Simple isn't bad

Keeping things simple is a fairly old idea. I realize that if we make things super simple the barrier to entry is lowered but in almost all accounts the ones who make the best product will continue to succeed no matter how many competitors.

If we look at the standard coffee shop, for example, by all standards of logic they should be extinct. Nearly everyone can afford to make coffee themselves at a very low price and quite quickly. The coffee you make yourself is fairly customizable and its probably 1/100th the price of your $5 cup of coffee. However, we constantly see coffee shops opening up, hell there are 2 Starbucks, a Biggby, and Madcap coffee within less than 1/3rd of a mile from each other downtown. How can all three, not only stay in business but, thrive in an economy like this when everyone can make their own coffee themselves? They are better at what they do than you are. Even though it is simple for you to make coffee yourself it doesn’t hurt their business model because you suck at it in comparison.

Even if we look at web design and where it is now compared to ten years ago; we see that huge improvements in simplicity of sites, navigation, and even creation (now for this instance the ability to create your own site easily does hinder the web design business a bit). However, just because you made your own website for free because your friend gave you a torrent for Dreamweaver doesn’t mean anyone will actually go to your site, mostly because it probably looks like shit. Everyone can make their own website, its not that difficult with the proper tools, yet web design firms are still in business because they are good at what they do. They take your idea and actually make it look really good (most of the time).

Again, while it is easy to say that making things too easy for people lowers the barrier to entry, lowers the overall quality of an industry, and lowers profits. It is just as easy to say that just because every schmuck can do something they might realize that, “yeah, I can make a cup of coffee for less expensive but I suck at it.” or further more, if your company is good at something and the overall quality in the industry is getting lower, this could help you stand out that much further.

This is a fairly simple idea... and I just lowered the bar for the blogging industry.

What I’m saying.

While it has been a while since I’ve posted anything on this blog, I started this with the intention of trying to look at what companies/people do that doesn’t make sense and replace it with simple or sometimes obvious things. That is why I named this site “This is a tie” it is obvious/simple (and I was really happy when I made that tie in photoshop)

However, this post, in and of itself, is really about how people need to understand that just because we are lowering the bar by making things simple it doesn’t mean that companies need to lower the bar. If everyone does crappy work around you and you are the only one who is doing good work it doesn’t mean you should do bad work like the rest. It means this is your opportunity to market yourself based on the ideas and ability that you have. Just because everyone can do what you do does not mean everyone will be as good at it. further more, these simplicities could lead to further innovation in your industry which could help your company even further. Let other people make crappy products that way the good ones are that much better.

Don't be a social spam artist.

I’m a social whore.

I remember when I first got on Facebook.com, back when it was first introduced for high school students, and I realized that I could get the scoop on people from school even when I was out of school. I found all the people I knew and did a little detective work and basically became a creeper. A couple years later I joined twitter.com and thought it to be nothing more than Facebook minus all the cool things. It was just status updates... It was sort of boring. Then I got my first @jleff. I realized that someone was listening to me. That was something I never felt with Facebook. I felt like I was contributing to a larger conversation.

Facebook was, to me, more of just a way to show off pictures and say witty one liners or quote obscure band lyrics that make me seem deep. Twitter on the other hand felt more personal. What I say and do is shared with a smaller number of people it feels more like I have relationships with people I’ve never met. I want to know what they are up to. I want to know if they find interesting things in the news. The biggest thing I found in Twitter was that it didn’t have all the stupid games and quizzes. So I dropped my Facebook and haven’t looked back.

However, I keep seeing more and more companies come to social networks hoping to jump on the wave. They don’t seem to really have a purpose except to eavesdrop on people talking about their company and promote their products. That doesn’t seem all that social to me. It might be nice to know when @amwaygrandplaza is having a great deal on their rooms but if someone came up to me on the street and just tried to sell me something I would quickly walk away.

Be a man/woman of the people.

It is hard for companies to figure out how to use social networks since this is a relatively new concept to them. I think the idea of sales in general has always been a little uncomfortable: going up to friends or strangers and trying to get them to buy your product. Companies got used to making TV ads and magazine ads and posters/fliers and even website and web ads but trying to have a conversation with people?! It makes even the most personable companies feel a little uncomfortable.

