Drivel – Page 3 – brendan mitchell

I Say Potato, You Say Potarto

How most entrepreneurs initially present their idea to a Venture Capitalist.

Me Me Me!
2 mins Introduction: why they’re amazing
5 mins The Problem: why everyone else is wrong (why they’re amazing)
15 mins My Solution: passionately explaining their solution in depth (why they’re amazing)
5 mins Capital Expenditure: whiz through what they will spend the money on
2 mins The Plan: Blue sky 5 year plan on how the business will grow exponentially

Then they wonder why it didn’t work. The ask, “is it because they didn’t explain their vision clearly enough? mmmm, surely not… it must be because the VC is short sighted and doesn’t like or understand their idea?” So, the entrepreneur asks how can they get the VC to be as passionate about their idea, as once they do, surely they’ll invest?

It won’t work and they won’t (except in rare occasions), they’re only investing with the entrepreneur for one reason, to make money! They’re not interested in the problem, or the solution, or what the entrepreneur does, so the entrepreneur shouldn’t waste their time and effort trying to get the VC interested. The entrepreneur has to think like the VC! so if you’re presenting to a VC here’s the way to do it.

Show Me The Money!
5 mins ROI: What is their return and when will they receive it
10 mins Capital Expenditure: How much investment you need, time frame, phases and why
10 mins Risk Assessment: Company structure, detailing assets, IP, tangibles etc
2 mins The Idea: The product
2 mins You: Your background and history, contact details

This doesn’t only work on VC’s, try this approach with your next client presentation, get all the guess work, the money & nitty gritty details out of the way at the beginning, then show them where there money is being invested, that way you’ll know right from the start whether you’re wasting your time or not, and if they’re really interested they’ll extend the meeting to talk through your ideas.

Social Media Expert My @rse!

Why I think this is spot on

Light Graffiti

Just saw these on the Telegraph website, some of the images are amazing!
Created by Jan Wöllert and Jörg Miedza, plenty more examples on their website Light Art Performance Photography

EigenHarp

is it a stringed instrument? is it a keyboard? is it wind instrument? the answer is yes!

The EigenHarp is weird looking instrument, but very interesting, it’s the sort of instrument that wouldn’t look out of place at the Chalmun’s Catina in Tatooine… expect it to appear at a Peter Gabriel, or Jan Hammer revival concert near you soon 😉

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LUnhET6e2Zs]

New York at 300fps

I love the simplicity of this video and even though it has a U2 soundtrack, it still works really well at capturing the essence of New York.

[vimeo 2910103]

Lego Monsters

Saw these on Phil’s Unionversity website just now and had to share them

the 10 best Lego monsters

Digital Photographer of the Year 2009

Marie has entered the Digital Camera Photographer of the Year 2009 Competition. Your support & comments would be appreciated.

Fifty People One Question

I first stumbled across this video a few months ago, and I can’t think why I didn’t post it here before. The concept is incredibly simple, stop 50 random passers by and ask them a simple single question, the video is beautifully shot and edited. And if the response at 3.23 doesn’t stop you in your tracks and make the hairs on the back of your neck stand up, nothing will.

[vimeo 2164626]

for more videos like these go to Fifty People One Question

Inspiration

I saw this video posted on Mark Kragh’s (Founder of Know Your Planet) Facebook profile this morning and thought what a wonderful example for inspiration… proves that with the right motivation, mindset & determination, anything is possible!

So next time you think something is too difficult or you’re getting frustrated with everything, remind yourself of this video, things won’t seem so bad after all.

and remember if something really inspires you, please use Bernd’s inspiration icon

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m3gMgK7h-BA]

Lost Woman Remains Found

The importance of punctuation!

Here’s another example (found on Unionversity)

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=loWFypHb48k]

A Very British Contract

I always believed and pushed for a flat hierarchy in my business structure… and yes I realise that a flat hierarchy is an oxymoron, but it’s a great way to express my approach to organising my business structure, as the entire thing is built upon respect & trust and not meaningless job titles! (a pet peeve of mine!)

We had a very British contract for all staff including myself, it contained the sentence, “Everyone Makes The Tea” what that meant, was everyone within the business was an equal, anyone & everyone was free to suggest & implement new ways of doing things, but on the flip side they were expected to perform the most mundane tasks, if they saw something was amiss, it was up to them to deal with it, not simply pass it on to someone else, it was all about being pro-active and not re-active.

We started off with a policies & procedures document, but we got rid of it in the end, as it was simply full of rules, thus limitations. I’d sooner have a frame work that everyone can work within, than hard and fast rules of what must and must not be done.

