think back to a person that worked with you in the past, or a friend that moved away, in under 1 sec does something come to mind that you remember about that person and do you still tell others about what they did that was so amazing?

I recently attended a web analytics conference where Lance Armstrong was one of the guest speakers. His speech about Cancer awareness had such an impact on me that I was very excited to get home to see how I could help. I now think I know what I should do which is to organize a Livestrong event for my area and maybe something larger. If ten years down the road some person somewhere in the world says to a friend, "I remember back around 2008 there was a Cancer awareness event that gave me the knowledge to spread the word," then I would feel accomplished that I did make a difference.

Now back to one of my original questions, "What does it take?" I guess I need to quit talking about it. Start making decisions to get the ball rolling. Whether it’s a Livestrong event, the products I build, the people I meet, or the presentations I give. I need to start the engine on some of my ideas and go to the edge so they have a chance of being noteworthy. It may not get me a Wiki page, but hopefully I will have made a difference.

Now, when you die, do you think you’ll have a Wiki page? Do you care? What will you leave behind so your story can be told?