There have always been competitions over the best 404/500 pages (the pages you arrive at when the website breaks or you hit a link that doesn’t exist). This is because people arriving on these pages are generally not going to be happy chappies, because they expected to go somewhere and instead landed nowhere.

So people got all creative and made cute, funky and downright funny pages that get their now happy visitors back on track.

But I’ve been thinking more about website personality. I LOVE it how Google changes their logo for different events. How cool is it when the normal Google page gives you a little surprise? It makes the average internet geek’s day.

I also saw a site recently that is dedicated to ‘beer o’clock’ and was thinking it would be kind of funny if on fridays everyone replaced their website with that uber disgraceful animated gif, scrolling fluro text filled page as they knocked off for beer… Even if it was just for an hour.

It would make me laugh, and probably lead to the entire Decisive Flow office winding up on your doorstep.

I like all the websites that put up fake sites on April Fools day. Not only are they a crackup, they go viral like nothing else (don’t you love it how I’m giving all these examples but not bothering to search for links to them?)… And viral marketing is a gazillion times better than anything else. ever.

It just struck me when Technorati threw me a cute error page about 2 minutes ago, that these website ‘quirks’ are just so cool. We should take more advantage of the fact the web is a bug ridden place and allows for people to end up virtually anywhere - and give them something cool to look at when they do.

Ok back to ‘real work’ now.

I LOVE mine. And now Nik LOVES mine too.

I joined up with Kendons earlier this year, they came highly recommended by one of my best friends who is also the daughter of one of the partners (who I have also known for years and would trust my business with any day.) But I reckon Nik (who doesn’t know Murray from a bar of soap) nailed it on the head when he explained why he chose them:

• They don’t bore you with the details. All they want you to care about is making money.
• They don’t care if you are dumb. Ask away, they’ll explain anything to you.
• They are EXCITED about Xero. And so should you be
• A senior partner talks to you. Even if you are little and insignificant, they treat you like you will be the next big thing.
• They are PROACTIVE I hear other accountants claim to be, but I have NEVER received this many emails from my accountant reminding me of things, asking things, letting me know things and generally making me feel confident they are on top of it all
• They are uber smart. In my first hour with them I got more accounting tips than I’d received the entire previous year

So if you don’t feel like you are getting this much from your accountant, I HIGHLY recommend you make the switch. I think I have delayed premature aging by about 5 years :)

I find it funny that all these uber successful people who probably would have stood no chance of getting into Harvard, are invited back later to tell current students how to succeed…

J K Rowling is one of these, and delivers a very inspiring speech on failure and imagination. Whether or not you bought into the Harry Potter craze (which I didn’t), you can’t help but sit in awe of this wonderful woman and her experiences. It’s a must watch.

I have been playing indoor netball for a couple of months now and my team is plagued with loser syndrome.

We, quite literally, cannot win a single game.

Sometimes, we win the first quarter or half a game and freak ourselves out to the point we start making stupid mistakes to ensure we lose the full game.

We’re not any worse than any other team, we’re actually a LOT better than we used to be, but you’d never guess it from our scores.

I find it fascinating how much psychology has to do with sports. Because the ONLY thing that lets us down is our heads. Because we BELIEVE we are losers, we behave like losers, so we lose.

Which makes you realise that if you believe you are going to win you’re halfway there already, which makes being successful that much easier.

We just took a mid-afternoon food dash and while doing so, discussed how we will stop doing so.

From now on, it’s all about budgeting, saving and living a much more frugal life (eek) so as to fulfill dreams such as buying a house.

So, we dashed back to the office and I signed into Mint, which was meant to solve all my budgeting issues while showing me how awful I am at spending currently, so I would have the kick up the butt I needed to get serious about this whole saving thing again… For those of you who didn’t know me when I was 12 and like the MASTER saver, I used to be great, supurb even. This is because I am from a long line of savers and it came naturally to me. But then I left the family nest and it no longer came naturally to me and now I am useless.

But Mint didn’t help me. I don’t even understand how to use it and every time I go to do something it doesn’t even let me do it in the page, it pops up another page on top. I am gutted because I was super inspired about saving and now the inspiration has died.

So, now I am going to make Verity make me a budget (hi Verity can you please make me a budget?) because although she too suffers with the practical side of things, I think theoretically she has it sussed, and she has more time than me, or is better at procrastinating.

And then I WILL stick to it. Because isn’t the first rule of getting something done writing it down and measuring it? I think also that saving needs to be a competitive sport, much like eating has turned into over the past few weekends.

Does anyone else have a successful savings strategy they can pass on?

I started reading the Alchemist. I didn’t think I got it until I started discussing it and realised the book is all about following your dreams and not getting stuck in the comfort of every day. I haven’t finished but suspect that the other point is to spend less time reading about life, and more time living it (a funny point for a book, but to be fair, it’s a short book).

In my life, I’ve had many (unfulfilled) dreams, from being a vet, to being a dancer for Michael Jackson, to being like a big shot business person, to now, just being happy.

But then i thought maybe I should change my dream again back to something that I can measure.

All my life up until November last year I had big plans and dreams. Now I deliberately avoid them. I felt like I needed to take a break from finding my one calling to figure out what it is that makes me happy. Now I know what that is again (and what it’s not), and I’ve started on the Alchemist, I feel a pressure to find my life dream again.

