A few small first steps


My kids, originally uploaded by a sack of seattle.

It's not the New Year yet but this entry counts for a lot of new steps for me:

This is my first :

  •     Picture of my kids.
  •     Photo I took with my new Canon Powershot SD900.
  •     Blog entry from flickr

Typepad for dummies

I've spent too much time trying to get my flickr photos into my blog -- I've read the typepad instructions and can't for the life of me get past step 1. How do you configure your account to connect up with flickr.
In the typepad knowledge base, it tells you to configure your new blog and change the account settings. There are 3 things hard about this:

  1. It doesn't tell you whether you're supposed to do this on typepad or flickr
  2. It doesn't address the case of an existing blog
  3. It's too friggin'  hard to navigate around typepad and find the right screen. Couldn't they put a link there?

Has anyone seen the Typepad for dummies series. I'm going to write that book.

It's not about gaming ...it is about engaging the system

There's been a lot of debate recently about marketing disclosure. Jason Calacanis -- who is a bit late in returning my emails (yes, jason that's a nudge)-- has been leading the charge against payperposts lack of disclosure. Now, Scott Karp of Publishing 2.0 has a good post about the topic and the role of the FTC. Worth reading.

This topic is relevant to me right now because just this morning I was talking with Erin - our head of marketing -- about how to be more aggressive with marketing online. We were talking about what our policies should be in working with our city editors and expert shoppers to encourage them to get the word out about Judy's Book.
So where are we coming down on the topic:

  1. Being deceptive about online marketing is stupid, disingenous, and while effective in the short run -- fails in the long run.
  2. Being smart about engaging with digg, reddit, and netscape makes tremendous sense. We haven't figured out exactly what we want to do here but we will.
  3. At the very least, we are going to educate our city editors and expert shoppers about these services so they know how they work and undersand them.
  4. We're going to want to make sure that consumers know that we do compensate our city editors and expert shoppers. City editors receive small promotions -- usually on the order of $10 to $20 per month gift card.  Our expert shopper program is just starting up and we're likely to compensate those users but haven't figured out exactly what the amount and nature of the payment will be.

The towel rack in software

I moved into my remodeled house on Friday and today. The process will likely continue through next week. It's funny how everything at the house project has become a model for everything at work.  I was talking to one of the developers today about our holiday free shipping guide that we published last week ...and in the haste to get it out in the market, we ended up created a bit of a downstream nightmare for ourselves in terms of data management and changes to the content. I told the developer it was a bit like the towel rack at my house -- the contracted rushed to get them hung so we could move in on Friday. It turns out that many of the towel racks are uneven -- ahh, the wonders of a level -- and now, the contractor needs to go back and fix them all, plug the plaster, and paint the wall again. Kind of a nightmare. So be careful in building a house and publishing pages on the web -- haste makes waste...even if  you hit the deadline, you may ultimately cause yourself more pain if you don't take the quality process steps necessary for a level page (you get the idea).

My dad fractured his back

me: you are up...

  It goes pretty well

Friend: that's awesome. i can't wait to see the house

me: I got some bad news tonight...my dad fractured his back....kind of freaked me out

Friend: andy, that sucks. is he ok? are you ok?

me: he isn't so good. I'm ok…it's a stupid story

Friend: what happened?

me: he was with my brothers kids (his grandsons) and was out walking in the woods  Alex age 4.5 climbed a rock and got his foot stuck ....rather than let his brother help him, my dad decided to climb up about 4 ft to help him he got Alex out no problem but then couldn't figure out a way down himself because he isn't the most limber guy so he decided to jump of the rock backwards.

Friend: oh no

me: He landed on his feet lost his balance and fell backward on a rock

Friend: that is terrible holy shit that sounds painful. kids must have freaked out

me: he's laying there in the woods screaming with a 7 and 4.5 year old and no one else is nearby yep kids freaked

me: so what's my dad do? He has a cell phone and doesn't call anyone

Friend: what??

me: He lays there screaming....and then somehow gets up ....walks to the car (5 mins) and drives himself home

Friend: holy fucking shit

me: yea. that's what I said. I'm kind of in shock a bit.

Can't sleep

Friend: when did this happen?

me: this afternoon

Friend: did your dad call 911 (eventually?)

me: no

He's a doctor...called his partner who came to the house…took some percocets could of been a lot worse

weird story huh

how's your weekend?

