Category Archives: Main News

The gift economy: Why I became a TWiST Producer

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ThisWeekInStartupsWhen I decided to remove the shackles of the corporate cube and begin a career hustling software, my life changed forever. I worked for some great VC-backed companies for the next 13 years and became a denizen of the “friendly skies”, hotels and fast food. In October of 2002 I made a big decision, a decision that was made based upon the needs of my family more than my career aspirations.  I decided to buy a software company with a legacy product in south Florida where I was raised and focus on two things: 1). building a company in a niche industry and 2). spending more time with my family.

For many reasons, not the least of which is the special attention my son needs (A Life of Distraction), the decision to hang up my frequent flier wings was a good one. The impact on my career wasn’t apparent to me at the time, but as I look back at that inflection point I know in my heart it was the right decision. However it didn’t take long for me to become disconnected from the “techniverse”. My connections and knowledge of the industry began to atrophy.

My first blog post was in 2008, but it really wasn’t until Jan of 2010 that I decided to re-engage. I immersed myself in tech blogs and podcasts.  In March of that year I stumbled across Jason Calacanis and This Week in Start-ups (TWiST). My first listen was episode #46 whereby Jason interviewed David Heinemeier-Hansson, the creator of Ruby on Rails and partner at 37Signals. Jason and David have very different approaches to funding and building start-ups, but the debate was brilliant as their passion and philosphies about business rang through with such clarity.

TWiST has had a profound effect on how I think about business. It helped drive me to co-found a company called DzineBox to build an online communication platform to help home and business owners connect with architects and designers. This lead to the incubation of a couple other socially-driven platforms that have viral characteristics. As for my “day job”, the ideas expressed on TWiST have helped me come up with many market driven changes that are transforming a business founded on a legacy based accounting system into a web and mobile consumer focused application for various recreation industries.

In a nut shell, TWiST has helped to re-energize my entrepreneurial spirit and broaden my thinking. Every episode is a jolt of intellectual energy.

In May of this year I became a TWiST Producer. I wanted to get closer to the action and contribute to the show in some way. Helping to produce the show and interacting with fellow Producers is a huge benefit. When I tell people that I pay a monthly fee to be a part of the so called TWiST List, I get some blank stares. “You mean you pay to work for the show?” or “you give them money and valuable feedback?”. These people completely miss the point about the value I receive in kind by being associated with such a dynamic production like TWiST and the talented people involved in this process. The “backchannel” as we call it of e-mails, discussion board threads and Producer conference calls are of great value to anyone who engages in the process. But at the end of the day it’s all about contribution. Like anything, postive outcomes require participation and engagement.

Simplify: My hero from Joplin

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I heard a great story on NPR this morning. They interviewed a woman from Joplin, MO who’s house was completely destroyed by a tornado. Picking through the rubble with her insurance agent, they were trying to find anything that was salvageable. When asked how she was doing her comment was, “I’ve been very philosophical over the past couple of days”. She went on to explain that she had a sign in her basement that read “SIMPLIFY”. She’s been taking inspiration from that message over the years. She went on to explain that she had gone through a divorce, is a single parent and is a cancer survivor. This was another step in her journey to simplify her life. To remove the clutter and get back to what’s essential and important.

How profound! I’ve been going through this same trial in my mind over and over again. Simplify – sell stuff – get back to what’s important: FAMILY, your PASSION, HEALTH, GOD and SPIRITUAL AWAKENING!

I started the day off today on the wrong foot, wallowing in self pity, focusing on the destination and not the journey. Finding your passion is a lifelong quest. At least it is for me. If we can remain “in the moment” and stay focused on the “journey” things have a way of seeming less stressful, less burdensome. My heart goes out to those effected by the devastating tornadoes in the Midwest. The hell with this year’s American Idle or who makes the cover of INC this month. People like the tornado survivor from Joplin who can remain philosophical and stay focused on simplifying her life in the midst of utter chaos are truly an inspiration.

What’s the CD maker to do?

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Nostalgia: We humans seem to be drawn to it. Most of us have a soft spot in our heart for the good old days. Remember when vinyl was in and you would sit around as a kid listening to your favorite bands, staring at the album cover, the inner liner, the record sleeve and so on?

