With all the talk of iPads I thought I would express my love for my favourite pad. I will no doubt be an ipad lover soon also but nothing will replace my trusty Moleskine. Yes they are over priced notebooks but hey they seem to have some kind of soul.

Moleskine have worked a genius piece of mareking and somehow managed to pursuade people, (me included) that a note or sketch in a Molesine is that much more satisfying.

Here are a selection of works from people who feel the same. THere is so much out there that this hardly scratches the surface.

If you interested then visit http://www.skineart.com for loads work

Visit http://www.moleskine.com/ for the official take.. Load s of great stuff here including history , exhibitions etc

MY MOLESKINE (NOT A WORK OF ART)

FLOSKY

GO FLYING TURTLE

OFF KILTER ART

ANNA RUSAKOVA

MATISSA

UPDATE – Thanks to Catarino for finding this…Great book summarised in a Moleskine (Original post here http://gnatgnat.com/2010/05/rework-cheat-sheet/)

Here is a really neat idea I picked up off Mike Sikorsky over in Canada when I was there. It’s real simple but as often is with simple ideas…really effective

Essentially it describes a way to test the usefulness of your own feature ideas.

Given this typical scenario.

You spot some issue with your online app.
You decide that what’s needed is a new feature
You ask your users if it would prove useful.
They think it would.
So you build it. Launch it.. and..
No one uses it…and you’ve just spent hours creating more clutter!

Brilliant

So here is a really low impact way to check whether a feature will really be appreciated. The results are a good deal more telling than asking a community directly.

1. Create a link to your new feature, (Mike used the example of testing to see if a certain video was required by just producing an image of the video player)
2. Send the link to a 404 page, server busy or the way we do it with “Like to See” question
3. Track the number of click throughs
4. If no-one clicks then don’t build…simple…time cheap but really effective

We’ve used it loads recently for lots of small potential features and has saved us a ton of time

I have just spent a few weeks (still here) in Canada and been subjected to more TV than I normally would. Last night I watched Ramsay’s Kitchen nightmares and it struck me as a brilliant business program.

For those that don’t know Gordon Ramsay is top British chef with a foul mouth and a reputation for plain speaking. The program sees him coming in to a failing restaurant and trying to turn it round all in the space of about a week.

Each week seems to have some running themes. Listed below are some of my observations and questions that you could apply to any business

1. Simplify

Having watched a number of episodes almost every one revolves around stripping down a menu from 20 to 5 or six offerings. The kitchen get good at cooking these well and the effect on the clients seems to be instant.

Less is more – Ensure your customers understand your offering. Be awesome at a small number of things.

2. Recognise the potential of all your employees

On numerous occasions we see a member of the restaurant team who is overlooked or underplayed. It could be anything from waiter to a chef. Ramsay has a great knack for identifying personnel who just need to be given the opportunity to shine

Give people responsibility. Let them thrive. Congratulate them when they do well and pick them up when they fail. Let Go.

3. Who is preventing progress?

The opposite to the above is also true. We regularly see a member of the team who seems to stand in the way of progress More often than not it seems to be the head chef who just refuses to accept they need to learn or move on and is holding the whole operation back

Some people resist change and or thrive on others failure. Be direct about it, give them the opportunity to learn or get rid of these people immediately. You know who they are

4. Passion is everything

There is no denying Ramsay is passionate about good food but he also is passionate about the business of food. He loves every element of it from the decor through to the staff. You really feel it and the staff and you the viewer cannot help but be drawn in by it that passion

If you don’t believe it no one else will

5. Communicate directly

Ramsay is direct. Very f*****g direct. Now I am not a huge fan of his aggressive manner but I am of direct speak. No one is left in any doubt as to what the problems are or what needs to change in order for things to progress.

Call a spade a spade and answer with a yes or no when you can. Asses where ambiguity lies. You can only fix problems you know about so encourage openness and reduce the levels of communication between management levels. Fire a gun not the person

I find the whole NoSpec movement rather a Luddite one although I understand why they exist, (us humans hate change)

So why do I mention them?.. Well I’ve been thinking about sites like crowdSpring and our own Wooshii and it further seems to back up why I think the whole campaign is a short sighted one.

I like sales! I like seeing sales happen and the journey a customer goes on for a sale to complete. From finding a customer in the first place right through to making sure they have an awesome time and return to buy again.

The most difficult part of sales is the first step, getting a new customer. Much easier to retain a customer (as explained by my good friend @permjtovalia over at businessangelblog.com)

Attaining new clients is also expensive. It takes time, cash and effort to get that customer to come through your door and actually spend money. You have to find them or pay to have them find you and then spend time and more money converting them from an observer to a paying client.

So it struck me that crowd sourcing sites like crowdSpring and Wooshii provide you with the perfect base to build up new customers.

