Simple and Loveable

Are we black?

Nat — Fri, 16 May 2008 01:26:35 +0000

Emma and I went along to listen to Simon and Marie-Claire’s WONDERFUL seminar on branding. At one point things got contentious as we learned that 40% of ALL purchase decisions are made on country of origin.

We started talking about brand New Zealand… Which is generally agreed to be sub-par compared to what we COULD do and is starting to be discussed widely by branding people in NZ. Our national ‘brand’ currently focuses around:

“Clean and green”.

I am STRONGLY opposed to this. We were ok while no one in the world paid attention to what it actually takes to be clean and green, but now people are sitting up and taking notice, it takes about 5 minutes to realise the only possible way we manage to stay clean and green is because there are NO PEOPLE here.

Branding, as Simone so clearly put it, is about honesty, about understanding what you fundamentally are. And while we love to live in a country of wide open spaces and stunning scenery, we, as people, are not clean and green. The fact we promote ourselves as being so is something that WILL come back to bite us and in a very painful way.

Innovative

We are. We’ve always been Britain’s testing ground for new ideas. We were the first to give women the vote, we were one of the leaders in getting rid of smoking in indoor areas, we basically make and sail every boat in the America’s Cup, we climbed Mt Everest first, we can do just about anything with a bit of number 8 wire.

But our major, major industries still export huge amounts of raw materials like wood and meat without doing ANYTHING to them. We let other countries take our stuff and brand it THEIR way. This is not innovative, this is a very old NZ philosophy of treating ourselves as Britain’s farm.

Strong, independent and proud

I’m not sure if this came up yesterday, but I think it is a key part of our brand. We are a tiny country that no one has really heard of. If your country wanted to invade us, they could and we would kind of just have to take it. But WE don’t view ourselves like that.

We said NO to nuclear and forbid US nuclear ships for entering our waters. Despite the fact this took diplomacy back numerous years, we stuck to our guns because we believed int he cause.

We said NO to whaling and put more pressure on Japan every year than any other country.

When we were the first to get a free trade agreement with China, the biggest backlash was because we know our brand so well, we know that free trade with a country that is openly occupying another country is not something that we should support.

We firmly, as a country, believe in equality. We may not be perfect but I’d say as far as race relations and gender equality go, we lead the pack.

But are we black?

Black is our national colour. From the almost magical spectical of the All Blacks roaring out the Haka, to the way most Wellingtonians dress, we embrace black with a passion.

Some people think black flies in the face of our brand. We are not black, we’re green and blue and bright and fresh and new and independent. We’re not corporate.

I think black IS who we are. We are innovative but simple, we are small but powerful, we are fun but serious. You may have never heard of us, but when you witness a blackwash, you will sit back in awe.

Which is funny because colours and graphics should come last but somehow we seem to have managed to stumble on the best colour for us before we could quite agree on what ‘us’ is… But brands are constantly evolving aren’t they?

The recession sets in

Nat — Mon, 12 May 2008 04:37:49 +0000

For some reason, in the last 2 weeks, I started to panic about the recession.

Claire informed me that I should be panicking because the world is a changing and since we are soon to run out of petrol and we should all start biking.

Lance took over my whiteboard for 2 minutes to show me graphs of how it would/wouldn’t affect me.

Jack and I listened to how hard it is for restaurants and found out how many are closing down.

Someone else said to get more government work.

I jumped up and down and told everyone I was worried because I have no strategy if things slow down and become sad that I would never own my little cottage which I now NEED because I have the perfect rug to put in it.

So I came up with a strategy:

DON’T Panic!!!!! Currently I see no signs of this business slowing down, and the only thing that will slow it down is if I start to cut down on everything (like new Macs which we seem to buy like all the time) and we go into hibernation mode
Get variety Things hit worse if you have only one source of income. If you have nicely spread out international customers and a nice mix of governemnt and business customers, you have not put your eggs in one basket.
Be necessary If your job is to help people get more business, they will probably still need you if they hit hard times. Maybe they will need you even more.

Not the most complicated of strategies, but I am sleeping at night again.

I also just wanted to say to all the mothers out there: Thanks you do a great job.
And to those whose mums aren’t here anymore: I thought about you too yesterday.
And for those whose mums are: Don’t take your mum for granted. She is your greatest ally in life.

Decisive Flow = Party Planners and doll makers

Nat — Fri, 09 May 2008 02:19:45 +0000

Emma has changed the course of business for us. We are now party planners/invitation designers. We appear to have quite the talent for party planning and this new direction has been met with company wide enthusiasm.

