I’m one of the organizers of The Big (D)esign Conference and it’s shaped up to be a magnificent conference. The list of speakers is phenomenal, we have wonderful sponsors, interest has been good, promotion has been strong, ticket sales are growing higher every day, and I think we have the best team ever putting the whole thing together. How this has anything to do with focusing on a core idea is this: Our team of wonderfully intelligent and creative people come up with a ton of good ideas — and we want to do them all.

The problem lies in the second part of that sentence, though. We can’t follow through on all of these great ideas because they aren’t all exactly aligned with what we were first selling. By bringing in more features we pull focus from our core. Sure, it sounds great to be the all encompassing conference, but how much value do you get from an “all-in-one” conference? Can we put the same horsepower behind 100 things that we can behind 10? No. By adding in features that could easily stand on their own we dilute the value of the entire thing.

Think of it like the medical field. Your general practitioner is great for stuff in general, but to get the best information you go see a specialist. They only do that one thing and they do it very well (you hope). Like the phrase “Jack of all trades, master at none.”

This problem creeps up in the business world, too — sometimes in startups and sometimes with older established companies. Many times entrepreneurs want to stuff so many features into their product that it loses focus of the core function. You lose your customers/users/whatever in all the intricacies and make it difficult to use. By trying to promote too many messages you end up effectively communicating none.

In older, established companies it is a little different. I’m going to use UPS and FedEx Kinkos as the example. UPS has recently started a campaign stating “We do more.” The more that they are referring to is new services in UPS stores that include printing, copying, binding, etc. I’m guessing this is an effort to compete with FedEx who acquired Kinkos a while back. The difference in the two is that FedEx acquired a printing company and now has a convenient shipping center in Kinkos locations whereas UPS is now a printing company. I guess. Their commercials even play off the confusion of a customer in a UPS store. Why they thought this would be a good decision is beyond me. FedEx handled it the smart way. Kinkos is known for printing, copying, and all that stuff and FedEx is known for shipping. And they both still do those, just now from one location. FedEx Kinkos preserved the core business of each company while UPS diluted theirs. Hell, Walmart doesn’t even claim to have everything for everyone — their core business is having the best price, and that is what they communicate.

That might be as clear as mud, I don’t know. The bottom line is this: If you have a core business or idea, make sure you stick to it. You can branch out and diversify, but do it without losing who you are.

And apply this to everything: conference planning, software features, product features, business development, marketing, etc.

Note: The ideas brainstormed for The Big (D)esign Conference that can stand on their own are not being cast aside. We are rolling them into their own events. Expect them to be equally awesome

Actually, we started out the weekend on Thursday in Fredericksburg, VA when Steve and I went to meet my sister and her group at Kybecca Wine Bar. We ended up meeting a another group from Remax who are part of a group called WIRED (Women In Real Estate Daily). I joke a lot that if you want to meet someone, point me in their direction and I will introduce you. That’s exactly how it happened and I am glad it did. They were a great group of women and three of them attended Gold Cup with us A couple of them are supposed to be in Dallas this coming weekend for a conference - I think they just want a round two

Anyway, here are photos from Saturday. Enjoy

[View with PicLens]

1234567Next

Starting off slow: This is how I viewed the tweet that announced the filter:

Of course I’m a guru — It’s in my name! See?!? Nope:

I think this was supposed to be a compliment:

YES!! Found it! The definition of douchebag:

The most truthful replacement I found:

The douchiest. I name you, “VIZIONARY*douchebag*, King Douche:

Then to waste time because I am awesome, I rewrote a greasemonkey script that replaces all instances of the words “guru”, “expert”, and “maven” (and now “Kanye” (as in West)) with “*douchebag*” on any website you go to. So now you will immediately know if that new twitter follower or SEO company is worthy or if he/she is a total douche

Get the script here. If you don’t have Greasemonkey installed (Firefox only), get it here and then come back and click the link to install the script - I swear it’s all very easy to do.

