Nic’s blog
I write about building businesses, failing and building a life, not a legacy.
Living at the Forefront of Incompetence
A few months ago I was asked to attend a TEDx Cape Town event. I did and I was lucky enough to be selected as one of the speakers for 2013.After weeks of practice and years of failed experience to speak about I managed to prepare a talk that I am quite proud of.When we were working on Motribe I started feeling like I was a incompetent with some of the tasks that I was presented with very often. I started speaking to other entrepreneurs I knew and realised that they felt the same way. So I started to dig a little deeper and noted a trend of smart people making themselves uncomfortable and diving into fields in which they were incompetent.This is what my TEDx Cape Town 2013 talk was all about. When you feel like you are at your most scared, confused and incompetent you are probably on the cusp of something great.I urge everyone to join me in a state of incompetence.
Imperial acquires ForeFront Africa
In January I started a mobile strategy and technology company with Tracy Langdon-Surkont called ForeFront Africa. We worked hard to claim some key clients and partners and were set on growing a business with a footprint in Africa.We both had some very specific goals in mind and the main one was to be as profitable as possible, as quickly as possible. The way we did this was to sign high-value, fast growing clients and to really place value on our skill set.This paid off as we piqued the interest of Imperial Holdings with whom we were doing some work. Ultimately this interest ended in Imperial acquiring a stake in our business.I'm extremely proud of what Tracy and I have managed to do in such a short period of time. We're both really excited to be working with one of the largest and most successful organisations in South Africa. Tracy and I are staying on in the business and our intention is to grow the company into the most recognisable mobile brand in Africa.Here's the official press release that was sent out this week:
IMPERIAL GOES MOBILE, BUYS FOREFRONT AFRICA
Listed entity, Imperial Holdings is entering the mobile and telecommunications industries with the recent acquisition of mobile technology firm ForeFront Africa (FFA). The company will form part of the newly launched Resolve brand and become Resolve Mobile. This will allow the companies to work together seamlessly and provide the best possible digital and mobile strategies to the group, as well as clients and partners."Imperial is excited to enter into the strategically critical mobile technology arena alongside a team with such notable skill and extensive African experience,” says Cobus Rossouw, Chief Integration Officer. “We are now well placed to partner our clients in leveraging the potential of mobile commerce in their value chains.”Tracy Langdon Surkont and Nicholas Haralambous founded ForeFront Africa in 2013 after both recently exiting separate ventures and having worked together at Vodacom SA. The company was founded after Haralambous and Surkont spotted a market requirement for skilled mobile talent willing to work in African countries with experience in those markets. "Tracy and I knew that we were onto something after founding the company when we were approached by companies throughout Africa and further afield to make use of our services," says Haralambous. “Partnering with Imperial Holdings will bring massive opportunities to our company and assist in growth which we would have battled to achieve otherwise.”Resolve Mobile’s clients include WASPs, mobile network operators as well as social networks from around the world. Surkont says that FFA has experience and a grasp of the market that few others have, "We understand that the market is complicated, each country in Africa needs unique attention and each company brings with it a different offering and unique requirements."/Ends
Mobile adverts without mobile websites
I am completed flawed by the Daily Mail (MailOnline) and not in a good way.I clicked on a link on my mobile device and unfortunately was taken to the MailOnline website. What I was greeted with was a popup generic iPhone notification which the MailOnline had pushed onto my device .The part that flawed me is the site behind the advert isn't even mobile optimised.Way to get it wrong.
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How making money ruined a good game
A couple of weeks ago I started playing a game on my phone called Bowling Friends. It's a game that allows you to play turn based ten pin bowling against your friends. Simple and effective idea. 
Initially the business model was one that worked: upgrades in the game. You can pay to receive more coins and gems which help you unlock better bowling balls and bowling alleys to play in. The better the bowling ball, the more your game improves and the better chance you have of beating your friends. Simple and effective.
I spent about $2 on coins and upgraded my bowling ball to a place where I was content.Then the app makers released an upgrade and all of a sudden there were adverts in the game. Everywhere. This is clearly not an innocent mistake. The adverts are post-game and force you to watch a 10 second video and you are then prompted with an advert screen allowing you to click the advert or close it.
There are also adverts every so often that cover the home screen. The reason this isn't an innocent mistake from game devs trying to make some money is because if you now go into the story you'll see a new product that allows you to remove adverts for $1.99.
This is infuriating. The game developers were onto something so simple and so great but they got greedy. They shoved banner and video ads into a seamless gaming experience and have ruined their core product offering.What they could have done was play the long game, be calm and hold their ground. There's no need to rush the money. You need to grow your user base and then monetize them. Right now I feel like I've been cheated and then forced to pay to "uncheat" my experience. I'm not the only one either. I've got friends who have stopped playing the game because of the terrible user experience now being presented.There's lesson in this for all app, web and game developers; be good at one thing. In fact, be so good at one thing that people will pay you to enjoy the experience. Don't trick your users into loving your product and then force them to watch adverts and pay you to remove them. That's called racketeering.