We are also now professional (well we’re not being paid for it, but we have found a mutual interest in) doll makers:

Emma Doll - Note: No weird cheeks

Alexi doll - I am now wondering what occupation she is really interested in?

I’m going to see Westlife!?!?

Nat — Thu, 08 May 2008 21:49:34 +0000

In one of those funny nostalgic moments where I remembered back to those days when I was a teenage girl and online doll making hadn’t been invented so I became obsessed with boy bands… I got a ticket to Westlife.

This is my biggest online confession.

And I’m now unbelievably excited. Thanks goodness I have friends who understand…

So tonight, you will see me and a group of equally nostalgic females throwing our knickers at a group or Irish middle aged men. This should be interesting!

Please don’t laugh at me!

UPDATED: Here is a video snippet of a tiny part of the BEST night of my life ever. I am a boyband convert. Excuse the jiggly camera, there was a lot of dancing going on in the stands.

Domestic Godliness

Nat — Thu, 08 May 2008 05:17:52 +0000

I regularly attend the Asiana Cooking classes. This is in an effort to become somewhat of a domestic goddess and be able to cook without the aid of a can or jar. So far my attempts without the backup support of two highly trained professionals have proven that I will probably never master the art.

We have now developed quite a cool routine of:

Purchasing cheap wine
Watching the cooking demo
Racing each other to see who can finish first
Compare our variations on the recipe (burnt bits, raw bits, extra bits, hot bits etc)
Eat and drink waaay too much
Head to the Hawthorn Lounge to partake in some marshmallows by the fire and a NEW development is Car playing (I have proven to be quite the card shark last night)
New development 2. Is leaving the Hawthorn Lounge with the intent on going home, but instead winding up at another bar

But that is beside the point. The point is actually that both cooking class and the Hawthorn Lounge are what Seth Godin would call Purple Cows.

I have always wanted to open a bar because I think they are kind of done wrong. There is never anything unique about them, which is why down Wellingtons main drag, they open up and shut down with such frightening regularity and generally you don’t even notice a new bar in the place of the old one. They are same same.

The Hawthorn Lounge Changes this. It’s like stepping back into the early 1900’s, the bar tenders wear cute waistcoats, they have a big open fire and like 4 leather couches and card tables. You grab a yummy cocktail and a pack (or three) of cards and make yourself at home… Then dash to the fire every few minutes to roast some more free marshmallows. It’s so soothing and cosy and hidden away. Despite the fact it is kind of out of the way, the place is always jam packed (but comfortably packed because they don’t add more seating so you kinda just have to leave when you arrive and it’s full).

Most people I know bemoan the fact the only thing to DO in winter is go to a bar and drink away the dismal weather sorrows. Cooking class provides a cool other option. For $35 you get your food prepared for you, dishes done and a place to learn something new (like for example, if you go to a restaurant with us that offers Roti now, you’ll here ‘Oh my goodness, they are charging for this, I KNOW how to MAKE IT’ in loud obnoxious voices). It’s kind of quirky and a cool activity (I got tickets for Brooke and Ben for their engagement present). They are so popular that the classes fill up about 5 minutes after they are posted.

It’s cool to see such innovation on mundane themes.

What’s Your Problem?

Nat — Wed, 07 May 2008 04:43:13 +0000

One thing that become very clear to me all of a sudden this morning is that I no longer feel obligated to help people who don’t deserve my help.

This is an important step for me, as in the past I have, out of a misplaced sense of obligation, dropped my work and customers to sort out stuff that was simply not my problem. I didn’t get thanked for it, I didn’t get acknowledged for it. I just got mucked around and now asked to do it again by the same people.

One thing I have quickly learned since being alone in this business is how valuable my time is. In the past, I have allowed people to take advantage of my time and this led to me de-valuing my own importance.

The reason I am writing this, is because it shocked me this morning that after a couple of months of not having that expectation, I have come to give myself more credit and now find it insulting and rude that people think they can ask this of me.

Confidence is cool.

I am NOT a teenage Girl anymore

Nat — Thu, 01 May 2008 22:52:43 +0000

I have been talking to the owners of dollspace.com about potentially working together.

This has led to a mild breakdown on my side due to it suddenly hitting me that I am not only NOT a teenage girl, but I know NOTHING about them. We have kicked into serious market research mode and spent half of Emma’s birthday Pot luck dinner quizzing people about online doll creation, avatars, sparkles and slideshows. It’s, like MySpace, totally beyond me.

