How To Get Started

I was recently featured in an article cross-posted on Bnet and Yahoo!, called “7 Spectacular Career Comebacks-From Real People” in which I talked about the silver lining of getting fired.

That little paragraph brought tens of thousands of visitors to the Majabra website. Many of whom asked how I “got started”. But really, when we get right down to it, those people want to know how they themselves can get started. Well, sorry if I made it sound easy. Cause it isn’t.

Starting a business of any kind is hard. It takes a strong work ethic, and real faith. It causes stress. Many times it isn’t fun, although you used to relish doing what you now do all day. You work way more hours than you ever did when someone else was paying your salary. Plus, there’s all this other stuff you have to do which has nothing to do with art and design, and everything to do with managing a business.

My favorite email was from a person who asked me to think up a business for them, propose it to them, and teach them– no — “mentor” them to run it. True story. I guess I’ll never know whether that was a joke, but it sure was funny to me.

So for everyone who asked, the abridged answer is: you have to want to do it, you have to build it, and then you have to sustain it, so that it can sustain you. Just like everything else in life.

Read the rest of this page »

A Chicken-Or-The-Egg Question

I’m a huge fan of Mad Men. I wait for it all week with anticipation. Usually there’s some exchange during the show that sticks with me and I end up thinking about it for the rest of the week.

In this last episode, there’s a series of scenes revolving around a focus group of about 6 women to discuss Ponds Cold Cream; scenes unfold around this central event revealing characters and motivations and drama of course. But what really stuck with me was the resultant argument later in the show– a philosophical argument between Don Draper, lead creative at the agency, and the woman running the focus group.

Don, in a nutshell, states that the focus group is ridiculous, none of it matters. That women gave the responses about life (and cold cream) that they gave because that’s all they know. He contends that he can change their minds, make them think new things, want new things, things they’ve never dreamed– all with his powers of persuasion and marketing. All he has to do is build the campaign, and the women will change how they think. And, buy the product.

She (the focus group leader whose character name I don’t recall) states that the data collected in casual conversation with the focus group is in fact important, because its who you are that shapes what you buy. She contends that the data collected about the women gave the marketing team a better picture of the women to whom they’re selling. At the end of the day, the creative agency can make a better, more informed pitch to the consumer, and get them to buy the product.

The characters agree to disagree and the scene is over.

However in my mind, the debate continues, and will continue until the next episode. For me, it’s a chicken-or-the-egg question; Do we buy things because we’re told we want them? Or do we buy things because we want, and the product speaks to us? Or, is it both? is it neither?

Read the rest of this page »

Customer Service Isn’t Polite

Millions of companies pledge to us in their mission statements that the time we spend on the phone with their various help centers and service providers will be pleasant, and rewarding. But we all know it’s not. Our experiences depend completely on who you get routed to. It’s a crap shoot; you never know whether you’re gonna win or lose. But odds are, you won’t win. There is nothing more frustrating than sitting on the phone for 20 minutes, only to have your call answered by someone who is either powerless or cares not to help you, all the while apologizing profusely for your problem and mispronouncing your name.

Read the rest of this page »

Non-Traditional is Scary

Would you freak out if your letterhead was different from everyone else’s? What about if your business card was made of plastic instead of paper? Did you ever think of having a stamp made with your logo so that you could just stamp it on anything, from brown shipping boxes to proposals? Or how about stickers? use them to close an envelope, or stick it on the coin drop when you go through a tollbooth. That’s what everyone else does with those things.

Chances are, you’re going to go with the traditional, letterhead (name at top or lefthand corner) , and non-shocking business card. Is it because you want to look respectable? Or because nobody else uses non-traditional media for these things and… you might look weird? or are you just a scaredy cat?

I’m just asking you to challenge your own perceptions. Ask yourself, WHY am I hung up on this idea of respectable and classic? What does that even mean, if you don’t stand out from the competition? Come, think outside of the box with me. It’s ok, we’re just thinking.

Read the rest of this page »

Branding Oneself

The redesign and relaunch of this site has taken longer than expected, required more thought, energy, soul-searcing and caffeine than any other project I’ve approached. It made me appreciate what start-up clients must go through when embarking on a design project with Majabra, if they’re new to us, and if they don’t know what they want.

Apparently, I had no idea what I wanted. And no clue how to really present my own company. And, still, the site is evolving like any work of art. But as it turns out, I think that’s what I wanted. And I didn’t know then, but now I do.

I wonder what I’ve learned here that can help smooth out the design and decision-making processes with clients?

Read the rest of this page »

Everything I needed to know about business…

…I learned while waiting tables.

I was a terrible waitress. The kind that gets complaint letters sent to the restaurant.

It wasn’t because I was mean to the customers, I just didn’t have the sort of brain that could handle the job. Or so I thought. And when it got busy, really busy, I was dropping orders and forgetting stuff all over the place. But, I learned a few things.

lesson 1: it’s all about customer service. Every single action is about customer service. Every drink or salad that you forget says “you’re not important” to a customer. Every smile, or unrequested drink refill says “you matter to us”. This is a fundamental of customer service.

Read the rest of this page »

Added Value, Added Customers

I’ve been in many conversations these days about social media, and using online communities to create buzz for a product or a company or a brand. These talks all seem to go the same way: We sit around and brainstorm about it, although we’re not really brainstorming. We’re talking about all the ways in which we don’t know how to make it work. Then, we start sharing anecdotes and surfing Youtube and Facebook, showing each other success stories, viral content, and other social network ad campaigns that “just worked”. But we never define what makes them work.

Read the rest of this page »