If I were to give any advice to companies it would be: don’t worry about selling things. I don’t consider this a venue to get new buyers. Typically if you don’t have any prior or present interest in a company you wouldn’t friend/follow them anyway. This is a place to keep your present customers happy and get them to discuss you with their followers.

For example: @BiggbyDwtnGR is a coffee shop in downtown Grand Rapids. This shop has a fair amount of regulars and furthermore followers on their Twitter page. While they do tell people about some of their promotions they do more than that. They are a part of the larger Grand Rapids twitter community. They even go so far as to discuss one employee having a baby! (I do not recommend this for all companies) What they are doing is creating a relationship with those customers even when it has nothing to do with coffee. One of their followers asked when Oberon hits the taps and @BiggbyDwtnGR replied with “It’s today.” While that is just a small example it shows that they are not just in it to promote their products. This sort of relationship goes beyond just selling products it gets down to just being a social person.

How many people actually follow the person who tweets, “Find out how I made a thousand dollars today with (insert spam link)”? What is different between them and @toyotascionGR tweeting, “2009 Rav4, like new - factory warranty and Certified: (insert spam link)”? Both might get a couple of clicks but will probably not have the intended result. This might be why they only have 11 followers. However, if @toyotascionGR were to host a “tinychat” where they chatted with their customers and potential customers about the problems going on with Toyota vehicles they might get some recognition. They might not get many people out to that first chat but as word spreads to the community that they are really interested in keeping people safe and keeping their customers informed they might get that reputation. This example may be poorly thought out since I know nothing about the company or how the company is operated, but just because Twitter is out there doesn’t mean people care what you have to tweet.

What I’m saying.

Corporations in their nature seem very “unhuman” even though by law they pretty much are humans. Maybe they should start acting like one. If companies started to try and talk to people like they were people they might actually get somewhere. This doesn’t mean bombard everyone who mentions your name with a promotional comment. This means be a friend to those who follow you. Reach out to people to gain more followers. When I get a new follower I typically check out what they are saying to see if it is worth following. Be worth following. Don’t be an advertisement be a person.

An educated guess. pt 2

I was a straight B and C student all through high school with very little to show after leaving other than a degree. I never cared that much or tried all that hard. I knew from my junior year on that I was going to be a musician/recording engineer. I was going to take two years at the community college in the recording arts program and move on to bigger and better things. Then I walked into my first class in college, a 200-level accounting class, and I decided I was going to be an accountant. Four years later I am a straight B and C marketing major.

I am far from the person who should be telling people to do their homework and study for your exams. I do think that we should look at where our nation, state and city are going, as it pertains to education, and think about the long term affects. While the whole nation is in a state of flux we are looking to do, what I consider, one of the most foolish things we could possibly do; cut education funding.

I went to Wyoming Public School where they have only let go a few teachers, however, they have cut the counseling staff down to only one staff member. This means for 851 students there is only one person to tell those students what they need to do to graduate and help those students figure out post-secondary education goals. This, to me, is a scary thought. I worry about students not wanting to go to college but what scares me more than that are students who are questioning whether or not to even graduate.

I’ve heard arguments, when discussing this topic, ranging from blaming teachers and parents to blaming lazy students. Don’t get me wrong those things are to blame as well, but I think we can blame those of us who are afraid or too lazy to try and help. Grand Rapids has been spending so much time lately talking about supporting the arts and getting Google to Grand Rapids that we might have gotten ahead of ourselves. The arts are great and I thoroughly support them and I think our city would be much better off if Google came here but these should be back burner issues compared to education.

Most people do not care to look at the actual affects on a community it may have if students drop out. I remember saying to my friends that if that person drops out it is one less person I have worry about fighting for my job. However, the real numbers are a little scary.

Keep in mind when I use numbers I am being extremely conservative. The numbers I will use are based on a survey done in 2005 report by the US Department of Education's Institute of Education Sciences. This survey says those who do not graduate high school will earn, on average, $9,600 less. This means that each person who does not graduate will not be able to put that money back into our economy. In addition the report say that, "Dropouts also make up disproportionately higher percentages of the nation’s prison and death row inmates." meaning an that those dropouts will have a higher burden on our local crime and punishment sector. If that wasn't enough the report continues to say that, regardless of income, those without degrees have poorer health than those with a diploma. With that being said, they are also less likely to have health insurance, in fact 18 percent less according to the Employment Policies Institute. While I may be jumping to conclusions it seems logical that if those who who drop out are in poor health and they do not have health insurance they will be either less likely to seek medical attention or seeking medical attention primarily by use of emergency rooms since they likely will have no primary care physician. These things all have associated costs.

