I love this story of a world class violinist performing at rush hour in a crowded train station to the immense rapture of… no one really.

This guy brings people to tears, he demands his audience remain silent throughout his entire performance, even between songs… He plays on a 200 year old violin for goodness sake. He’s IT as far as classical music is concerned.

He can demand $1000 a minute, yet when his services are offered in the guise of a busker, he is seemingly worthless.

I’m trying to find the moral of this story 

There are a few facts about this story that make it interesting:

• The only people who consistently recognised his remarkable ability were children. – Does this mean our perception of pure beauty is drained as we age?
• He played in a place where people were totally focused on their goal of  going somewhere -  Do we get so focused on going places we no longer even NOTICE what’s around  us?
• He was disguised as a busker – Do we need people and things to look the part in order to appreciate their value?
• It was staged by a newspaper – was this all a mass publicity stunt with obvious outcomes?

Stories like this have so many possible marketing implications: Are looks, labels and placement so important in defining perception? Are we so used to noise and pictures everywhere that we do truely block them out UNLESS we want to welcome them in? Is the scattergun approach of mass marketing virtually useless for niche products?

On a personal level… 

What an ego knock. Imagine being the superstar, then the nobody. It makes you realise we build up such an image of ourselves purely by being around those who accept us in places that accept us. Everyone is no one when they are taken out of their element.

When you write a blog post, you never quite know the unintended side effects. Tim and I both see ‘Simple and Loveable’ as a small business/technology blog, which is why I often have to giggle at the Google search terms that send people our way:

• Good relationship, bad relationship
• relationships bad
• When good people go bad

… And that’s just cracking the surface! It appears when you mention ‘simple’ ‘loveable’ and ‘relationships’ constantly, you are often mistaken for a relationship advice blog… Which kinda makes sense actually…

The good news 

The two blog posts that have received the most google searches are ‘Unique business cards‘ and ‘Extreme Word of mouth marketing with42 Below‘. We get tonnes of people searching for ‘unique business cards’ and ’42 below’. It’s amazing to learn how interested people are in various topics, especially when you never guessed it.

So.. if anyone is passionate about either of those subjects, I an tell you, you have a fascinated audience! 

Ha ha I just had the funniest experience. We’re about to head off for easter break and I thought I’d read up on some of my favourite blogs… Headed to Buzzoodle and found myself reading a post about me!

Anyway, the reason I mention this article (aside from the fact I think it totally makes me ‘internet famous’) is it points out possibly the best feature of blogging: how you make friends with and network with people on the other side of the world, who you potentially will never meet… But who talk to other people and low and behold, suddenly your name is mentioned in situations you really hope it would be.

Thanks Ron! 

A friend of my boyfriend is a pretty active Trademe user and the other day (for reasons I am unsure of) decided to look up my profile. Next time he saw Nick he said ‘umm, did you realise Natalie has been previously married?’… Turns out, my mum, who used my account to sell some craft left a comment under my name saying ‘my husband makes the cots, and I paint them’, which means that now every stranger (and friend) who sees my account starts to question the skeletons in my closet.

And here I was totally unaware that the whole of New Zealand is finding out stuff about me that I didn’t even know existed. I find that quite funny.

Been listening to the SXSW coverage and there is a really interesting conversation around that topic and our current insistence of having everything we do and are documented on the internet and how the next generation may rebel by NOT using the internet. Well worth a listen, as are the rest of them.

Tis a crazy time and I think this sums it up nicely:

Tim, Michael and I checked out Webstock Mini last night at the Paramount Theater here in Silicon Welly. One of the discussions that arose was what’s happening on the startup scene in Auckland. I have no idea what’s happening in Auckland but it occurred to me that the fact it’s kind of spread out makes it a lot harder to get everyone in one place regularly. I think this highlighted something very cool about Wellington, here we are, all in one big room buzzing with startup fever – and that is exactly the kind of environment that inspires new ideas and businesses. Maybe small cities are the best small business hubs?

