Last week, I had a unique opportunity to spend some time in Boulder at the behest of TechStars. It was a great experience to see a relatively new startup hub in action - and thriving. It's easy to take Silicon Valley for granted. The startup scene here can be ostentatious and serve as an echo chamber, amplifying the cool trend of the week into a deafening roar. But there's no denying the level of support for entrepreneurs that we enjoy. I've written a little bit about the origins of Silicon Valley because I think it's important for us to understand how we got here in order to make sure we preserve what is best about our community.

Traveling to Boulder I had the feeling of stepping back in time. It felt like I was watching a new startup hub in the process of being created. The companies I spoke to all agreed that the community there was extremely supportive, especially in the critical ulta-early-stage. That community is, by all accounts, relatively new - less than five years old according to several folks I asked. Even more impressive is that the culture there seems to have been the conscious creation of just a few people.

On my brief visit, the results were impressively on display. If you watch the video/audio below, you'll get to see some of the questions I was asked after my presentation. On the whole, I found them unusually sophisticated - and mostly rooted in the actual practice of entrepreneurship. I also did quite a bit of asking questions myself. I spent most of my time with TechStars, who were my hosts for the trip. Their model looks like a key ingredient in the startup brew there. Every summer, they bring approximately 10 companies to Boulder for an intense "accelerator" experience (don't call it an incubator, or you'll get dirty looks). They don't invest a lot of money; just enough to keep them going through the summer. They take common stock, not preferred, a fact that the entrepreneurs mentioned to me many times. And they expose the startups to a vast network of mentors, none of whom get paid for their involvement.

Some of the mentors are based in Boulder, but many are not. As a result, the companies get a lot of exposure to VC's, investors, and partners in larger, more traditional startup hubs. And, as one entrepreneur put it to me, "we understood that a big part of our responsibility in the program was to make sure the mentors have a good experience, by taking their advice to heart and giving them a feeling of being part of our evolution as a company." As a result, for a lot of these companies, Boulder is just a gateway to San Francisco. TechStars encourages them to go wherever opportunities take them. But even the companies that move on have had a taste of life in Boulder (it looks awfully nice). And every year, it looks as if one or two entrepreneurs from the program decide to stay.

That strikes me as a really smart formula for building a startup hub. First, pick a place that entrepreneurs (and other creative class-types) would love to live. Great weather, a strong university, outdoor sports, cafe culture, good restaurants - you get the idea. Then, create an encouraging environment for early-stage companies. You don't need massive amounts of capital available for VC investment - modest amounts will do. Accept that many successful companies are going to want to be backed by big-name firms in other cities. Instead, focus on getting them ready for that stage. Provide early seed capital, and be the ones to make those introductions. Make your city a gateway to other opportunities, so that entrepreneurs can increase their access by starting there. And do your customer development. If you talk to early-stage entrepreneurs who randomly landed in Silicon Valley, you'll hear just how hard it is to break into the scene here. Because you're not asking entrepreneurs to forsake those bigger cities, it's a no-brainer to give your city a shot.

Anyway, those are my thoughts after having spent only a few days in Boulder. You can see that it stimulated a lot of ideas; you'll have to evaluate the veracity of those ideas on your own. In the meantime, let me keep my promise of some multimedia. I did my best to capture video and audio; a YouTube playlist and Slideshare slidecast are below:



Slides (with audio):

2009 08 19 The Lean Startup TechStars Edition

View more presentations from Eric Ries.

And, as usual, I wanted to share some of the audience reaction with my commentary. These quotes are, as is my custom, straight from twitter.

My biggest thanks goes to the people who generously sponsored scholarships for others to attend the dinner and workshop, Thank you so much!

ericries: special thanks once again to @fancy_free and @KISSmetrics for sponsoring scholarships for the #leanstartup workshop in Boulder.

I'm also excited to share two long-form reviews from actual attendees. I'm always excited to see how these ideas are expressed by entrepreneurs in their own words:

petewarden: Another blog post, this one on the @ericries Lean Startup Workshop I attended: http://bit.ly/4UWuf #leanstartup

tmarkiewicz: Notes from the Lean Startup Dinner with @ericries http://bit.ly/80kKW #leanstartup

And I can never resist sharing some positive feedback. I hope you'll indulge me - I need to have a copy of these testimonials for the record:

neilsimon: Thanks @ericries for the #leanstartup tips last night. Articulate, inspirational.

jdegoes: Great talk from @ericries last night. Inspiring ideas: real-time biz metrics; safe continuous deployment; A/B split testing. #leanstartup

feverishaaron: @ericries thanks for droppin' facts at the #leanstartup dinner. Learned a lot and enjoyed the discourse.

KevinMSmith: Excellent discussion on #leanstartup w/@ericries. If you get a chance go see him. If you don't get a chance , MAKE ONE. He's that good.

lmckeogh: Best $50 I've spent in last yr as unempl. prod mgr. #leanstartup dinner Boulder full of useful info that I want to apply [echo @roger_tee]

ultimateboy: #leanstartup was the most invigorating event I've ever attended. Thank you @ericries for drastically altering my perception of agile startup

Thank you all so much for your kind words. I was really overwhelmed this time. Now for some actual content:

jeantabaka: Really liked @ericries answer to adding in quality while still a startup #leanstartup

If you want to hear the exact question and answer, check the video. This was a question about how we convinced our investors to "allow" us to invest in quality after we'd shipped the initial buggy version of IMVU. That's always a tricky relationship to navigate, but we found a way to get our investors on board with that program by practicing a form of radical transparency. When they could hear the customers' complaints in their own voice, it became clear when it was time to up the quality level. We also had the benefit of many lean practices that break out of the "time, quality, money - pick two" paradox. (You can learn more about that by reading The engineering manager's lament.)

Here are two more questions that I really enjoyed answering:

roger_tee: At #leanstartup dinner w/ Eric Reis. Asked where I find visionary early adopters who pay 4 buggy beta SW. Killer answer.Ask me. #bdnt

nbauman: When to split test? Anytime anyone on the team thinks it could make a macroscopic change. Define macroscopic change! #leanstartup

I could recap these - but just go watch the video already!

And one last specific practice that came up at this session:

feverishaaron: UI, design and programmers are all in the same department, all have the same title, and all are evaluated the same. #leanstartup

We organized our engineering team at IMVU to try and maximize cross-functional collaboration. That meant getting designers, programmers, and QA folks to cross-train and work together as peers. By expressing these values as part of the formal structure of our department as well as the formal evaluation system, I think we went a long way towards reducing the usual internecine conflict between these groups.

Let me close with one last thought. I think it speaks for itself:

peterhoskins: At least have the courage to make new mistakes. #leanstartup

Thanks to everyone who participated and helped make these great events!

Hi! We are David & Sheri Burns from Long Lane Honey Bee Farms in Central Illinois. We are a family owned beekeeping business and our niche is to provide a place where you can find everything you need to become a successful beekeeper, from equipment, hives, bees,queens and even a hands on beekeeping education!
Thanks for stopping by and reading today's lesson. In fact, in just a moment, I'll present LESSON 62 about the essential and well known beekeeping too, the smoker. But before I do, let me remind you of a few important things.
You can have these lessons sent directly to your email box each time a new lesson is published. We'd love for you to sign up to receive these lessons free, and sent directly to your email in box. Click here to sign up now! It's free and you can easily unsubscribe at anytime. Also at the end of each lesson, there is a link where you can click to forward a lesson on to a friend. Please take advantage of this feature as well, to help let others know of these lesson. We would appreciate it.


