Techneur

Your Call Is Important To Us

Thu, 29 Jul 2010 06:23:55 -0500

Today I opened my Time Warner Roadrunner Bill to find that my monthly subscription rate had almost doubled to $52.95. Internet porn just got a lot more expensive…

I was dismayed about the inflated charge and immediately called the printed phone number. I patiently waited for the automated voice menu to list the operator option. None came. I repeated the options and listened very carefully. Still, no operator number was given. So I did what everyone does - hit zero. The response: “The number you have chosen is not a valid option. Please listen to the option list and try again.” I thought, yeah right, I’m not about to waist another five minutes, so I hit zero. Again, I got the automated response that zero was not a valid option.

This type of system is poor customer management. Why obfuscate a real-life service representative? I only interact with a Time Warner rep about once a year. Usually, that interaction occurs if my service is bad. You’d think they’d want to talk to me to see how things are going. This is Time Warner’s chance to WOW me back into their arms with a great personal touch. This is their opportunity to establish a personal connection with me, rather than pawn me off to an automated system.

Let’s run through the emotions of an average customer scenario here. Bob is frustrated because he is experiencing poor service from Time Warner Cable and needs to speak with a representative. Once he calls, Bob must listen through a batch of irrelevant choices. This makes Bob even more frustrated. The option for an operator is never given so he gets angrier. After listening through the options again, Bob punches the zero key several times and is finally redirected to a live operator. The first line Bob hears out of their voice is, “Thanks for calling Time Warner Cable, where we value you as a customer, how can I help you today?” Bob is seething now. If they valued him so much, then why did they make him jump through hoops to reach them?

Bob’s anger level went from a 3 to a 6 in a short period of time. Companies wonder why their reps get treated so harshly by incoming callers. How many customers has Time Warner lost because a callers level of frustration was escalated by the call-in process itself? Asking for help is supposed to be easy and alleviate pain.

Here’s an idea: display a direct line to live representatives right below the automated one and let your customers sort their needs. There’s no way in hell I would call if I needed a billing invoice. I can go on the web and check that in a minute. But my dad can’t - he’s not computer literate. He would want to call and speak with a live person. Companies should heed differentiations in comfort level.

By interacting with my dad, Time Warner could have turned his negative experience into a positive one. That’s a powerful interaction. Actually, it’s probably one of the most influential ways to act with a person (or customer), period. People won’t remember your name, your personal details, or even what you’ve done. What people will remember is how you made them feel. Here, Time Warner has an opportunity to turn the tide on someone’s feelings and create an everlasting experience for them. Otherwise, they’re just a commodity - a service provider at a certain price point that invokes no loyalty.

Luckily, I had a great rep that was able to WOW me even after I was ramped up to a 6. If I would have had an average rep, I wouldn’t have thought twice about switching to Windstream.

So to all of the Time Warners out there, reallocate some your marketing resources back into your call centers. Those centers are part of your marketing whether you realize it or not. Make them easily available so customers can establish a personal connection with you. A connection that invokes loyalty over a pricing sheet. This way you won’t be lying when you say, “Your call is important to us.”

If you liked this post, you may like:

1) Delivering Happiness Review

2) Compete on High Touch

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-Brian Lambelet

What Monopoly Can Teach Us About Business

Wed, 28 Jul 2010 04:47:24 -0500

When I was growing up, there was no gay-ass farmville. We wouldn’t water each other’s virtual garden or sniff each other’s virtual ass. We’d play the game with the opponent right there and we’d laugh in their face if they lost. Just like asking a girl out, I was usually at the receiving end of the laughter.

When it came to Monopoly, I still have nightmares of Uncle Pennybags ransacking my mattress for those golden Five-Hundreds. Besides the game taking four hours to play, I just didn’t have the patience to secure the key properties. I bought the first decent place I landed on, fearing that I’d roll worse next turn. My spaces usually ended up scattered around the board. I’d even settle for the lowly Vermont, Connecticut, or Oriental Avenue. You know, the light blue properties between the Railroad and Jail. Talk about a shitty neighborhood. Basically, I was a slum lord.

One of my older friends, Mike, was always able to administer the Park Place-Boardwalk combo beatdown. He’d go to great lengths to secure these properties. Then, he’d beef them up with housing and hotels. Word to the wise, when someone calls rent on you for landing on a Pimped-out Park Place right after you snake-eyed it from their Boardwalk hotel, they’re really saying, “Would you please end the game by violently flipping over the board over?” As any good friend would, I happily obliged.

But this story isn’t about how many monopoly boards ended up in the ceiling fan, it’s about Mike’s winning strategy: focus. My friend picked a plan and stuck to it. Sometimes, he didn’t get Park Place or Boardwalk, but he’d always grab some expensive spaces and pump them with housing and hotels. Mike would only own a few properties but one night’s rent would cost you hundreds. He had a few Hilton’s when I had a lot of ~~Embassy Suites~~ ~~Holiday Inns~~ ~~Super 8s~~ extra couches. His few beat my many every time. Why? Because he focused his resources on one thing.

That’s the lesson that our company, Reflect7, is trying to learn. From JP’s A Crappy Vision is Better Than Lack of Vision, you can see that we’re spread pretty thin. Just like my monopoly game, we’ve scattered our resources over several projects. When we step back in review, we see that some of these projects pay the bills, some build our local brand, and some are shots in the dark. However, all of them are not something we want to be defined as. We don’t want to be a “Trucking Software Company”. We don’t want to be “A Mobile Software Consulting Company.” We’re like teenagers graduating from high school, we don’t know what we want to be. Right now, we’re just hitting the first two years of prereqs with hopes of making third year’s tuition.

So what I’ve learned is that purpose takes time and experience. That you shouldn’t consult away your resources because you won’t have any product equity to show for it. You probably won’t have the passion either. I’ve learned that a person who spends many years on one trade will have a better product than a person who has spent one year on many trades. That when we find our purpose, we’ll drop everything. I’ve learned that focus wins the game of Monopoly and the game of business.

If You Liked This Blog Post, You May Like:

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-Brian Lambelet

PS. For nostalgia’s sake, here’s an old Monopoly board:

A Crappy Vision Is Better Then Lack of Vision

Tue, 27 Jul 2010 00:01:00 -0500

Yesterday, I wrote about how I felt like Captain Jack Sparrow in search of a boat. Well, that’s not entirely true. We have a boat, the boat just happens to be a row boat. But like Jack, we also have a broken compass. However, I think this is all pretty normal for a startup that has only been around for 1.5 years. I’ve read time and time again that startup success takes years.

After March Madness, we were just kind of drifting with no vision. Maybe we were jaded by our optimistic expectations. I’m not sure. But we took time off of the Sports Fan Apps. Around the Big Omaha Conference, we developed the idea for Mindspread. We got pretty jazzed up about that but then realized we started getting a number of emails to update our football apps. We lost passion for the football apps and weren’t sure what to do. We finally decided upon the strategy of making enough money so that it gives us the freedom to choose what we want to do. This includes the following:

Consult. We currently consult with a few clients on a diverse range of products. This helps us to sharpen both our technical and our business skills.
DJ Explode. This is a soon to be released iPhone app that may open the door for alternative revenue streams.
Sports Fan Apps. These pay the bills. In fact, these make us enough money that one of us could take a full-time salary on these alone.

