Fashion and Function

Below is a picture of a ‘brand on fire’Crocs. The basic summary is Crocs are a highly functional rubber sandal which are really very comfortable.

crocs-sandal.jpg

 

They have really caught the imagination of the public. But the thing about crocs is that in real terms, they’re pretty ugly shoes. Not very sexy at all. Nothing compared to other sexy consumer products like the ipod or a bottle of San pellegrino. They look a bit like hospital theatre shoes.

But Crocs have made their way into an every day fashion. Love them or hate them, brand ambassadors are now wearing them for their ‘cool appeal’. They’ve become fashionable on beaches, city streets, sailing decks, at swimming pools, cafes, sporting events, as in home slippers and surfers are wearing them to hop over rocks to their favourite reef break. We even see pairs matched up with socks in winter!

The thing is, Crocs work. They really have a multi purpose usage which sandals, thongs, or runners don’t. They grip, they’re water proof, they fit nice, they don’t cause blisters, they absorb shock, they protect and they last a long time. I can’t even begin to imagine how big the profit margins are on Crocs. But the recent range proliferation tells me that it’s substantial – check it out here, or in your local Crocs store to be blown away.

Start up lesson:

If you want to be ‘fashionable’, focus on being ‘functional’.

The 5% rule

Five percent of the people we meet simply like to be difficult. They can’t be sold to, convinced, enlightened, managed or taken on any kind of journey. They might be customers, consumers, buyers, retailers, developers, employees, colleagues or anyone in our start up value chain.

Words to describe these people often include:

Obstinate

Arrogant

Rude

Apathetic

Dismissive

(insert negative adjective here)

No change in approach will change this fact. We didn’t make a mistake, we weren’t unprepared. It just is. We need to accept it and move.

Success is about people and numbers.

What we need to be aware of is if the 5% grows and becomes 10% or even 20% of people….. then it’s time consider whether we are on the wrong side of the 5% rule.

Quirky fact 5.0

Until 1851 Brittan had a ‘window tax’. 

 

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Theory being that wealthy people have more windows. It was eventually replaced by council tax. Legend says the term ‘daylight robbery’ came from the taxation. Many homeowners would brick over their windows to avoid the tax.

Now British property entrepreneurs find houses with the bricked over windows and shed some light on renovation profits!

Crazy John

Yesterday a great Australian entrepreneur ‘Crazy’ John Ilhan passed away. I won’t replicate the many newspaper articles about his life or fortune. You can Google him to see all of that. What I will point out is the many personal qualities he was documented as having:

 

Self belief

Highly motivated

Family man

Big ideas

Philanthropic

Risk taker

Failed quick, failed often

Bootstrapper

Game changer

PR machine

Knew how to dance with gorillas

– Telstra in his case. (topic of coming blog entry)

crazy-john.jpg

At the age of 41, it reminds us of the most important thing of all – our health.

The truth about social networking

 

The old fashion methods of social networking have always been and will always be, the best way for making connections.

 

Sure, I’ve got a facebook and linkedin page. But the reality is this:

 

Unless we have a persons phone number in our cell,

their email in our address book,

we would say ‘hello’ if we passed them on the street,

or we could comfortably have coffee and chat,

they are not a ‘real’ contact.

 

This is not to say that we should limit ourselves to who we already know, but to nurture our current ‘real’ relationships, which will lead to more ‘real’ relationships. Repeat.

Facebook et al are a great way to ‘re-find’ people, but can we imagine going to meet someone we’ve not been introduced to the old way and have a valuable business meeting with them? Can we imagine meeting with a random social network inviter and becoming close business or personal associates?

I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again: Old in the new New.

Number 1 tip for web entrepreneurs

 

GO OUTSIDE !

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Sounds ironic or even slightly crazy. But here’s what we must consider.

We are not really in the ‘online’ business. We have a business which just so happens to have an ‘online’ presence.

Itunes is in the music business

Ebay is in the second hand (new) goods business

Google is in the advertising business

McDonalds is in the real estate business

Wikipedia is in the democracy business

Everything is not what it seems. The best opportunities are out in the world where our people are living their lives. The best ideas come from conversations we have, not spreadsheets we do. The best way to engage business associates and customers is to meet and interact with them…

…The best way to market to our world is by being in it, not isolated from it.

In the words of marketing polymaths Reis & Trout: “An office is a very dangerous place to watch the world from”