Starting a business makes you a sales person
Whether you like it or not when you start your own business you immediately become a sales person.No one is going to promote your company for you. No one is going to sell your products harder than you will. No one should know your business better than you do.With the popularising of social media it has become even more important that everyone understand that social media like Twitter, Facebook and Instagram are being used as a sales tool whether you acknowledge it or not. Customers are looking for you, finding you, reading your content and you are missing out on sales if you're not thinking like a sales person.So if you haven't realised it yet and you're sitting around waiting for the sales to pour in, ask yourself, when was the last time you peddled your own product?
South Africa is Not Sub Saharan Africa
The improvement of the world needs to be highly contextualised. In fact, everything needs context to be relevant.The above video of Hans Rosling is mind-bending. At the 15 minute mark he talks about Africa and how we cannot provide a single solution to a problem like HIV/Aids. We need to provide a contextualised solution for each and every region being dealt with.This is true of almost every interaction that I have with businesses and individuals (local or foreign) wanting to target Africa. It's phenomenal how shallow our understand is of the vastness of the continent when it comes to culture, language, societal norms, likes and dislikes.Africa is not a country just as South Africa is not a reference to a region.Educate yourself.
Be smart, be niche, be mobile
Fragmentation and fierce competition are enemies of one size fits all mobile solutions.Mobile is the not-so-new-hotness. There are many, many, many companies and people building products and apps targeting mobile first and mobile only. But there aren't many who are succeeding.The reasons for failure are often simple and obvious and easily avoidable.
Device fragmentation
Pick a device.If you choose the right device for your application, website or product and this device is relevant to your target market then you wont have to support every device under the sun upfront.Test your market with a single device or OS, just make sure you choose it wisely and own it. For example, in Africa, if you can build something for the Nokia S40 devices and it works, you'll do just fine.
Market fragmentation
Pick your market. Be it a country, city, gender, age group, creed, all off the above or none. Just pick one and go after like a you are possessed.
Country
Pick a country. You can't be everything to everyone all the time right off the bat. Conquer a single country and then consider moving on to another.
City
Maybe consider picking a city. Some cities, like Lagos, have nearly 20 million people in them. That's not a bad place to start.
Age
You cannot market a product targeting every age. That's just not realistic. A 13 year old is not looking for the same things as a 60 year old. And don't tell me that if Facebook can do it, so can you. Facebook started with a single age demographic.
Attention Deficit
Users are constantly being nagged for their attention.The product you are nagging me about needs to make me feel like I can't live without it. The applications and products that do this best for me are the ones that do a single thing amazingly well. I don't have a single app that handles photography, social, music, video and everything else all in one. That's called a mobile phone.Your app needs to do one thing and be the absolute best at that one thing to grab (and keep) my attention.
Niche, Niche, Niche
The chances are that your product, app or website is not going to compete with Amazon, Google, Facebook, Twitter, Instagram or even the local equivalents of these behemoths. Something you build may one day grow into a competitor to these players but they all started in a niche; search, photography, university.Pick your niche and go after it like there's no tomorrow for your company. Don't let anything stand in your way. Own that niche, make it yours and dig a moat that prevents anyone else from owning it. Then expand that niche little by little. This is how you build a sustainable business.
Connected Business and Collective Success
For a while now I've been trying to get to grips with the South African (and larger African) technology space. I've been trying to understand what makes us what we are and/or what differentiates us from other technology spaces around the globe, good or bad.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.
The NicSocks Website Redesign
Starting NicSocks was an attempt at lean fashion ecommerce creation. With the help of the amazing skills over at Obox we launched a quick and effective site seen here:
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!
A Phoenix Sale: Failed orders turned into sales
I absolutely love ecommerce but I cannot stand losing a sale.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.
Pay on time, every time
Many small businesses struggle with delayed payments and cashflow management. I did at Motribe. So when I started up NicSocks I decided to try something different; I set out to pay any and all invoices on the day (and most often within the hour) that were sent to me.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.
What the world needs is another publishing platform...
I have been blogging since 2005 in a variety of forms and on a multitude of platforms. What I can tell you about blogging is that it is very rarely about the platform that a writer uses that makes the writing readable or the content good.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.
Cape Town's first social sock photo shoot
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.
The Cheesecake Theory
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.
How I use social media to build brand and sell socks
Since launching NicSocks we've been lucky to have many people visit the site, follow us on our various social media platforms, buy socks and actually sign up for our subscription sock offering.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.
Joined: October 2012Followers: 167Tweets: 248Following: 99I 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.
Joined: November 2012Number of posts: 63Likes: 133Here'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.
Joined: February 2013Boards: 6 (Boards NicSocks created)Pins: 113 (Things NicSocks has pinned)Likes: 54 (Things NicSocks liked)Followers: 12Following: 54It 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 2013Followers: 3Google+ 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+
Joined:Followers:Following:Here's a quick snapshot of my Instagram:
Numerous sales from Instagram, globally and in South AfricaTumblrIt'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.
Business lessons from Cirque du Soleil
Last night I went to see DRALION by Cirque du Soleil - presented by T-Systems. It was one of the most visual stimulating things that I have witnessed in recent years. In fact it was an all-round sensory experience not to be missed.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.