Anyway, I took advantage of having my camera and managed to wobbily film Tim giving his 2 minute talk about ‘how the internet changed his life’ – Gives me an excuse to join the YouTube crowd – it’s very shaking and a long way away (I’m one of those kids who insists on sitting in the back row). Check Tim out:

This topic also raised another interesting thought. How has the internet changed your life? We heard everything from a woman who found she could still earn an income despite being a fulltime mother, to a hard core technologist who found that the solutions he created were actually saving lives in conflict ridden countries. I have no idea what I’d be doing if I hadn’t ‘discovered’ the internet a few years ago… It makes you think…

A little off topic, but I have been asked a lot recently about blogging.  It is an interesting question… "What is a blog?"

What a blog is (I think…) 

A blog is like a personal newspaper about the things that most interest you. For some people, that is themselves, for others it is the latest web 2.0 products, others still talk about branding, marketing, children, business, sustainability… virtually everything under the sun. It’s time based, so generally relevant to events of the day… But blogs have something extra that newspapers never will: Every blog is just a small part of a much larger conversation; what happens here is the result of what has gone on somewhere else in the blogosphere. The topic changes rapidly, the arena leaps from one end of the internet to the other and we all have our space, which is great because consumer driven journalism is something that fascinates me.

But if I’m to be brutally honest, we’re not doing that well. I think this quote sums up the problem we as bloggers are currently creating:

Because blogging has also become a popularity contest. We are not content to simply write and see if anyone is touched by our words. We want readers and we want them now. We cling to the popular news of the day instead of exploring subjects that may matter to us but mean nothing to all but a few people. Blogging ‘rules’ state that we should limit ourselves to one area and have a similar ‘tone’ with each post. I don’t like it. From one day to the next, the things that interest me can vary wildly, so can my mood. I don’t see the point in jumping on the bandwagon and impressing people with our ability to copy and paste someone else’s news.

I think everyone should have a blog. Everyone has views on the world and everyone could benefit immensely from having a platform to share them with the world.  But we should not try to copy the newsgivers of the past and cling to sensationalism. The greatest joy of a blog is the fact you have put yourself out there and someone from the other side of the world can ‘get’ you. Never before has this been possible and it is the ultimate in marketing. A blog is truly you, on the internet.

I read an article the other day about the guy (name temporarily misplaced) who brought Red Bull to NZ. Fascinating. He basically built a brand around the fact that this can of drink was barely legal in most countries, if legal at all. He took it from a tiny skiing community somewhere in Europe and helped make it the massive global brand it is today. And he did it all the guerrilla way. Instead of trying to cut prices or cram into vending machines beside rows of Coca Cola, Red Bull became the hot commodity of the underground, until it emerged above ground with a critical mass large enough to give it ‘wings’.

• Turn your disadvantage to your advantage: You would think it would be a struggle to get a fairly illegal drink off the ground… Unless you proclaim it from the rooftops! What pill popping club goer is not going to race to the next illicit substance? Red Bull were forced to spend many man hours manually relabeling hundreds of thousands of cans with more accurate information. The result? Those little labels were ripped off cans and stuck on every surface in every bar Red Bull was sold – hmm easy way to get noticed.
• Don’t get caught up in pricing: You will never beat the big guys. They will waste you. Why not go the opposite extreme and proudly proclaim your status as the highest price non-alcoholic beverage available? Like 42 Below, this air of luxury and exclusivity drives the public crazy.

• KNow your market and make them see you: Who are your target market? Where do they hang out? What do they like? Be there giving it to them. Whether it’s sporting events, anti-conferences, the beach, at the train station, dance parties, offices. Know where your kind of people are and make them see you.

The day of the little guy has come. It’s all about being unique and small, knowing who you are and not being afraid to show it. It’s about being smarter than the big guys and flying under the radar, taking every hit and turning it into a home run. Marketing shouldn’t be boring, there is always something you can do to become the next big thing – if a soft drink can do it, believe me, you can too.

I wrote a while back about a promotion Digitalmax was running to encourage new subscribers. Current subscribers were excluded, a fact that prompted me to write in and ask why.

I never did receive a reply but today I got the following email:

 I can’t be a hundred percent sure, but it feels like an excellent example of listening to your customer feedback and doing something about it.

Thanks Digitalmax, still loving your service and feeling very valued :)

Sometimes I forget how lucky we are here in Silicon Welly. The other day we were sitting at a stunning office right on the waterfront listening to Rowan Simpson talk about the success of Trademe. It struck me that the rest of the world is simply missing out on some of the best pearls of wisdom available on how to be a success in this web 2.0 world. And here we were chatting to one of the major players in one of web 2.0′s greatest success stories… while he threw pearls around like only someone who has been involved in a multi hundred million dollar deal can.