Also, remember we manufacture the woodenware and by that I mean the bee hive components. So, if you need a beehive kit, a complete hive or various hive components, we'd welcome your business. Our hives are hand made and are of the highest quality. We also sell everything else to do with beekeeping and more. So call us today and place your order. 217-427-2678. Thank you.
Sheri and I produce a podcast on beekeeping. We are working on our latest podcast and it should appear today. We'd love for you to stop in and hear our latest podcast at: www.honeybeesonline.com/studiobeelive.html
This fall and winter, I'm taking my Beekeeping Course and Queen Rearing course on the road. If your association would like to host a class in your area, I'll come and do all the teaching. Many people want to take our courses but live too far away. With the help of other associations in other states, I hope to come to those who can't drive over to Illinois. Talk to the members and presidents of your associations and see if this might work for you. It's a neat way to encourage new members, first time beekeepers and even boost the income for your local association. Give us a call at: 217-427-2678.
We are conducting a survey asking beekeepers what is the most important characteristic they want in a queen. Please take the survey by going to our blog www.basicbeekeeping.blogspot.com and you see the survey on the upper right hand side. Choose only one option. So far, disease resistance is the most sought out characteristic.
LESSON 62: PROPERLY HANDLING THE SMOKER
The invention of the modern day smoker is credited to Moses Quinby who was born the same year as L.L. Langstroth who discovered bee space and the removal frame hive. Blowing smoke on bees to calm them goes way back, but Quinby made the first handheld smoker with a bellow to keep the fire burning in a tin container.
Most beekeepers believe the smoke causes the bees to act as if their hive is on fire which forces them to eat honey to prepare to leave the burning hive. A honey bee that is full of honey has a more difficult time of stinging because they cannot curl their abdomen to inject the stinger.
A more modern day understanding is that the smoke masks alarm pheromones (isopentyl acetate)of the honey bees in the hive, disrupting their ability to communicate that there is an intruder in the hive.
STARTING YOUR SMOKER
To start your smoker, you'll need a source of fire and fuel. By fuel, I'm referring to your source of fire, not actual liquid fuel. Most beekeepers use fuel that is easily accessible, such as pine needles. Those of us who run wood shops use sawdust. I've found that very dense and powdery saw dust is not good. Instead we use the more stringy saw dust that comes more from dado blades. Others use burlap, hemp rope, clean 100% old cotton rags...anything that is not toxic and makes a cool dense smoke.
Start your smoker by saving newspaper or an old phone book and tear a page out and place in the bottom of the smoker and light it. I keep a long grill lighter handy and here I'm lighting a used shop rag. Without burning your fingers and suffocating the fire, work the paper to the bottom of the smoker. Once the paper is burning well in the bottom of the smoker, start adding your fuel, such as pine needles or saw dust. Do not add so much that the fire is put out. Gently puff the bellows so that air accelerates the spread of the fine within the canister.
Add the right amount of fuel that generates mostly smoke instead of fire. Never add flammable fuels. You can add a slightly wrinkled up piece of paper to fit into the inside tip of the lid to help prevent stray pieces of hot fuel from falling or blowing out onto the bees. Just be sure it fits lose enough to allow smoke to seep through.
Once your fuel is producing adequate smoke you can close the lid. Remember canister is very hot. Do not touch it. Every year I usually burn something with my smoker. One year I burned a nice circular hole in the bed liner of my wife's truck. Another year I burned a hole in a polystyrene hive lid. I have one polystyrene lid and so I'm used to placing my smoker on the top of my metal top lids when I'm inspecting a hive. And this year I burned three fingers on my smoker. So do be careful.
HOW TO SMOKE A HIVE
Approach the hive with your smoker producing a cool, dense smoke. It should not be shooting out flames or sparks. Remember your hive is made of wood and wax, all of which are very combustible.
A friend of mine told me that his wife accidentally caught the grass on fire in their apiary and over 80 hives went up in smoke in a matter of minutes.
Put a few puffs of smoke near the entrance of the hive to disarm the guard bees. Now, slightly lift the outer top telescoping lid and blow a few puffs of smoke under the lid and put the lid back down and allow the smoke to settle in the hive. Usually 30 seconds works well. Now, slowly lift off the top cover and smoke gently as you see the bees.
The bees will become more noisy as you smoke them, but they should. That's normal and does not mean that they are mad. It just means your smoke is working. They will settle down and you can begin your inspection. The smoke causes the bees to head for honey and put their heads in cells to eat. They generally run away from the smoke so if you smoke from the top, many bees will head to the lower boxes. If you smoke from the bottom they will all run up. And if you are looking for the queen, smoke causes her to run too, making it harder to find her.
You will need to keep your smoker handy as you inspect your hive. I've noticed after a few minutes, the effects of the smoke begins to wear off and the bees will start to inspect what's happening. Their little heads will look up at you between frames. When you see this, it's time for a few more gentle puffs of smoke across the tops of the frames.
HOW TO PUT OUT A SMOKER
I used to empty my smoker out in a safe area, away from dry grass, like on a gravel road or concrete. But when I was taking my Master Beekeeper tests in New York, my field inspector showed me a trick I had never seen. Take a half sheet of regular paper and open your smoker and place the sheet over the top of the canister and close the lid. Wow! This works great.The lack of air suffocates the fire and the fuel that remains in the smoker will light more easily next time, and you can even use the paper as fuel.
IS SMOKE HARMFUL TO BEES?
Non toxic smoke used in moderation has been used for years to work beehives and there has been no associated problems.
It is my opinion that no one should work a hive without a smoker. The trade off of being able to inspect your hive regularly with the use of smoke to calm bees certainly out weighs not inspecting often because the bees are too aggressive.
WHAT ABOUT LIQUID SPRAYS INSTEAD OF SMOKE?
I've tried using a spray instead of smoke and it does not work well for me. It is commonly called a spritz spray and is usually a sugar mixture with additives such as Honey-B-Healthy.
I see several problems in using a liquid spray to calm bees. It's a liquid and sticks to the bees causing them to need to be cleaned, and perhaps interfering with their movements and flights far more than smoke.
Liquid sprayed into open comb could effect the developing larvae. The water is also cool and if used when the bees are already cold, it could chill the bees and cause a change in their work and behavior until they re-heat.
The smell of sugar water on and around a hive could invite robber bees. Some people have found it to be better for them than smoke, but I prefer smoke.
WHICH TYPE OF SMOKER IS BEST?
The type of smoker used is based more on personal preference than anything else. I prefer the old traditional smoker without the protective heat cage. There is usually a smaller 7 inch smoker and a larger 10 inch smoker. Obviously, if you need your smoker to burn longer, then a larger smoker is what you need. For a hive or two, a smaller smoker is fine.
Before you get all excited about buying a stainless steel smoker, remember that when you heat stainless steel it changes properties. So, if you use your smoker often, say every other day, you might put a new smoker in your budget every few years. For me, smokers usually last about 2 years, then the billows rip and hinges break. I get some extra months out of mine with duct tape.
Thanks for joining me for today's lesson, and I hope you learned a few things about using your smoker today.
Remember to check out the lower portion of this Lesson (if it was Emailed to you and you can forward it to a friend. We'd appreciate you helping us let other beekeepers know about these free lessons.

If you wish to contact us, here's how:
PHONE: 217-427-2678
EMAIL: david@honeybeesonline.com
WEBSITE: www.honeybeesonline.com
BEE-Have yourself!

David & Sheri Burns
Long Lane Honey Bee Farms

There is this line in a U2 song, "Miracle Drug"...
Freedom has a scent
like the top of a newborn baby's head...
I won't analyze it. I'll just say that it's true. It's really really true.

*

I've sat down to write about a dozen posts in the past four months.
Kept coming up empty.
Partly the pressure to find the perfect words to describe a perfect being; partly the pressure to find the perfect words to convey a perfect feeling; partly the pressure to find the perfect words to share an imperfect perspective. So, I've decided that I'm done with pressure. I love writing too much. And it seems these years, I have plenty to write about.

*

It feels good to be back. I can't make any promises about how often. That assumes, of course, that anyone is still reading. But I am back. So stay tuned. There's lots to share.

I have been spending a lot of time lately talking to people in various media companies: editors and agents, executives, journalists, producers and directors. It’s a fascinating time to see content industries in action, because they are facing a constantly changing landscape and are really trying to keep up. In other words, they are facing conditions of extreme uncertainty, just like startups. So I generally feel right at home in these conversations.

Most pundits and the people I ask for advice fall into one of two camps. One is explaining the world as it used to work: the importance of gatekeepers, the scarcity implied by limited distribution, and the resulting quality bar that the industry is so proud of. The other revels in the world as we all know it will be someday: limitless distribution enabled by new technologies, the importance of collaborative filters, and on-demand availability of all content for end-users. The problem with engaging with either camp as an author (or “content creator”) is that neither camp is really addressing the world as it exists today. The old models are broken, and we do not yet have new models to replace them. For established media empires, this is a scary fact. But, as any startup can tell you, this opens up a tremendous set of opportunities for the rest of us.

As I talk to established media companies, their responses are surprisingly uniform. I have in mind an image of each industry marching along in lock step, one after the other. I place them roughly in this order:

Movies > Television > Books > Music > Magazines > Radio > Newspapers

Each industry is watching the one in front of it sink into the quicksand. Their reaction seems to be relief that at least they are not as bad off as the industry in front of them. Thus does everyone enjoy a nervous chuckle at the plight of newspapers. But this relativism obscures one essential fact: everyone is sinking! It’s just taking some longer than others. What accounts for the difference? Mostly it is the time and expense required to create the means of distribution for that industry. Because it is much more expensive to launch a Hollywood movie than a printed book, for example, it’s taking digital technology longer to work its way through the complete supply chain for that industry. But make no mistake, disruptive innovation has happened, and the established supply chains are going to change accordingly.

