Archive for the 'Blog' Category



I'm off [on a whole new adventure]

Just a note to say I’m off, on a whole new adventure, marriage that is.

Esther and I will be tying the knot in Auckland then off for an island honeymoon.

So I’ll be back in action early December.

Thanks everyone for reading, your support and ongoing feedback.


Photo Credit: JSMoral

November 17th, 2010

Amazon is about to launch something that will change everything….

They’re going to let you loan books.

Digital books that is.

Suddenly they have overcome probably the second highest sales objection to digital books (first being you can’t replace a book, which people rapidly get over once they see a Kindle).

But what they’ve changed is, there is now a cost to loaning someone a book, in the past you could loan a cd and still enjoy the software of music yourself. Now you won’t be able to.

It’s that cost which will keep ebook prices up, get more people on board, but change consumers perception of digital goods.

They will have more tangibility and perceived value.

If you haven’t yet, consider what digital goods, tokens, experiences you could offer to make your service more compelling. Or consider maybe what you are giving away at the moment is vastly undervalued.

PS this blog is available on Kindle, for a couple of bucks a month, that’s their charge not mine.

November 16th, 2010

We make our own stories

A story is made up of pieces of information all pulled together.

How a story is pulled together depends on what we do as much as others.

For example if an artist releases an album and it sells millions, and the second doesn’t, they would be called a flop. This can be enough that the artist quits and gives up.

That is if the story ended there.

If they carried on, pulled through, released another album, and does well? A comeback!

It’s that extra element we can add to mould the story, extend it, make it our own.

November 15th, 2010

You don't know the real value till you share it

Whether it’s your product, service, experience or even opinion.

It’s once others experience what you have uniquely created that you realise the potential value.

However it’s just before sharing that we stop.  We don’t release the product as we don’t think it’s good enough yet, we hide from voicing our opinions or sharing our experiences.

It’s not till you do, you take that final step, that you find the real value.

All the more reason to ship.

November 14th, 2010

Starting with the vision

Often it’s not achievable, so we give up, it’s not perfect!

You could however just get started, start with 20% of the vision, give it a go, then keep adding to it.

You’ll get buy in along the way, make some money but also give you some time to refine the vision to the market.

Don’t be disheartned if it’s not perfect, just remember you’re always wrong, your aim is to just be less wrong than you were yesterday.

November 11th, 2010

Knowing when to stop

Can be a fruitful habit.  It’s easy to slip into doing more, more of this, more of that.

I’ve often met founders of companies who said the best thing that happened to them was when they left the business for a week – and it was all ok.

It’s easy to meddle, slow things down, request approval, add new things tot the mix.  But you need to know when to stop.

A mentor helps – or just testing, what happens if we stopping adding new things? Do it.  Try it. Stop doing something today.

November 10th, 2010

Distracted by Flares

Google is excellent at distracting its competition with flares, Google Reader, Buzz, News.

Ultimately they still make all all of their revenue through advertising, yet these flares work, they seek to distract competitors from what they really do.

We also create our own flares, I can’t start that project till I have the right software, or I can’t do that without the right camera. Really it’s hogwash.

We just need to bite the bullet, what’s the goal? And why aren’t we there yet? Then destroy any barriers that are in the way.’

The same way that basketball players spin around their opponents we need to spin around the barriers, acknowledging them but turning them to the wayside and springboard off them towards the goal.

That’s how great ideas happen.

November 9th, 2010

Consumers with a chip on their shoulder

Consumers hold grudges, someone treated them badly, someone was rude to them or the food wasn’t that good.

It’s unreasonable but who said consumers are rational? And why shouldn’t they be a bit unreasonable with their hard earned money and attention.

That’s why firms need to ask forgiveness, ‘under new management’ signs signal that things have changed, maybe time for a revisit.

Surveying, asking people who didn’t buy, why didn’t you? And just listening (rather than defending) any issues they had. This helps the grudges disappear and the last bad experience replaced with a great experience, one that they will have no grudges about.

This is the mark of a great company if you can identify and overcome consumer grudges.

November 8th, 2010

How Brands & Creativity become contagious [a short documentary]

Via FreshPeel.com I came across this excellent short documentary looking at influencers, how brands & creativity become contagious.  Watch it. Now.

INFLUENCERS FULL VERSION from R+I creative on Vimeo.

November 7th, 2010

Goofing about…

It’s what artists do, to inspire themselves, to experiment, to do something new.

Yet we don’t do it enough, seriously we don’t but we should.

I’ll admit I haven’t done enough goofing about of recent, have you?

November 4th, 2010

Complexity Creep

It happens over time.  Whether or not you want it to.  It does.

What you need to do is cull things, take things out that are holding you back or that you know works.

It’s by doing this that you push to the next level.  And get better.

Look out for complexity creep, it sneaks up on you real quick.  Real quick.

November 4th, 2010

The Network

The network used to be invisible, you couldn’t really tell who was talking about you.

Now it’s relatively visible, so you can tell, which makes some people freak out (are we doing enough?).

If you stick to basics, look internally, do a remarkable job, do things worth talking about, the network will happen.

Remember it’s not stimulating a Facebook Liking competition that drives business it’s a real shift of value in each and every customer.  Doing that consistently is what’ll get the network on your side.

Just the way business was done, before the network was visible.

November 4th, 2010

Why pay for water?

That’s the attitude of Replenish, what they’re saying is that 95% of the volume of a household spray is water, water that costs them to mix, fill the bottle and ship to you.  What if they shipped you the chemicals and you use your own water? What a brilliant idea.

Swapping it around, highlight what’s not there instead of what is.

Thanks to Gizmodo for bringing it to my attention.

November 3rd, 2010

Trying something new… KiwiNation

I’m very fortunate to be able to meet, chat to and hang out with some very cool people.

And I’m forever thinking these are stories which need to be told, not by me but straight from the horses mouth.

So at the start of the year Glenn Williams (Radio host on Kiwi FM) sat down and invited people into the studio to sit down and have a chat with them.  We’ve called it KiwiNation, conversations with inspirational New Zealanders.

First up we have a couple of kiwis, Craig & Linda Martin, who produce an award winning podcast IndieTravelPodcast, travel and world and pay their way with the podcast and their website.  If you like what they’re doing, support them, as they really are doing something very cool.

Over the next four weeks another three shows will be released, so keep an eye out.

November 2nd, 2010

Easy answers aren't necessarily the right ones

Infamous VC Fred Wilson has this to say.

“The Easy Answers Usually Don’t Work….when things go wrong in startup companies, the VCs often reach for the easy answers”

Read the full post here.  Thanks for the nudge Fred!

November 1st, 2010

What are you doing all the way down here? You could:
- View my about page
- Or for first timers the New Here? page
- Or maybe email this to a friend
- Or subscribe to get blog updates