Try googling “guru” - that’s pretty fun or reread this post - that’s amusing too

UPDATE: This script now includes the replacement of Kanye (as in West) with *douchebag*. I figure if the shoe fits….

About pages are not meant to be a list of the benefits of using your company; they are not a sales pitch. That should be on your home page (in elevator pitch style) or within the actually sales section of your site. It has no business being in a section about who you, or your company, are. is. <– (I don’t know which to use there but it’s not important).

Think about it as a conversation with your visitor. They’ve already walked up (browsed) to your company and heard the sales pitch or the value proposition and now they are interested enough to want to know a little more about you. They are looking for a personal connection in a marketplace where things can be so impersonal (the interwebs). Do you want to repeat the sales pitch like a funky 1970s movie robot or do you want to engage them on a personal level? The personal connection creates a relationship - being able to relate to you in any way can mean the difference between a new customer and someone who moves on.

If your site is sterile and impersonal (maybe it’s your company’s style) - this is the place to show a little bit of yourself. You don’t have to pull the curtain back - maintain your professional tone. But give them the content they are seeking - they want to know about you. Very rarely is a company’s value proposition so unique and different from other companies that they don’t need to connect with their visitors - get the edge over your competitors be being your visitors’ friend. That they pay money to.

“One day Solomon decided to humble Benaiah Ben Yehoyada, his most trusted minister. He said to him, “Benaiah, there is a certain ring that I want you to bring to me. I wish to wear it for Sukkot which gives you six months to find it.” “If it exists anywhere on earth, your majesty,” replied Benaiah, “I will find it and bring it to you, but what makes the ring so special?” “It has magic powers,” answered the king. “If a happy man looks at it, he becomes sad, and if a sad man looks at it, he becomes happy.” Solomon knew that no such ring existed in the world, but he wished to give his minister a little taste of humility. Spring passed and then summer, and still Benaiah had no idea where he could find the ring. On the night before Sukkot, he decided to take a walk in one of the poorest quarters of Jerusalem. He passed by a merchant who had begun to set out the day’s wares on a shabby carpet. “Have you by any chance heard of a magic ring that makes the happy wearer forget his joy and the broken-hearted wearer forget his sorrows?” asked Benaiah. He watched the grandfather take a plain gold ring from his carpet and engrave something on it. When Benaiah read the words on the ring, his face broke out in a wide smile. That night the entire city welcomed in the holiday of Sukkot with great festivity. “Well, my friend,” said Solomon, “have you found what I sent you after?” All the ministers laughed and Solomon himself smiled. To everyone’s surprise, Benaiah held up a small gold ring and declared, “Here it is, your majesty!” As soon as Solomon read the inscription, the smile vanished from his face. The jeweler had written three Hebrew letters on the gold band: gimel, zayin, yud, which began the words “Gam zeh ya’avor” — “This too shall pass.” At that moment Solomon realized that all his wisdom and fabulous wealth and tremendous power were but fleeting things, for one day he would be nothing but dust.”

A lot of people use the phrase as a silver lining to bad times never realizing it is equally applicable to the happy times. To me “this too shall pass” seems to happen a lot faster in happy times than hard times…

Now this is a story all about how my life got flipped-turned upside down, and I liked to take a minute, just sit right there, I’ll tell you how I became the prince of a… Wait, that’s not the one…

When I was in high school I joined the American Association for Nude Recreation… or I tried, at least. It all started when I read a column in the Houston Chronicle by Ken Hoffman. He wrote that there was going to be a nudist convention just a short, thirty minute drive from where I lived. Cha-Ching! The idea of naked old people never entered my mind - I had thoughts of naked women fanning me with palm leaves as I lay by the pool.

I didn’t think I should go by myself, though, so I talked to a fella that I worked with who was home from college for the summer (his mom also happened to be the guidance counselor at my high school). He agreed - attending the naked person convention was a good idea. The only drawback was that we needed to be members of the AANR to attend. Not a big deal, though - we made a phone call (from the electronics department of Service Merchandise), I think we paid a membership fee, and they took care of the paperwork. That was that - now just to wait for the big day.