CDs replaced vinyl records and the distribution of music on CDs reigned supreme in the 80s, 90s and first half of the 00s. Millions and millions of CDs were purchased each year by people of all ages in the $15 to $18 price range. The record (CD) labels actually took something away from us. Those of us in our 40s or older will remember the little 45 records we had when we were kids. The radio hit was on Side A and another less popular song was on Side B. In those days you were able to buy just two songs. The CD industry came along with a more profitable business model for themselves. Someone in a board room somewhere said, “we can’t make any money on two song CDs.” So choice was subverted for profits. The record industry bundled 10-15 songs on one disk and unabashedly charged us $15 to $18 per CD. You may have only wanted one or two songs but you were forced to buy 10 or 12. Great for the music companies, crappy for the consumers.

Along came this digital music format called MP3. The music industry brushed it off as “geekdom” fodder because MP3s had no distribution. That is until Napster came along. One guy, with an interest in sharing his music collection and allowing others to share their music on his server changed the music industry forever. The model evolved into peer-to-peer networks in an attempt to alleviate the issue of illegally distributing copyrighted content.

The music industry, instead of embracing the Internet and the revolutionary way it was completely changing business upon business decided to litigate instead of innovate. They chose to sue companies developing music distribution software like Napster and Limewire, as well users of digital music too. The press had a field day with this, describing music execs raiding college dorms to apprehend the music pirates who were illegally sharing content.

This was the beginning of the end for the highly profitable CD. Apple, along with Amazon, Rhapsody, Yahoo! and others struck deals with the content providers to legally distribute songs for $0.99 each. They unbundled the CD and allowed fans to download just the songs they wanted. For the first time the artists (especially new ones) had a choice. It was no longer paramount to get a band “signed” with a label. Musicians who embraced this technology gave their fans “choice”. Forward thinkers like Radiohead and Linkin Park let fans decide what to pay for their music. New fans just experimenting with these bands can download samples for free. Serious fans have more selection than what stores made available as bands packaged music downloads with concert tickets, videos, books, clothing, etc.

Most people know this story. There are a similar stories unfolding in many other industries, not the least of which is the newspaper industry. The Internet allows anyone to create content and distribute it in ways that were never possible before. This blog post is a good example of that.

So what’s happening in your industry and your business? Are you a content creator? Are you a distributor? Do you sell goods and services? What can we learn from the demise of the CD, your local bookstore and newsstands across the country?

It’s Ok to change course

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Changing CourseAt the beginning of 2011 I read a blog post by Alex Mandossian about choosing your “Be Quote” for 2011. In other words, find a quote either written recently or one written centuries ago that you read to yourself daily. Print it out in big letters, copy it and put it in places that you pass by each day. Read it over and over again until it becomes part of you.

Ok…sure. Positive affirmation 101. I came up with an not so inspirational quote, posted a comment on Alex’s blog and proceeded to forget about it.

Then just last week I then ran across Rich Lazzara’s blog post on the top 5 regrets people have before they die. The number one regret inspired me to create my new “Be Quote”:

“To have the courage to live a life true to myself, not the life others expect of me.”

In my opinion this statement is powerful and it impacted me greatly…Time to live true to myself and to fulfill my purpose.

The 24/7 Marina: Online Slip Reservations, Social Media for Boaters and Giving Boaters Access to Your Marina

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This presentation was given at the International Marina and Boatyard Conference in Ft. Lauderdale, FL on January 27th, 2011 by Cam Collins. The video presentation suggests a process that marina managers and marine business operators should consider when looking for technologies that will give their customers access to marina products and services 24-hours per day and seven days per week. This presentation discusses online slip reservations, online parts and accessories sales, work order service requests and online bill payment.

Want to see the slide presentation? SlideShare Presentation

The total presentation, both Part I and Part II runs for about 23 min

The 24/7 Marina – Part I

The 24/7 Marina – Part II

Architectural Crowdsourcing: Is it the end of professional design?

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There has been a lot of talk (and even more tweets) in the architecture community about “crowdsourcing” and how it may be the end of the architectural and design profession. In a nutshell, crowdsourcing is the concept of making connections between customers (people with a need) and suppliers (people who can fulfill that need) using the Internet. The “crowd” fulfilling the need for the customer typically post their solutions in a contest-like format. The customer then selects the solution that best fits their needs.

The professional design community, e.g. architects, interior designers and landscape architects appear to be divided on the topic as to whether crowdsourcing is good for the industry, or whether it “commoditizes the art form”.

For those that believe their design practices will be commoditized by crowdsourcing and the Internet, our message is simple: “This is not for you. DzineBox and sites like it is for designers who are ready to step into the future of designer-client relationships”.

Crowdsourcing gives home owners a place to purchase quality design for small to medium sized project. Crowdsourcing is not a good platform for designing a 100,000 square foot office park, but it’s a great platform for someone interested in remodeling their kitchen, adding an addition to their house, decorating their living room or landscaping their backyard.

