Unclear on the concept

Recently I feel like I am encountering quite a few web companies that don’t seem to understand the dynamics of driving revenue online. It’s strange to me because it is 2009, and not 1999. The web and web business models have been around long enough that people should get it. Here are a few bizarre examples:

1. Rupert Murdoch wants to block Google from indexing stories from his newspapers. He somehow thinks this would be a way to encourage web users to pay for content. Really? Seriously? He thinks removing his sites from a search engine with massive reach sounds like a good idea to him? In this day when every news outlet seems to have the same stories anyway — and there are sites like Huffington Post regurgitating news all day long? Shouldn’t he be figuring out a way to drive more people to his news sites (and away from competitors like Huffington Post), and then monetizing those people once they are at the site? Murdoch even thinks that arguing about fair use online and how search engines should or should not index his articles matters at all. Newspapers are dying. The only way they will survive is to think out of the box and keep up with technology. Trying to convince everyone that the rules of the past should still apply is just silly and not productive at all
2. A company trying to do a deal with Palo Alto Software is insisting that us sending traffic to them — with  little to no revenue generation opportunities for us — is really good for us. In fact it is so good for us that we should send even more free traffic to them, by placing links to them off our home pages.  They aren’t offering links to our sites off their home pages (which get significantly less traffic than we do) and despite the fact that their content is useful and may be interesting to our customers, it is sending people away from us. I think their company is solid, their web service is solid, and I want to do a deal. But somehow they can’t get away from this idea that their service on their domain, serving traffic on their web site, is really, really good for us.  Any time we choose to drive traffic away from our own sites it is a very calculated move, meant to drive more revenue with a partner, or truly offer something unique at the correct moment. But if you are trying to get me to send you traffic, and telling me that not only is that good for me, and I should send you even more, you better be offering to send just as much back — or pay me to send you that traffic. Period.
3. Companies are always trying to get us to use their content and link back to them. Frequently their content is competing with ours, and is trying to sell products and or services that we sell. Now tell me please, why would we ever do that deal? No matter what revenue share you give us, we are better off serving our own content and selling our own products and services.
4. Which brings me to the last and most annoying of the “unclear on the concept” examples. Don’t come to me asking me to sell your product or service on my web site, when it directly or indirectly competes with mine. It’s never going to happen.

I would be curious to hear from others who have come across people in the web world who are still, in 2009, unclear on the concept.

Focus on Simplicity

I love this post on the 37 Signals blog: How Chipotle, Pinkberry and others win big by doing just a few things well

Obviously the theory behind simplicity and focusing on doing a few things well is what 37 Signals is all about, making it easy for them to endorse this idea. BUT Matt, who writes the post is right.  Too often products and services get lost because the people designing them try to do too much.  Instead of just launching something simple and focused, they need whatever they are doing to encompass “the perfect” or the “ideal” product or service. I see this all the time when I listen to new businesses pitching ideas.  Too many times I hear companies talk about how they can’t release their product because it needs X number of bells and whistles. People get caught up in the design and development and want to tweak and perfect before going out in the marketplace. The reality is that you would be a lot better off starting simply, and getting something out quickly. You can then get feedback and information from the market and your customers, before adjusting and changing the product.

My advice – think simple, launch small, and then as you get traction and revenue, you can think bigger and expand.  Don’t get paralyzed into inaction by trying to perfect your product before you get it out there. Focus on simple things that meet real pain points and needs, and elaborate as your customers want and need more. And always think before you add more. Is it worth the resources? Does it clutter the solution or your message? It it core to your business?

For the best customer service: TWEET!

Anyone in the Twitter world has probably seen this phenomenon. I had seen it, but never experienced it first hand – until today. My 5-year-old had a pair of popular outdoor shoes we bought for him in May, which broke about 3 weeks ago. The part that broke was the plastic ring that held the strap tight. He had worn them pretty much every day all summer, but these are $50.00 kids shoes. These are supposed to last a long time. My husband has a pair of the same shoes, adult sized, that he has had for 4 years. These are the 3rd pair, in ever-increasing sizes, I’ve purchased from my older son, and have already purchased 2 pairs for my younger son. When they broke my husband and I had no doubt that the shoe company would deal with them and replace them. My husband called their customer service department and they told him to take a picture and send it via email to their warranty department. More than 2 weeks later — nothing. Zilch. No response. This leads us to believe that:

1. They have so many warranty issues they can’t handle them and are incredibly back-logged
2. Dealing with warranty issues is not a priority for this company.