There are the nay sayers, those that say this approach never works, that you will simply end up in chaos (Anarchy is a great thing until you need a plumber!), but I disagree, allowing autonomy to flourish instills a culture of respect for those working with you (not for you), it’s highly rewarding, and you might be surprised with the outcomes!

Associated Media vs Social Media

I don’t think the term “Social Media” is applicable anymore, fair enough it evolved from the early online community sites, but the term now encompasses virtually all manner of web 2.0, blogs, data aggregation services etc, most of which have nothing to do with being social, so it’s much more than a way to connect and send messages and hence be social with your friends.

Plus there’s the so called “Social Media Expert”, but ask yourself, how can someone say they’re an expert in something that is so vast and is evolving and changing so rapidly that it’s almost impossible to keep up. To be a SME is a paradox “The more I know, the more I realise I know nothing”

So I prefer to talk around associated media, or associated connections, as I see the real future of the “Social Media Revolution” will be the leveraging of connections, and not merely connecting you to your friends and what they’re saying but to your “combined” wealth of information, utilising smart connections, connections that are associated to you and what you’re looking for… so rather than you looking for information, it finds you, now that’s a revolution worth talking about!

Comic Strip of a Social Media Expert

Organic Fusion Engineer

I dislike job titles (especially inflated ones), I never use one myself, your actions define what you do for a living, not your business card.

If you excel at your work, you won’t require a job title, you probably won’t need business cards either, as everyone will already know what you do & who you are, as you’ll be the person they’re talking about & respect, the person they go to when they need things done really well.

There are times you can put an inflated job title to good use, when you want something to talk about or set yourself apart from the rest of your field, Organic Fusion Engineer is a fun job title I saw on a carpenters business card, I used him because he was recommended, and I’ll always remember the work he did, but I’ll never forget his job title!

I Guess The World Needs a Universal Blog Icon…

Wow!

I created a blog icon a few months ago and uploaded it to the web, then sort of forgot about it, but I was looking at the site stats yesterday and noticed that on average 20 people a day download the blog icon artwork… OK not exactly a huge number, but that’s still over 600 random Google searches a month, and I wasn’t expecting that! So maybe the idea is a good one after all.

So if you want to see a universally accepted blog icon (and you happen to like my one), then please download it, use it, spread the word by linking to the Facebook page, the Twitter page or the blog icon website. Plus if you’re using it, drop me an email info@theblogicon.com and I’ll add a link to your blog or website on the site plus the Twitter & Facebook pages.

you should follow me on twitter here

Size Doesn’t Matter

Whether it be a grain of sand or a rock, in water they sink alike

As I mentioned the other day, in What’s the f’in diffference the little things can be just as important as the big stuff

You Lucky Bastard!

Next time you think someone’s lucky, remember there’s no such thing as luck, it doesn’t exist.

Of course there are those that are born into wealth, survive death defying accidents, born with good health etc, but that isn’t luck, that’s good fortune.

If an opportunity arises and you take advantage of it, some will see that as luck, you were in the right place at the right time, but you know that you’ve likely worked very hard to be prepared & be in a position to take advantage of the opportunity when it arose.

So luck is being prepared & being in a position to take advantage of an opportunity when it presents itself, it’s that simple.

what’s the f’in diffference?

here’s a great quote, unfortunately I don’t know who said it… “I wish to do something Great & Wonderful, but I must first start by doing the small things like they are great & wonderful”

As I’ve posted previously, don’t become indifferent to your customers or clients, you could lose them not only because you did something wrong, but because you didn’t do enough.

Size really does matter, something insignificant to you, may be all important or a stumbling block for your customer.

These things can be difficult to spot, no matter how hard you look, you won’t find them all, plus you’ll never be perfect, so listen to what your audience is telling you, and if they’re not telling you anything, ask them! don’t fool yourself by thinking their silence is because you’ve got everything right, it’s probably because they’re already looking somewhere else.

And make sure you’re asking the right questions, don’t ask, “Is everything OK?” ask “What is wrong & what could we improve?”, don’t ask “Why would you choose us over a competitor?” ask “Why would you choose a competitor over us?”

So, what’s the f’in diffference? Is it the little things? the small stuff? yes… but it’s the small stuff you don’t see and has to be pointed out to you, like the extra “f” in the word difference, that’s the f in difference, don’t expect to find them all on your own.