This is where my (unrealistically small) numbers get really big quickly. I will use a fairly simple formula; one student dropping out equals $10,000. This $10,000 is a mixture of those different things discussed above. This number is multiplied with each school in the Grand Rapids Public School District having 15 drop outs yearly (if each class has 100 students and the school has an 85% graduation rate which is unlikely). Just in Grand Rapids Public High Schools, comprised of seven schools, we would lose $1,050,000 in our local economy. This does not include other surrounding schools or alternative education or even the Wyoming Public Schools (Godfrey alone had only 37.8% graduation rate in 2007 according to edweek.org)

Now, while all of this frustrates me, having this information does no good if we are not using it to better educate our citizens on how to better educate our young people. I did not write this article to make you mad at the 16 year old who is thinking of dropping out. The purpose of this article is to get people to try and make real change. With that said I don't want 30 people trying to be on the school board or superintendent, I want to see people going to local high schools and teaching kids the reasons why they need a diploma. I would like to see volunteers mentoring students on how to take out a student loan for college or talking to a classes about how scared and frustrated you were in high school. In no way whatsoever am I saying that teachers aren't doing a good job of this; I just think that these budget cuts have made it harder for teachers to do their job and still have time to help students one on one. 

I've heard all my life that if you want to play politics safe just run on a campaign saying you support education. Conservative or liberal that is one that everyone can get behind. However, sometimes just saying "I support education" doesn't actually get kids to graduate. But, it is not only our politicians and elected officials that can make these changes. Each person who has graduated or has a kid in school or has a daughter, son, niece, nephew in school can make a difference in helping our teenagers graduate. 

As a college student I always planned on leaving the state once I got my degree. I saw foreclosure signs and store closing signs as a sign that this state was dying. And it might be dying. However, this could also be an opportunity for us to pick ourselves up and take advantage of this changing economy. We may not make many car parts in West Michigan anymore but we do have a thriving tourism industry. We don't make as much furniture but we do save lives on the medical mile. We need to inspire kids to learn and be creative and seek opportunities to grow and help the community. So if you actually support education really do something. 

What I'm saying.

If we are truly interested in keeping kids from dropping out we need to actually work at it. Obviously we cannot all just go to schools and walk into classrooms talking to kids. I'd like to see people go to school board officials, principals, and superintendents and ask what they can do to help. It does not have to take over your life it could just be an hour every week or two. The goal is to get kids to listen and understand that we care about them. It is important for everyone.

(This post has been placed as an opinion article on therapidian.org )

An educated guess. pt 1

Waking up for an 8:30am class is hard to begin with especially when that class is an American History class. However, I muster up my strength every Tuesday and Thursday hoping to better understand what it is that this country went through in its struggle to get where we are today. No, this post is not about praising America’s greatness or, on the contrary, I am not saying we are a bad nation. It has more to do with our civic duties in this country and I’d like to make it more about the civic duties of people in Grand Rapids.

When I get up for that class, shower, make coffee and a bowl of Honey Bunches of Oats I feel half asleep but prepared for the day. Yet, when I get to that class I am taken back by how little the students in that class (myself included) and I would gather the courage to say most “Grand Rapidians” know about this country. A simple question in that hour and fifteen minutes seemed to drag on because not one person raised their hand when asked what the first two articles of the constitution were (look it up). I cannot look at the other kids in the class and pretend I knew because I was wrong.

I spend a lot of thinking about the current political systems and the flaws of both parties. I read the tweets and attached links from a Brit and counter that by reading other tweets and attached links from a certain “pro-life Reagen Republican” (yes she really spells Reagan wrong). I have a left lean and admit it. However, I find it excruciatingly painful to realize I have spent 13 years in public schools and four years in college and didn’t know the first article of the constitution. It honestly made me a little sick.