I’m not in love with this vision. In fact, I think that we can do better. I think that the context switching between projects can be detrimental. I also believe that it spreads our resources too thin. It doesn’t allow us to focus our expertise on making one kick ass product that truly changes the world. However, we are learning a lot, we are having fun, and we are making money. We will get to our destination, it’s not a matter of ‘if’, it’s a matter of ‘when.’

But the message is simple. You must have a vision. You must execute upon this vision, even if the vision sucks. If you’re not doing anything, you’re not learning or growing. That’s worse than not being focused and having a meaningful purpose.

Follow me on Twitter: @jprichardson

-JP Richardson

Which Is Better: the Journey or the Destination?

Mon, 26 Jul 2010 00:05:09 -0500

I’m struggling. I’m struggling with the journey. My feeling probably resembles that of Captain Jack Sparrow’s feeling of when he didn’t have a boat - he was looking for a boat to commandeer. I’m looking for my boat. I’m struggling to balance all of my projects, being a great father, a great fiance, a great friend, and a great business partner. I’m struggling to identify my purpose.

Don’t get me wrong. Life is amazing. I’m fortunate enough to have a healthy nine-year old son, a loving fiance, business partners who happen to be some of my best friends, an awesome day job, and a business that is generating some revenue. What more could a man ask for? I think that I would like are two things:

A more narrowed focus. I feel too scatter brained with every project that is on my plate.
Purpose. Ever since I was a child, I got immense joy out of helping others. The more lives that I can improve, the more fulfilled that I feel. I’ve learned this in my software projects. If a lot of people use my software and it improves their lives, then I feel wonderful. If it’s just software that a few people benefit from, I don’t feel as good as I think that I could. So then the question becomes: what is the software or technology that you can build to improve people’s lives?

It’s been said that it’s not about the destination, but it’s about the journey. One thing is true, I feel like I’m living and loving life to the fullest. When I arrive at the destination, I will have the answer; but until then, I will continue to document my journey on this blog.

What are your thoughts? Any wisdom to share?

If you enjoyed this, you may enjoy:

Follow me on Twitter: @jprichardson

-JP

A Pessimist Presupposes Failure. An Optimist Presupposes Success.

Thu, 22 Jul 2010 03:00:00 -0500

A pessimist presupposes failure. An optimist presupposes success.

A pessimist sees a dead end. An optimist sees an unpaved road.

A pessimists says, “It can’t be done.” An optimist says, “It will be done.”

A pessimist is an expert. An optimist is a novice.

A pessimist muddies the present with the past. An optimist clarifies the present with the future.

A pessimist believes that ideas are rigid. An optimist believes that ideas are pliable.

A pessimist lives in a world that is limited. An optimist lives in a world of possibility.

A pessimist will call themselves “a realist”, “a pragmatist”, or “experienced.” An optimist will call themselves, “an idealist”, “a believer”, “a visionary.”

A pessimist worries about problems. An optimist focuses on solutions.

A pessimist expires. An optimist inspires.

A pessimist quits because they’re stubborn. An optimist is too stubborn to quit.

Steve Jobs, the Wright Brothers, Walt Disney -> Optimists.

People you’ve never heard of -> Pessimists.

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-Brian Lambelet

Reflect7.com

Facebook Connects Us, And Disconnects Us

Thu, 22 Jul 2010 02:59:00 -0500

500,000,000 users. That’s a lot of zeros sharing their drunken stupor pics over the internet. More importantly, that’s a lot of people staying connected. Social websites allow you to look-in on your friends. To feel like your in the know on their happenings and whereabouts. Facebook has helped me organize and attend events that I wouldn’t have known about. Facebook has also kept me complacent about my social network…

Trailer Parks

Maybe I was rubbing elbows with Trailer folk over a bottle of moonshine, or maybe a psychologist I respect mentioned this to me tonight: that trailer parks have the highest level of connectedness when it comes to neighborhoods. On one hand, there’s the physical location of being literally right in the other persons front yard. On the other hand, there’s the technological dislocation. I’m making an assumption here so I could be making an ass out of myself. But assuming that Trailer park attendees are poor (hence the trailer situation), I conclude that they probably aren’t furnishing the latest Macbook Pro. They’re probably not connected to the internet at all, which means that they’ll have to get their social needs from, gasp, their neighbors!

Back In The Day

Many will say, “Brian, have you been staring at The Double Rainbow too long?” Yes, I have (it’s almost a triple rainbow!!!). But I also say, “look at your parents.” Back in the day, my parents only social interaction was done physically (and via phone) with family, friends, and neighbors. There weren’t any virtually represented friends and you actually had to see, or talk to someone, to consider yourself involved. Today’s Facebook friendships don’t require any effort.

Don’t get me wrong, Facebook is revolutionary as an efficient form of communication (and stalking). But it makes it all the more easier to cash out on our friendships. Just like texting, Facebook is a minimally invasive way to interact. However, the less invasive, the less the impact.

Think about it this way, when I’m talking with a friend in person, how well can I gauge their emotion? Pretty damn good. When I’m talking on the phone, how well can I gauge their emotion? Pretty good, but not as well as in person. I don’t even want to get into the miscommunications I’ve had while texting. Now consider Facebook. Most of the interaction is done via the Wall. How much can I gauge a person’s woes by posting something on their wall? Not much. How much affect am I really having when I leave “That’s what she said” with a smiley face in response to my friend’s status?

Old Balls

Call me old balls, I’m almost thirty, but I liked the good ‘ol days when my parents chilled with the neighbors and talked about real shit. Where the amount of Facebook friends or Twitter Followers didn’t define you (Southpark: You have 0 friends). I liked it when you could actually feel the person you were talking to (that’s what she said).

I’ll be the first to admit that when I had a hot chick as a Facebook friend, I was much less likely to delete her. Even if her Facebook status updates were self-involved and she made that fucking kissy face in every photo. Acquaintances have become social commodities for value when no one person should be used as a means to an end [Kant’s Categorical Imperative (2nd Maxim) - Booyah, four years of philosophy just paid for itself].

I’m Not Your Fucking Friend

If you’re feeling a little testy after reading this, here’s a letter you can send to 3/4ths of your “friends” on Facebook.

Dear Person I Have Spent More Time Stalking Than Interacting With,

We are not friends. We are mutual acquaintances that know some awkward shit about one another. Although we might actually give a shit about each other at some point, we really don’t right now. And that’s okay. So don’t wish me Happy Birthday and I won’t congratulate you on your new haircut (don’t worry, frosted tips are still in). So let’s just nut up and admit that we’re really just in each others glorified Rolodex. No big deal.

PS. I also like obscure music and limited-release films because I’m UnIQuE. My bio info is also [enter something witty here].

Conclusion

JP is right - we are insecure about not knowing. Social networks give us a way to stay informed in a very convenient way. Perhaps so convenient that we forget that with more connections, comes more dilution. In the meanwhile, I’m going to take a hint from Trailer Folk and focus on the relationships that matter - the ones on my front lawn.

If You Liked This Blog Post, You Might Like:

1) Leverage Simplicity and the Desire For Information

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-Brian

Leverage Simplicity and the Desire For Information

Wed, 21 Jul 2010 09:05:00 -0500

From time to time, my mom will clip a newspaper article or send me an email some info of technology that she finds interesting. This morning, I received an email from my mom about the Airport Remote app:

If you are a developer, you’re probably thinking “what’s the big deal?” If you’re an entrepreneur, you’re probably thinking “meh, Orbitz, Expedia, Travelocity, Tripit, and a thousands of iPhone apps already provide me with this information.” If you’re my mom, you’re dazzled.

