Having just returned from a trip to Lagos, Nigeria I think I’ve discovered one of the problems as well as something I’m proud of that I’ve been doing for years.

The Problem

One of the major problems as I see it right now in the African and South African startup scenes is that we believe that for one to succeed another must fail. I hate this approach to community. In fact, this is not community. This is destructive, short-sighted and not sustainable.

Let me explain. When you hear of a South African company raising money or selling their business, is your first thought congratulatory or bitterness/jealousy? I’m willing to bet that many (if not most) startups feel a sense of jealousy and get that, “Why not me?” feeling. This is going to crush our startup community.

The Solution

The way I see it, there really is only one way to succeed in a community of startups; We need to start supporting each other and  understanding that one success is good for the community. One exit, one investment, one good business deal or case study is good for everyone. Someone doesn’t need to fail for you to succeed. That’s just not the way it works. You can succeed and I can succeed. I can fail, and with your support come back and succeed again. There doesn’t have to be a loser being kicked while he or she is down.

Connected Business

Something I pride myself in doing is connecting people that I think will work well together, make money together or at the very least like one another. My trip to Lagos last week was filled with anxiety and questions about the location, the people, my safety, the industry and a whole lot of other things.

Landing in Lagos I was given the royal treatment by an old friend and ex-business associate and I couldn’t really understand why. I was grateful for the treatment as it made my first trip to Lagos a good one but I was curious about the red carpet.

So I asked.

The answer completely stunned me. An introduction I had made almost 18 months ago had ended up in a great business deal with long-term implications for my friends business. I had forgotten about the introduction but he had not.

Therein lies my message. Sometimes it’s best to connect without asking for anything in return. Business, relationships and success are all built over years and not months. Think about the years and do what is decent. Connect people and connect businesses that you thing will work well together. There is massive potential in Africa and we need to rally together to make it work.

For the launch of the brand this site was perfect, fun and effective. As sales increased, our customer base grew and the brand itself grew legs we realised that the time had come for a reworking of the website.

Obox has just launched an incredible new theme called FlatPack which fit the needs of the new NicSocks site perfectly. We wanted to give the site an edge and bring it inline with our customers and fans. David Perel took the lead and guided me in all things ecommerce and effective design.

With the amazing photography from Gregor Rohrig that you can see dotted throughout the website and the newsletter we felt that the site was ready to take on it’s new and edgy look.

Selling socks is about more than just the selling of socks. I wanted to portray an experience to men browsing the site and show visitors (men and women) what being a NicSocks man means. I really feel like we’ve achieved this in the new design and hopefully this aesthetic will continue throughout the sock designs and into the Sockaholics Club!

It’s an extremely frustrating thing: Watching orders come in, process and then fail in the end.

I was told that a business that earns money while you sleep is the best kind. The converse of that statement is also true: A Business that earns money while you sleep can create problems while you dream of money.

One of the problems that I’ve been experiencing is that orders fail at a certain point and I can’t tell why. So I decided to start emailing potential customers who don’t complete their purchases on NicSocks. The replies are often simple and mundane ranging from forgetting that the tab was open, forgetting a credit card number or simply changing their mind about the purchase.

What I have discovered is that no one is ever angry at me for asking them about their experiences and more often that not the problems that the customer is having can be rectified. I’ll solve their problem with a little bit of customer TLC and close the deal.

The end result is what I’d like to call a Phoenix Sale: A sale that was closed out of a failed order on your website.

Talk to your customers. Every email could be a Phoenix Sale waiting to happen.

So far I’ve managed to do exactly that.

Let me explain the problem. Small businesses don’t have a war chest of cash that they have lying around like Apple or Google. If you receive your order and go about your business without paying the business they have to juggle other clients who owe them money and hustle ones who are close to paying. For you it’s a simple afterthought, for the small business owner it’s the difference between making salary payments this month or not.

Great businesses will have this handled but most startup companies, small businesses or sole proprietors live hand to mouth with clients.

Yesterday I went to my sock manufacturer to pick up an order and I asked my guy if he was busy. He replied that they were incredibly busy but that they always had time for my order and would always push me to the top of the pile.

I am not their biggest client by a long stretch so I was curious why he would always push me to the top. His answer: Because you pay.

Simple and effective. He offers me a service that I need, I accept the socks that they make and then I pay them.

This is a very important lesson that I’ve learned over many years of dealing with corporates, advertising agencies, churches, banks and all sorts of big businesses. Making interest on a delayed payment is not a good way to make money, it’s a great way to screw over the small business owner.

Pay people on time, every time.

It’s about the writer and the content.

Just in case you hadn’t picked up on the sarcasm in the title of this article let me state this more explicitly: The world does not need a new way to publish content.

The world needs writers to write.

Here’s a list of the publishing platforms all claiming to do it better, cleaner, simpler, faster, harder or some other adjective to sound superior.

svbtle

Medium

Editorially

Scriptogram

WordPress.com

Tumblr

There are also themes doing what platforms are trying to do as well as forks of platforms that you can download and use for yourself.

Principles

This blog uses the Principles theme running on the WordPress Self Hosted platform.