Le Roi est Mort

In my Digital Brand Protection days, I had a presentation based around ROI, but it had a twist, as on the last slide I revealed I hadn’t been referring to “Return On Investment” as everybody thought, but “Risk Of Investment” that got their attention!

Upon jumping back & going through the presentation again, the audience understood exactly where I was coming from & the importance of what I was saying. Don’t get seduced by only looking at the high returns, weight up the possible costs of damaging your Brand & reputation, especially if you are aligning yourself with another brand.

There are times you have to take the risk and go with your convictions, that’s where RONI comes in “Risk Of Not Investing”. Seth wrote a great piece this morning that’s entirely about RONI.

Yes, absolutely, you could lose everything if you risk it all and go with your gut feeling, but you could still lose everything if you do nothing. If a competitor is hell bent on pushing forwards when you’re content to sit still, don’t be surprised when they win.

“You can never defeat a man, with nothing to lose”

So go for it! what have you got to lose?

Just Say Yes

I like to think of myself as an opportunist, I’ve always taken risks with my career or livelihood, although I’m the opposite in my personal life, where I’ve usually played it safe.

This is partly due to my personality type, INTJ’s know what they’re good at, but thankfully we’re astute at knowing what we’re no good at!

I’m always trying to encourage those I see potential in to give it a go, to have confidence in themselves, to say yes why not, rather than maybe or no. I believe it’s better to say yes first, then say no later if it hasn’t worked out as planned.

But I need to start taking my own advice in my personal life! I’ve had the most amazing opportunity walk into my life recently, and I realise I need to take full advantage of it. I have to stop playing it safe all the time and start taking those risks that I have no problem taking in business.

I have to start saying yes!

I See Your Point But…

Having a strong opinion is fine, as long as you respect those of others, there’s no buts about it!

I see your point and…

Optimists, Pessimists, Opportunists

Is the glass half full or half empty?

Optimists will say it’s half full

Pessimists will say it’s half empty

Whether you’re an optimist or a pessimist, it makes no difference, you still have half a glass, and that’s all you’ll ever have, unless you take action to change things. If you’re not going to do anything about filling it, stop fooling yourself, as it’s time to get a glass that’s half the size, as a glass that is full to the brim is always better than one half full or half empty.

So next time someone asks you whether your glass is half empty or half full, be an opportunist… ask them for a top up!

The Impossible Man: RIP

I just read that one of my favourite authors, JG Ballard, has finally succumb to prostate cancer (15 Nov 1930 – 19 Apr 2009). Having written such greats as High Rise, Concrete Island & Empire of the Sun (with the last having been made into a film by Steven Spielberg). He wrote a huge amount of short stories, with the majority of his work revolving around the subject of modern dystopia, with even the term Ballardian being entered into the English Dictionary to describe such work.

His last short story is available to read online here

For more about JG Ballard follow these links.

JG Ballard
Ballardian
Wikipedia

Don’t Project Ideas, Reflect Solutions

If you’re a real consultant you appreciate that you’re clients are the experts in their area of business, not you.

Listen to what they have to say, understand their needs, focus on their problems.

That way, your solution will be a reflection of their needs, not a projection of your ideas.

Resigned To The Fact

This post was originally written on the 1st April, but I couldn’t post it until today, and believe me, it’s no April’s Fool.

Today is the 1st of April… the dreaded “R” word raised it’s ugly head today, no not recession, the other one, redundancy. I heard from two more friends, that they were made redundant today, both have been with the companies for a number of years and neither were expecting to be called aside.

Are they taking it badly or personally? thankfully not, both are up beat about it, of course they’ve heard the same thing from everyone, “Oh it’s the best thing that could happen to you” etc, mmmmmmm, no not exactly, winning the bleedin’ lottery would have undoubtedly been a bit of a better day, but then again, it’s only a job for crying out loud, it’s not as if somebody has died. Yes I agree, you have to look at the positives in these situations, the slate is clean, there’s no obstacles, there’s nothing stopping you getting on with all the things you’ve been putting off for ages.

I too realized that things had to change in my office today, but I’m in a different position, I’m a company Founder, so one of those that gets to decide who stays & who goes, (although trust me, that’s no privileged position, it’s not easy making those types of decisions, or nice telling someone), but we’re doing OK at the moment so there’s no redundancies on the cards, but even still someone had to go, and that someone was me!

I’ve too many other things on the boil, I can’t give my all to Cordovan at the present, so it would be unfair to all those that have worked with me the past decade for me to continue in my present capacity, so I’m stepping back. I’m not stepping down, I’m simply stepping back, I’m still sitting on the board & actively helping where I can (or is that interfering where I can), but I’m out of daily operations, it was a hard decision, I’ve spent 10 years building the company, but I’ve also spent the last couple of years ensuring it could function without me… it can, there’s no doubt in my mind there, if there was I wouldn’t step back, they’ll be fine.