Take the traditional route

1.Identify new customer → cash out
2.Spend cash on marketing campaign → cash out
3.Identify warm leads → cash out
4.Qualify leads → cash out
5.Sell services → cash out
6.Convert to paying client → cash out
7.Do work ← cash in
8.Gain feedback on process ← knowledge in
9.Sell services again

Almost at every step you are expelling cash and not gaining any meaningful feedback until right at the end of the process

Now what if you were to look at a crowd sourcing site as a lead generation engine

1.View a list of fully qualified and hot leads
2.Pitch on projects → cash out
3.Gain feedback on process ← knowledge in
4.Win Project ← cash in
5.Sell services again

Follow the the second route and

• Your time to cash is reduced massively
• Your feedback is almost instant and
• you quickly attain new clients

You are only really limited by your own awesomeness. Conduct your pitching properly and you should quickly gain knowledge and insight into what makes for a good pitch.

I know from my own experience using sites like elance and freelancer that once you have found a reliable freelancer you stick with them and are often prepared to pay a premium to do so.

In short sites like these should be seen as enormous opportunity to win new business and get paid to do so. How many other lead generation methods do you know that give you cash and feedback that quickly.

Some of you may know that I work very closely with this guy, Permjot Valia on a number of projects, (he is also an investor in Wooshii)

He recently posted a really neat blog over at businessangelblog.com. The original is here but I wanted to comment on some of it here as it smack of some really great truths.

Some businesses have been having a particular hard time of it recently, (economic downturns and recessions have that effect). From downturns though comes massive opportunity and the big winners of the coming 20 years will undoubtedly be born in the coming two.

So how do you keep going as an entrepreneur when your current business has just failed or is failing? How do you find the power and inspiration to reinvent or push on through? Below are Permjots views. My view is that entrepreneurs will have some of this inherently but as I am big believer that entrepreneurship can be taught many of the suggestions below are great to reflect on. Mine are in brackets.

1. Never stop believing in yourself. Really tough at times. Over the last few years, I have had a real roller coaster of a journey with business. My self-belief took a knock – but never a dive.

2. Remember that the line between success and failure is very thin. Sometimes luck and timing does play a part in your success. My biggest success to date is Flight & Partners. Yet this business came about because of huge dollops of luck. To deny this is arrogance. But yes, lots of things happened to ensure that when the opportunity arose I was able to take advantage. But in that sense we make ourselves willing recipients of luck!

[See previous post and Steve Job's views on faith in dots that join]

3. Keep yourself fresh. I find going to the gym a real struggle and mostly I fail! But it is a proven way to keep your emotions in a good place. Other ways include reading new books, cooking something new, going out to watch a movie. Anything will do.

[For me surfing is my big equaliser. It is social and active. Exercise gives you energy and physical fitness relates directly to mental agility. Creative thought is an unconscious process and often the solution to a problem will only come when you focus your thoughts elsewhere. Surfing requires that you become completely focused on the moment and solutions to annoying problems will often present themselves mid session. ]

4. Work with great people. The best thing I learned from the F&P experience was that when you work with truly great people who are experts in their field – you get the leverage effect. Your time is the most precious resource – so spend it wisely

[Great people also inspire you to be better. I am lucky to have two great co-founders at Wooshii, (James and Sean) who both creatively and technically run circles round me. I feel a definite responsibility to ensure I am holding up my end of the deal through my work at Wooshii to ensure it is a success. Recently we added anew member to the team. He is proving to be a bit of a legend in his own particular field and this again spurs me to be better at what I do]

5. Make sure you meet your friends on a regular basis. I always feel recharged about life after a good chat with friends.

[Or if you work with them ensure you spend time out of the office. I do not believe in the "Lets not talk about businesses tonight" idea. For me most of the best ideas come out of the work place, around the kitchen table or in the pub but you need time to foster relationships and a good meal can do wonders for the next days work activities]

6. Most of all, be honest with yourself and make sure you remain enthused about your business. I do think that sometimes we feel compelled to carry on supporting something, long after we have lost its allure. If you are at this point, find someone else to run it.

[Be honest with yourself and every one round you. No one can help you if they don’t know the real situation]

7. But the best tip I would urge you to follow is to set yourself monthly resolutions. Hope springs eternal! Just like New Year resolutions lets you set aside the failures of last year – and start again, why not just do it on a monthly basis.

[A nice tip and particularly relevant for Wooshii. We try and break our targets into 3 months and then work backwards from there]

I was having dinner two days ago and the topic of conversation turned to life expectations. Shallow conversation I know but it passed an hour. I mentioned a recent video I found of Steve Job’s. Now I am not a huge Steve Jobs worshipper. He has had a huge impact on the world we know to day and there is no denying his achievements but for me I have just never gelled with his public persona. I say that because I don’t know him… all I know is what I read. What I read I have never had much time for. (I reserve the right though to meet him and have a completely different opinion of the man himself. They are so often two different things.)