So let’s turn our attention from what may happen in the future to what is definitely happening in the present. Here are a few of my observations from the trenches:

Personal brands are displacing organizations brands. I used to be skeptical of all this talk of “personal brand.” But I now believe it is at the center of the disruption changing the face of media. Because of the incredible array of information available, we have a desperate need for filtering mechanisms. But the traditional media brands simply aren’t good enough. Does anyone really watch the full NBC lineup anymore? Or follow all of the New York Times columnists equally? It’s an artifact of the old large-batch distribution mechanisms that we bundle all this somewhat-related content together.

This is good news for everyone except those who have huge legacy investments in large-batch distribution. Customers will get to consume the content they want, and support the producers of that content directly, rather than having to rely exclusively on intermediaries. And once you have a relationship with an author, musician, or journalist, it will be quite easy for them to offer new products and services – and for you to give them feedback that helps them shape ever more interesting (and ever more profitable) offerings. But there is a serious drawback: finding new creators is getting difficult. There are just too many of them out there.

Now, helping potential customers discover new things they might like is the job of the discipline of marketing. But that job is changing dramatically, and this brings us to the next major problem facing traditional media organizations:

Media companies are failing at marketing. Most of the people I meet in marketing at traditional media companies are struggling with the realization that their new job is to cultivate new personal brands and to constantly explore new ways to help people discover and deepen their engagement with those brands. The key tools of this new marketing are: targeting, filtering, and customer insight. Mass blasts of information are ineffective, because the broadcast channels are suffering from information overload (even in social media). There are too many products clamoring for attention.

But the same technologies that make life difficult for traditional marketers also offer them unprecedented new opportunities. Test-marketing is now easier than ever before, thanks to leveraged distribution channels like AdWords and Facebook. Scaling up successful tests is easy for the same reason. Most importantly, it’s now possible to have detailed analytics on exactly what’s happening to messages and ideas as they flow through word-of-mouth channels. In the old days, the brand manager of a consumer packaged goods product had to spend energy inferring the effectiveness of their television ads through a combination of trailing indicators (like market share) or time-consuming market research. No longer. Anyone who puts out a marketing message today and doesn’t know exactly what happens to it is suffering from willful ignorance (what I term Datablindness).

Gatekeepers are overloaded. Gatekeepers, who decided what material was published, where dollars were invested, and had a tremendous responsibility for predicting future consumer demand, dominated the world of traditional media. All successful media companies had at their heart a series of editors, producers, and agents tasked with discovering and developing new talent. Look at the stories of the current generation of aging superstars in any industry. They all have a story of how they were discovered, how their first breakthrough work was cultivated by a skillful (or lucky) individual gatekeeper. You can’t turn on a television these days without hearing about how this happened to Michael Jackson. But the idea of artists being discovered is heading towards obsolescence in a world when anyone can start a personal brand anytime, anywhere. The new “discovery” will be a continuous series of events, starting with a niche following and, for the successful artists, gradually transitioning into mainstream success. It will look much more like the technology life-cycle adoption curve than like a tournament system – and that is a good thing for creators of all sizes.

I’ve met a lot of gatekeepers in the past few months. They all have one thing in common: the world’s most painful case of information overload. Ever-more artists and authors are petitioning them. As the costs of production fall, it’s getting easier and easier to send in a proposal or even a complete work. And thanks to the radical transparency enabled by the internet, the quality of these proposals is actually constantly rising, to the point that it’s almost impossible to judge the quality of the final product – because all the proposals look polished and professional, even the terrible ones.

Thus, the selection criteria for gatekeepers has moved almost entirely away from the content itself and to an elusive quality called the “author’s platform” (in publishing; each industry seems to have its own version of this same concept). This is the total number of activities that the author has engaged in – other than writing – that causes people to give them attention. Think of it this way: every person on earth is ranked on a scale from zero to Oprah. When she says to buy something, millions of people do it. How many people follow your recommendations? This is an important question, but it’s not directly related to the kind of content an author actually produces. Unfortunately, this content-less decision-making process is inhibiting the ability of media companies to develop interesting new content at the very time when this supposed expertise should serve as their one true competitive advantage.

Despite all the energy invested in talking to authors about the size of their platform, very few gatekeepers have a rigorous set of metrics for measuring it. My blog has over 14000 subscribers, for example. Is that a lot? I have given more than two-dozen paid speeches this year – is that a lot? When I reviewed a recent product development book, it immediately shot up to Amazon sales rank 300. Is that good? These are pretty interesting anecdotes, but they are hardly the kind of serious approach that these questions deserve. In the absence of real data, gatekeepers are having to rely on much more tenuous indicators. And as everyone’s attention starts to focus on those same indicators, their value is being diluted. Which leads to the next problem:

We need new status indicators. One of the legacy functions of the established order that has not been adequately addressed is the creation of status indicators. For example, the best book reviewers only review books published by the best publishers, which only accept manuscripts from the best agents. These reviews can launch good books onto the big mainstream bestseller lists, which then provide self-sustaining growth (similar to the dynamics of App Stores). Even if a self-published book was every bit as good as one published by a top-tier press, how would the reviewers know? They can’t even consider 99% of published books already. And how could they possibly review a blog? The problem is that there are no other metrics they can look at to judge the content of a book to know if it’s worth reviewing.

We faced this same problem in entrepreneurship and venture capital, but we are getting past it. Seed-stage investors are learning the metrics of traction, and are getting better at identifying those companies that are really achieving validated learning about customers. They can make smart investments even if the entrepreneurs are not well credentialed or have a product/idea that is outside the mainstream of what investors are expecting As this change has rippled up the venture industry, it has meant a lot more worthy companies are getting funded than just a few years ago.

The biggest lost opportunity of all, though, is this one: we no longer need to rely on scarcity or status-oriented measures to filter which projects should get the green light. Just like in the world of startups, we can start to use micro-scale pilot programs, executed in lean fashion, to gather real facts for making ROI decisions about new project investment. Most publishers are still caught up in an outdated “vision vs. metrics” argument, which is already obsolete here in Silicon Valley. We’ve learned that data can be used as a reality-check against vision without diluting the mission or reverting to “sum of all features” focus groups.

Consider this question: what percentage of all books that are purchased does the buyer actually finish reading cover-to-cover? I'm not sure we really know the answer - yet. But thanks to new distribution technologies like the Kindle, we will soon. And that will open up an interesting new way to value books. If a previously unknown title has a higher-than-average customer engagement across a wide demographic, it might merit additional investment – even if the total number of units sold is quite small.

And as we consider specialized niche topics, like business, technical or educational content we can get even more precise. If our goal is to teach, persuade or inform with our content, we can measure our success at those goals. There is no reason why all written content that is produced today for those purposes couldn’t be split-tested – at least to a segment of its audience. Digital versions of these books could have built-in comprehension tests and mini-feedback forms, all of which could evaluate the level of understanding of the reader. Even if only a small percentage of readers or viewers participate, we will be able to get an accurate read on the effectiveness of each piece of digital content.

It’s time for us to start thinking of every piece of content – books, blogs, albums, TV shows, movies, everything – as a new little startup. We have to look at fundamental business questions right from the start: what is the right audience? What is the right revenue model? And, most importantly, what could we do right now to answer the riskiest of these questions. In other words, what is the minimum viable product?

Just like with startups, this is a hybrid question. If our goal is just to create a blog or a YouTube video as a hobby, there’s no need for this kind of rigorous process. And if you want to write the great American novel – and don’t care if anyone reads it – you don’t need this either. But for the rest of us, who create content because we care passionately about having an impact on the world, we need to rethink the process by which we do it. We can’t just delegate the business questions to some media executive.

For people raised in a traditional media environment, this probably sounds scary. In fact, traditional media specialized in keeping authors and creators in a kind of bubble world, so they could “focus on their creativity” but that in reality served to keep them in a constant state of dependency. That made sense in an era where ownership of the means of distribution was more important than ownership of the means of production. But we don’t live in that world anymore. Fellow creators, trust me – this new world is incredibly liberating. Sure, you have to pay attention to your own business, you need to own your own brand, and you need to engage in dialog with your customers. But guess what? Every minute you spend on those activities is spent actually honing your ability to shape the world through your art.

I have no illusions that this new order is going to quickly displace the old. In fact, it’s not even clear that would be a good thing. What matter is that somebody steps into the void being created by this disruption. If traditional media companies adapt, so much the better. If not, there are plenty of alternatives.

So, to all those struggling with how to build an information-distribution channel in this brave new world, let me make a few concrete suggestions. First off, every customer who interacts with any of your creators should have the option to subscribe to all of their future work, every time they interact. For bonus points, make this a paid subscription. Your creators should always have a simple way to talk to current and potential customers in any segment. Make it easy to “pilot” new work with a test community of actively engaged readers, and provide a mechanism for measuring the impact of these pilots. And anytime you strike a deal for digital distribution of any content, insist that your creators be given real-time access to the big-picture metrics: not just downloads, but engagement, retention and replay.