I started thinking about when I travel and what technology I use to make my traveling experience better. I typically buy my tickets on Orbitz. Orbitz sends me text messages about flight times and if there will be delays. I know that other apps exist that do this very same thing as well. However, when I’m at the airport, I still find myself stopping to look at the blue screen. At every single airport I do this despite me knowing that Orbitz will inform me of any changes.

Why do I do this? It’s the same reason that I tend to check Clicky multiple times a day when I only use to check Google Analytics once a day. It’s called insecurity work. We as humans are a bit insecure. We need to feel in control. We feel that we have more control when we have more information. That’s why this app is successful; because it’s simple and we’re insecure.

So if you can build a product that can leverage people’s insatiable appetite for information and do so in a simple manner, I would bet that you’re product will succeed.

Follow me on Twitter: @jprichardson

-JP Richardson

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Wow, you've changed.

Tue, 20 Jul 2010 03:08:39 -0500

“You’ve Changed”

I was out two weekends ago and wound up talking to an old friend from High School. After a bit of banter, she introduced herself. I interrupted half way through, reminding her that we had hung out in high school. She was flabbergasted. She truly didn’t recognize me. She went on to explain that it wasn’t my looks, but more how I carried myself and communicated my passions. Then I heard these key words, “Wow, you’ve changed.”

I had the same encounter with an old middle school friend of mine about a year ago. I was downtown partying with friends and he immediately recognized me. When I started talking about life, his eyes glossed over. I was different than when he remembered and could feel his apprehension to the conversation. That’s when I heard the same phrase, “Wow, you’ve changed.”

Even though these reactions were opposing, I maintained a massive appreciation of there meaning. I had actually changed. I wasn’t the same person they remembered from high school or junior high. My personality was so different that I was semi-unrecognizable. My friend from middle school might think I sold out and became too business oriented while my friend from high school might think that I became more motivated and goal-oriented. The truth is that they’re both right.

Change is Social

Change isn’t just about you, it’s about those around you. The majority thrives on safety. When given a choice between risking their current paradigm or playing it safe, they’ll play it safe. I see this happen all of the time. One of my friends decides to make a major change in their life only to end up being dragged back into their old ways. The sad part is that the people dragging them are usually their friends. Let’s face it, we don’t like change. Change is uncertainty and that creates discomfort. When someone in our social circle decides to make a change for the better, do we really support it? How many of us are guilty of expressing support verbally, but when it comes down to action, we drag that person right back into their former shadow? I know I’ve done it. It’s what we expect of that person. It’s their persona and the pattern of behavior that we’re used to. We never seriously believe that they are going to change.

To truly change is hard. It can take years. One baby step at a time. You won’t just be fighting your own bad habits, but you’ll be fighting your friends’ as well. It’s fucked up because I’ve had a few friends go off to self-help seminars. They thrive in a new environment because there’s no set expectations for their action. All of the people that they’ve trained (whether you like it or not, people treat you how you train them to) to treat them in a certain way are gone. They come back rockstars. Over time, though, the rockstar status fades to back-up singer, then to security, then to roadie, and finally they find themselves back in their regular mundane lives.

Bottom Line:

My point is that change is as time-sensitive as it is socially-sensitive. I had an entirely different social network three years ago. Now I hang out with people who are like-minded. If you want to change, don’t just manage yourself, manage your friends as well. Tell them right away what you’re trying to do and expect resistance. You might even have to let some of them go but in the long run you’ll change for the better.

If you liked this blog post, you should check out:

1) Embrace Discomfort

Follow Me on Twitter

-Brian Lambelet

Give Your Customers a Story To Tell

Mon, 19 Jul 2010 01:06:20 -0500

Happiness Delivered

I was at an after hours party (yeah, I get invited places) a few weeks ago when my friend, Andy, mentioned that he prefers to shop online. He went on to say that he buys his a lot of his apparel from Zappos, a company who had made a strong impression with their free shipping upgrades and one year return policy. I was amazed. A few months ago I had seen Tony Hseih, CEO of Zappos, present at Big Omaha. There, he spoke directly about creating great impressions with customers.

Rethink Marketing

One of Tony’s main points was to rethink marketing. Marketing isn’t just a separate department, but everyone in the company. The more impact an employee has on a customer, the more marketing influence they have. So take the money you would have invested in traditional advertising, and instead, invest it back into customer service and product quality. The surprisingly exceptional service creates a WOW experience for customers. An experience that they pass along to their friends. By adopting this strategy, you’re getting more mileage out of your marketing dollars. You’re still marketing through word of mouth, and you’re also improving your product. Listening to Andy’s WOW story made Tony’s speech hit home. Then it dawned on me, in terms of customer service, I should be mimicking Zappos.

WOW Your Customers

Recently, I reacquired my previously sold business dealing with international clothing sales. I decided to reward my repeat customers with a free, high-end, leather bracelet. The first surprise gift went out two weeks ago to my best overseas patron. He received his package this last Friday and was ecstatic. Not only was he absolutely blown away that a company would send a customer a surprise gift, he also thanked me several times over for having great customer service. I had delivered my first WOW experience.

I felt good and not just because I thought he would spread the story. I felt like I was actually able to reach through the internet and deliver a mini-explosion of the unexpected. An authentic surprise these days is few and far between, which makes it all the more powerful. When’s the last time any business has pleasantly surprised you?

Then I started to think, why doesn’t this treatment become a staple of service? There’s a lot of businesses out there that take my money on a frequent basis but never deliver something better. I get treated like everyone else, every time. Hell, a lot of them don’t even know my name. If one of these business’s went beyond the expected just once, I’d talk about it. Just as Andy had echoed his great Zappos experience.

The Bottom Line

We rely on repeat customers to turn the wheels of our business but we often fail recognize and reward them. Reallocate a healthy portion of your advertising budget back into customer service and product experience. Give your best customers something better. Give them a story to tell.

If you liked this blog post, you may like:

1) Delivering Happiness Review

2) Focus On Your Customers and the Money Will Follow

3) Be Exceptional and People Will Market For You

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-Brian Lambelet

Better to Have a Difficult Conversation Now, Instead of a Failed Customer Interaction Later

Fri, 16 Jul 2010 21:27:00 -0500

Whenever one of my college friends comes back into town, I love to call everyone from the old crew to go out and get some drinks. One of these friends, who we’ll call “Sergey” always responds enthusiastically by saying “yea man… I would love to meet up with you guys. I just have to do a few things and then I’ll give you a call!” Nine times out of ten, Sergey never shows up. On the times when he doesn’t show up, he doesn’t even send a text or call to let us know that he’s not coming. Admittedly, I feel a bit let down. I’ve told Sergey that it would be nice if he would just shoot me a text telling me that he can’t make it. I understand he’s busy and has obligations but I think it’s common courtesy to let someone know you can’t make it if you say you will.

Earlier today, I was reading my typical RSS articles. I read Seth Godin’s latest article A Hierarchy of Failure Worth Following. It’s small enough, I’m going to include the whole text:

Not all failures are the same. Here are five kinds, from frequency = good all the way to please-don’t!