Last night, post lack-of-concentration tantrum and pre freedom (which led to me wandering a beach in bare feet at all hours of the night and now having no voice), I made an internet doll.

I think I kinda got it.

What I am beginning to understand about teenage girls (outside of this weird fascination with growing up waaay to quickly and then offsetting that with playing with dolls online), is that they are vastly different from anyone who is NOT a teenage girl.

Usability doesn’t matter so much.

I am sad to say my doll is nude because I literally didn’t know how to dress her. I didn’t understand the wizz bang widgets that kept popping out everywhere. She is lucky to have a nose because adding her face had me stumped for 10 minutes. I am wondering if teenage girls like the fact that they have to spend the first week on the site learning the site. It makes it exclusive.

Your content is NOT king. Theirs is.

Initially I was appalled at the content on some of the websites I looked at. But then I realised the people adding it were the teenage girls. This is a boy free zone, there is no one to impress, the website owners aren’t putting words in their mouths, they come up with it on their own. I believe that the freedom to ‘own’ the website and make it theirs is key to teenage girls. You just can’t control their space. Which is probably why the hideous layouts on MySpace are so popular. No corporation told those people what their site should look like.

Girls will be girls

Despite all the media messaging, social pressure and everything else that is telling girls to grow up quick, they wont. If they LIKE dolls and fashion, they will hunt down ways to get involved in them. This actually reassures me a lot. I also like how the doll websites have dolls of all sizes and colours, big noses, small noses, weird eyes, silly expressions and everything that people tell you you shouldn’t be. (Don’t use my doll as an example, I fell into the trap of wanting a petty one). Unlike work related applications, this stuff is there for fun.

It was the first time in my life I’ve signed up for a user account and faced the fact I am too old to have my date of birth recognised. It was the first time I have played with dolls for years. And despite my embarrassment at admitting this, it was actually quite a hoot. I suspect this will become the new office fad.

What do you do when you just can’t focus?

Nat — Thu, 01 May 2008 05:02:04 +0000

It’s been one of those weeks.

Everything is an emergency, everything is behind, I started the week with a cold and haven’t got my energy back…

And today I can’t get my act together. Actually as of last night when my friend informed me that ‘Happiness too, passes” and it hit me that life simply wont be this good all the time, I slumped.

I am taking tonight off.

Tomorrow is another day. Next week is another week.

Your business dahboard on your wall

Nat — Wed, 30 Apr 2008 03:05:57 +0000

I know it sounds kinda funny after a year at PlanHQ to think an organisation dashboard is a revolutionary idea… But I’ve been thinking recently about how to ensure we never get behind in a small business where none of us ever have any time or inclination to put in more than a minute to track our progress.

Yesterday, while I was at a morning seminar run by the Results Group, the idea of a quick business dashboard came up. I LOVED it. I am gong to make one. I know it can be done in a web app, I know there are probably a million startups working on it right now. But I want it on my wall, so I’m not buying.

We’re going to get some big colored dots and list all our tasks and then every week change the dots around so that we know where we are on everything.

You can have dashboards for measuring anything, and what I love about paper ones is that you can completely customise them to your business AND that they glare at you from the wall when they are covered in red and orange - The idea being that simply SEEING where you’re going wrong, leads to an automatic re-adjustment to set it right.

Don’t laugh at it’s simplicity, I just saw a roomfull of business owners fall in love with the idea.

Dodgy Domains

Nat — Tue, 29 Apr 2008 04:59:24 +0000

A customer of mine and I have been waging a 2 month long battle against a domain registrant over a domain name he has owned for several years.

Through one reason or another, the domain expired and he didn’t notice until after the grace period. I rang up and the nice lady said that the domain was about to be auctioned and to email a particular email address and ask if we could have an exemption due to the mistake and the length of time he had owned the domain.

No reply. After about 12 emails from me, 12 from him and numerous phone calls from both of us, we still could not get through to anyone who was responsible for the domain.

Now, I assume coinciding with another grace period expiring, he has received a very polite email from “Brian”, and I quote:

“Our client owns this and current asking price is $22,788.

Please let me know if you’re interested in making a purchase.

Kind regards,

Brian”

I have a sneaky suspicion that they refused to talk to us until this time because they knew once it had passed they could resell him his domain name for this much money. (They actually can’t is only reaction was to laugh).

Is that unusual/wrong/dodgy or just one of those lessons you have to learn about domains?