Today, many people wouldn’t consider a professional designer for these projects. Crowdsourcing gives people with home improvement and remodeling projects access to professional designers. The designer can use crowdsourcing sites like DzineBox to supplement their income.

At DzineBox we only allow professional designers to join our design team. We spend time getting to know our designers and vetting the “real” designers from those who simply know how to use Photoshop and AutoCAD. Secondly, we let the home owner and designer choose how they want to interact with. A designer is free to bid on any project anywhere they want. However they are not required to provide a complete design as part of the bidding process. DzineBox helps home owners and designers get to know one another online without having to travel to the designer’s office or the customer’s home.

In the words of Seth Godin, “We can’t please everyone, in fact, we’re not even going to try. Pleasing everyone with our work is impossible. It wastes the time of our best customers and annoys our staff. Forgive us for focusing on those we’re trying to delight.”

We believe this truly embodies our mission. We are design professionals ourselves. We are passionate about what we do. Our proverbial heads are not in the sand. We are going to upset some people. But we also hope to thrill our clients: both home owners and designers alike.

Are you running the right race?

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“They’re off. Netscape is off to a quick start riding Navigator. Microsoft is trailing by two lengths riding Internet Explorer who had a little trouble getting out of the gate. Around the first turn Netscape has a huge lead, but wait a minute… Bill Gates is in the grandstand giving out his browser for FREE with Windows. Internet Explorer seems to be feeling the momentum and around turn two passes Navigator handily. Microsoft is widening it’s lead. What’s this?…Netscape is dismounting Navigator and gives up it’s saddle, bridle and stirrups to a new team of riders from Firefox, Google and Apple. Each of them gaining on Microsoft on different platforms. Through the third turn it’s Microsoft in the lead with Firefox close behind and Google and Apple trailing by more than two lengths…

OK…so overlaying the Browser Wars on top of a horse race may be a stretch. But I think it points out the interesting parallels between horse racing and business. This analogy was first brought to my attention many years ago by Paul Levine, a partner at Morganthaler Ventures and former CEO of Atria Software. In this analogy, the jockey is “you”. It doesn’t matter whether you are a manager or an individual contributor. You have control over where your company, department or career is headed. Like the jockey, you can slow down around the turns or dig in during the stretch.

The horse is the product or service that you market. The other horses and their jockey’s are the products, services and people that you compete with at various levels. The race is your chosen market. Are you running the Preakness or the Kentucky Derby, where the stakes are high and so is the competition? You can have the fastest horse in the field and the other horses may be weak, but if the race is a back woods venue with limited stakes is it really worth the effort?

At the end of the day it’s all about “the race”. The key thing to remember is that you choose the race you run. As you think about the New Year and begin to finalize your 2011 goals, ask yourself – “are you running the right race?” When the race is over was the experience worthwhile? When selecting your race, you need to look at the end game as well as the competition. Is the race you’ve selected something you can wholeheartedly bring energy, joy and excitement too?

Business is hard. No matter how great the odds of your success, you must have enough passion about what you are doing, day in and day out, that the race is worth it to you. Every successful person I’ve come in contact with will tell you it was not about reaching the goal so much as it was the experience of the race itself. If you can’t enjoy the journey, there is no reason to make the trip because the end result is often times anti-climactic.

Our focus in 2011

Main News

Our focus in 2011 is our Customers, our Culture, and our Team. We believe this is the right platform for growth. Stealing a page Tony Hsieh’s wonderful book Delivering Happiness, we believe that focusing on “Customer Service” far outweighs trying to leapfrog competitors with features and flashy ads. Referrals are the life blood of our business and at the end of the day we must “keep our promises” and deliver exemplary customer service to continue to grow.

We launched two major initiatives that will take full shape in 2011 to resonate around our core mission of “helping our customers be more efficient so they can deliver world-class customer experiences”.

1.      We have developed a WebConnector that opens DockMaster up to a whole host of web-based applications. Similar to Apple’s AppStore, Exuma is partnering with companies who have developed web and mobile applications for lead management, online parts sales (eCommerce), mobile time tracking, ePayments and web-based slip reservations. Furthermore, dealers can license Exuma’s WebConnector to create their own DockMaster apps and therefore leverage the wealth of content DockMaster manages. The combination of our WebConnector along with our LeadMaster CRM product have the potential for helping dealers evaluate the ROI of various lead and social media marketing programs.