Both these assumptions are NOT good for this company. This company is close to losing a very lucrative loyal customer, one that has already purchased 6 pairs of these shoes (1 for hubby, 5 for kids) and someone who would most  likely continue to purchase new pairs for the kids every summer. I am a customer they want. In fact with baby #3 on the way I see many, many purchases of these shoes in the future – if their reputation as good quality, well made, excellent athletic sandal stands. If these are shoes that are now losing their quality, and will start to break just months after purchase, and the company doesn’t deal with me…. you can consider me a lost customer.

So I decided to give them a last chance. I told my husband to get me the picture of the broken shoe, and posted it up on Twitter with an @ message to the shoe company’s Twitter account. Lo and behold, less than 3 hours later I had a response, and an offer to replace the shoes immediately.  This is the kind of service I expected from this company in the first place.  The question is, why did they ignore the normal customer service route they sent us on, and only respond once I tweeted? In Twitter of course, my complaint is public, vs. the private complaint when I emailed their warranty department. Here is a company that produces an excellent product, and seems to care about customers. But their customer service process is broken. If only those of us who tweet can get good customer care — then they need to fix their process. Don’t get me wrong though – I love the personal attention I can get from companies via Twitter. But I know those days are numbered. At some point there will be too many people doing the same thing and Twitter won’t be a good communication vehicle.  So companies like this need to fix their customer service issues NOW. If I had not received a response from this company they would have lost my business and loyalty. And believe me as a mother of 3 boys — they don’t want to lose my business. I will be a repeat customer every year, and as soon as the little one gets to walking age, will be buying 3 pairs of these shoes every year – as long as quality and service hold up.  I am their IDEAL customer – a repeat purchaser who will be spending about $120-$150 per year with this company.  They don’t have to spend marketing money to lure me in – I’m in. They just need to spend some customer service money to keep me. And which spend do you think brings the faster ROI?

Travel at 34 weeks… no problem! (Or maybe not?)

Something about the 3rd time around — maybe because I feel like I know what this is all about, I just can’t seem to get in gear and embrace the idea that at some point soon, I will need to stop traveling, and I will need to stop committing to after-hours events. I am currently 28 weeks pregnant, and in the next month, I need to just slow down a little bit, but I just can’t get behind the idea. There are a lot of great things going on in my business life, and I am not wanting to let go.

I have a potential speaking opportunity that would require a short flight at the end of October when I am approximately 34 weeks. My husband is not a fan of me taking this opportunity. My doctor said “it better be a really good opportunity.” Of course I would never risk the health of the baby. This means I most likely won’t consider this opportunity. But it’s hard to let go. I feel like during my last 2 pregnancies I was more ready to embrace the pregnancy at the end, and almost happy to bow out of work related events due to being very pregnant. Then of course during the last 2 pregnancies I was not the CEO at Palo Alto Software.

Don’t get me wrong — I am very excited about this new baby, and just as amazed as the last 2 times that I indeed am growing a new little human being that will join our family. I can’t wait to meet the little guy and see what he is like, and see who he looks like, and what his personality is like. I am super excited that our family will add another beautiful baby boy. That being said, some of the things that I stressed about with the 1st 2 babies I am just not stressed about. I now know that the baby just needs the co-sleeper in our room for the first few months. The baby won’t care or notice if his room isn’t perfect until he is quite a bit older. I have all the equipment and know what I need, what works and what is just a waste of money. I am not so stressed about all the little things as I have been through this 2 other times.

I also feel like just putting my head down, and getting as much work done before the baby comes will allow me to really focus on the baby once he is here. His timing is actually coincidentally really good from a business perspective. People are not really thinking small business tools in December. They are more focused on holidays and family, and all the consumerism that goes along with the holidays. So being indisposed for a few weeks in December won’t be quite as hard on me and the business as if it happened during one of our really busy times. That being said, I won’t get a 3 month maternity “leave”. That’s just simply impossible when you run a company. But I will be able to have a lot of flexibility and work from home, take conference calls instead of in person meetings, and even have the flexibility to bring the baby to the office when he is very little.

I guess as I approach D day I just need to deal with giving up control and letting my body and the new baby take that control. Ultimately that may be my biggest problem — relinquishing the control. But for the time being I press on, committed to keeping my career, business and personal life all going full steam ahead!

If only working out regularly simply took following 5 easy steps….