The media companies that will make the transition in the coming years will be the ones that embrace this principle and devote themselves to helping creators, authors and artists develop as entrepreneurs as well as craftspeople. If they don’t, there are a new breed of lean startups who understand this deep in the bones ready to take their place.

I'm honored to have a guest post on GigaOm to introduce the concept of the lean startup to their audience. It's the most general-purpose overview I've written so far, and although it was a lot less specific than my usual, I wanted to share it here, too. I'll share an excerpt and then I'd like to ask, once again, for your help.

Here's the excerpt:

Today’s high-tech entrepreneurs have at their command more than just the ability to invent new technologies — they have mastered the discipline and the methodology required to harness those technologies in order to serve customers. Such a combination of new technology and new understanding is unlocking new opportunities. In order to maximize such opportunities, this generation of entrepreneurs combines extremely low costs with faster cycle times to produce what I call lean startups.

[...]

The ultimate goal of a lean startup is to identify where its vision intersects with what reality can accommodate. It is neither a capitulation to “what customers think they want” nor a willful ignorance of conditions on the ground. It is a company built to learn.

As a consequence, this new startup is relentlessly metrics-driven. It tries out new ideas with a fraction of customers in order to prioritize using facts, not opinions. Its unit of progress is that of validated learning about its customers. Because this radical notion of progress is located firmly in the heads of its employees, and not in any artifacts they produce, the lean startup is employee-centric and knowledge-obsessed. It is a truly fun place to work.

This article also appeared on BusinessWeek.com.

Read the rest of the article here...

I have written several guest posts for other blogs that I haven't cross-posted here, including for VentureBeat, O'Reilly Radar, and The Four Hour Workweek. When I do this in the future, should I cross-post or not? I would welcome your feedback in the comments.

Now for my request. I get asked regularly to do guest posts, and I'm quite often at a loss for topic ideas. I know the audience on this blog, and I've become comfortable writing in the long-form style I normally use here. I've struggled to come up with topics that work in the shorter-form world of traditional and news-oriented blogs. So, if you have a topic suggestion, please post it as a comment. Ideally it'd be something you think would be useful to a general business or tech audience and could be addressed in a short piece or possibly in a series.

Thanks again for your continued support. Your feedback means a lot to me, so keep it coming. I know I've had a lot of events-related posts lately, but I'm doing my best to keep it balanced with more substantive essays. Am I getting the mix right? Please let me know in the comments. Thank you.

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• The Promise of the Lean Startup (gigaom.com)

Tomorrow morning, I hop on a plane to Boulder, Colorado to kick off the largest speaking tour I've ever attempted. I'm doing my best to keep the sidebar of events updated, for those that are interested in coming. I'll continue to post updates, slides, and video as I get them.

After Colorado, in September I'll be in DC for Gov 2.0 Summit - my first of two trips to DC. The second trip to DC will come a week later as part of Geeks on a Plane Europe. The exact itinerary hasn't been announced yet, but it will include a stop at Seedcamp in London. Back in the US, I'm really honored to be giving the Entrepreneurial Thought Leader lecture at Stanford on Sep 30.

Most of October will be taken up by a second trip to Europe. I don't have cities and dates to announce yet, so stay tuned. That trip should culminate in a week of events around Oredev in Sweden the first week of November. I'll announce details as soon as they are confirmed.

In November, I'm doing two events at the Web 2.0 Expo NYC, immediately followed by an event or two in Boston - details to be announced. On December 10, we'll have the third Lean Startup workshop with O'Reilly, also in NYC. There'll be a November tech talk at Facebook, for those of you in Palo Alto. Unconferences? We've got those too - please say hello if you make it to foo camp or The Lobby.

And, just to give a sneak peak, in February I'll be traveling down under. Can't say any more, yet, but will have details announced soon.

Given that so many of the travel logistics are still up in the air, if you're interested in hosting an event nearby one of these stops, please get in touch. I'll do my best to accommodate. And, as always, if you're a reader and can attend, please come say hello. Bring your tough questions and your feedback. I really value both.

One last note. Some of these events are expensive, some are free. For the costly ones, I'm doing my best to make scholarships available. Joe Mathes set a great example by sponsoring a ticket to the Boulder workshop out of sheer generosity. Thanks, Joe! If you're interested in sponsoring or in seeking a scholarship, just drop me an email.

Hope to see you soon!

We're David & Sheri Burns from Long Lane Honey Bee Farms in central Illinois, where the weather is beautiful, the bees are working hard and we are enjoying life to the fullest!
Whenever I write a lesson/blog, I like to include some personal things to talk about. I know some people just want the nuts and bolts of the lesson. But others like the personal stories and events and not so much of the technical side of beekeeping. So I try to keep all personal information at the top of the lessons, even before the lesson. So, if you just want the lesson, you can always scroll down until you see the lesson title below. But if you find it enjoyable to hear what's going on with us (after all this is a blog) then enjoy the following.
Sheri started out the year with 25 chickens, all layers. She has done great and is only down to 24. Something in the coop fell down and smashed one. They should start laying anytime, so we are looking forward to fresh farm eggs from free ranging chickens. The bees and chickens get along fine, and our two hound dogs leave the chickens alone too.
Little Christian is always wanting to help his dad with the bees. He has stuck his finger into a mating nuc or two and managed to pull his finger out with a stinger but he hasn't lost his bravery. He's a typical farm boy for 2 years old (his birthday is September 13) as he always has a bug, rock, tool or a frog in his hand. As seen in the picture, he already knows what a California Mini Queen Cage is. He inspects our queens before we ship them out.
Sheri really did a great job this year planting a garden and freezing and canning lots of fresh vegetables. We had good sweet corn, tons of green peppers, beans and tomatoes. She made jams and jelly, salsa, pies and she even grinds her own wheat to make bread.
We made friends with an Amish family who lives near Arthur, Illinois and while inspecting his hive he dug up a starter of mint, and I transplanted it to our garden and I've enjoyed mint tea all summer. We're just having fun in the country.
My oldest son, David, is getting married next month, so we're doing the wedding thing for the 3rd time :) That's a typical way of saying it from a man's point of view, isn't it!
My middle son, Seth, is almost 16, into drivers Ed. and has become the fastest woodworker in our shop. He is fast and very accurate at making hives.
My youngest daughter is 18 and living at home helping with our bee business. She finally saved her money and bought her first car, a 1995 MX-6 Mazda sports coupe. Boy that sits low to the ground compared to my 1 ton pickup.
We love our family, home and the little bit of farming that we do with chickens, bees and our garden.
Our goal is to encourage more people to start keeping bees. It is so enjoyable, rewarding and educational. To help both the new beekeeper and the experienced beekeeper, we provide these free lessons through this blog. And, like many people, you can call us or email us too if you have beekeeping questions.
Before we get into today's lesson, let me tell you the three next lessons in the works: THAT BLAZIN' SMOKER. I'll tell you the history of the smoker, and the best ways to use it. FLORAL SOURCES THAT BEES LIKE. We'll look at some flowers that bees really gather the nectar from. CLOAKE BOARD QUEEN REARING. I've adopted the Cloake board into our queen rearing operation, and I want to explain it to you and tell you exactly how to use it, making queen rearing much more easy. So tell you friends, and pass these lessons on to others.
Also, every couple of days we place a beekeeping tip on our main website: http://www.honeybeesonline.com You may have seen our recent tip saying to use grass as a bee brush instead of a real bee brush. Try it, you'll be surprised how calm the bees are toward the grass compared to the brush.
LESSON 61: PREPARE FOR WINTER IN AUGUST & SEPTEMBER
Here in Illinois, August is one of the hottest months of the year, a month when gardens are in full production, crops are solid green and grass needs mowed every few days. Here is one of Sheri's big green peppers. So it is very difficult to think "winter" while working bees. I've taught before that winter preparation begins when you first start working your bees in the spring. Everything we do to manipulate the hive is in hopes that they will build up and make it through the winter.
Now that we are in the middle of August, you really need to be seriously thinking about making winter preparations. Not so much externally but internally. It's too early to wrap a hive or to put in an entrance cleat (reducer), but it is not too early to start looking at the internal condition of your hive.
HOW A HIVE MAKES IT THROUGH THE COLD MONTHS OF WINTER
In the perfect scenario, a hive will store pollen and honey above the brood nest area. If you have two deeps on your colony, the lower should be filled with mostly brood in various stages and the upper deep should contain more honey and pollen, though there may be some brood as well.
As the colony heads into winter, they are able to slowly and gradually move upward, eating their way into the upper deep, using the consumption of honey to generate heat and honey and pollen to feed their winter brood. Finally when spring arrives, without missing a meal, they can begin foraging from the spring nectar flow. Remember, I did say this is the perfect scenario. It seldom works that way. But it can and should and perhaps you, as a beekeeper, can help that happen now that it is only August.
So to fully inform you on what to do about helping your bees survive winter, I need to give you some important pointers. First, let me give them to you as bullet points, then I will elaborate.
AUGUST & SEPTEMBER WINTER PREPARATION PROCEDURE
* Get Rid of Tracheal and Varroa Mites
* Get Rid of Nosema
* Evaluate Pollen & Honey Stores &
Strategically Configure Frames
* Feed as Necessary both Pollen & Syrup
* Configure frames Strategically
* Protect Hive from Harsh Wind
* Provide Adequate Ventilation
* Protect from Mice
* Requeen between June 21 - September 21
Obviously, most beekeepers do not do all of the above. I would say that most beekeepers only do one or two of the above. It's a gamble to do nothing. It might work. Many of us do have hives that we do absolutely nothing to and they do fine. I have two survival yards that get no attention and they do fine. But they are survival stock bees. Some people even believe hives that cannot survive on their own need to perish to be removed from the gene pool. There is some degree of truth to that too, unless that hive is your only hive.
Listen, I'm healthy, but I'm not going to do well stuck outside in a brutal winter. You can have all the right genetics you want, but if there is no honey available to keep the bees alive, they will perish. So let me talk more about the bullet points above.