All that said I do find this speech inspiring. It reflects many of my own beliefs and he actually uses a phrase that I often keep in my own head. Its key themes are below they make in my mind the essence of great entrepreneurship. Keep them at the forefront and you won’t go far wrong

1. Go with your heart but go with gusto – Steve famously dropped out and in the video he describes how he then dropped back in “You have to trust in something–your gut, destiny, life, karma, whatever–because believing that the dots will connect down the road will give you the confidence to follow your heart, even when it leads you off the well-worn path, and that will make all the difference.”

2. Never settle –  “the only way to do great work is to love what you do. If you haven’t found it yet, keep looking, and don’t settle. As with all matters of the heart, you’ll know when you find it, and like any great relationship it just gets better and better as the years roll on. So keep looking. Don’t settle.”

And this is my favourite. Perhaps the hardest to follow but certainly a mantra I have spouted before

3. Remember you will be dead soon – “Remembering that you are going to die is the best way to avoid the trap of thinking you have something to lose. You are already naked. There is no reason not to follow your heart. “

Anyway here is the full video

If you live each day as if it was your last, someday you’ll most certainly be right.

I rarely post on my own blog unless I find something that really strikes me but today I feel unusually compelled having just read a post that I feel should be spread.

As a start it is no secret that I find it depressing the way business is portrayed by TV programs such as “The Apprentice”. Cut throat, sell your own grandmother, anything to get the deal.. that kind of bullshit. I consider the way Alan Sugar is portrayed, (I don’t know him personally) as the “Old Guard”.

Dragons Den is marginally better. It gets you analysing business in the right way and there is a good deal to be learnt from the episodes recurring themes and questions. The incessant need, however, of the Dragons to almost boost there own egos by pressing deals out of terrified entrepreneurs on TV, does my nut. Peter Jones also strikes me as being one of the old guard and never too afraid of a win-lose deal

[All this said they make for great entertainment which I guess is the point]

Today an acquaintance of mine Kieron Donoghue wrote a great post on selling one of his business successes, UKOffer. I was introduced to Kieron through a mutual friend Permjot Valia over at businessangelblog. You can check Kieron’s blog out at here.org.uk for the full story along with a profile of the guy. In short Kieron is a bit of an affiliate marketing guru but more recently has been making waves with 2 of his other services contentnow and, (in my view) a potential big hitter, sharemyplaylists.com

Budding and aspiring entrepreneurs would do well to read Kieron’s recent post. This is the new guard and by entrepreneurs publicly proclaiming methods like this hopefully some of the message will get passed onto the next generation of entrepreneurs.

It is not about how much, who wins or who has the biggest bollocks. Entrepreneurship is about leading people to create something that makes the world better, inspires change and innovates.

Viral Marketing powered by Wooshii.com

I am a big fan of crowdSPRING. I love what they do the way they do it and Ross Kimarovsky (a crowdSPRING founder) comes across as humble, approachable and hands out knowledge freely.

Ross recently wrote on his personal blog a great piece on attaining your early user base. (Actually he filmed it but hey.) One of his main points was engaging and empowering your early users.

As one of the founders of Wooshii I have been given that awesome job. I say awesome as when heading up a new company like ours engaging with your early users is just so important as it gives me a real incite into how our business should be growing and what users actually want form our service.

I was reminded of how important this all was today. I recently registered at site called magntize.com. Check it out. Other than being an interesting idea it also has one of the slickest signup processes I’ve ever used. Today I get an email from these guys.

Thanks for signing up with magntize! Your blog looks really cool. I agree that the new apple mouse is gorgeous, although my friend has one and it felt a little strange, almost too flat on my palm. Do you have one yet? Best of luck with the business stuff and keep surfing!

Don’t hesitate to touch base if you have any questions about your site. My cell number can be found via the link below

Wow! That is fantastic. Not only have they taken the time to look me up they have supplied me with a cellphone number to contact them on should I need any help. It has had the desired impact. I will be back on their site.

Awesome !

Posted via web from Fergus’s posterous

Ok so only a few days after I start this blog and it starts dying. Why? Well Wooshii, went live a few days ago and it’s been all hands on deck for just over 3 weeks. Firstly I have to say how awesome it has been to watch the site come together the more the pressure has risen the better the site has got and we (or rather Jim and Sean) have pulled some awesome developments out of the bag in record time. We officially launched at the Ogilvy Social Media Day, (in good company I might add)

What amazed me at the event though is how being in a project can blind you to the actual customer requirements. Being in the industry I take services like Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn etc for granted. I understand their power and how they can be utilised to promote brands, products and services. So Wooshii seems obvious to me, a service to help you instigate conversations around your brand.

What was patently clear from the event though was that using such services is a relatively new idea to many brands…OF COURSE ! Why would they consider it until it is mainstream enough to grab there attention.

Hopefully Wooshii is simple enough to understand as we have tried not to over engineered it but it would have been easy to do so. Lets se if we are right when we get our initial feedback.

The lesson I guess is listen at the start… but keep listening, listening, and listening.