It’s not easy letting go, but I’ve resigned myself to the fact that it’s the best thing, my focus has to be somewhere else now, there’s interesting times ahead, but I’m looking forward to the challenges, standing still would be boring, and that’s really not me.

Decisions, decisions

Chilling out on a sofa with a cheap bottle of red & a good woman, or a good bottle of red & a cheap woman?

Answers on a post card please ; )

What would you say?

On Triiibes the other day Chris Hopf from Pricingwire.com asked a really good question… “If you had only two sentences to share your most valuable business advice, what would those two sentences be ?”

my answer:
“Do well by doing good… it’s not about doing the thing right, it’s about doing the right thing“, keep to that and you can’t go wrong as far as I’m concerned.

As to a life philosophy, “Value unity, not uniformity. You can walk hand in hand without seeing eye to eye on every issue”

It’s Evolution Baby

Revolution vs Evolution?

Revolutions stand out, they get noticed, people talk about them, (they’re remarkable so to speak), but not everyone wants to be part of a revolution, they’re dangerous, noisy, violent places, where people get hurt… the old guard want to keep things the way they were, they’re happy, they’re comfortable with what they have, they’re probably making a lot of money too, so will do whatever they can to keep the status quo & squash the rebels.

Evolution on the over hand, happens without us really noticing, it’s something we grow into, it’s a way of life, even the old guard, with their affection for the status quo, are evolving, things change no matter what, the telegraph, land-line phones, the internet, TV, mobile devices, convergence, web 2.0, they’re all seen as revolutions, but really they’re all simply evolutionary steps in human communication. So why do you need a revolution? maybe your tactics should be a revelation, get the old guard aligned to where you want to go, to understand the benefits, the change then becomes irresistible?

So evolution or revolution, the end result will be the same, it all comes down to how quickly you need (not want) things to happen.

A Balancing Act

In a recent post on Triiibes someone wrote “You Suck” as the title then went into how you shouldn’t be complacent & that there’s always someone out there, bigger, better & faster than you.

This may well be, but beating yourself up and thinking you’re a pile of crap, isn’t a good approach or that productive, although on the flip side, bigging yourself up as the King of the World, ain’t doing you any favours either.

If everyone thought they couldn’t take on those bigger, better & faster, then nothing would ever change for the better. If you don’t believe in yourself, no one else will.

All Those That Say Aye

We’ve all been there, sitting in a meeting wondering “Why am I here exactly?”

If you’re asking yourself, what’s the point of all this, what’s the outcome? Then your meeting will be a complete failure (for you at least), so stop now! Don’t confuse the purpose of an agenda, it isn’t there as a check list for you to tick off what you need to discuss, it’s there to be a guide to what your outcomes are.

Don’t start a meeting without clearly defined outcomes, or letting everyone know what they are, as you’ll be wasting everybody’s time, and never finish a meeting with a list of things to discuss next time. Your outcomes need to be actionable and most of all, actioned… and if having a meeting will stop you or anyone else getting things done, don’t have a meeting, sitting around talking about things won’t get them done!

They say, “Those that do, do, while those that don’t, teach.” there may be some element of truth in that, I don’t know, but I say, “Those that do, do, while those that don’t, have meetings.”

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YawagQ6lLrA]

UPDATE:
Something must be in the air, as within a couple of hours of writing my piece above Seth releases this (or is he reading my blog?)

Hey Jerrie (By Allee Willis)

Yesterday Triiibes exploded, when 2,000 new members came knocking on the door, it’s been impossible to keep up or welcome all the new faces, who cover an incredibly broad range of people & talents. But there’s one that stood out from the crowd for me Allee Willis (& Wikipedia). You may not know the name, but you certainly know her songs, of which she has sold over 50,000,000 recordings!

Here’s a few:
Boogie Wonderland & September (Earth Wind & Fire)
Neutron Dance (Pointer Sisters)
Soundtrack: Beverly Hills Cop (Grammy Winner)
I’ll Be There: Theme tune of Friends

Check out her website & the Wiki link for a lot more, you’ll be impressed.

Anyway, regardless of all the back history, which as I said is impressive, the reason Allee stood out for me, was because of the video below, in Allee’s own words “Jerrie, the 91 yr. old going on 30, is recovering from hip surgery so snare and hi hat, hands only drumming, is all that’s possible.”