GET RID OF TRACHEAL & VARROA MITES
TRACHEAL MITES (Acarapis woodi)
It is easy for us to assume tracheal mites are no longer a problem because you can't see them with the naked eye. They reproduce in the tracheae (breathing tubes) of the thorax in the bee. The mites feed on bee blood and damage the tracheae making it difficult for bees to breathe. Prior to 1980 there were no tracheal mites in the USA. Between 1980-1984 the tracheal mites moved in from Mexico and devastated hives throughout America.
A common sign that tracheal mites might be a problem is when a colony dies during the winter. Bees might be found crawling around instead of flying during early spring. Winter clusters may perish even with large supplies of honey. Another symptom is "K-wing" which is when the two wings can no longer be hooked, due to damage to the flight muscle. Keep in mind that these symptoms can also be unrelated to tracheal mites, and may be caused from another problem. So it is impossible to find one single symptom or sign short of putting the bee's trachea under a scope and seeing what's in there. Most beekeepers can't do that and don't want to do that.
WHAT TO DO ABOUT TRACHEAL MITES
1. Use Resistant Stock. Beekeepers do have a better line of defense against tracheal mites, such as using queens that have proven to be resistant toward tracheal mites. These lines include Buckfast, Russian and Carniolans.
2. If you are not oppose to medicating your colony, you can use many of the products on the market today such as Apiguard and Miteaway. Grease patties mixed with thymol proves effective as well.
VARROA MITES (Varroa destructor)
This mite was originally named Varroa jacobsoni but now more specifically it has been identified as Varroa destructor. It became a threat in the USA in the late 1980s. As an external parasite they feed on the blood of all stages and caste of bees. They reproduce in the sealed brood cell.
Because this mites reproduces in sealed brood, the emerging bee can be weakened or sick and have a shortened life. Deformed wing virus (DWV) is a result of high varroa destructor infestation. In the developing stage the mites feed upon the wing buds of the bees and the result is a deformed wing, appearing like it has been burned or shriveled up. Hives will not over winter well with high v. mite counts and may even perish during the winter. Get mites out of your hives before winter.
What To Do About Varroa Mites
1. Use a queen that shows mite resistance, such as VSH (Varroa Sensitive Hygienic). Buckfast, Russian and Carniolans show greater mite resistance.
2. Continue a IPM (Integrated Pest Management) approach by using:
a) Drone Comb. Freeze it after it is sealed, killing all the
mites that prefer the longer cycle of a sealed drone
cell. You can purchase "Green Drone Comb."
b) Powdered Sugar Treatment. Put 1-2 cups of
powdered sugar between the frames of each brood
box, once a week for 3-6 weeks after supers are off.
c) Use Screen Bottom Boards. Mites fall through and
cannot return easily.
3. If you use medication, Miteaway and formic acid pads
work well. When using any medication, follow the
directions especially getting honey off during treatment
and sealing up hive as stated and following temperature
requirements as well.
NOSEMA DISEASE
Nosema is a big concern for beekeepers. It is a disease that spreads in the midgut of the adult honey bee. It has been identified as a protozoan but now is being reclassified as a fungus. Beekeepers quickly became familiar with Nosema apis, usually watching for excessive bee feces on the outside of the hive, though bees can have Nosema apis without outward signs. Nosema spores are transmitted through bee feces when young bees clean contaminated comb. More noticeable symptoms are crawling bees with distended abdomens and dislocated wings. The disease weakens a colony and is all but certain death as the hive goes through winter. Fumagillin is an effective treatment especially as a fall treatment in sugar syrup. It is best to send samples into the Beltsville lab to determine if your bees are infested with Nosema. If not, no need to treat. CLICK HERE ON INFO ABOUT SENDING IN A SAMPLE OF BEES TO THE BELTSVILLE LAB. IT'S FREE
Nosema ceranae has recently been identified in the USA. The two Nosema diseases are similar except with N. ceranae a colony can perish within a week. Unlike with N. apis, there may be no diarrhea on the outside of the hive and few to no symptoms other than foraging bees seem to die outside the hive and the population dwindles. N. ceranae has, by some, been associated with CCD. Again, fumagillin seems to be the suggested treatment. Colonies with N. ceranae can function entirely normal without any signs of concern, until additional stressors are placed on the hive. Again, it is best to send samples into the Beltsville lab to determine if your bees are infested and if not, no need to treat.
EVALUATE YOUR HONEY AND POLLEN STORES
Time should be taken to review the content of the hive, not just honey stores, but pollen stores as well. Many beekeepers find their hives pollen bound in the spring, due to the enormous amount of pollen available. Beekeepers finding their hives "pollen bound" are forced to remove and disregard the pollen to make room for brood and honey. However, in the fall and winter, colonies suffer from not having enough pollen.
CONFIGURE FRAMES STRATEGICALLY
Now is a good time to begin reviewing your pollen and honey stores in the hive and positioning them for best winter survival. All food stores must be above the bees, not below them. If pollen is low, feed them pollen patties or dry pollen outside the hive on dry days. If honey stores are low, feed 2 parts sugar and 1 part water to increase the honey stores.
PROTECT HIVE FROM HARSH WINTER WINDS
Beekeepers in the north need to provide some protection around the hive to block harsh winter winds. Keep in mind that the bees do not heat the total inside of their hives like we heat our homes. Instead, they only heat the cluster. Temperatures around the outside of the cluster can be very much the same as on the outside of the hive. Obviously, the bees do have to keep their cluster warm and if harsh winter winds blast the hive, the bees will have to consume more honey to generate heat, which means they could starve out.
Wrapping the hive with roofing paper has been shown to help, or building a berm around the hive or some sort of fence to block the wind can help as well.
PROVIDE ADEQUATE VENTILATION
You need to also provide top ventilation. DO NOT wrap your hive air tight. Moisture will develop on the inside of the hive top and rain down on the bees.
I usually wait until the coldest day of winter to put up my Christmas lights. Then, I wonder why I didn't put them up a week ago when it was warm! Same with wrapping your hive. Don't do it in the summer, but don't wait until it is so cold that you decide not to do it at all. But if you wrap or not, you need to allow for some top ventilation. Otherwise, excess moisture will develop in the hive as condensation on the inside of the top cover and rain down on the bees. I place a 1/2" thick stick under the telescoping top cover to allow for ventilation in the summer.
PROTECT FROM MICE
Mice like to use beehives as their winter home. Mice can destroy a healthy hive during the winter by eating through the comb and eating bees and honey. You must block them out! Usually the wooden entrance reducer is enough when set to the smallest opening. You can also purchase various styles of mouse guards, some are made from metal. If you have a left over queen excluder, you can put it between your bottom board and your deep hive body. But you must keep the mice out. Again, do not wait until the mice are in the hive and then seal them inside the hive. My rule of thumb is to place mouse guards on the hive a couple of weeks before the fields are harvested.
Finally, requeen your hive between June 21 and September 21. The new queen will lay like it is spring, giving you lots of new "winter" bees, those that can live through the winter. A new queen also has strong pheromones which can reduce swarming in the spring. And a new queen will build the hive up faster in the spring as well. Do not think that this year's queen was so good, that she'll pull her hive through the winter and be great again next year. She can only lay so many eggs, then she will cause your hive to perish. Requeen!
I hope today's lesson will help you get your hive through the winter.With the information I have given you, please do not become too overly concerned and worried about the health of your hive. But do be proactive, and make sure your hive is as healthy and as protected as they can be going into winter.
My next lesson will be on the smoker. I've had fun, researching and writing this lesson on the smoker, so watch for it soon.
Remember to contact us as we sell all beekeeping equipment include woodenware, protective clothing, packages, queens and nucs. We sure would appreciate our business. Thank you.
CONTACT US AT:
217-427-2678
www.honeybeesonline.com
EMAIL: david@honeybeesonline.com
Until next time remember to BEE-have yourself!