I admit it – offer me 5 easy steps to sticking to my workout schedule and I will take the bait and take the time to read your 5 (or 4 or 6 or 3) steps to being more consistent in workouts. And ususally the advice is good, albeit obvious.  Dumb Little Man has an article about sticking to your workout routine with 5 easy steps that really do make sense.  The 5 steps are:

1. Work Out With Others
2. Keep An Exercise Log
3. Get Enough Sleep
4. Eat Healthily (And Enough)
5. Get Your Kit Ready The Night Before

Like I said – they make total sense, right? But somehow they just don’t help me.  I’ll take you through why:

1. I would love to work out with others. But trying to juggle 2 kids under 5 and running a company, and being pregnant with baby #3, well making plans with anyone except my family is just not in the picture right now.
2. I can keep an exercise log. This is one I can do.
3. Get enough sleep. Hmmm. Haven’t been able to do that since I had baby #1. Where are the 5 easy steps to getting both your young kids to sleep through the night, every night. When one does – the other does not. Then when both of them actually do, I spend all night up with the yet-to-be born one kicking me all night, and hopping up and down on my bladder.  And then when the 3- and 5-year old seem like they have managed to have a good run of sleeping in their own beds, one gets sick, then the other, and we start all over again. I have realized that I can actually survive on less than 6 hours of sleep a night. It’s not good for me. I don’t like it, but I haven’t died — yet.  And with baby #3 due after Thanksgiving — the idea of getting enough sleep seems so far removed from my reality.
4. Eat healthy and enough. OK. This one I can also do. I am a big health nut and very much believe in eating well. That said, lately we seem to be eating a lot of take-out food. I just can’t seem to get to the market regularly and every night it’s the same panic to figure out what we are going to eat. So I guess eating healthy is not as easy as I would like it to be.
5. Get your kit ready the night before. Sure I can do that. But then if the kids don’t wake up on time, or I had a particularly bad night with any of the kids, or couldn’t sleep because of the little soon-to-be-born baby…having my workout clothes ready just doesn’t really matter.

Why can’t someone just give me the secret to adding 2 extra hours to every day? That would be all I need. Give me 26 hours in a day (but make sure the kids sleep through these hours) and I am golden. I can actually stick to the 5 easy steps and make sure I do my workout. But without these 2 extra hours, I just read these tips and it makes me sigh, and realize, those are not for me. One day. But not today.

Why are women becoming a rising force in American entrepreneurship?

Yesterday my PR firm contacted me for a quote about why women are at the forefront of the entrepreneurial movement in America. It was an interesting and hard request, as the journalists only wanted 1 or 2 sentences from me. I feel that it is very difficult to comment on such a big topic in only 1 or 2 sentences. I think there are so many forces at play that have placed women front and center of the entrepreneurial movement. First, before I discuss all the reasons I think women are at the forefront, I thought I would share some stats with everyone:

From the Center for Women’s Business Research:

The Overall Picture: 2008-2009

• 10.1 million firms are owned by women (75% or more), employing more than 13 million people, and generating $1.9 trillion in sales as of 2008.
• Three quarters of all women-owned businesses are majority owned by women (51% or more), for a total of 7.2 million firms, employing 7.3 million people, and generating $1.1 trillion in sales.
• Women-owned firms (50% or more) account for 40% of all privately held firms.

As of 2002 the number of women-owned businesses has grown at twice the rate of all firms. Now of course, it is easier to double your numbers when your numbers are small. But still it is extremely encouraging and inspiring to see that women are truly shedding all the barriers to becoming entrepreneurs and are in control of their own destiny. So why are women suited to be entrepreneurs? Here are a few reasons I think they are:

1. Like it or not, women multitask better.  This is nature, not nurture. In order to survive throughout history women have always needed to multitask raising children with the other things that they are in charge of.  When starting a business, multitasking is an asset. You need to be able to do 5 things at once.
   
2. Women who have chosen to become mothers are used to dealing with stressful 24-hour-a day jobs. Being a mother is wonderful, magical, beautiful, but also stressful and exhausting. Despite the fact that many fathers today have stepped in and really truly do their part in parenting, until the day that men can actually bear children and breastfeed, much of the burden of having and caring for babies falls onto the woman. Period. All of us who have struggled through business meetings, hoping we don’t vomit from morning sickness, or gotten through a day rocking every business commitment despite having woken up 4 times to breastfeed a new baby the night before, or taken a conference call on our mobile phone in order to get to be able to talk, and still pick your child up on time, know what I am talking about. What doesn’t kill us, makes us stronger, and I think more prepared to deal with the highs and lows of entrepreneurship.
   