FAIL OFTEN: Ideas that challenge the status quo. Proposals. Brainstorms. Concepts that open doors.

FAIL FREQUENTLY: Prototypes. Spreadsheets. Sample ads and copy.

FAIL OCCASIONALLY: Working mockups. Playtesting sessions. Board meetings.

FAIL RARELY: Interactions with small groups of actual users and customers.

FAIL NEVER: Keeping promises to your constituents.

The thing is, in their rush to play it safe and then their urgency to salvage everything in the face of an emergency, most organizations do precisely the opposite. They throw their customers or their people under the bus (“we had no choice”) but rarely take the pro-active steps necessary to fail quietly, and often, in private, in advance, when there’s still time to make things better.

Better to have a difficult conversation now than a failed customer interaction later.

After the the “Fail Never” line, I started thinking about one of my clients. After the last line, I got some knots in my stomach. You see, I’ve been a software consultant/contractor for about four years. I’ve been working with a trucking company to develop software to manage/schedule their fleet since I started consulting. I “finished” the software about two years ago. They’ve called me from time to time to do some small updates. About three months ago I got a call from them asking me to do some other updates. I visited their office and discovered that they didn’t really use the software much, and when they tried, it didn’t work as expected. It would crash, the UI would lock up, and it was generally buggy. I made a ton of mistakes:

I made a custom ORM around PostgreSQL. At the time, I didn’t even know what an ORM was, I just thought it made sense to wrap up the database layer into nice pretty classes.
I wasn’t too familiar with design patterns or unit testing.
My strategy was basic drag & drop using Windows Forms and C#.
I mixed business logic and UI programming. I even put blocking networking code in the UI thread!

My major strength was that I had a great grasp on simplicity and UI design. The app itself looked great. But, you can polish a turd and it’s still a turd. Regardless though, this wasn’t even my major weakness. As a developer (or as an optimist?), I frequently give clients optimistic time lines for completion of projects. This time was no exception. “Yea, we’ll come out at the end of a next week and show you the updates.” I said. When I opened up the code and looked at it again, I knew I was in trouble. What the fuck was I thinking years ago when I wrote this?

I worked diligently. The end of the next week came. I still wasn’t done. Not even close. Try making small changes to your data model on your crappy custom ORM. It sucks. I really wanted to rewrite everything, the whole entire app. But, I knew that would lessen my chance for success, as most of the functionality works. I knew that was a bad idea.

The week passed. I didn’t call them. It’s not like I blew them off, as we didn’t have a time scheduled, just a “end of next week” time. The following week passed without me contacting them. After reading that last line, I knew I had messed up.

Better to have a difficult conversation now, instead of a failed customer interaction later. -Seth Godin

Don’t forget this. Seriously. I called them almost immediately after I read that line. I knew I needed to tell them that I’m still working on making it work well and that I didn’t forget about them. They were very grateful that I had called and were willing to wait longer. When it comes down to it, they could have picked anyone else, but they picked me. I should not take that for granted.

Much like I was let down when my friend Sergey wouldn’t let me know that he wasn’t going to make it, I let my client down. That’s bad business. I won’t ever end my friendship with Sergey because I enjoy hanging out with him as we’ve been friends for about 15 years, but the truck company could’ve ended their relationship with me years ago.

But the real lesson is that business is about relationships. Each business interaction should be treated as such. If you can manage your business relationships in a uniquely positive manner, you’ll be successful. So many companies out their treat their customers like shit. Don’t be this company. Use the Golden Rule on this one and your customers will love you for it.

Follow me on Twitter: @jprichardson

-JP Richardson

You Can't Fake Passion

Thu, 15 Jul 2010 01:34:00 -0500

This post started out as a response to JP’s blog post Leveraging Social Capital and the 8th Circle of Hell and took on a life of it’s own…

My Multi-level Marketing Experience

I signed up for Quixtar as a freshman in college ready to own my first BMW by age 21 and retire at age 30. I found out that “Start-Up Kit” really meant “$100 lesson in how not to run a business.” As JP pointed out, the problem with Multi-level Marketing (MLM) Companies is that they try to leverage your relationships as a revenue stream in an insincere way.

During my first Quixtar meeting, the associate gave us a vision: “Imagine driving up to the bank in your BMW, unshaven. You roll down the window to deposit a check for $2000. When the cashier sees the amount, she looks up and you smile - all in a days work baby.” (He really said this). Then he bought everybody lunch and asked us to sign on the dotted line.

I signed because I was young and naive. After a few training sessions, I was out. I didn’t feel right asking my friends to use products that (1) I had no passion towards and (2) weren’t relevant to them. Hell, the products weren’t even relevant to me so how was I supposed to sell them to other people? And therein lies the problem with MLM. A small few can fake the passion and sell millions. The rest of us like to stay true to ourselves and friends. We don’t want to monetize our friendships.

MLM Bots

Like JP, I’ve been approached by several MLM people. Usually, it’s awkward and forced. I’ve outlined the three main types of MLM Bots below:

The Newb Bot: The average MLM Newb Bot is new to business and green around the ears. They strike up uncanny conversations in the work-out section of Walmart. They ask if you like to work out frequently and what you do to get good results (this happened to me). Really, it’s all bullshit. They’re not actually interested in helping you or heeding your advice, they just needed a convo starter to push their product. If they’re feeling lucky, a drone might work up the guts to pitch you right there. Usually they’ll say, “You seem like the type that knows what you’re talking about. Ever thought about owning your own business?” If their voice doesn’t crack, they count it as a victory.

Strength: Has a lot of Newb friends that are prime for signing up.

Weakness: Newb Bots are easily shot down with rational arguments and don’t possess the confidence for rebuttal or stomach for confrontation.

Longevity: Newb Bots will drop out of the MLM business in 2-4 months because they could only sign other Newb Bots for their downline (people signed up underneath them). They eventually realize that they’re all Newbs and should go back to college. Meanwhile, the MLM company makes a shitload off of their initial investment kits. Ka-ching!

The Alpha Bot: This MLM Bot is particularly adept at preying on the weak. They are usually the alpha dogs of the pack and have gotten where they are by being pushy. You send an Alpha Bot into a room full of people and they’ll come out with five party bookings. The problem is that no one will show up because they didn’t like how pushy they were and/or didn’t actually sell the host on the product. The mark of an Alpha Bot is someone who assumes the sale before they’ve found out your needs. They will say, “Nice to meet you, I sell this and this, so when do you want to book the party?”

Strength: Lack of empathy. By only thinking of themselves, the Alpha Bot is able to push past other peoples’ negative emotional cues. They will persist until the sale is made, no matter how tactless.

Weakness: Unlike Newb Bots, the Alpha Bot will continually rebut an argument. They don’t mind confrontation because they constantly use it to their advantage. There’s no nice way to say “No thanks” to an Alpha Bot. Their weakness lies in their ability to view everything as a possible alpha-status attack. To defeat them, simply say, “I don’t want to book a party because I don’t like you and/or don’t want to use your products.” They will rebut with a “why” which is when you say,”I don’t care to discuss it.” Boom! You’ve just shut down all of their premeditated counters. They’ll huff and puff their feathers to make a big show. They’d never let others see the tail between their legs because it’s too much of an ego-bruising.