Unfortunately, my attention span tends to be fairly short. About two weeks later I came home from school to my mother standing in the kitchen asking if I had joined any new organizations recently. I thought it was a weird question for the end of the school year. Then she plopped an AANR new member packet on the countertop. I recognized the logo and the happily unclothed, yet strategically covered, people on the cover. Apparently they send those things out in the mail.

You know that hot feeling you get when you’ve been caught at something? I got that. All over. If I had been naked I’m sure you would’ve been able to tell. I tried to tell my mom how I became one of the newest members of the AANR but she did not find the humor in it. She ended up calling them and telling them that I was only seventeen. I ended up grounded. I’m blaming Ken Hoffman - I hear he’s a jerk anyway.

My buddy Ben from The Creative Space and I were having a beer at lunch on Friday and we were brainstorming the stupidest things we could come up with to tell people we did when they asked us (just to be idiots). The funniest thing we came up with was an elaborate ponzi scheme. Then we thought, “this might actually be pretty awesome if we give money to charity.”

So we bought ponzr.com using the godaddy mobile site (sidenote: I think an iPhone appliction instead of a slightly clunky iPhone web version of the site would be a great idea for godaddy - there would be a lot more drunken, impulsive domain registrations). Anyway, we bought the domain and registered the twitter account while still in the bar and started scheming. Turns out we didn’t really understand what a ponzi scheme was (it’s not the same as a pyramid/multi-level marketing scheme) - but we hatched a plan (technically a pyramid scheme) to get a dollar from our friends and pay them ten cents for every one of their friends that they recruited to give us a dollar. For all of the friends of their friends that signed up they would get a nickel and one level removed past that they would get a penny. We decided that we would be totally upfront and give half of the money raised to charity - we chose One Laptop per Child.

We had a good time planning the whole ridiculous thing - I did the user interface for it - Ben did the backend using Merb and we integrated Paypal for payment (which was a really bad idea since they charge .30 for every transaction and we were taking one dollar donations). I included pictures of pyramids in the background, a big tagline that said “We’re not gonna lie — Ponzr is a ponzi scheme,” and a modified picture of The Fonz from Happy Days we lovingly renamed “The Ponz.” We made up some pretty ridiculous frequently asked questions - it was very clearly done as a joke to play on the current news about Bernie Madoff (I made the badge you see above :))

We built the site in a little over two days (and still had time for parties and drinking) - conceived at noon on Friday and launched on Monday morning (could’ve been faster with more reliable internet - there were too many nerds there using up all the bandwidth). I learned a lot about Rails and HAML - more to come in a minute.

Anyway, turns out that pyramid schemes are illegal in like 15 countries. I’m going to talk to Ben about donating all the money to OLPC and taking down the site (Anyone wanna buy a memorable five letter domain name that got decent hype during SXSW?). Despite all the high fives and laughs we got out of the whole thing I’m not really up going to prison. I’m not sure being arrested for a pyramid scheme would give me the street cred in jail to keep me from becoming someone’s bitch.

Anyway… That’s that… Now about Rails and HAML… Totally awesome! I’m learning Ruby on Rails - it’s decided. Everything makes sense and we built a completely functional application in two days. And HAML is totally fast to write! Understanding good information architecture and valid HTML is still necessary, but CSS classing and IDs are faster to set and it creates clean, structured code (I’m guessing you can still eff it up if you are lazy or careless). I think the most difficult part of everything is going to to be setting everything up - that part doesn’t look that easy to me (I’m not a server guy). I’ll keep you updated

NOTE: Ponzr has not been taken down yet - please don’t donate on there - I enjoy my freedom.

I am a big believer in open and transparent team relationships. I feel that keeping a small team level enables them to better attain their goal and grow as a team. While everyone in a team has a specific role, an open line of communication amongst all ensures mutual trust and respect. The hardest role in a team, though, is that of the leader.