Obtvse

There has been a lot of hype and controversy over who has copied who and who has taken what ideas from where. If we’re honest, we all owe something to the print industry and the classical definition of a writer.

I remember when Blogger launched, it was about the content. It appears that the industry is shifting back around towards content and more specifically long form articles. I’m not entirely unhappy about this but I really don’t think we need to fragment into a million platforms. We just need to focus back on content.

What the sock is happening?

NicSocks is launching a brand new website and to go along with this new look we’re inviting fans of fashion and wearers of our socks to be a part of the site. On Wednesday, 17 April 2013 NicSocks and Gregor Rohrig Photography will be hosting a photo shoot for men wanting to appear on the NicSocks website.

What’s in it for you?

If you are chosen to appear in the shoot you’ll get a pair of socks to take home with you, a 50% discount on your next NicSocks purchase and you’ll be featured on the NicSocks and Gregor Rohrig’s website, Facebook Page, and Instagram accounts.

What you need to do

You need to own and ride a bicycle (any kind will do) or board of some kind (skate, long) and be able to bring it with you to the shoot.

We’re shooting the active streetwear part of the brand so we’d like you to come in the best streetwear that you’d be rocking when you take your bike or board out on the streets of Cape Town.

You need to be in Cape Town and available on Wednesday, April 17th for the shoot (weather dependant).

You’ll need to email, Facebook or Tweet us a picture of yourself and your transport before Monday, 15 April.

Nic details: nic@nicsocks.com, @nicharry, NicSocks Facebook Page

Gregor details: hello@gregorrohrig.com, @gregor_rohrig, Gregor Rohrig Facebook Page

What next?

If you’re selected we’ll contact you with the details of the shoot and confirm your availability.

image courtesy of Fork vs Spoon blog.

I stopped smoking about two and a half years ago. Since then I’ve picked up a crazy cheesecake habit. It’s become somewhat of an obsession for me; finding the perfect cheesecake.

I’ve found some fantastic cheesecakes. I’ve found some horrible ones too. What I have realised is that I like baked cheesecakes and dislike fridge cheesecakes.

The main reason I am writing about cheesecake is because of a theory I’ve developed that I managed to put into words while eating a cheesecake.

This particular cheesecake was a tall, creamy, wide cheesecake and I was given a fork to eat it with. I placed my fork at the peak of this cheesecake mound, slid it down and cut through the cheesecake all the way down to the crust which was hard to break off. Pay careful attention to the next part now: The top of the slice I had just cut off fell over onto the plate at the middle of this very tall (too tall) piece of cake.

The point, for the sake of clarity: The cheesecake looked amazing but the width of the fork was half that of the height of the cake so I couldn’t get a clean slice of my cake onto the fork.

It’s as if the person who made the cheesecake had never eaten it with the fork that they give their customers.

Here’s where things get metaphorical.

The Cheesecake Theory now applies to everything in my life.

Have I used my own product? Have I tested it with the tools I give my customers? Does the website I just launched work on the devices that people have? Cheesecake Theory.

Eat your own dog food, use your product, test the things you make with the tools your customers have at their disposal.

Only then should you launch the product, website, restaurant, cheesecake, shoe, wristwatch or whatever it is you peddle.

After reading Gary Vaynerchuck’s Crush It! I decided that I should really focus on communicating with people through basic channels and converting every opportunity to into a sale.

Here are some things I’ve discovered about the different social media channels that I’ve been experimenting with over the past few months.

Twitter

Joined: October 2012
Followers: 167
Tweets: 248
Following: 99

I only really started tweeting in November when I launched NicSocks. Since then I have made it my goal to engage with people on Twitter about socks and sock-related fashion. All in all I find Twitter to be a great tool to interact with people about my brand, their concerns, questions and feelings towards what we sell, how we sell and where we sell.

Most of my interactions are with people who have just discovered our brand of sock and want a bit more information.

Numerous sales from direct interactions with people as well as retweets and references on Twitter.

Facebook

Joined: November 2012
Number of posts: 63
Likes: 133

Here’s a quick little “Insights” graph from the NicSocks FB page:

Massive highs and lows. Half of the likes I’ve received to the page are from friends and the largest reach I’ve had from a post was a picture of an article that was written about NicSocks in Entrepreneur Magazine.

I have received zero sales from my Facebook page and continue to receive likes from people who I know are already fans of the page and have purchased socks. I have focused a lot of my attention of Facebook thinking that it would be a great way to build the brand. I think that in the long, long run that may be the case but the last four months have seen very little actual impact on NicSocks from the page.

I’ve said this a lot in my professional life but what exactly does one do with a “like” on Facebook? In my experience so far, nothing.

Zero sales from Facebook.

Pinterest

Joined: February 2013
Boards: 6 (Boards NicSocks created)
Pins: 113 (Things NicSocks has pinned)
Likes: 54 (Things NicSocks liked)
Followers: 12
Following: 54

It took me a bit of time to realise that Pinterest was a social network that NicSocks would slide right into and could really do well on. With that said, once I joined Pinterest I wasn’t really sure what to do next. I decided that Pinterest would be a great place for NicSocks to begin positioning itself as a Men’s Fashion Brand.

