Archive for the ‘Better Business’ Category

Working Remotely - Still Small World

By John Moorhead on July 6th, 2009

Free Air Collective started with a concept, Travel and Gather.  It was a concept that I had been working on for a couple of years.  I had met with potential investors, venture capital groups, and the final answer was: build a prototype.  It was not until I read Guy Kawasaki’s book: The Art of the Start that things started to really click, literally and figuratively.

It was there that I connected with Jake Stutzman, a college friend and a business owner himself.  I knew that he had worked for some impressive clients designing and helping them with their overall brand image.  It was with Jake’s presence and ownership that we were able to take another huge step forward with Travel and Gather.  Under Jake’s expertise, we were able to determine that we’ll need someone that knows how to create a Website database application, and we wanted this person to have a shared set of values with us.

It was then that we were introduced to Robert Evans.  It was at this point that Travel and Gather took yet another huge step forward.  It was through this collaboration on one product that created Free Air Collective as it is known today. (Side note: Travel and Gather is still being developed and no launch date has been set)

Now, let me take you full circle, back to how this is a small world.  I was recently contacted by a designer that lives in Central Nebraska, near me.  She had seen our interview on Silicon Prairie News, and reached out to Robert via Godbit.  After speaking with her, she also mentioned that Jake taught her some design at one point in time.  Finally, I am going to be meeting with her for coffee this week.  So she went from Kearney, NE (area), to San Diego, CA, to Hastings, NE and now back to Kearney, NE for coffee.

This is what Free Air Collective is to me… A small community of entrepreneurs looking to do some cool things, and at the same time building our network of contacts.

With this growing network, our portfolio of products, applications, clients and partners also grows.  Free Air Collective continues to develop new products, and partner with firms like Stage Two Consulting to develop their concepts.  Our biggest challenge to date is learning: What is Free Air Collective?

We are not an advertising agency.  We are not a Venture Capital Group.  We are not an Incubator.  Yet, in a way, we are all of these things.

We have worked with traditional clients to redesign their Website.  We have taken on equity in projects in lieu of money to assist an entrepreneur finally get to launch.  We have met with numerous groups and entrepreneurs to discuss their product idea, concept, business plan or bar napkin.  These are the struggles that we face externally, and yet we face struggles internally.

How do we manage the project list that we have building?  Do we start to work on projects from clients, our own internal products, or further develop the products that exist today?  What role does everyone play?

These are all questions we’ll answer in later posts.  Now it is back to work fulfilling our commitments.

I leave you with another Guy Kawasaki-ism.  ”The Art of the Start”:  In it he basically says, if it takes a partnership to get the product live, do it.  Don’t worry about making it perfect, get it live and in people’s hands.  Let them find the bugs.

Thus, as we move forward, stay tuned to our Website.  We’ll have new product announcements, new partnerships, and much more to announce.

An involuntary experiment in time constraints

By Jake on June 8th, 2009

I was awoken the other morning at 4am to the sound of rushing water. As I searched the house for the source, I found the sound coming from inside the laundry room wall opposite the garage. As I ventured into the garage, I found a flooded area as water poured out from under the wall. I investigated further in the backyard only to find that my dogs had pulled the hose (connected to the faucet) out and broke a pipe inside the wall. Needless to say it wasn’t the best way to wake up on a Saturday.

As usual, I had plans to get a lot of work done before my family woke up at 8. I like to get a good 3-4 hours in before the natives awake. I knew that I needed to get my water problem handled ASAP, but i still wrestled with the idea of getting a little work done prior (confessions of a work-a-holic, i know). I knew I needed to put my family and home first. So, I called the city and they had my water turned off by 4:45. I showed some grace by waiting til 6 to call the plumber. Meanwhile, I swept water out of the garage and used the wet vac for the rest. The plumber arrived at 6:30 and had everything fixed and running by 7:30. All before my family awoke at a quarter to eight.

Despite all that went on I managed to get quite a bit of design work done on a new project. It seems with the time constraints that I was more focused and decisive and therefore, more productive. I spent a lot of time working on it in my head and then executed swiftly when I had time to sit down to the computer.

It was a productive morning after all. I put my family and home as the priority and also learned some lessons about work in the process. It taught me that I don’t always need as much time as I think. I encourage you to give yourself some time constraints when tackling a project, you may find your performance increases. That being said, I don’t recommend breaking a water pipe in your house to do that. Try something a bit less destructive. I’d love to hear stories of what you do.

Respond below.