If we are willing to engage in political tweets or start groups for or against a particular policy we should look at what we actually know. I went out for a beer with my dad at the Hopcatand discussed reasons for and against the (at the time) proposed health care bill and he said, “this whole thing is unconstitutional”. I, being a smart ass, asked him what the first two articles of the constitution were and he failed to answer correctly.

I wholeheartedly agree with anyone who says you do not need to know the constitution to have an opinion. I am the first to admit that I don’t know nearly as much as I claim I know. However, if we want to cite our opinions as facts that is when we get in trouble. That being said, this first portion is just a rant leading to my larger point. My next post will be about how we can help change the landscape of education in Grand Rapids. I will only offer up suggestions and hopefully I can get a few people to come to this blog and offer rebuttals and start a dialogue about this.

What I’m saying.

First: If we are going to speak or tweet or fan something we should have a basic understanding of what we are talking about. Even if only because it makes your argument more sound.

Second: What the hell did I, and I think most people, learn in school?! Why aren’t schools teaching student about the constitution? If they are being discussed why are they not talked about in a way that actually engages students?

Be good for goodness sake.

I remember watching a comercial for the local eleven o'clock news promising, "News that could save your child's life. Next at eleven." While this seems like it is a great way to get people to tune into the news broadcast if this will save lives it should be told now. It seems we are trading marketing for common sense good citizenship.

This is the strategy implemented by Sun Chips (Frito Lay). Sun Chips will be introducing their new environmentally friendly chip bags that are the "first 100% compostable chip bag". Don't get me wrong this is great. However, if you look at the bottom of the screen during this commercial you'll see that, while they have these bags ready and in production, they will not be rolling them out until Earth Day 2010. Great for advertising but what does it say about the actual brand? They are so interested in the environment that they are willing to continue the use of packaging that they themselves are saying is not good.

I don't want to seem like I am unappreciative of the work that Frito Lay is doing. They have obviously been working on a new type of packaging will help the environment, but what upsets me about this is that Frito Lay does not think that it is important enough to put in place right away. Furthermore they are not interested in using these bags with all of their chips. So this seems more of a marketing gesture than an actual movement toward helping the environment.

So why am I being so tough on Frito Lay? I may be beating a dead horse on this topic but it is tough for me to understand why a company who is trying "keep (their) environmental promise" would want to wait to roll out a revolutionary packaging and introduce it only on one of their chips which is lowest in product sales. I will never say that this is not a positive step in the right direction, companies should do everything they can to help with any cause they believe strongly in. However, if they do embark on these large scale endeavors they should remember why they are doing it in the first place. In this example: is Frito Lay going green to save the environment or to increase profits?

This is doing good--> http://ow.ly/1qicN

Just be good.

Companies seem to have a hard time balancing being good and the cost of that good. We could useGoogle exiting China as an example of a company that is willing to lose a large market in order to make a point to that countries government. While there is much to be said about Google leaving China as a marketing effort in and of itself, yet, I think this effort, while it may be marketable, goes back to their original stance, "Don't Be Evil".

But lets localize this, Madcap Coffee is a downtown coffee shop which doesn't nearly have as much room in its budget for marketing as the other two giants which have been discussed. However, even with this smaller budget Madcap is still in the business of doing good. The biggest difference is that Madcap is more worried about the actual good. Madcap has a policy with their customers and their vendors that they will only buy their coffee beans directly from the farmer so that each bean can be traced back to the location they purchased it from. These sustainable relationships are not utilized because they have great marketing value. Madcap uses these practices because it is what they believe is right. They know that these relationships will lower overall costs and offer a much better coffee and expresso to their patrons. These ideals give them a distinct sustainable advantage over other coffee shops.

What I'm saying.

This is my first blog post...ever, so I may be just rambling at this point, but what I am trying to say is that companies, big or small, need to, in the famous words of Kris Kringle, be good for goodness sake. Don't change your bags, eventually and not fully, just because it will make a great Earth Day ad. Change those bags because you are sure that it is the right thing to do and you will go through with it, wholeheartedly, because it means that much to you.

I think a lot of companies understand that for the past few years there has been a change in the air. People seem to be more aware of their surroundings and truly want to do good. However, if those companies want to build a relationship with these people they have to look at what they want to do and ask if they are doing this for sales or for good. Things work better when you are just good.