Longevity: The Alpha Bot will last years and years in the industry. They will cruise to the top by running over non-confrontational people. Just remember, if they try to drive over you, they’ll be cruisin’ for a bruisin’, and you’re Captain Bruisin’.

The Value Bot: The Value bot is a socially savvy bot that caters to your needs and isn’t pushy about it. They ad extra value to their product by offering great service and extra knowledge. A Value Bot is worried about what you need, no matter the relevance to their product line. They want to talk to you because they like helping people. The Value Bot will stay in your life for a long time because they forge real relationships. When you meet one, you will know because they will ask you questions about what you do and offer real advice to help you reach your goals. You’ll learn what a Value Bot does because they’re passionate rather than pushy.

Strength: Empathy and positive regard for others. The Value Bot puts their knowledge to work for you.

Weakness: Too much time helping others. A Value Bot’s only weakness is that they put your needs first. This can ultimately hurt them because they are helping instead of selling. If a Value Bot can strike a balance, they will be very successful. If you notice a struggling Value Bot, help them find clients.

You can defeat a Value Bot by saying… Wait, uh, you cannot defeat a Value Bot because you are never fighting a Value Bot. You are always on the same side.

Longevity: Value Bots usually rise to the top. They’ll be in it for life because they are passionate about what they do.

Product Focus vs. Money Focus

That being said, there are a lot of MLM companies that have a good reputation. As JP mentioned, Pure Romance, Mary Kay, and Pampered Chef are all household names of quality. (Sc)amway is not. With the former, products sales drive revenue. Now that I’m viewing their website, I see that Amway has came a long way since it’s Quixtar bad PR days. They’ve rebranded Quixtar into Amway Global and have become more product-focused.

It’s up to the individual companies to set the tone for their sales reps. If a company (EIRO) puts a pile of cash on their front page to entice potential recruits, then they’re not focusing on their product. This is a money first mentality. A mentality that their sales reps will probably adopt. I don’t want money-driven Newb and Alpha Bots interrupting me while I’m pumping gas. If someone interrupts me, they better have some real passion behind what they’re saying. They better be a Value Bot.

If you look at the front page of Pure Romance, Mary Kay, and even Amway (they’ve learned their lesson), you won’t see BMWs or fat stacks of cash. If you look at EIRO’s front page, that’s practically all you see. It’s cool, they’ll learn their lesson or die out just like the rest of them.

With that being said, an individual sales rep can still trump bad company policy. If an EIRO rep is passionate and truly believes in their energy drinks, then I am much more likely to give them a try. If I am already a consumer of Redbull and EIRO can offer a better value proposition, then I’m sold.

Conclusion

It’s all about passion and product relevance. You can bet your tasty can of EIRO that if one of my friends likes Husker Football and has an iPhone that I’m going to tell them about our Reflect7 Football Apps. For two reasons: (1) the product is relevant to them and (2) I’m passionate about it. However, companies that thrive off of pyramidal kit sales can lick my sweaty Redbulls.

Leveraging Social Capital and the 8th Circle of Hell

Wed, 14 Jul 2010 10:45:00 -0500

This weekend I was filling my car up with gas, as I was standing at the pump, a clean cut man approaches me. He said “do you drink energy drinks?” I thought that either he was admiring my muscular physique from a distance or he thought that I looked like the energy drinking douchebag type. As an aside, I do drink energy drinks and I’m not really that muscular, and come to think of it… I’m not even sure that energy drinks have anything to do with a muscular physique… but, I digress. I said to him “do you prefer sugar-free or not?” He went on to say that he wasn’t asking for himself. He introduced himself as “Joe” and that he is working with an energy drink company that was trying to establish a presence locally. I typically enthusiastically engage in conversation when salesman or strangers approach me because I’m secretly hoping I can pimp my iPhone wares to them or even my consulting services. We spoke a bit about what I do and then Joe offered me a sample of his energy drinks. Being the type that accepts candy from strangers, I gladly obliged. Joe said he would call me in a few days to ask me about my overall opinion of it. My fiance was waiting in the car, she said “what was that all about?” I told her that Joe was trying to break into the local market with his energy drinks. I told her that I admired Joe’s balls (not literally) for coming up to a random stranger. I then said that “only MLMers (people who are into MLM) usually approach me randomly.” “Maybe Joe is an MLMer” she said. “No, not clean-cut Joe… Joe just wanted my energy drinking expertise” I thought to myself.

Allow me to present a diagram to you:

On Monday Joe called me. The dialogue was something like this:
“So JP, what did you think of the drink?”
“Meh, it wasn’t too bad, wasn’t great though.”
“Hahha, well, we have a lot of flavors, so I’m betting that we can find one that you’ll like.”
“Ya know Joe, I was thinking… I think it might taste great with Vodka.”
“Hahhahha… that’s funny.” (I was being serious)
“JP, did it cause you to crash at all?”
“No, not it all.”
“JP, I got to talking with my wife and I really enjoyed our conversation.” (Here it comes)
“JP, I’m working with good people like yourself (see what he just did here?) in the area to expand our operations. Do you have any interest in this?”
“Ummm… It’s not clear to me what you’re suggesting.”
“JP, have you considered alternative income streams?”
“Absolutely, I would love to expand my business and my consulting. If these alternative income streams were related to this and and my area of expertise, then no doubt that I would be interested.”
“Oh, well, it’s not related to that… but thanks for your time. I’ll text you my contact info.”
“Sure, Joe… thanks for the drink”

He then sent a SMS with his website. It redirected to an Amway page. *Sigh* I was naive.

Why am I huffy-puffy over this? I’m really not. But, I want to point out that most of these businesses suck for long-term growth.

Multi-Level Marketing
Some of these can be legit. I have some friends that are Pure Romance consultants. People call them for parties, and rarely do I hear them trying to push their wares upon their friends. They are having fun and building a business. The same goes for Scentsy, Tastefully Simple, and Pampered Chef. But, by definition these are all MLM businesses. They rely on you eventually recruiting others and then that’s when you really start to make money. But you can still make money by selling the products and by having the parties.

Business that Leverage Social Capital
One can make the argument that all businesses are like this. That’s true to an extent. But, I’m mainly talking about those salesmen or businesses that use their friends to get referrals. I had a buddy who I hadn’t spoke to in awhile tell me that he signed up to be a Farmer’s Mutual insurance agent. He then wrote that he wanted to get together and evaluate my financial needs. I flat-out told him that I don’t mix finances and friendship. Fortunately, he completely understood. Another insurance guy asked for phone numbers of my friends and he said that he would call them and say “JP and I are friends and JP thought you might need some financial assistance.”… I told this dude flat out that we aren’t friends and that it was pretty audacious for him to assume so.

8th-Circle of Hell
This includes Joe. This includes the Dot-com Franchising douchebags. Amway. Quixstar. The guys that claim that you can make so much money by doing so little work. The guys who pass around wads of 100 dollar bills at their meetings. Yes, they actually do this, presumably to blind the attendees with greed. The guys that are really nebulous on their business models, but if you just buy their $250 kit, you can get started and you’ll be commandeering your own yacht in two months. These are businesses owners who prey upon others to get them to sign-up for their programs to become their own business owners, but the real business model is in purchasing of the startup kits. This is Eiro; Eiro will try to blind you with greed, visit their home page and see for yourself. Many of these people don’t even know that they’re in the 8th-Circle of Hell, I don’t think Joe does. I don’t think any of my old acquaintances who dropped out of college to do Quixstar programs knew either.