2.      We have re-doubled our efforts to bring far more service offerings to our dealers. We believe that solutions, not technology solve business problems. Exuma has partnered with Advanced Dealer Solutions to offer a complete set of service offerings that go beyond the dealer management system. These services include ADS Market Reach to assist dealers with both e-mail and letter generation campaigns, ADS Social Media Services to help dealers leverage the vast potential of social marketing communications, ADS Customer Reach Surveys, ADS Alerts – a proactive dealer management support service that alerts dealers of financial, inventory and lead management concerns and lastly ADS Remote CFO Services.

As dealers, boatyards and marinas evaluate the various systems available today, we believe that the stability of the platform and the continued work that goes into improving the core software is of the utmost importance. The risk in buying a new or unproven system can actually decrease a dealer’s efficiency and profits. We have the unique advantage of being able to add new technology to an already proven dealer management system.

 

What doesn’t kill you can make you stronger…

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This has certainly been one of the most emotional weeks of my career. The death of our neighbor puts the whole week into perspective. To sum it all up, I’ve paraphrased an e-mail that I sent to my company today.

Team,

Our organizational changes and the impact it will have on all of us is significant. Now more than ever we need to pull together as a team. We have an unbelievable opportunity in front of us. I’ve been working closely with sales on both the new and existing customer opportunities. There is business to be had folks! We also have some tremendous opportunities with our Touch Screen POS and WebConnector product.

But back to putting life into perspective for a moment, the death of our neighbor here in Stuart brings to mind the fact that we lost someone in our “Exuma family” less than six months ago. Like our neighbor, she died of breast cancer. When I passed her surviving husband in the hall the other day he said (after just hearing about the changes) with a smile, “tough day huh Cam”? I said “yes”. He said “It can’t be fun to announce things like that but we will be Ok”. This came from a guy that just lost his wife six months ago! He has the ability to put things into perspective.

I also wanted to share with the team the e-mail I received from someone in our development group. I’ve paraphrased it below:

“From the very first few weeks of working here, back in the middle of March, I told my wife that this company seemed more like a family instead of just a company. I told her that I enjoyed being apart of this company because of that particular reason. I still feel that way even today. I think that like a family, this company has an ultimate goal to see all of us as a whole succeed and excel in all that we do and stand for. I understand the sacrifices that have to be made for the improvement of this family and stand behind it with my head held high in belief that we can make this happen. Thank you for keeping us all together. I’m definitely willing to put my best foot forward to see this Exuma vessel reach its destination and more.”

I couldn’t have said it better. We have Linchpins among us folks. We have people on this team who given a chance can to rise to heights they’ve never reached before. When life hands you lemons, time to make lemonade. Put life into perspective. Whenever I bring an issue to my mom who is a psychotherapist she always asks me “will it kill you?”. Once we establish that whatever issue I’ve brought to her is not life threatening, we work backwards through less devastating outcomes until she helps me arrive at a solution. It’s called Rational Thinking. You can read more about it here: www.refusetobeupset.com.

Anyway, I am proud of this team. I am proud of the way that we’ve been able to stick together. If we can stick together and give our co-workers and teams something to work towards, Exuma will continue to be a place of inspiration and creative output. Money is important. But it’s not the only motivation to do your best.

Reasons to work (excerpt from www.sethgodin.com)

1. For the money

2. To be challenged

3. For the pleasure/calling of doing the work

4. For the impact it makes on the world

5. For the reputation you build in the community

6. To solve interesting problems

7. To be part of a group and to experience the mission

8. To be appreciated

Why do we always focus on the first? Why do we advertise jobs or promotions as being generic on items 2 through 8 and differentiated only by #1?

In fact, unless you’re a drug kingpin or a Wall Street trader, my guess is that the other factors are at work every time you think about your work.

Slideshare: Leveraging Social Media to Build Lasting Relationships

Main News

Occasionally I take a break from producing marine management systems and marina software to talk about what we’ve learned over the past couple of years about social media, blogging, SEO and measuring the effectiveness of various web campaigns and initiatives. In this presentation I begin with the philosophy that got me thinking differently about marketing and social media from great thinkers like Seth Godin and Josh Bernoff. I then talk about the strategies and tactics we’ve adopted to become #1 on Google in our particular search category.

For those of you that asked, here is the SlideShare upload from the presentation I gave earlier this month at the Florida Yacht Brokers Association Charter Seminar. Hope you like it. I am the first one to admit that I learn something new everyday about this stuff and I am always open to feedback.

Click here for the presentation