David & Sheri Burns
Long Lane Honey Bee Farms
Central Illinois

Rabi'ah binti Ismail al-Adawiyah tergolong wanita sufi yang terkenal dalam sejarah Islam. Dia dilahirkan sekitar awal kurun kedua Hijrah berhampiran kota Basrah di Iraq. Dia lahir dalam sebuah keluarga yang miskin dari segi kebendaan namun kaya dengan peribadatan kepada Allah. Ayahnya pula hanya bekerja mengangkut penumpang menyeberangi Sungai Dijlah dengan menggunakan sampan.

Pada akhir kurun pertama Hijrah, keadaan hidup masyarakat Islam dalam pemerintahan Bani Umaiyah yang sebelumnya terkenal dengan ketaqwaan telah mulai berubah. Pergaulan semakin bebas dan orang ramai berlumba-lumba mencari kekayaan. Justeru itu kejahatan dan maksiat tersebar luas. Pekerjaan menyanyi, menari dan berhibur semakin diagung-agungkan. Maka ketajaman iman mulai tumpul dan zaman hidup wara' serta zuhud hampir lenyap sama sekali.

Namun begitu, Allah telah memelihara sebilangan kaum Muslimin agar tidak terjerumus ke dalam fitnah tersebut. Pada masa itulah muncul satu gerakan baru yang dinamakan Tasawuf Islami yang dipimpin oleh Hasan al-Bashri. Pengikutnya terdiri daripada lelaki dan wanita. Mereka menghabiskan masa dan tenaga untuk mendidik jiwa dan rohani mengatasi segala tuntutan hawa nafsu demi mendekatkan diri kepada Allah sebagai hamba yang benar-benar taat.

Bapa Rabi'ah merupakan hamba yang sangat bertaqwa, tersingkir daripada kemewahan dunia dan tidak pernah letih bersyukur kepada Allah. Dia mendidik anak perempuannya menjadi muslimah yang berjiwa bersih. Pendidikan yang diberikannya bersumberkan al-Quran semata-mata. Natijahnya Rabi'ah sendiri begitu gemar membaca dan menghayati isi al-Quran sehigga berjaya menghafal kandungan al-Quran.

Sejak kecil lagi Rabi'ah sememangnya berjiwa halus, mempunyai keyakinan yang tinggi serta keimanan yang mendalam. Menjelang kedewasaannya, kehidupannya menjadi serba sempit. Keadaan itu semakin buruk setelah beliau ditinggalkan ayah dan ibunya. Rabi'ah juga tidak terkecuali daripada ujian yang bertujuan membuktikan keteguhan iman.

Ada riwayat yang mengatakan beliau telah terjebak dalam kancah maksiat. Namun dengan limpah hidayah Allah, dengan asas keimanan yang belum padam di hatinya, dia dipermudahkan oleh Allah untuk kembali bertaubat. Babak-babak taubat inilah yang mungkin dapat menyedar serta mendorong hati kita merasai cara yang sepatutnya seorang hamba brgantung harap kepada belas ihsan Tuhannya.



Marilah kita teliti ucapan Rabi'ah sewaktu kesunyian di ketenangan malam ketika bermunajat kepada Allah:

"Ya Allah, ya Tuhanku. Aku berlindung diri kepada Engkau daripada segala yang ada yang boleh memesongkan diri daripada-Mu, daripada segala pendinding yang boleh mendinding antara aku dengan Engkau!
Tuhanku! bintang-bintang telah menjelma indah, mata telah tidur nyenyak, semua pemilik telah menutup pintunya dan inilah dudukku di hadapan-Mu.
Tuhanku! Tiada kudengar suara binatang yang mengaum, tiada desiran pohon yang bergeser, tiada desiran air yang mengalir, tiada siulan burung yang menyanyi, tiada nikmatnya teduhan yang melindungi, tiada tiupan angin yang nyaman, tiada dentuman guruh yang menakutkan melainkan aku dapati semua itu menjadi bukti keEsaan-Mu dan menunjukkan tiada sesuatu yang menyamai-Mu.
Sekelian manusia telah tidur dan semua orang telah lalai dengan asyik maksyuknya. Yang tinggal hanya Rabi'ah yang banyak kesalahan di hadapan-Mu. Maka moga-moga Engkau berikan suatu pandangan kepadanya yang akan menahannya daripada tidur supaya dia dapat berkhidmat kepada-Mu."

Rabi'ah juga pernah meraung memohon belas ihsan Allah SWT:

"Tuhanku! Engkau akan mendekatkan orang yang dekat di dalam kesunyian kepada keagungan-Mu. Semua ikan di laut bertasbih di dalam lautan yang mendalam dan kerana kebesaran kesucian-Mu, ombak di laut bertepukan. Engkaulah Tuhan yang sujud kepada-Nya malam yang gelap, siang yang terang, falak yang bulat, bulan yang menerangi, bintang yang berkerdipan dan setiap sesuatu di sisi-Mu dengan takdir sebab Engkaulah Tuhan Yang Maha Tinggi lagi Maha Perkasa."

Setiap malam begitulah keadaan Rabi'ah. Apabila fajar menyinsing, Rabi'ah terus juga bermunajat dengan ungkapan seperti:

"Wahai Tuhanku! Malam yang akan pergi dan siang pula akan mengganti. Wahai malangnya diri! Apakah Engkau akan menerima malamku ini supaya aku berasa bahagia ataupun Engkau akan menolaknya maka aku diberikan takziah? Demi kemuliaan-Mu, jadikanlah caraku ini kekal selama Engkau menghidupkan aku dan bantulah aku di atasnya. Demi kemuliaan-Mu, jika Engkau menghalauku daripada pintu-Mu itu, nescaya aku akan tetap tidak bergerak juga dari situ disebabkan hatiku sangat cinta kepada-Mu."

Seperkara menarik tentang diri Rabi'ah ialah dia menolak lamaran untuk berkahwin dengan alasan:

"Perkahwinan itu memang perlu bagi sesiapa yang mempunyai pilihan. Adapun aku tiada mempunyai pilihan untuk diriku. Aku adalah milik Tuhanku dan di bawah perintah-Nya. Aku tidak mempunyai apa-apa pun."

Rabi'ah seolah-olah tidak mengenali yang lain daripada Allah. Oleh itu dia terus-menerus mencintai Allah semata-mata. Dia tidak mempunyai tujuan lain kecuali untuk mencapai keredaan Allah. Rabi'ah telah mempertalikan akalnya, pemikirannya dan perasaannya hanya kepada akhirat semata-mata. Dia sentiasa meletakkan kain kapannya di hadapannya dan sentiasa membelek-beleknya setiap hari.

Selama 30 tahun dia terus-menerus mengulangi kata-kata ini dalam sembahyangnya:

"Ya Tuhanku! Tenggelamkanlah aku di dalam kecintaan-Mu supaya tiada suatupun yang dapat memalingkan aku daripada-Mu."

Antara syairnya yang masyhur berbunyi:

"Kekasihku tiada menyamai kekasih lain biar bagaimanapun,
Tiada selain Dia di dalam hatiku mempunyai tempat manapun,
Kekasihku ghaib daripada penglihatanku dan peribadiku sekalipun,
Akan tetapi Dia tidak pernah ghaib di dalam hatiku walau sedetik pun."

Rabi'ah telah membentuk satu cara yang luar biasa di dalam mencintai Allah. Dia menjadikan kecintaan pada Ilahi itu sebagai satu cara untuk membersihkan hati dan jiwa. Dia memulakan fahaman sufinya dengan menanamkan rasa takut kepada kemurkaan Allah seperti yang pernah diluahkannya:

"Wahai Tuhanku! Apakah Engkau akan membakar dengan api hati yang mencintai-Mu dan lisan yang menyebut-Mu dan hamba yang takut kepada-Mu?"

Kecintaan Rabi'ah kepada Allah berjaya melewati pengharapan untuk beroleh syurga Allah semata-mata.

"Jika aku menyembah-Mu kerana takut daripada api neraka-Mu maka bakarlah aku di dalamnya! Dan jika aku menyembah-Mu kerana tamak kepada syurga-Mu maka haramkanlah aku daripadanya! Tetapi jika aku menyembah-Mu kerana kecintaanku kepada-Mu maka berikanlah aku balasan yang besar, berilah aku melihat wajah-Mu yang Maha Besar dan Maha Mulia itu."