I’m Almost Done
Tread carefully with any of these businesses. Be aware that leveraging your social capital can have long-term disastrous affects. People will avoid you. Make sure that you’re not in the 8th-Circle of Hell… how will you know? If you you can only really make money by signing people up to be “under you”… then you are probably in the 8th Circle of Hell.

Overall, it’s important to consider your relationships and the implications of trying to capitalize upon them. This goes for any business. If you make websites, I think it’s a bit tacky to try to inject that in your personal conversations. But, sometimes, someone may remember this, and then ask you for a website. Remember, relationships matter most. Don’t jeopardize them for business.

What do you think about these businesses?

Follow me on Twitter: @jprichardson

-JP Richardson

Relationships > Resumes

Tue, 13 Jul 2010 03:22:00 -0500

I recently spoke with my girlfriend, Kaylee, about the possibility of her landing a job on the Coast (we live in Lincoln, NE). She’s a graphic artist and wanted to know if I’d move out there if she were offered job. My response was a sugar-coated, “Hell no.” I have all of my family and friends here and I’m in the middle of two start-ups. Beyond that, if you can’t make your dream job happen here, then why would the coast change anything? Hell, I don’t want to be on the coasts. I’ll admit, if I could move my entire friend/family network to nice warm beach, I would. But since I can’t, I don’t want to live in an area that is so financially over-leveraged.

Instead, Kaylee needs to work on her base at home. What does that require? Exposure - and I’m not talking about the kind that will get you locked up. Exposure means getting out of the house. Going to professional functions and getting involved in your areas of interest. If you want to make local band sites, start out by asking your friends if they know a local band. Then, gasp, go see the band play! If you connect with their message and they need your services then you’re off. If they don’t have money, do the first job for cheap and tell them you want free promo space on their site/prints.

The point is to start with your network base and move out. If someone moves to the coast, they may have a shiny new job but they’ll have to start all over again. And in this job market, that shine can turn dull in the blink of an eye.

Exposure also means staying in the house. Whether it’s blogging, tweeting, or getting involved in online discussions, get your ideas on the web. After reading Crush It, Kaylee started her blog roll with 26 gut-busting titles covering a myriad of design topics. With a little forethought, her blog could be a hit in the next few years. Then, she’ll be writing her own future instead of relying on corporate America to notice her. After all, why build on some other business’s value and not your own? Why compete every year with hundreds of new graphic design grads who are fresh and willing to scrap? Instead, compete on something those grads haven’t been able to do: build a brand. While they were in school, you were out meeting bands and labels. While they were writing papers, you were writing blog posts and tutorials. While they were partying, you were partying, but at the right venues where you could scope out the music scene.

We all know someone who has gotten hired because of someone they knew. That should be you. Forge the meaningful relationships and it will be. Remember, an impressive resume can get you a job, but with an impressive network, you can create your own.

Follow Me on Twitter

-Brian Lambelet

Winning Isn't Everything, It's the Only Thing

Mon, 12 Jul 2010 00:05:00 -0500

Vince Lombardi once said:

Winning isn’t everything, it’s the only thing. Either you’re first or you’re last.

What does that mean for us? Does it matter if you build a great product? Of course it does. Does it matter if you improve the lives of your customers? Of course. So what the hell is my point?

Dan Gilbert is a douchebag. More about that in a minute.
You must have a winner’s mentality.
Profit matters.

Dan Gilbert Is a Douchebag
Many of you have probably heard about Lebron James and his decision to play for the Miami Heat. If you didn’t know, Dan Gilbert is the owner of the Cleveland Cavaliers - the team Lebron James use to play for. Dan Gilbert called Lebron a coward, selfish, callous, and heartless despite the fact that Lebron was out of contract. The point is that Lebron understands winning. He wants to win a championship badly, so he left after his contract expired. He didn’t do anything unethical. Who can blame the guy?

Winner’s Mentality
You must possess a winner’s mentality. This means that you want to tear the faces off of your competition in a Gary Vaynerchuk sort of way. This doesn’t mean that you should copy your competition. DON’T DO THIS. To quote Jason Fried: “No one will ‘out’ Apple Apple” That is to say, no one will ‘do’ Apple better than Apple. The winner’s mentality is all about believing that you are better, and then to actually be better.

Profit Matters
You have $100 million in revenue? That’s cute. Oh, what’s that?? You’re spending $500 million? The only thing that’s worse than no profit, is to lose money. OK, so I admit that kind of revenue is impressive, perhaps that jealousy was me really being upset over… uhhhh… nevermind. To have a real business and to win, you must be making money.

To Summarize:
Your Business Winning = Dan Gilbert’s Douchebaggery + Winner’s Mentality + Profit

Since it’s a truth that Dan Gilbert is a douchebag, part of the battle has already been won for you. Now you just have to do the hard parts.

What do you think about winning?

You can follow me on Twitter: @jprichardson

-JP Richardson

Will Touchscreen Kill the Mouse Star?

Fri, 09 Jul 2010 02:48:00 -0500

Please pardon the lame joke. But this is an issue that every web designer and entrepreneur needs to consider. Sales of touchscreen enabled devices are booming. Much like the desktop revolution of the early 80’s, we are upon another revolution.

How should this affect our products? The predominate concern is that many web apps today use CSS hover capabilities i.e. you move your mouse over something on a webpage and some action happens. It could be a tooltip, menu, color change, or additional functionality shown.

Trent Walton wrote a great article on the hover issue. Trent writes:

As designers, we’ve turned to hover states to accommodate extra content and allow visual aesthetics to trump usability. Like it or not, those days are over and the interactions we design are going to have to stand on their own two feet.

He’s right. I love a clean minimalistic design. A design that doesn’t show much, but just enough to get the job done. It’s very easy to add functionality without compromising the original design by incorporating the use of the hover. That’s the problem. It’s almost as if we must design for touchscreen devices first. But, maybe the best solution is just to focus your design on showing everything from the get go.

Trent writes:

Prioritize your content, and if you’ve been hiding things behind hover states, make room to display them. The WordPress admin posts screen is a great example of this. Normally, action items are only visible on hover, but if you login with a touch device the links are always displayed.

Focusing on showing all of your content seems like an ideal solution if you want to develop your MVP fast. However, I don’t think it’s the “best” solution. I think the best solution is that we’ll have to develop two interfaces. However, starting with a touch enabled interface is the best way to get up going quickly.

I believe that the “mouse star” is here to stay. One thing is for sure, we can’t ignore this issue. What do you think?

You can follow me on Twitter: @jprichardson

-JP Richardson

How I Got Back My Mojo

Thu, 08 Jul 2010 14:15:00 -0500

Lately, my content on this blog has sucked donkey balls. By “me” I mean Brian. I have a flash of genius here, an epiphany there, but they’re spread few and far between like iPhones with full bars. In my best Austin Powers accent: “I lost my mojo, man” I lost my fire for blogging. I’ve been more interested in talking with entrepreneurs on a one to one level than in killing neurons in my readers’ heads. When you stop retweeting your own blog posts, deep down, you know your substance is tanking. My shit was going down like the Titanic.