Friend: andy, this is one thing I've learned. it can always be worse always ha. nothing as crazy as that.

My new camera

Canon_ixus900ti_specsview0_1 I bought the canon powershot SD900 digital elph. I was going to buy the Fujifilm f-30 based upon a recommendation from my photographer friend Fazal...but alas while I was waiting for the f-31 to come out, I made an impulse buy of this camera. I needed one, was tired of waiting, and this caught my fancy. So hopefully, I'll be able to deliver more photo content and maybe even some video to liven up this blog.  Here's a review of the camera. You can buy it here if you want one too.

Is a little data better than no data?

Just came out of a meeting in which we were discussing the Judy's Book positioning.  I found myself referring to a small ad campaign we ran 3 or 4 months ago that told me that people were more likely to sign up for a "community" than for something that was "by the people, for the people" ... I agree with the conclusion. It makes sense to me -- it's shorter and pithier. But this post is really about the larger trend of corporate decision making that is now informed by very concrete data -- and there are lots of management questions about -- is it the right data, can I make that conclusion from this data, is a little data better than no data. It's an interesting intellectual thought -- but in reality doesn't matter much because executives are making their arguments and decisions all day, everyday with just a little data.  I'm no exception.  We're going to use the word community until lots of data can prove it wrong.

American Marketing Association Survey

AMA’s survey revealed that compared to a company that uses only professional advertising, most adults feel that a company that uses customer-created advertising is more customer-friendly (68%), creative (56%), and innovative (55%).

Survey respondants between the ages of 18 and 24 are more likely than those between the ages of 25 and 64 to say a company that uses customer-created advertising is less trustworthy (21% versus 10%, respectively), less socially-responsible (20% versus 10%, respectively) and less customer-friendly (13% versus 5%, respectively).

Company homework from Brad Feld

My board member Brad Feld gave me some homework a few months ago which I have been doing.  Completing the assignment has been so valuable that I've started to assign the homework to all the employees at Judy's Book.  Brad's homework for me was to begin to use my product as well as my competitor's products as a user and to use them regularly (i.e. daily).  His hypothesis is that it's only as a user that you can begin to see the nuances of what makes one product better than another.  It's an obvious observation and that's what makes it so powerful. I mean try making listening to music on the Ipod vs. the Zune and you'll get the idea.  Drive around in a Toyota Lexus and then drive around in a Volkswagen Jetta or a Ford Taurus. Same act --very different customer experiences.   We're not doing this everyday (yet) -- but we are trying to incorporate it into the regular activities of everyone -- we then talk about what we discovered and learned at lunch. Good stuff. Thanks Brad for the suggestion....my hunch is our users will thank you too.

Apple customer service sucks too

Following up on my Gold's Gym customer service nightmare....it turns out that my friend Ryan has a painful and great customer service story about Apple -- worth reading here.

All these stories remind me that we at Judy's Book have quite a bit to improve on our own customer service. Customers aren't very forgiving and negative experiences definitely amplify. I need to be more careful about throwing stones because I know that we (at JB) don't deliver quality customer service. You know the story about people in glass houses....

Gold's Gym sucks

Ok. They win the battle, and hopefully, lose the war.  For anyone that has followed my Gold's Gym nightmare as they've harassed me with unjustified calls from a collection company, I finally yielded. I've got more important things to do than fight gold's gym -- I'm paying the 190$....and I'm happy to have this matter off my to-do list. Sure -- it made for an interesting blog post or two -- but now, it's just a pain.

For the record, I will continue to give the company a lot of negative word of mouth and I don't recommend any consumer join Gold's Gym.

Networking: Back to the future

I received a  short holdiay card from an 18 year old friend and fellow entrepreneur - Ben Casnocha. He's a great guy -- who I've met once and established an email and blog friendship.  The card was a small but very thoughtful (and instructive) gesture. The card reminded me how powerful a simple act of sending a hand written note can be in this digital age -- these simple gestures are much more effective than an email.  I was touched that he cared enough to send me a card.  I wasn't sure I was going to send my holiday cards out this year because I'm in the midst of a move to our remodelled house. Now, I know that I have to send the cards -- thanks for the reminder Ben. My friends thank you too.