Begitulah keadaan kehidupan Rabi'ah yang ditakdirkan Allah untuk diuji dengan keimanan serta kecintaan kepada-Nya. Rabi'ah meninggal dunia pada 135 Hijrah iaitu ketika usianya menjangkau 80 tahun. Moga-moga Allah meredainya, amin!

Sekarang mari kita tinjau diri sendiri pula. Adakah kita menyedari satu hakikat yang disebut oleh Allah di dalam Surah Ali Imran, ayat 142 yang bermaksud:

"Apakah kamu mengira bahawa kamu akan masuk syurga padahal belum nyata bagi Allah orang yang berjihad di antaramu dan belum nyata orang yang sabar."

Bagaimana perasaan kita apabila insan yang kita kasihi menyinggung perasaan kita? Adakah kita terus berkecil hati dan meletakkan kesalahan kepada insan berkenaan? Tidak terlintaskah untuk merasakan di dalam hati seumpama ini:

"Ya Allah! Ampunilah aku. Sesungguhnya hanya Engkau yang Maha Pengasih lagi Maha Penyayang. Hanya kasih-Mu yang abadi dan hanya hidup di sisi-Mu sahaja yang berkekalan. Selamatkanlah aku daripada tipu daya yang mengasyikkan."

Sesungguhnya apa juga lintasan hati dan luahan rasa yang tercetus daripada kita bergantung kepada cara hati kita berhubung dengan Allah. Semakin kita kenali keluhuran cinta kepada Allah, maka bertambah erat pergantungan hati kita kepada Allah serta melahirkan keyakinan cinta dan kasih yang sentiasa subur.

Lanjutan itu jiwa kita tidak mudah berasa kecewa dengan gelagat sesama insan yang pelbagai ragam. Keadaan begini sebenarnya terlebih dahulu perlu dipupuk dengan melihat serta merenungi alam yang terbentang luas ini sebagai anugerah besar daripada Allah untuk maslahat kehidupan manusia. Kemudian cubalah hitung betapa banyaknya nikmat Allah kepada kita. Dengan itu kita akan sedar bahawa kita sebenarnya hanya bergantung kepada Allah.

Bermula dari sini kita akan mampu membina perasaan cinta terhadap Allah yang kemudian mesti diperkukuhkan dengan mencintai titah perintah Allah. Mudah-mudahan nanti kita juga akan menjadi perindu cinta Allah yang kekal abadi.




sumber : iluvislam.com

*****

Apabila hati telah rindu...
Jiwa rasa bagai tertusuk sembilu...
Aku ingin Allah sentiasa di hatiku...
Merinduimu di setiap relung jiwaku..

Ya Allah..penuhilah diriku dengan cintaMu..
Aku ingin seperti Rabi'ah yang sanggup melepaskan segala-galanya demi redhaMu
Amat mudah berbicara tentang redhaMu Ya Allah
Tetapi amat sukar membuktikannya secara praktikal...

Ya Allah...
Aku ingin mencintaiMu sepenuh jiwaku..
Perkenankanlah Ya Allah
Hanya Kau yang mampu menentukan segala-galanya..

Malam itu amat bersejarah. Di situ situ saya mengalami pengalaman yang saya rasa tidak mampu saya hadapi di masa akan datang. Semoga Allah terus memberi kekuatan kepada saya untuk meneruskan keyakinan dan keteguhan ini. Sungguh, awak memang berharga dalam hidup saya, tapi saya menyedari ada yang jauh lebih berharga. Dan demi mendapatkan yang paling berharga itu, saya terpaksa memilih antara dua…

*****

Majlis malam itu berakhir dengan sesi ta'aruf, pukul 10 semua orang sudah bebas untuk aktiviti sendiri. Lagipun kami semua penat. Pihak penganjur pun faham. Takkan nak panjang-panjangkan program sampai tengah malam.


Tiba-tiba saya tergerak hati untuk bertanya dengan fasilitator yang ada di situ. Saya rasa inilah masa terbaik untuk tanya pendapat dia tentang couple. Tapi saya teragak-agak. "Kalaulah betul couple tu salah, habis tu, nak buat macam mana? Aku kena clash ke? Alah, buat apa fikir macam tu..tanya je la. Kalau tak buat salah, apa nak ditakutkan?"


Lalu saya menghampiri 'Brother' fasilitator tu. Masa tu dia tengah membelek-belek terjemahan Al-Qurannya seorang diri.

"Assalamualaikum, bang, saya nak tanya sikit, boleh?"

"Em,boleh..duduklah. Nta nak tanya apa?"

"Er..macam ni,sebelum saya terlibat dengan dakwah ni, saya ada kenal seorang kawan ni, perempuan la. Tapi bukanlah setakat kawan biasa. Rapat jugalah. Bukan rapat biasa-biasa, tapi rapatlah.."

“Bercinta ke?”

Saya malu nak cakap yang saya couple. Nanti apa pula brother tu kata..mesti dia marah punya. Tapi bagi dalih apa lagi. Saya pun angguk. Lepas tu saya tanya:

"Sebenarnya..couple ni boleh ke tak bang?"

Dengan suara yang lembut brother tu jawab:


"Akhi, memang fitrah manusia, lelaki akan tertarik kepada perempuan, begitu juga perempuan akan tertarik kepada lelaki. Tapi dalam Islam, perasaan itu perlu dikawal dan ada batasnya. Pergaulan perlu dijaga. Allah firman dalam surah Al-Isra', surah ke 17, dalam ayat yg ke 32:
Dan janganlah kamu mendekati zina; sesungguhnya zina itu adalah suatu perbuatan yang keji dan suatu jalan yang buruk."

"Tapi bang,saya tak nampak pun yang kami ni menghampiri zina. Niat kami baik. Saya dah cuba sedaya upaya mengawal perhubungan kami. Sms pun takdelah jiwang-jiwang, selalu bagi tazkirah lagi. Kami selang-selang bagi, hari ni saya, esok dia."

Saya tak mahu mengalah.


"Memang betul niat nta baik. Tapi ingat, niat tak pernah menghalalkan cara. Yang batil tetap sahaja batil, yang haq tetap haq. Cuba tengok ayat ni."


Sambil brother tu bukak Al-Quran dia, dan tunjuk pada saya ayat ini:


Dan (juga) kaum Ad dan Tsamud, dan sungguh telah nyata bagi kamu (kehancuran mereka) dari (puing-puing) tempat tinggal mereka. Dan setan menjadikan mereka memandang baik perbuatan-perbuatan mereka, lalu ia menghalangi mereka dari jalan (Allah), sedangkan mereka adalah orang-orang yang berpandangan tajam.
(Surah Al-Anakabut,Surah 29, ayat 38)

"Akhi, kalau nta paham ayat ni, sebenarnya apa yang berlaku pada nta ialah, setan telah buat nta pandang indah benda buruk yang nta lakukan. Walaupun nta berpandangan tajam, maksudnya nta berilmu tinggi. Memang pada mulanya niat nta baik, tapi ingat, syaitan itu sangat licik. Dia akan sedaya upaya buat nta terjerumus ke dalam kemaksiatan. Lagipun, takkanlah sepanjang masa nta sms dengan dia, nta ingat Allah aje. Mesti ada masanya nta hanya melayan perasaan dengan dia, kan?"


Betul juga katanya. Lepas tu saya kata,


"Tapi bang, saya dah janji dengan dia taknak jumpa lagi. Sebab saya tahu kalau berjumpa nanti banyak bahayanya. Dan dia pun setuju. Kami sama-sama menjaga diri. Takkanlah ia boleh membawa kepada zina juga bang?"

"Em, betul, nta dah janji taknak jumpa dengan dia lagi. Nta dah dapat elakkan zina mata, zina tangan, zina kaki. kalau nta janji taknak call dia pula, nta dapat elak zina telinga dan zina lidah. Tapi akh, masih ada zina yang tetap nta tak dapat elak apabila bercouple.."

" Zina hati?” Saya menduga.

"Betul, zina hati. Semua inilah yang Rasulullah jelaskan dalam hadithnya tentang bagaimana menghampiri zina tu. Nta boleh 'check' dalam Riyadahus Solihin, bawah bab larangan melihat wanita. Rasulullah bersabda, mata boleh berzina dgn melihat, lidah boleh berzina dengan bercakap, tangan boleh berzina dengan berpegangan. Kaki boleh berzina dengan berjalan ke arah tempat maksiat. Hati pula boleh berzina dgn merindui, mengingati dan membayangi si dia. Hakikatnya, macam mana pun nta buat, nta tetap tak dapat lari daripada zina hati."