For the past handful of posts, I couldn’t think of a single interesting thing to say. The problem is, you readers aren’t content with just seeing my gorgeous mug. You actually want substantial content! I was Lady Gaga, minus the musical genius. I thought about video blogging, but obviously, I’d get too many stalkers. That and I’m so pale you’d think they’re filming the fourth installment of Twilight in my bedroom. So how did I lose my mojo? I forgot the Foreplay.

Foreplay = Fun

All jokes aside, the problem was that my paradigm had shifted. I’d become a slave to the blog. Some days, I would work my balls off and then have to sit down and come up with something impressive to say. That didn’t go well. Usually, I’m off the cuff with some dashes of fun and pinches of wit. I like to sprinkle it around like ruffees at a frat party. Recently, I’ve been dry and dull. I had stopped the foreplay. I had forgotten that, as the ladies say, the foreplay is the best part. The trick is to adopt a new perspective to make writing fun again. To do that, you have to ask yourself the right questions.

Ask The Right Questions

I finally came alive Wednesday night when reading my gf’s blog titles. They were hilarious and outright ridiculous. Best of all, they had a point. I thought to myself, “Damn it, I’m hilarious and ridiculous…” People laugh at me all the time when I’m dancing, and that’s before I bust out the Elaine Kick. I realized I had been taking the wrong approach. Writing was becoming a chore because that’s how I viewed it. I needed a way to make it fun again. I exercise 5 times a week and at the end of each week, I add new songs to my playlist. That livens up the following week’s workouts. I forgot to ask myself the right question: “How can I contribute great blog posts and do so in a way where I have tons of fun?”

Positive Presuppositions

If you cleverly caught that I presupposed “great blog posts” in that last sentence then go out an buy yourself a high-carb treat. Don’t worry, the guilt’s on me - you just enjoy. Positive presuppositions are the secret. Self-help guru Tony Robbins will tell you to ask yourself the right questions and let your brain come up with the answers. That little voice in your head needs to start using positive presuppositions. I used to ask, “How can I make my five workouts a week more enjoyable.” I got an answer. Now I’m asking about enjoyable blogging. I’m already coming up with a list:

Showcase more personality
Use more humor so it’s fun to write
Pick a fight
Get inspiration by talking with others
Get ahead of the blog so I don’t feel pressured to write something decent in a short amount of time
Photoshop some of my own pics for posts headers

The Bottom Line

Your mind is a powerful thing. No matter what you ask it, it will come up with an answer. From good answers to “I don’t know” to something totally crazy and illogical. Ever go to bed with a problem on your mind and wake up with the answer? Ever have an “Ah Ha” moment while you were doing something completely mundane? That’s your brain fool! And it’s putting in overtime no matter how many tequila shots you took!

Since it’s always running in the background, take advantage of it. Ask yourself questions with positive presuppositions. Frame your questions in a positive and insightful manner. How you talk to yourself gives you the chops to persevere or the excuses to give up. Be good to yourself. Instead of asking, “Why did I read this terrible blog post when I’m already tired?” ask, “How can I pass this blog’s insanely insightful message onto my friends in a fun way?”

Follow Me On Twitter

-Brian

The Dream: How Gurbaksh Chahal Made Over 100 Million Dollars

Wed, 07 Jul 2010 23:52:00 -0500

The Dream: How Gurbaksh Chahal Made Over 100 Million Dollars

I first heard of Gurbaksh Chahal (“G” as he likes to be called) on Mixergy. I was intrigued by his success for two reasons. First, he made his fortune in the advertising industry. I’ve mentioned my desire to tackle the mobile ad industry and G’s success story is something that I can learn from. Second, he completely bootstrapped his first company.

I started following him on Twitter and he would occasionally tweet about his book. I was hesitant to read it because I wasn’t sure that I would connect with him. I knew that he was telling his story, but I was worried that I wouldn’t be able to relate with his Indian heritage and his upbringing. That was naive thinking. I was able to connect with the story from one entrepreneur to another because of his perseverance and his struggles.

The story starts out with G describing his Indian childhood. His parents were awarded a Visa via the lottery system. When G was four, he and his family came to America with $25. He was often tormented as a child because of his turban. When he was an early teen his father took him back to India so that he wouldn’t forget his heritage. They first met some cousins on his mother’s side. G comments how he felt no connection to his cousins, it was as if his cousins thought he was the dumb American and they were the smart indians. He then went to visit his grandmother’s sister and he said she and everyone in the village was very welcoming. He then states his first lesson: “Always surround yourself with people who want you to succeed, as you will discover most people are rooting for you to fail.”

He often interjects with lessons that he’s learned. On top of his engaging story, these lessons make the book a bargain. He next describes his early teen years and how he started to develop a passion for helping his father with stock research. He likened it like homework, except for the real world. On October 27th, 1997 the stock market crashed. His father had lost everything. This was the first time G saw his farther cry. G was terrified. A few days later his father snapped out of his depression and was determined for his family to move into the house they had been saving for. G was affected by the positive change in attitude. The resilience and determination was cemented into his way of thinking. His next lesson: “Never give up. The road to success is paved with failures.”

G and his family started to try to find ways that each could contribute. G applied at a local McDonalds. The manager sat down with him and asked him a few questions. G felt as if the manager didn’t want him to work there because of his appearance. The manager told him that they had just hired a bunch of people. The “Now Hiring” sign never came down. G felt rejected. He knew that someday “he would be his own man, run his own show.”

In, 1998 G knew that high school wasn’t for him. He transferred to an accelerated middle college program. Here he took every opportunity to challenge himself. He signed up for a public speaking class and delivered a great speech on Viagra. He did a paper on Socrates and quoted Socrates twice:

Remember that there is nothing stable in human affairs, therefore avoid undue elation in prosperity and undue depression in adversity.

By all means marry; if you get a good wife, you’ll be happy. If you get a bad one, you’ll become a philosopher.

Advertising

He noticed that money started flowing from traditional media such as newspaper and TV to the internet. He noticed that there were other companies that were cashing in on this. He also noticed that companies were starting to transition from impression-based ads to click-based, as it gave advertisers to monitor performance of the ads. G wanted to try to learn more about this and so he started calling around. As an introvert, he had to practice his pitch.

Hello, my name is Gary Singh and I do performance-based advertising. I have a web site and I would like to know a little about your operation.

He told potential clients that he was “Gary Singh” to sound a bit more American.

Bootstrapping

G had a web site, but it was amateurish - he had designed it in Microsoft FrontPage. He found a company in London that had an Ad tracking system. A company rep flew out to meet G. Since G didn’t have a driver’s license, his brother drove him to the dinner meeting. He found out that the company rep was the owner and the company was a one-man operation who was on the verge of bankruptcy. G instantly knew that he was negotiating from a position of power and was no longer nervous. The man tweaked the software to G’s needs and G bought the software for $30k. The agreement stated that G would pay him after 90 days. G needed 90 days to generate income. G also told him that once the company was up and running, he would offer to pay the man $10k a month to operate the software. G was instantly and business and quickly registered the name “Click Agents.”

G started making more calls. He started emailing. G said that getting people on the phone was a “piece of cake.” But finding someone to take a chance on him was difficult. In his pitch, he claimed that he had a consortium of web sites that he could place ads on a per-click basis. When in fact, he didn’t have a consortium. He had to just convince his potential clients that he could deliver. Finally, G struck gold when he called LeftField and ad agency who had InfoSeek as client. InfoSeek wanted to increase traffic to their site. G told LeftField that if they would put up a $30,000 order he would deliver traffic for $1 a click. The following morning they sent over an order.