As the lyrics of “Old Folks Boogie” by Little Feat go, “You know you’re over the hill, when your mind makes a promise, that your body can’t fulfill”: Jerrie is living proof that you gotta to use it or lose it, she’s an inspiration to us all, amazing stuff!

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mYZkFOZoP-o]

Standard Blog Icon

As they say the great things about standards, is that there’s so many to choose from ; )

With the prevalence of blogging you’d think someone would have come up with a standard icon for blogs by now, well apparently not.

A few months ago I was mulling over the idea that there isn’t a universally recognised, standard blog icon, but I got side tracked by god knows what & forgot all about it until a couple of weeks ago when I found the scribbles in my notepad.

So I opened up illustrator and about 15mins later the icon above popped out. OK, I admit I’ve not created a new standard per se, that takes time, but who knows, in years to come maybe everyone will be using it. As nearly all blogs have the RSS feed option and that’s how a lot of people read them, I’ve based the icon on the standard RSS feed icon.

In any case, here it is, it’s free, it’s yours to own, no restrictions. If you think it’s really cool and you want to let me know, then fine, use the Facebook page link, but in all honestly, if you think it’s that good I’d prefer you told everyone else, go to www.theblogicon.com, link to the Facebook page, link to the Twitter page, I’m really not after the glory, I simply want to see a standard blog icon in use.

So please pass it on, you can even edit & tweak it, even call it you own, for all I care (although if you do want to credit me, then remember to use Bernd’s inspired by icon), I just want to see a standard icon in use, I’m not after the glory, just usability.

Click here for a .zip containing the icon in various sizes in PNG & GIF formats, plus the original Photoshop & Illustrator vector file just click the logo above.

UPDATE:
to clarify, the blog icon is registered at Creative Commons as Attribution-ShareAlike http://creativecommons.org/about/licenses/
ie anyone can use it, modify it, pass it on etc, but they must do so with the same rights, ie they shouldn’t charge anyone for it or add any restrictions

you should follow me on twitter here

Take the initiative

Someone can only take your hand & become a friend if your arm is already out stretched.

Being Listless Is So Invigorating

I’m a strategist & planner by nature, I’m continually gathering enormous amounts of information, so I write things down, I have a note book that I’m always jotting ideas into, I make lists of all the things I have to do, oh & I just lied to you!

Not a big fat lie, just a little one, I do all of the above except one thing, I no longer make lists. With all the information I gather and all the things I have to do you’d expect the last thing to drop off my list is ironically making lists, but actually it’s the most liberating & most productive thing I’ve done of late!

My lists used to get very long, they would contain lists within lists, they would contain all the little daily humdrum bits of crap I’d have to do, I would have documents on my desktop named, “to do” & “to do 2” & “you really must do these things otherwise there will be trouble (version 4)”, you get the picture.

You may ask, now that I don’t make “to do” lists, how do I get things done? Easy, I only do the important stuff… if something is important enough I’ll remember to do it, I don’t need to write it down, if it’s not something I remember, then it probably doesn’t matter, it’s just something that’s getting in the way.

It’s working for me, I get all the important stuff done first, it’s freeing up my time & allowing me to think about things more clearly. It reminds me of the story of two guys trying to saw down a tree but they’re getting nowhere, someone passing by says “sharpen your saw”, to which they answer, “we don’t have time!?”

What works for me, may not work for you, but I suggest giving it a go, maybe you should add it to your list : )

It’s For Charity Mate

I didn’t really prepare physically for my recent snowboarding trip, while I still had an terrific time I realised that I’m not as fit as I used to be, and can’t spend the entire year between seasons sitting in front of a computer everyday without doing any exercise, then still expect to fly around the slopes with ease. Of course I’m filled with good intentions, but when push comes to shove (and I suspect I’m not alone on this!), there’s always something else I could be doing rather than jumping on my bike or rowing machine!

So I have given myself a goal, to take part in the 50 mile (80km) London To Brighton bike ride on the 21st June. So that gives me 14 weeks (100 days) to sort myself out, which should be plenty of time (I don’t think I’m that out of shape!?). But I’m not simply doing this for myelf, it’s for the British Heart Foundation, a subject close to my own heart (no pun intended), as my father had a heart attack a couple of years ago.

So I want sponsors, you’ve got 100 days to start saving those pennies to sponsor me, I’m not proud, sterling, dollars, euro’s I don’t mind & neither does the british heart foundation, it’s all the same to us. You can sponsor me by the mile if you want, or by the kilometre, I’ll even track my progress on my Bright Kite page if you want proof.