But I just don’t want to.

It’s quite the dilemma.

I spent Queens Birthday Weekend in the Hawkes Bay on an extreme girls weekend, which basically consisted of eating. The problem being that I’m USED to hanging out with excessively fit and weight conscious people, so when the four of us were left alone without any form of monitoring, we wrecked havoc on the Havelock North wine and food supplies (sorry if the supermarkets are empty today). The other problem being it was basically one big pajama party, and when you are wearing extra large flanalette PJ’s all weekend, the shock you get from trying to squeeze back into the clothes that fit you three days ago is immense.

Our final conversation was ‘You can’t ACTUALLY grow out of your clothes in one weekend… can you?’

‘No… Surely not?’

‘Then WHY DON’T THEY FIT???’

It was totally worth it. The Hawkes Bay, for the uninitiated, is a stunning area of the country, with great wine, beautiful weather, stunning scenery and quirky cafes. We will be returning in August, so lock your pantries!

When the office is feeling a little less than enthusiastic, and winter has set in and the only thing you feel like you have to look forward to is hot chocolates and hibernation….

Its time for Soulja Boy!

How to motivate the entire office using Soulja Boy

1. Gather the team around the biggest computer screen you have (A projector would be better)
2. Crank up the volume
3. Browse to Soulja Boy on Youtube
4. Watch the video
5. Browse to the instructional video
6. watch the video in slow motion while you ALL try to master the moves
7. Go back to main video and go crazy.

Additional extras: Buy sunglasses and write your names across them and/or buy clothes 10 sizes too large and wear them while doing the dance.

30 million other people have been doing it, so join the club :)

And FYI, I am being serious.

I was sitting in a cafe this morning watching people come and go and had to laugh at the door.

It was one of those doorways with two doors that both connected at the middle, one was locked, the other wasn’t and there was no sign indicating this state of affairs.

So everyone pushed the locked door first, then when they realised it wasn’t open, went for the unlocked one.

Every single person had a red face when they entered the cafe, and looked embarrassed that they were so DUMB they didn’t know which door was locked.

For anyone that thinks usability is stupid, let this be a lesson to you. When you make something unintuitive, people don’t blame you, they blame themselves. They actually feel stupid. And since that is not a great feeling, the chances of them trying again are slim to none.

Last night I headed along to a market research session with two of my most outspoken friends, to offer feedback on a branding and marketing strategy in return for wine and freebies (note: If you do market research, you will be surprised at how much people will do for a free glass of wine)

The product was targeted at females and is a hot hair conditioning treatment… Which is all I’ll say because although we weren’t sworn to secrecy, it feels way more exclusive when I’m one of a small group who knows about it. However, here we are ‘testing’ the product:

Market research is a very interesting thing. These guys did a good job of getting a range of people, with a range of values and finances. They even let me go even though my hair has never been fortunate enough to be treated to a hot conditioning anything. I did feel like maybe this set me outside the target market, but I think I managed to come up with an alternative marketing strategy that would entice me to make a purchase (I have a cold and anything hot on my head sounded like heaven last night). Lessons we learned (other than Verity is allergic to vege crisps):

People who care about ethics need a LOT of convincing before they believe you

As Marie-Claire pointed out, we use RIDICULOUS amounts of products that quite literally harm others. While there were still a few eye rolls when the topic was approached,it became apparent that most of us do care, and most of us are rather cynical about modern marketing. If you are using cotton in your product, you have a responsibility to know WHERE it is sourced, WHO it is sourced from and HOW MUCH money they get in return for their labour. You also need to know what chemicals are used in the process, because we are not OK with you polluting any river, even if it’s not in our backyard.

And unless you stick a BIG MASSIVE label on the outside packaging specifying every single potential sin you could have committed and how you didn’t commit it, we WILL assume you are a bad guy. One person even commented she wont buy any cosmetics unless they are from an Organic retailer because otherwise she just DOESN’T know, another person pointed out that people are happy to come and spend $1,200 a pop at the shop she works at because they cannot live with the idea of purchasing clothes that have caused misery or harm.

It’s fashionable to be clean, green and human/animal friendly

Our wide rage of situations and finances did not stop us from having one nearly unified voice on what we expect from luxury products. We are sick of being pummeled with chemicals, we are happy to pay more to ensure the bunnies were not tortured and we just can’t feel comfortable with the idea that our beauty products produced through exploitation.

This is quite true. Maybe in 5 years there will be another fashionable issue (because I’m pretty sure a lot of people knew this stuff was happening years ago but didn’t have quite the same passion about putting a stop to it). But either way, you’ve still got a good few years to get on this particular train, so why not jump on the first carriage and get a headstart?

Girls care about their appearance

I think I am not very feminine, as I didn’t even know half the things people were talking about and clearly missed out on beauty school somewhere (I blame my equally non-fussed school friends). But other women DO care. They sit there with stunning gorgeous hair and complain about how they wish it was shiny. Crazy but true, so they are certainly willing to pay for this stuff (as I suppose the large cosmetic companies figured out a few years before me)… But they want to know it will WORK - they are sick of failure.