Stay the course

I love the story of James Podsiadly for one reason. He has broken convention and in doing so, will change peoples perception forever.

For the uninitiated, James managed to break into the AFL ranks for the first time at the age of 28. Playing his first game for Geelong in season 2010. In football terms he’s a senior citizen. In fact, most people start retiring around that vintage. But James wasn’t fortunate enough to get picked to play at AFL level at a young age. Geelong is his third club, and he has been starring this year.

He’s proven that age is relative to development.

He’s proven that age is relative to opportunity.

He’s proven that desire can be translated into results.

He’s proven that great work eventually gets noticed.

He’s proven that sometimes people / companies / clubs get it wrong.

He’s proven that staying the course over a a long period is where results live.

So far in the year 2010, he’s the most inspiring person I’ve come across. Before we make an assessment of someone’s worth, we should think of James. He’s also who we should remember when we think of quitting, or we’re overlooked in whatever we are doing.

Startup Blog says: Thankyou James.

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Production values matter

Sure we live in a mash up society. It’s acceptable to bootstrap. It’s OK to learn on the job in the digital arena. What’s not acceptable is to get worse. To not reach previously set quality benchmarks. In any business, no less your start up. All of the self made youtube stars invest time in the final production of their content. People expect a higher level of quality these days especially if we want to gather long term fans and loyal viewers. Production values matter. What was acceptable in 2004 in not acceptable in 2009.

The first thing you notice in the video output of these highly subscribed Youtubers is production quality: HotforwordsCommunity Channel, Kev Jumba, Happy Slip, Fred and others.

So when Miley Cyrus throws together a home made video of her leaving twitter seen below, we realize how much value her producers add to her usual output – seen underneath.

Home made Miley

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2tSOTQPUQoU]

Produced Miley

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M11SvDtPBhA]

I myself, need to improve the videos I make for rentoid.com. So I’ve recently been investing a lot of time learning how to use iMovie editing software.

The lesson for startups is to invest in our digital output. A little more effort in production can be the difference between gathering customers and looking like an amateur.