Saya terdiam. Kelu. Tak tahu apa nak dikata. Semua yang brother tu kata tiada yang salahnya. Kemudian dia sambung.

"Ana dulu pun couple juga. Lagi lama daripada nta. Sejak sekolah sampai dah masuk U, dekat nak gred. Tapi bila ana sedar apa yang ana buat ni salah, ana trus tinggalkan. Ana siap dah fikir, dialah bakal isteri ana, yang akan jadi ibu kepada anak-anak ana. Kalau nak diikutkan lagi besar masalah ana daripada nta."

"Saya risau la bang. Nanti apa kawan-kawan dia kata. Dulu saya selalu minta tolong mereka untuk rapat dengan dia. Mesti nanti mereka semua tak puas hati dengan saya. Dan dia sendiri pula, saya takut apa-apa akan jadi pada dia kalau dia tak dapat terima keputusan ni. Sebab kami dah rapat sangat."

Masa tu saya dah mula sebak. Malu betul. Menangis depan brother tu cerita pasal benda ni. Nasib baik tak ada org lain masa tu. Brother tu jawab,

"Kalau kawan-kawan dia tak puas hati pun, mereka boleh buat apa? Paling teruk pun, mereka akan mengata di belakang nta. Nta tak kurang sikit pun. Lagipun, dalam berdakwah ni, kita nak cari redha Allah, biarlah orang nak kata apa-apa sekali pun, yang penting redha Allah. Kalau Allah tak redha, semuanya dah tak bermakna lagi."

Saya terdiam lagi.


"Pasal dia pula, cuba nta fikir dari sudut positif, mungkin dia akan terima keputusan nta scara matang. Mungkin dia juga akan buat keputusan untuk tidak lagi bercouple. Ana yakin, dia takkan buat apa-apa perkara bodoh. Kalau dia buat sekalipun, itu bukan tanggungjawab nta, apa yang nta nak buat tu betul, meninggalkan maksiat. Semua orang akan menanggung balasan atas perbuatannya sendiri."


Saya dah tak dapat tahan lagi. Masa itu saya menangis, saya dah sedar yang saya kena berhenti couple. Dah jelas sekarang, couple tu haram.

"Jadi apa saya nak buat bang?"

"Ana dulu, hantar satu sms je kat dia. Ana terangkan pada dia hubungan yang dibina itu salah. Minta maaf, kita berakhir di sini. Tolong jangan cari saya lagi. Lepas itu ana terus tukar nombor. Ana tak hubungi dia langsung lepas tu."

"Maksudnya, saya tak boleh hubungi dia lagi ke? Tapi bang, saya ada juga kawan perempuan lain, boleh pula saya hubungi mereka?"


"Dengan dia ni lain. Nta dah pernah ada 'sejarah' dengan dia. Tapi, kalau nanti ditaqdirkan nta satu universiti dengan dia, satu kuliah, lepas tu kena pula buat group discussion, masa tu nta hanya layan dia hanya sebagai group discussion partner."


Tiba-tiba saya terfikir,


"Dia ni nak suruh aku clash malam ni gak ke? Sekarang gak? Takkanlah awal sangat?"


"Saya rasa saya belum ade kekuatan la bang. Boleh tak saya tunggu sampai saya ada kekuatan, baru saya tinggalkan benda ni?"

Saya ingat nak lari la. Lalu dia jawab,


"Akh, nta kena ingat. Kekuatan itu tidak boleh ditunggu, tapi ia perlu dibina. Allah tidak akan mengubah keadaan sesuatu kaum sehingga kaum itu mengubah keadaannya sendiri. Nta boleh rujuk surah Ar-Ra'du,surah ke-13,ayat 11. Lagipun, nta nak tuggu sampai bila baru nak tinggalkan couple ni? Abang-abang fasilitator ni pun ramai yang pernah couple, bila masuk dakwah, mereka tinggalkan."


Alamak, tak boleh lari lagilah nampaknya. Saya rasa macam brother ni paksa saya clash masa tu juga.

"Semuanya dah jelas rasanya..Nampaknya saya kena tiggalkanla benda ni gak ye. Macam tak larat rasanya nak tekan button handphone ni. Rasa tak sanggup."

"Kalau tak sanggup mari ana tolong tekankan."

"Eh, tak apalah bang. Biar saya taip sendiri."

Teragak-agak saya nak taip masa tu. Tapi saya gagahkn juga diri.

"Semuanya dah jelas..buat apa aku tangguh-tangguh lagi. Takut nanti hidayah ni Allah tarik, susah pula nak tinggalkan. Kan aku selalu doa supaya dijauhkan dari maksiat, jadi rasanya, inilah masanya."

Lalu perlahan-lahan saya taip sms tu..

"Assalamualaikum..Sebenarnya selama ini hubungan kita salah di sisi Islam. Saya ingat dengan mengubah cara pergaulan kita, ia dah dibolehkan, tapi sebenarnya ia tetap berdosa. Saya harap awak akan istiqamah meneruskan perubahan yang awak dah buat, kerana Allah. Saya minta maaf atas segala yang dah berlaku. Kalau ada jodoh insya-Allah, akan bertemu juga. Assalamualaikum.."

Berat betul nak hantar sms tu kat awak. Saya masih tak mampu nak ucap selamat tinggal. Sebab tu dalam sms tu saya hanya akhirkan dengan ucapan salam. Lepas beberapa ketika..saya tekan juga button [send].

Lepas tu tertera di skrin..

SENDING...

MESSAGE SENT

Masa tu saya rasa macam separuh hidup saya dah hilang. Macam tak percaya..saya dah hantar 1 sms, dan clash dengan awak..

"Terima kasih bang.."

"Takpe, dah tanggungjawab.."

Malam tu saya saya tidur dengan linangan air mata. Tak sangka. Memang tak disangka. Saya memang tak pernah terfikir untuk clash, tapi itulah yang terbaik untuk kita sebenarnya. Tiba-tiba saya teringat ayat Allah, Surah Al-Baqarah, ayat 216,

Diwajibkan atas kamu berperang, padahal berperang itu adalah sesuatu yang kamu benci. Boleh jadi kamu membenci sesuatu, padahal ia amat baik bagimu, dan boleh jadi (pula) kamu menyukai sesuatu, padahal ia amat buruk bagimu; Allah mengetahui, sedang kamu tidak mengetahui.

*****

Masa terus berlalu. Saya terus sibukkan diri dengan kerja-kerja lain. Dalam usaha nak lupakan awak, bukan senang, tapi saya terus cuba. Saya selalu bagi tazkirah, ingatkan orang. Saya bagi ta'lim di masjid, terangkan pada orang, couple haram, tunjuk segala dalil. Macam-macam yang berlaku. Ada kritikan, ada juga yang setuju. Cuma kali ini saya tak dapat nak mengadu pada awak, tapi saya jumpa tempat mengadu yang lebih baik, pada Dia, Allah yang Maha Mendengar.

Tiba-tiba satu pagi ni, dapat sms daripada awak. Awak bagi gambar bunga. Bawah tu ada ayat,

"Seindah gubahan pertama.."

Saya rasa awak masih tak dapat lupakan saya. Saya pun fikir, "Kena tegaskan rasanya". Lepas tu saya hantarlah sms ni. Dan rasanya itulah yg terakhir.

"Tiada yang lebih indah daripada mendapat keredahaan ilahi..seindah manapun gubahan pertama tu, selagi tak mendapat keredahaanNya, tetap tiada gunanya.. Assalamualaikum..saya tahu, dulu saya cakap, kalau ada jodoh, insya-Allah akan bertemu juga. Tapi saya taknak awak tunggu. Lupakan saya. Biar Allah yang menentukan. Lagi satu, Jangan cari cinta manusia, ia penuh dengan penipuan, kekecewaan, dan tak kekal.. Tapi carilah cinta Allah.. tiada penipuan, tidakkan pernah mengecewakan itulah cinta abadi.. Cinta yang diredahai.. -Yang Terakhir-

SEND

SENDING..

MESSAGE SENT

Saya dah buat keputusan. Saya pasti apa yang saya buat ni betul. Saya yakin, saya tinggalkan semua ini demi mendapatkan redha Allah. Allah akan gantikan dengan sesuatu yang terbaik untuk saya. Dan saya takkan sekali-kali berpatah balik.

TAKKAN…BUAT SELAMA-LAMANYA...

Wanita-wanita yang keji adalah untuk laki-laki yang keji, dan laki-laki yang keji adalah buat wanita-wanita yang keji (pula), dan wanita-wanita yang baik adalah untuk laki-laki yang baik dan laki-laki yang baik adalah untuk wanita-wanita yang baik (pula).

[An-Nuur, 24:26]