This book is all about G’s ability to perservere. That’s the big lesson; that’s what made him succeed. Whether he was battling his cultural traditions, his parents expectations, his business adversaries, or VCs, G was able to persevere - and his ability to persevere made him successful.

Conclusion

This book is a must read for any entrepreneur. It’s more than just a story, as G explicitly notes his lesson for the reader. I want to conclude with some more lessons that stood out to me:

People think that in order to succeed in business you must have a new radical idea. In reality, you can be very similar to the competition as long as you have the right people, the right leadership, and you are committed to being better than the best.
Never do anything solely for money. If you do, your decisions will be blinded by greed.
Own your mistakes.
Be frugal, but don’t be cheap. Pay good money for good people, forget the fancy furniture.
Don’t chase the money, chase substance. If you have substance, the money will follow.
Adjust your attitude. Without the right attitude, you’ll never succeed. You have to believe in yourself, because no one else will.
Learn to listen. Listen more to the people you disagree with.
Never compromise your morality.
Don’t procrastinate, procrastination is another word for wanting to fail.
Don’t do anything by half-measures. Remember, mediocrity is for losers.

I had trouble picking only 10 lessons. Overall, this book is jam packed with at least 50 lessons. If you are wanting to bootstrap a company, you must read this book.

In the vein of MindSpread, I will ~~be giving a copy away~~. Contest closed.

You must comment on an an entrepreneur you know or have read about that has bootstrapped a company. Can be anyone. Tell the story.
You must have a US address.
You must have never have met me or anyone from Reflect7 personally.
After you are done reading the book, you must promise to give it someone else. You must then instruct this person to do the same, and so on.
You must be one of the first five commenters. One will be randomly chosen.

You can follow me on Twitter: @jprichardson

-JP Richardson

Use a Weakness to Develop a Strength

Tue, 06 Jul 2010 13:13:00 -0500

We all have weaknesses. We all have behaviors or personality traits that we don’t like. I think that it’s possible to take some of these behaviors, personality traits, or bad habits and do something positive with them.

Are you’re introverted? You need to change that, but in the meantime use the quiet time to focus and get work done. Are you a smoker? Engage in conversation with other smokers, maybe you’ll make a business connection. Do you waste a lot of time watching TV? Start a blog about your favorite shows and analyze the characters and plots. Maybe you’ll generate some side income. I realize that there are a lot of negative personality traits and bad habits that it would be difficult to capitalize upon all of them, but I think it’s worth a try.

So what’s mine? I believe that I have a small case of OCPD not to be confused with OCD. In short, I can be a bit compulsive. Now, I have no professional diagnosis of this, but I match the DSM’s diagnosis in most of the categories. Oh well. So, how do I turn this into strengths?

I’m obsessive about being completely honest. I don’t consider white lies acceptable, and if I felt that I may have blurted out something that could be potentially misconstrued as not being true, I’ll make a point to correct it. I’ve ingrained in myself the moral code of integrity.
I’ve ran approximately 15 miles/week for the last two years.
I typically won’t allow myself to watch TV unless it’s a little sports or I’m on the treadmill.
I write daily.
Once I’m into a project, I find it very easy to kick ass on it. This is because I’ll obsess over it.

In short, I obsess over improving my relationships, health, and professional career by working at it daily, but if I don’t do it daily, I find it difficult, maybe even more difficult than the average person.

Look in the mirror and try to figure out if you can use your weaknesses to develop strengths.

Do you think this is the case? Do you have any examples in your own life to share? If so, please post.

You can follow me on Twitter: @jprichardson

-JP Richardson

Managing Up: You Don't Work in a Vacuum

Mon, 05 Jul 2010 17:42:13 -0500

Everyone is aware of Managing Down - this is the usual form of management where a boss directs employees towards a specific goal. The other form of management is Managing Up:

“Managing up is the process of consciously working with your boss to obtain the best possible results for you, your boss, and your organization. This is not political maneuvering or kissing up. Rather, it is a deliberate effort to bring understanding and cooperation to a relationship between individuals who often have different perspectives.” -Thomas Zuber & Erika James

I’ll admit, I’ve been a guilty of not managing up plenty of times. This post highlights a specific scenario that many of us find ourselves in - where extra duties are being added to our workload without proper compensation. I describe a scenario that one of my friends went through and some possible solutions that could have been employed.

YOU DO NOT WORK IN A VACUUM

Recently, I spoke with a graphics artist who was experiencing work overload at her job. She had previously volunteered to take on web page development as extra contractual work under the same employer. She completed the project outside of her regular hours and was paid her bid price.

One day, there was a deadline for her employer and they needed new content added to the site immediately. There wasn’t enough time for her to do it off the clock so she performed the task at work. The employer saw this as an extra task she could now perform while on the clock. By not Managing Up, the graphic artist had found herself being squeezed. Her hours hadn’t increased but her work load had. All because she was nice enough to breach contractual lines during an emergency.

How could she have avoided this? By Managing Up:

Declining.

Although it wouldn’t have been the nicest thing to do, declining during the emergency would have avoided the situation. Saying “No” when you feel like you’re being taken advantage of by management establishes you as someone who respects themselves. We all have to go beyond our job descriptions at some point for the sake of the team. Just make sure you separate those periods from ones where you are truly being squeezed. And never just say “No”, always keep the lines of communication open with rationale and reasoning so your boss knows why you are declining. Managing Up is about getting the best results for you, your boss, and your organization. Don’t decline without recognizing how some (or all) of these will suffer if you perform the task.

Controlling expectations before performing the task.

“I’m going to perform this task at work this one time because I know it’s an emergency, ok?” Saying this would have prompted the employer to agree to terms before the breach had been made. A mini-contract of sorts saying that this is a one time deal. This tells management that you are willing to sacrifice for the betterment of the organization and so your boss meets their deadline, but only this one time. You could even be more clear and state that you fear that doing such a task might prompt them to think that you can do it all of the time, which will cause you more stress and cause you’re other work to suffer. You highlight that, even though your boss may look good, you and the organization will ultimately suffer. In truth, you’re boss will ultimately look bad because your work will deteriorate along with job satisfaction. You’re communication helps your boss see the long term gains over the short term ones.

Keeping a strong separation between your regular duty and extra work.

Clocking out and charging the contractual rate per hour and then making up the clock-out time on some other day. This would have solidified the lines of the initial contract. Why muddy the waters when you can still get paid your contractual rate? This is a win for you, your boss, and the organization.

Bottom Line:

These solutions can apply to any duty being performed. Remember, you do not work in a vacuum. Always address your needs, your boss’s, and the organization’s so management knows you’re out their for the team and not just yourself. Helping your boss recognize short-term gains that may cause long-term pains falls on you as much as everyone else in the organization.

Read “Managing Up” on Google Books for Free.

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-Brian Lambelet

reflect7.com

Disconnect to Recharge

Fri, 02 Jul 2010 16:15:00 -0500

I’m on my way to Dallas with my fiance and friend. I spent some time trying to write a blog post, but I realized it wasn’t that good. I closed my laptop.

I was thinking that road trips can be a waste of time because of all of the hours not producing. It instantly hit me, that not everything has to be about business. And sometimes just enjoying conversation is more important than anything else at the moment.

Happy 4th of July!

-JP Richardson