Jonothan Stribling

I recently built this website for my wife using WordPress.Yes I know, working with family can be hard. I have the scars to prove it but for a custom written theme I think it looks OK. There is still some work to go but let me know what you think.

My wife is an artist, a Masters graduate, a former phd student, a singer and a wonderful mother. She wanted her website to reflect her wide interests and love for crazy form – the alphabet, mythical animals, and crazy stuff. It needed to be a base she could build upon with art, poetics and even some nice photos.

Working with Natalie was challenging because we’re both stubborn and can be forceful when we don’t think we’re getting our way. After many heated discussions Natalie would get her way because her creative instincts are spot on and what she wanted was always right.

There will be more done to the site including adding a cool shop to sell some art objects that I just know are going to make people very happy. And what could be more important than that?

When the first British colonialists arrived in Western Australia and saw black swans they thought they were in topsy turvy land. Swans were of course white and only white. A black swan challenged the status quo and excited the dreamy abut other possibilities for this strange land they called Australia.

We all grow up with values that are self-evident and so obvious to us that they appear as Truths set in monolithic stone. And then as our brains develop we start to challenge the truths in a orgiastic explosion of adolescent hormones. Then finally as our brains start to decay some of us revert to type and dig up the Truths once held so dear and inevitably pass them on to their children.

Such is life.

Depressing isn’t it. Of course some well-adjusted (or maladjusted depending on your point of view) teenagers never question the values which have been passed down generation by generation. These children grow up to live near their parents, vote for the same political parties, and lead fulfilling albeit safe lives. Unfortunately this can include views about religion, race, sex, gender, and boat people.

In the first world challenging the status quo is for the most part valued by society. Our adversarial political system is geared towards a simplistic binary opposition which encourages at least a spark of creative thinking. It is only from challenging the status quo that beautifully, creative, destructive, and magical ideas can emerge from the beige concrete of the norm.

One of the first times I became aware that I wasn’t as free a thinker that I thought I was. I was waiting for a ferry to an Indonesian island from Singapore early one morning and needed a coffee and some breakfast. Everywhere I looked the food stalls were selling noodles which were. Don’t happily slurped by the locals. There were no western type foods around and I settled for a tea. I was exposed to difference in a small but real way as only travel can.

When I find myself being particularly certain about an idea or concept I think about noodles for breakfast and black swans, and generally change my point of view.

A mate of mine was telling me that he blogs all his meetings to inform his team about what’s happening and what he is promising clients.

He works in a large healthcare network with thousands of staff so stakeholder management, transparency, and cost control is very important. He told me that the blogging meant he didn’t have to repeat conversations and everyone was kept informed.

I reckon this is a nifty way to use social media tools to manage a team. It’s inexpensive, easy to use, and easily allows for team engagement. Sure Basecamp works great for project management and remote teams but this is just cool and innovative.

Do you use social media in an innovative way to manage a team?

I spent some time yesterday with a bloke who ran a web design business that has built a great platform covering all the bases for a small business website, from brochure to feature rich online store. I can’t disclose the name of the business but there were a few things that impressed me about their approach and it wasn’t their technology.

Don’t get me wrong, their technology is great but it doesn’t set them apart from the multitude of businesses with mature web platforms like Adobe’s Business Catalyst, Yola, Weebly, Wix and BigCommerce. Their tech does all that you would expect a web publishing platform to do including forms, pages, galleries, email marketing, shopping carts, pricing levels, metrics and so on. The technology is fine, what sets them apart is their approach to the customer.

Everything is geared towards ensuring the customer has a delightful experience. Everything.

The proof of their success is that they have had only three cancellations in three years. Out of thousands of customers only three had been so unhappy that they have taken their business elsewhere. That is pretty goddam impressive.

So how do they do it?

Simple. They make the customer feel like the most important person in the relationship. This isn’t the typical relationship between the all knowing web dude and uninformed customer. It is a relationship where everything is structured so the customer gets a great result from their website from the pre-sales to well after launch.

They do this in two simple ways.

The first and most important way they make their customer feel like a star is by talking once every month for 45 minutes. This is included in every website price and let’s the customer know what is happening with their website, what they should be focussing on, and gives the a opportunity to ask questions and manage their online channel with the assistance of professionals eager to help.

This is superb customer service and the essence of being a social business. Do what makes your customers happy an nothing else!

The second way they approach their business differently is by documenting every process and I mean every process. Whether their staff are pitching a deal, servicing a customer, or managing a design brief everything is documented so their is no room for error. The customer will get the same service everything they interact regardless of the staff. Simple but very very effective.

What I recognised about this business is that their are no technology businesses only people businesses. Any business that becomes obsessed by the tech and forgets the customer is doomed to disappoint. The technology is simply an enabler to make customers lives easier. The next time a geek or techie goes on and on about tech remind them about who uses technology.

How could you approach your customers differently? Would a phone call once a month make them happy?

Yesterday I went to a Natalie’s Uncle’s funeral in the country. He was a parish priest there for some time and the church was packed with people wanting to celebrate his life and contribution to their lives. The church was so full people were seated outside underneath the palm trees listening to the service via speakers. Princess Diana it wasn’t, but this was clearly the funeral of a loved and respected man.

There is nothing like facing up to the inevitability of death to motivate and throw into question. As I ate a sandwich at the wake and looked around the church hall I noticed that most of the people were at the end of their lives. If they hadn’t done it already they were never gonna do it. Health or money concerns would stop them. It struck me that the excuses we make about not embracing life and taking risks would seem feeble to the pensioners struggling with walking frames and oxygen tanks. They would give anything to have the opportunity to take a risk and fuck up.

The other thing that struck me was that Natalie’s uncle died poor, well he was a priest, so all the people celebrating his life were there for his deeds not his bank balance or toys.

Throw an entire life into context and it is clear that life is about living for the now and being a good person, not worry, anxiety and excuses.

So what is more important to you, respect or wealth?
Vale Uncle Frank