Stand Bias

By Jake on June 1st, 2009

No matter how hard we try to look at something objectively, our bias’ soon take over. Whether it’s food, art, cars or real estate, our preferences ultimately prevail when making decisions in the consumer space. When we are making a purchase you would think we would turn to objective facts and statistics right? Wrong. Instead, we turn to total strangers who rant on blogs, rave on twitter, or ramble on about a product or company. However, it’s not the fact that they are ranting, raving or reaming that matters; It’s the value of that response based on a person’s experience. When we can hear it from the mouth (or keyboard) of someone like us, we tend to follow suit.

That being said, I will pose this question: Are you as a company providing a platform for the ranters, ravers and ramblers to share their experiences with other current and potential customers? Giving your loyal customers a place to rave about your latest product or share a recent experience with your great customer service department allows them to sell your company to other people.

You may ask: What happens if they speak negatively of our product or company? The answer is simply, fret not. Authenticity is what your customers are looking for, so give it to them. Use criticism as an opportunity to communicate with your customers in front of everyone, and respond by improving your product based on that feedback. This shows them that you are willing to admit mistakes and fix them. More importantly though is the fact that your loyal customers will be there defending the company that they so love. A company who is willing to embrace this level of transparency is more likely to keep current customers and win new ones.

All of these are opportunities for you to communicate transparently with your clients, improve your products or services and show your commitment to your customers all while building community and encouraging the spreading of a bias based on good experience with your company.

Site Remark is a tool you can use to provide a forum for your customers to evangelize each other and promote authentic community around your company.  Sign up is easy; you could be giving your customers this remarkable privilege today.

Rethink Communication Flow

By Jake on May 26th, 2009

Ah.. remember the good ol’ days when you as a company could just sit back and fire out TV ad, after newspaper ad, after magazine ad, after radio ad and people would come? When you told people who they were, what they liked and what they were going to buy? You sat in a lofty high-rise raining down words of wisdom on the consumer. You controlled their dreams, their goals, and ultimately their purchases. Unfortunately (or fortunately depending on who you are), those days are over.

The days of the one-way street of communication are long gone and a ‘conversation’ has arisen about your company. People are talking about your products and services and they didn’t even ask you what they should say. They didn’t ask you what their dreams should be or how your company could help. They’ve decided what they think about your products; They’ve decided whether or not they appreciate your services and you know what else their doing? They’re telling their friends.

My question is simply this: Are you participating in this conversation or are you denying it’s existence? I submit that you MUST be participating in this conversation and being as involved as you and your company can. You can learn a lot by listening, or better yet, providing a place in which this interaction can occur. When you choose not to join this conversation, you miss your customers. The choice is simple: Join the conversation or die.

Site Remark allows you as a company to provide a place for that interaction to happen. It is a perfect way to hear what people are saying, respond, hear some more, respond, hear some more, and yet again, respond. When you are participating in this conversation, it shows your customers that you are serious about knowing them, their needs and fulfilling those needs.

On Principle, Not Outcome

By Jake on May 15th, 2009

As I sit and look at my 2 yr old son, I think about all that I want to teach him. As his father, I see it as my responsibility to teach him first about our great God, and to instill in him principles to live his life by. That made me think a lot about what principles are. They are not conditional; they are absolute and independent of any outside circumstance.

I’ve been working from the local coffee shop for the better part of the week and have overheard many conversations which prompted me to take a step back and look at our current culture objectively. A lot of our decisions aren’t based on principle, they’re based on the result or outcome of those decisions. ‘What impact will this have on my career? my life? my future?’  ‘What will my peers think?’  ‘How will society see this?’  ‘Will this benefit our company?’  ‘Will this get us ahead of the competitors?’  These are the questions that are often asked when making decisions. None of these questions are based on principle, but rather the outcome of the situation. I think that is where a lot of our current problems lie.

If I develop a set of principles that govern my personal life, my career, my social life, etc., I can easily make the right decision regardless of the outcome. If you have no principles to live by, you tend to be tossed to and fro with every whim of society. I can ask ‘Is this consistent with my convictions?’ or ‘Does this violate my moral code?.’  I challenge you today to be a person of principle, instead of being capricious.

This concept is especially important in business. Companies that act on principle seem to be more likely to succeed in the long run. You see great companies like Zappos, Chick-Fil-A, 37signals, & In-n-Out Burger who start with principles and build their business on them. You also see companies that are just looking to make a quick profit who base all decisions on the desired outcome. They may make that quick buck, but they lack the foundation to be successful in the long run. They end up sacrificing customer service, losing focus, or doing something stupid.

We at Free Air Collective hope to build a business on principle and to make products that help people & companies do the same. That’s why we’re excited about our first product, Site Remark. It allows companies to move to more transparent customer communication. A company that is committed to customer service will see this a natural evolution of their customer service committment. When you show that you are willing to be just as public with your failures as you are with your successes, your customers know they have a company they can trust.