Here’s the link to my sponsorship page, so go on, you know it’s for a good cause (even if it’s to laugh at my knobbly knees)

What The World Eats

I followed a really cool link from Nina Yiamsamatha on Twitter yesterday. It lead to a series of photographs on the Time Magazine website, of a weekly shop for an average family in various countries around the world. A simple idea, yet a powerful way to highlight the differences between counties & cultures and the huge disparity in the costs associated with a weekly grocery shop! There’s a whole series of photo streams on the site, one that certainly rings through to me is the set of the London standstill after the heavy snow dump a few weeks ago.

Follow The Leader

If you’re in a position of authority, running a company or a manager etc whenever you ask someone to do something, ask yourself this, “If you weren’t the boss, would your staff still follow your lead or take your advice?”, if the answers are “unlikely” or “no”, then you need to change what you’re doing.

Dwight Eisenhower defined leadership as “Convincing someone, to do what you want, because they want to do it.” Sounds simple when you put it like that, but how do you convince someone, that what you want, is in their best interest plus something they will be willing to do time & time again? See How to be a leader

A key element is trust, of course trust takes time & effort to build, but trust is only the start, it can only achieve so much, the goal is to gain mutual respect. As with trust, respect takes time & effort to achieve, but unlike trust, respect must be a two way street, to earn respect you have to give it.

Anyone can lead, it isn’t about having authority, it’s about gaining trust & respect through the correct behaviour.

I Lecture, Therefore iPod

The New Scientist posted an interesting article entitled “iTunes university’ better than the real thing” (below are snippets form the article)

Dr Dani McKinney, a psychologist at the State University of New York in Fredonia, led a study, to find out how much students really can learn from podcast lectures alone – 64 students were chosen. Half of the students attended the class in person and received a printout of the slides from the lecture. The other 32 downloaded a podcast that included audio from the same lecture synchronised with video of the slides. These students also received a printed handout of the material.

Students who downloaded the podcast averaged a C (71 out of 100) on the test – substantially better than those who attended the lecture, who on average mustered only a D (62).

Though her team’s paper is subtitled “Can podcasts replace Professors,” McKinney thinks these technologies can buttress traditional lectures, particularly for a generation that has grown up with the Internet.

“I do think it’s a tool. I think that these kids are programmed differently than kids 20 years ago,” she says.

It will be interesting to see the results of a similar test in years to come of students using paper based books vs eBooks!?

F*ck You Penguin

I just stumbled across the link to the “F*ck You Penguin” site on Dan Germain’s blog. I never realised what those cute little buggers were really up to, thank god this website has revealed all, I’ll certainly be looking at them in a different light form now on!

Mangatar: Face Your Manga

Are you a bit shy? Do you have a face for radio? Are you part of a witness protection programme? Do you have a fixation with cartoon avatars?

Either way check out Face Your Manga for a simple way to create your hidden cartoon self!

What the F*ck Man… I want doughnuts

I first heard about the Christian Bale hissy fit on Phil’s Unionversity blog, but here’s a couple of inventive alternatives, the doughnuts one is brilliantly done.

While amusing for those not involved, these clips aren’t one offs, I’ve worked on numerous film sets and know enough people within the industry to know these are a common occurrence (Kinski). So what gives these prima donna’s the right to behave in this way, belittling fellow professionals around them, what other profession would let them get away with it, not many.

Is such a tantrum ever OK? “Yes, but I think you have to weigh the talent against the tantrum,” says Winston Fletcher, author of Tantrums and Talent – How to Get the Best From Creative People. “What is unacceptable is when a person without much talent punches above their weight.” Emine Saner Guardian

Unfortunately I doubt this will have any affect on Bale’s reputation, if anything he’s probably lapping up the media attention, as would anyone with such an overblown ego, plus, who knows, this may have been a shrewd move by the movie producers to get air play & discussions going on the social web about their forthcoming release? If so, then the media & blogosphere has simply played into the hands of Bale & the movie producers!

Oh and if you haven’t heard these before, there’s plenty of expletives!
Original Audio
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hif0GTCBYdI]

Doughnuts
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OB9NmZta4EA&feature=related]

Christian Bale vs Bill O’Reilly Hissy Fits
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gbz6-7c_7Hk]

Lily Tomlin
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y-4_OsaA3pE&feature=related]

David O Russell / Lily Tomlin
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E4Qls1rAfYs]

David O Russell / Lily Tomlin Spoof
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u9KDZ_DLNQo&feature=channel_page]

Getting my stuff done

Here’s a brilliant animation by Lev Yilmaz, I usually have these sorts of days when I have to do my expenses! There’s plenty more videos and illustrations on his sites http://www.ingredientx.com/ & http://talesofmereexistence.com/wp/

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4P785j15Tzk&eurl=http://www.ingredientx.com/watch/tales/procrastination.htm]

My nomination for worst video of 2009!