I created 6 boards and began pinning things that were relevant to Men’s Fashion starting with pairs of NicSocks and things that Nic wore every day. I expanded into Statement Items, Shoes, Fashion tips and Outfits.

So far it has been a very hard slog on Pinterest. Lots of work uploading things, repinning, following people and liking other pins with very little return. But I think this one takes time to build so I’m sticking it out.

Zero sales from Pinterest.

Google+

Joined: January 2013
Followers: 3

Google+ is an absolute mystery to me. I’ve googled “How to build a page on Google+” with no luck. I’ve spent time looking at other pages and adding content, I’ve posted, shared circled and linked all without any joy. 3 followers and that’s about it.

Zero sales from Google+

Instagram

Joined:
Followers:
Following:

Here’s a quick snapshot of my Instagram:

Numerous sales from Instagram, globally and in South Africa

Tumblr
It’s not really even worth entering details around Tumblr. I found that this particular platform was one too many for me. I had a website, a blog, a twitter account and Facebook. All I was doing was reposting on tumblr to try and build an audience that was probably not going to notice I was there.

I started my Tumblr and about a month into it I gave up. Too much work to repost via mobile on so many different platforms. Tumblr was the one to get the chop.

Zero sales from Tumblr.

Blogs

The NicSocks blog is a pretty important part of the social media strategy. It’s where I post all of my content first, it’s where all of my social media links back to when I want to direct users to a message or a specific topic that requires discussion. For this reason I feel like there is great value in having and using the NicSocks blog.

I don’t have a massive readership yet via the blog but it’s something that I am building slowly, organically and using the various social media platforms you read about above.

They blog definitely hasn’t resulted in direct sales however it leads readers to my website, to sign up to my newsletter and to browse our shop so there is massive value.

Social media is a nebulas pit of tricks and tips and effort and time. If you’re willing to put in the time and effort to figure out the tricks and tips for yourself then you’ll gain the value. If you think social media is a quick way to make a name for your brand you’re hopelessly incorrect.

That’s not why I’m writing this blog post. Sitting there listening to and watching the show I was taken by how perfect of an experience the show was and started to wonder what I could learn.

Here are a few things I noticed:

Work with only the best

Every single person that formed part of the crew (performers, backstage staff, lighting, sound, band, etc) were absolutely brilliant at what they did. No exceptions. I can just imagine the shows director striving for perfection with every single part of the show. Don’t settle for anyone who is not the best.

Do one thing and do it well

This is not new but is absolutely imperative. No one in the show that I could see did more than one job. If you juggled in the show that’s all you do. You do it for maybe 10 minutes in the entire show but for that ten minutes you are the center of attention and the best at what you do. You don’t then pick up a skipping rope or a clown nose and do a jig. You juggle. Do one thing and do it well.

Every detail matters

Cirque has mastered the art of distraction. When they want you to look left a light flickers and you look left. Occasional that’s when I’ll choose to look right and see what’s going on. In many shows the crew is resting. In Cirque the crew is hustling. The performers are still going at it (in the dark) and playing their part. No detail is left unattended to. The costumes are immaculate, music is fantastic, lighting sets the mood, smoke appears when it needs to. Everything in it’s place.

Work harder than anyone else

Everyone things they work hard but the people who really do, know that they work harder than anyone else. Watching this show I got the feeling that no one works as hard as them. Why did I get that feeling? Because at no point was there a noticeable mistake and at no point did anyone take a rest even if they weren’t the center act. The performers knew what needed to be done, have practiced it a million times before and keep pushing each other to be better and work harder, the support staff are hustling to get the next act set up and the next act is already deep in it. No detail goes unattended.

Have fun

I have forgotten and remembered this particular lesson more times than I care to remember. Having fun is so important to ongoing success. The entire crew look like they have a ton of fun doing what they do. It’s a good thing too, cause if you have to work as hard for as long and notice every detail as much as they do, you best love what you do and have fun with it.

There is something fundamental in there that I believe is at the heart of a self-destructing startup culture in Silicon Valley.

The gist of the article is as follows: Francis Pedraza is trying to raise more funding (they already have $1.5m) for his startup, Everest. He sent an email to Mark Cuban that started as follows: Subject: Peter Thiel invested so you’re lucky I’m emailing you.

Mark didn’t respond well and told Pedranza that he wasn’t interested.

That’s all well and good and sometimes founders push too hard as Pedranza admits.

The thing that absolutely blows me away is this sentence from Pedranza about the desperate situation he’s in with regards to his staff: “If I don’t raise money, they don’t get paid.” I thought that for a business to be sustainable, grow and employ the best that it needed to generate enough revenue to pay staff and continue to be profitable? No?

This is how dire the situation has become in the Valley that revenue and profitability aren’t the main focus but raising funding to pay salaries is?

If I were Cuban I wouldn’t have invested in Everest either but for an entirely different reason.

If the CEO of a startup isn’t focused sufficiently on revenue and ultimately profitability then it’s all over before it’s begun.

Silicon Valley needs to stop looking at fund raising as success and start focusing on profitability.