Leadership roles are roles that have to be maneuvered very carefully. Dwight Eisenhower said, “In order to be a leader a man must have followers. And to have followers, a man must have their confidence.” Great leaders make people feel as if they are at the center of any project, not at the periphery. They empower their team and instill them with the feeling that their efforts make a difference to the success of the project. Work that has meaning and teams that function as one are more successful and happier overall. Getting someone to do something because they want to do it is always going to produce better results.

Bullies rarely lead effectively — it is the leaders who are loved that succeed. Treating people in a condescending, overly hierarchical, or deceptive manner will only divide a team. It causes resentment and anger and is unnecessary. Nobody is right all the time. John F. Kennedy said, “Leadership and learning are indispensable to each other.” As a successful leader you have to be open to new ideas, flexible in your thinking, and a member of the team — not somebody outside of, or over, it. You have to trust your employees/teammates as much as they need to trust you — respect cannot be a one way street.

I’m reminded of a quote I read from Venture Hacks, “You need to act more like an employee, and your employees need to act more like CEOs.” If you empower your employees, if they are working out of respect and not out of fear for getting fired, you will get better results and have happier employees. You will create great work. You will grow. You will be respected. Let your employees, if they are the type, take some ownership and pride in building something. Encourage them to grow professionally. After all, building themselves builds the company through association.

Great companies are innovative, open to new ideas, new ways of thinking, and continue to morph and change. Companies that resist change and continue with outdated processes eventually whither and die.

Work as a team… Do good… Be more open… Be a family… Embrace new ideas… Create something amazing…

It was easy to figure out why the domestic automakers are in such trouble. I was completely unimpressed with the domestic offerings. There was absolutely nothing from the big three (or their sub-brands) that seemed unique, forward thinking, or cool.

Dodge Zeo: Innovative, spacious, all electric, and a 250 mile range

Jeep Concept: impractical, not innovative, and no plans for production

The Ford vehicles seemed dated and stale - I haven’t liked a Mustang since 1993, and the sedans and trucks were ho-hum. It’s like they started patterning all their cars after the Ford Taurus - generic and cheap.

The GM vehicles were a little better, but what should be the flagship sports car, the Cadillac XLR-V (which I’ve actually driven quite a bit), still lacks true bucket seats. What kind of sports car doesn’t have bucket seats?

I sat in the Dodge Challenger, a vehicle re-introduced in 2008, and it was impersonal, generic, and overpriced. For a vehicle that was not just updated, but completely restyled and re-introduced, you would expect something more up-to-date.

The domestic vehicles reminded me of recent Disney movies… nothing new - just sequels and remakes of past greats. Meanwhile, the foreign companies are producing well performing, innovative vehicles that are feature-rich, have well-thoughtout details, are fuel efficient, and affordable. BMW, a company known for luxury, is introducing fuel-efficient, timelessly styled (yet modern), affordable vehicles (at or below comparable domestic vehicles). Volkswagen is another company that continues to produce great, affordable vehicles (and also has a very strong following). Honda, a company known for innovation and vehicle longevity, had some beautiful models that were well styled, yet also affordable (the seats in the S2000 put the XLR to shame).

The only bright point from the domestic auto makers was the Dodge Zeo. It’s a concept of an all electric sports car with room for four and a range of 250 miles. I’m skeptical that it will be produced, but it was the only innovative thing I saw from GM, Ford, or Dodge.

The biggest disappointment came from Jeep, though. In the wake of the domestic automakers asking for billions of dollars in bailout money they are producing concept vehicles that “have no plans for production.” How much money was spent on developing a car that doesn’t seem to have any innovative features other than marketing appeal? I’m a fan of impractical cars (i’ve owned nothing but impractical cars), but this is ridiculous. Why should the tax payers pay for Jeep to produce toys and marketing gimmicks? Domestic automakers need to lose the traditional ways of thinking and move forward - be innovative or die.

The American public is not single-dimensional. It seems domestic automakers think that they can produce a vehicle that is fuel efficient, but lacks interior room, or an affordable vehicle that lacks style, or a “luxury” car that skips details. They’re losing customers because they refuse to move forward - refuse to open up and connect - refuse to be anything other than what they always have been.