I honestly didn’t think Microsoft was capable of creating an advert that was worse than their Tron Guy ad, but au contraire, they’ve managed it no problem… in fact, it’s safe to say that they’ve impressed me just how far they have pushed the limits of complete & utter tripe! Don’t worry Apple, you may have given your own music app a stupid name like Garage Band, but I think you can rest easy for a little longer

[youtube=http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=3oGFogwcx-E]

Look for questions, not answers

Asking the right questions, is more important than having all the answers.

Knowing how to to get higher rankings in a Google search isn’t as important as asking, will it make any difference? It’s likely your time & effort would be better invested in creating effective ways to interact with your current customers, than spending your time looking for adhoc new ones via Google. If you build a rapport & trust with customers your already have, they will recommend you and talk about your products & services to their peers, which is far more powerful & effective than a high ranking in Google, will ever be.

Having answers is great, just make sure they’re answering the right questions.

Trust Me, I’m a Blogger

While taking a break from my hectic morning schedule of making myself a cup of tea & finding some clean socks to wear I thought I’d check in and see what little bread crumbs my fellow Twits had left for me. Sure enough there were plenty, but one from Jaculynn stood out more than most “For big hearts. Please help. http://is.gd/eKbo Please retweet.” so I followed the link.

Glad I did, here’s a quick synopsis, a guy named David Armano, was asking for help, not for himself, but for a friend, a young woman named Daniela & her three children, whom were staying at his house, as she was going through a separation from her abusive husband. He was asking for $5,000, so Daniela could get her own place for her family and didn’t have to worry about a deposit or rent for a little while. David wasn’t asking for big donations, just whatever you could spare during these hard times, any amount would help & if you couldn’t donate directly then at least pass on the message.

Within 4hrs of posting the request on his blog & Twitter, he’d not only reached his target, he’d doubled it!! I think it’s safe to say that he was blown away by this, but what it shows is how much his followers & readers respect him.

So is this amazing success all down to blogs, twitter & social networks? absolutely not… it’s entirely down to David, and his skill in utilising the technologies to gain trust. He’s been writing his blog for 3 years & he’s amassed 8,000 followers on Twitter, but it’s taken him a long time & a lot of effort, but the payback has been worthwhile, as I’m sure 2009 is looking a much better place for Daniela & her family right now.

And this is all because David decided to make a difference and channel the trust he’s built to good use, or as Amie eloquently puts it in her comment to David’s thank you video “Absolutely incredible – not only have you helped a family in need, but you’ve proven again how powerful it is when just one person stands up to say, I will make a difference. You have. Imagine what else is possible”

exactly!

UPDATE:
Here’s a great blog article by Scott Drummond that expands upon what I said above, so get working on your Relationship Bank Balance! (that’s such a great analogy)

Time for Facebook to Face the Facts

Nick Burcher added a post on his blog about Facebook Usage Statistics for 2008 which made me think about something I mentioned a few weeks ago, as I noticed within Facebook’s top 21 only India & Hong Kong appear for the whole of Asia! Where’s China, Japan, Indonesia etc?

Nick’s stats are interesting, but they’re bikini statistics, nice to look at but they’re not revealing everything you may want to see!? So let’s add some population data & look at these figures a little closer, 32.7% of Canadians use Facebook, the largest country population % worldwide, closely followed by Denmark, but look at the other end of spectrum, only 1.3% of Mexicans use it, while 0.1% of Indians!!! Also, you hear all the time about how big Facebook is, and that everyone’s using it? Well actually no, as only 2.1% of the world’s population are on Facebook, so there’s still a pretty big slice of the pie out there for the taking. NB: it’s worth noting that Facebook ranks very low in Asia with other social networks being far more popular (I don’t have the stats to hand but I shall post them in the next day or so).