3. Any woman successful in business today has had a moment where she was unfairly judged by someone else, just because she is a woman. It happens. It will probably continue to happen in my lifetime. It certainly doesn’t happen as often as it used to even 10 years ago, but it does and will.  Those of us who are successful don’t let the judgment bother us, and prove ourselves by being better, smarter, faster than our counterparts.  I think successful women are more likely to want to be in charge of their own success. They are not happy to wait around and let someone else decide their fate. This is the type of woman who is out there starting a business.
   
4. Women are less likely to get the family business passed on to them. If they want to own and run a business, in almost all cases, they have to start it. Of course this is not always true. I run my family business, and it was passed to me by my father. But prior to running this business I had already started two other businesses.
   
5. Women now decisively outnumber men on the nation’s college campuses, and they graduate at a higher rate than men do. And the numbers are expected to just get better for women and worse for men. Some studies cite that, if the gender gap continues, 2/3 of all college graduates in 2020 will be women. Here is another article pointing to the gender gap (more women applying to Yale than men): Yale Daily News. If women become more educated than men, and more women than men are graduating from college, you will continue to see the number of women entrepreneurs go up.

What do you think? Do you agree or disagree with my reasons?

Mommy I am NOT going to college!!!

What? Did those words come out of my 5-year-old’s mouth? Why would he say that? What had he heard to possibly make him say that? Am I already failing to inspire him to want to learn and grow, and be the best? Where have I gone wrong? I haven’t really mentioned college….am I already somehow pushing him too hard?

ME: Why would you say that? Of course you are going to college! Mommy went to college, Daddy went to college, and you and your brothers are going to college.

T: NO! I am NOT going.

ME: But college is fun. Why?

T: I know Megan has to be away from Nana and Grandad, and I don’t ever want to be away from you.  I don’t want to go by myself and sleep all by myself. I have to sleep here in our house. With you and Daddy.

Sigh. Relief. This all makes sense. Megan is my much younger sister who has been attending Stanford University for the last 4 years. She graduated this past June.  My son really only knows Megan in the context that he loves her, but she is always “gone at college.” Now I just want to take what he has said, and record it into history. So when he is that ornery 17 year old that wants nothing to do with me, and can’t wait to get out to college, I can remind him that when he was 5 he said he didn’t want to go, because he wouldn’t be able to be with me. A moment that I thought was going to show me what a terrible parent I already was, turned into a wonderful mommy/son moment for me. Moments like this make EVERYTHING worthwhile.

The truth always wins

It’s no surprise I love Seth Godin’s post from yesterday: The danger of vague claims, as I usually find inspiration in what Seth has to say.  This post though, rings particularly true to me.  This  is how I approach my life, both business and personal. In a business setting I think being up-front and honest buys you so much more than trying to fudge any facts to try to get ahead. At one point or another those facts will be revealed, and then you will have to try to defend them — and look weak.  For instance, one of our competitors claims its product is the “#1 best seller”. Then they put an * next to that claim and, in the fine print in very tiny letters on the bottom of their box, they state that they are “#1 best sellers for the under $45 category.”  They also happen to be the ONLY product that sells that cheap – so of course they are the number 1 best seller in that category.  I really truly believe that consumers are not that dumb, and that they will think twice about buying from a company that starts an interaction with a vague, sort-of-not-truthful claim.

I have also seen this done on resumes, and again I just don’t understand the point. To see a resume that states “Harvard University” clearly in the education portion, only to realize during an interview that the person only did a one week professional development course there, seems like a dangerous vagary. If that person really feels that “Harvard” is the only thing that will get them in the door with a potential employer, what happens when the employer asks about the Harvard degree, only to find out it is only a one week program? Then what? Won’t the potential employer immediately distrust you? Is that the feeling you want to convey at an interview? Aren’t you better off leading with your strengths and the truth about what you bring to the table? Doesn’t everyone eventually see through the smoke and mirrors?

Hurray for Sotomayer!

I had to document on my blog the success of  a very accomplished, smart, woman. And, of course, I love the fact that, like me, she too is Latina and a fellow Princeton grad.  Despite the ugliness in politics, and the way a person has to get dragged through the mud when they are in politics  she triumphed and got the nomination.  Hats off to her!

She Takes On The World: Interviews me!

I am honored to be interviewed by Natalie MacNeil on her blog She Takes on The World. Check it out!