Word of Mouth Marketing – Letting Go

Trademe has an eclectic history of items that have shot to fame, been auctioned off for ten’s of thousands of dollars and have secured Trademe as top news item many nights in a row. The obvious question is ‘how?’

The answer. ‘It’s not up to us’.

Trademe have taken the organic approach to growing one customer at a time. Every day, Rowan claims, there are several auctions that have the potential to become famous, every now and then one of them does. They can’t predict it, they don’t force it, they just let their customers own their publicity while Trademe give them a place to do it, then sit back and marvel at the randomness of crowds.

Give it a go

Quite often when you come across a major success story, you wonder how they did it. How they got the thing so right. Is it striking that perfect idea by chance? Is it a moment of pure genius? No, it’s giving ideas a shot. As with famous auctions, sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn’t, but you’ll never know till you try. Sometimes, it’s better to analyse less and throw something out there to be devoured by the crowds. Then tweak, change, test and throw it back out again.

And a lot more… 

Trademe has so much more to offer Web 2.0 startups, not just in NZ. Thankfully Rowan has just started blogging, a must read for anyone in the space.

And as Wellington’s own summer of code program has been such a major success, it’s a good idea to keep an eve on the Silicon Welly blog to see just how many new companies will be cropping up round these parts, to join the exceptional talent already here. 

If you’ve worked in a team then you’ll know how the the importance of having a good tight team. When they’re working well, everyone is buzzing together, good ideas flow and heaps gets done quickly and everyones having a good time together. I call these sticky teams!

The Team is a massive component of the business

We’re looking for a new designer and a new developer at the moment, and it’s interesting to note how many people don’t bring up the importance of the team. I want to know peoples experience and direction in major way, but it’s a good sign when people ask about and checkout how the team works. To me this shows that they recognise that as long as the team is geling, you can pretty much get through anything, which is very true. You can’t enjoy your work, or your business if you don’t enjoy your team, they’re one in the same.

If it breaks Fix it quick as

You can have the same fantastic people, but they can fluctuate between working really well together to average, and this can happen over the course of a week, month or longer. I’ve been part of the most motivated and excited teams and as well as some average periods where the spark is lost. Heres a few things I’ve noted on helping get things back in mint form.

1. Be straight-up – Acknowledge openly it’s not quite right

People know when things aren’t quite right, we feel it, so the worst thing you can do is not acknowledge it, you’ve got to be straight, don’t leave team members having to wonder for themselves when someones going to get things back on track. I’ve seen morale drop and leadership not acknowledge it, and it’s a clear sign to the team that they now have to just look after themselves, as no-ones looking after the team.

2. Eliminate any Fault or Blame

Team breakdowns most often have nothing to do with any individual, and this thinking has to be eliminated very quickly as it’s a dead end road, it’s best to just drop the words from your vocabulary.

3. Get Individuals working well together

When there’s breakdowns between individuals in a team, you need to help them re-connect. I’ve managed teams of between 3 to 15, and the most important thing you have to keep an eye on is where cool individuals are clashing with each other or facing issues, and work with them individually and together to help them get back in synch with each other and the team. People might clash, and there may be things that have happened that cause all sorts of potentially negative feelings, but people almost always want to get past this and get back to loving the team, don’t gloss things over and expect people to just sort it out, focus on it and help out.

4. Keep Direction sorted

Teams are united by common goals, values and direction. In business this is building an organisation, creating a product, getting it to market, making a difference and making some money. One of the best traits of good leaders is the ability to get teams together and pumping. Being Passionate and having clear vision that’s going somewhere everyone’s into AND bringing it down to right here right now, we’re doing this next is key.

Whenever I lose focus and can’t provide clear direction, I know it makes things hard for the team and productivity and happiness drops. I remember when I was driving the product development and trying to raise capital at the same time for Energy Intellect. The problem was, while I was flying around the US figuring out how to help secure the money, the development team was missing out on time and direction the product deserved and needed. Fortunately when we secured the money, I could get back to the then most important thing, getting the product development team pumping again.