So why the disparity, is it to do with a technology divide, certainly not, we’re talking the likes of Japan & Korea here, who are light years ahead when it comes to technology uptake. No I think it’s something a bit simpler than that, language. I’ve asked Japanese friends before about Facebook and they’ve told me that it’s translation & implementation of Japanese sucks. I don’t know about India, but I’m sure the same is true for there. But in India there’s another issue, access to Facebook… the number of PC users is dwarfed by the number of Mobile phone users and Facebook’s mobile phone implementation isn’t great, so it’s not being used. So while Facebook’s position in the social network scene may appear dominant in the west, in the east it’s non-existent!

Now here’s another interesting set of statistics courtesy of Twitterlocal which shows how Tokyo dominates the Twitter leader board when it comes to city statistics, with a 25% lead over second place New York! No real surprise, as this is what you probably expect from the technology mecca of the world, but why Twitter & not Facebook? Well it comes back to my point earlier, Twitter’s Kanji implementation is good, but equally important, there’s no issue with ease of use, it works simply via SMS or smart phone. So once Twitter takes hold in India and they work out a way for users to register without needing an email address or access to the web, they’ll be no stopping it! Look and learn Facebook!

How many SMS messages will be sent on New…

On New Years Eve 2008, an estimated 43 billion SMS messages where sent globally! Which was up 30% on 2007, but the rise wasn’t evenly spread… Portugal tripled and The Netherlands doubled. Developing nations are by far the fastest expanding mobile markets, India’s 220 million mobile subscribers sent over a billion, a 300% rise on daily norms, but the Phllippines outshone everyone, with 1.4 billion SMS’s from a subscriber base of only 50 million!

When it comes to SMS messaging the USA ranks very low, when mobile users were asked whether they have or would send a “Happy New Year” text message, all countries except the USA showed an increase:
U.S.A. 35%; France 85%; Germany 88%; Spain 90%; Italy 92%

For an example of how amazing all this electronic communication can look, have a look at this gorgeous visualisation of the SMS messages sent on New Years Eve in Amsterdam

[vimeo 2312662]

By Aaron Koblin (check out his site there’s some cool stuff on there!)
and his vimeo page

As our time has become very precious and much more of a commodity to be valued, more & more of us are moving away from paper based communication during the festive season, brevity is king, but even voice calls only showed a moderate increase (guess they take too long and you can only speak to one person at a time), electronic communication via email, SMS & the likes of Twitter have increased dramatically, so it will be interesting to see how the mobile networks & Twitter cope in the next few hours… I hope Twitter have their fail whale primed and ready to go : )

So just in case I thought I’d get in early and wish you all a fantastic 2009!

I hear there’s a recession, but I’ve decided not…

At the end of 2007 I sold two of my companies, vision360 & ezpresenter, to the Cordovan Group, with the new company becoming Cordovan Digital (where I’m currently a Board Director). We’ve had a pretty good year, highest turnover & profits of our previous 10 year history, so I can’t say fairer than that. Of course the coming year will be telling, but I feel positive about it, I work with an amazing bunch of guys (& girls!), whom I have complete confidence in, they work incredibly well together & I’m dedicated to ensuring their futures too.

So how have I prepared for the coming year? Probably not as you’d expect… upon selling the two companies last year I retained a third one, named no paper™, which we’re still developing & planning a major launch of in 2009. Then in November this year I registered two entirely new companies (ID Gator™ & F451 Labs™), plus a forum on Identity issues Your Identity Matters™ (to be launched in April-May), plus two non-profit organisations, Your Small Change™ & I Skipped Lunch™, both of which I’m hoping to change to charity status in 2010. So I shall be entering 2009 with 5 companies under my direct control with an ongoing concern with Cordovan.

Am I being ambitious? Yes
Am I over stretching myself? Probably
Can I do it? Absolutely
Would I have it any other way? No
Am I worried about the recession? No
Am I mad? Ask me in a years time!

So don’t bury your head in the sand and wait for the economic downturn to go away, it won’t, there’ll be winners & losers, either way it’s going to be risky in 2009, but it’s your choice… at least doing it my way I can see the risks ahead of me!

And if that’s not a good enough reason then read these:

It’s Not How Good You Are, It’s How Good You Want To Be
Whatever You Think, Think The Opposite
Paul Arden

Either way, I hope 2009 is good to you.

How To Make People Read My Blog

In a follow up from my “nobody reads my blog” post (which ironically is now my second most read individual post!?!?), I recently posted on the triiibes forum where a member was asking a question along the lines of “how to write a blog that someone will read?” well the answer is easy, don’t write a blog concerning things about you (as no one is honestly interested, except you of course)… write a blog about things that affect your audience or things they’re interested in, especially if your blog is to have some commercial relevance, then it needs to be focused & about your audience, not you.

engage | communicate | stimulate