Some bits of wisdom are truly timeless. As Steve Jobs explained to Apple employees upon his return to the company in 1997:
“To me, marketing is about values. This is a very complicated world, it’s a very noisy world. And we’re not going to get the chance to get people to remember much about us. No company is. So we have to be really clear on what we want them to know about us.”
That advice fits, whether you’re an independent brick and mortar merchant struggling to stay visible in a big box world -or- a grass roots movement reconnecting consumers to those same merchants. “People with passion,” as Jobs put it, “can change the world we live in.”
Take a few moments to watch the video, then ask yourself: Do I value the existence of local, independent, brick and mortar businesses in my community? If the answer is yes, ramp it up. Get active. Get out there.
When the search for someone to rebuild The 3/50 Project database began, so did the nightmares. Determined to stick with an independent brick and mortar, I started in Minnesota, quickly learning the only folks here who built on our required platform were home based businesses, a retailer I swore never to do business with again, and one particularly awful guy who researched me first, saw the logo of our past sponsor, then based his numbers on the assumption we had unlimited funds (which we all know wasn’t the case). Pretty eye-popping stuff. [click here to continue…]
And to think…this came without a press release or my prior knowledge. Can’t argue the fact it lends an enormous level of credibility to what we’re doing at The 3/50 Project.
It’s an age-old story: Single girl, single boy. She’s connected, he’s from the other side of the tracks. He pursues her, she declines (and declines, and declines).
But eventually, he finds the magic words. She gives him a chance. They date. Things get serious.
She ignores warnings from those familiar with the fellow while introducing (and defending) him to the family. They make their relationship official, giving him creditability within the circle of influence he’s admired from afar. They’re the golden couple at the Big Holiday Party.
Then, after the holidays have passed, her phone stops ringing. She calls, she emails. She wrestles for scraps of conversation.
After months of heartache, she quietly takes off the ring.
Then it happens. The inevitable. People begin asking questions.
Earlier this summer, two interesting (read: brow raising, eye popping, make-you-gasp-for-air) posts appeared on The 3/50 Project’s Facebook page, each beginning with the following line:
Well, color me happy. The initial launch phase of LookLocal is going beeeee-autifully, thanks to all you wonderful “pro-local” souls out there. So…where do things stand moving forward?
Android version
The Android platform is a bugger to build—more challenging than Apple’s iOS platform. Our genius coder is banging away on it, but admits it ain’t pretty (translated: it doesn’t function smoothly or as expected). As someone not open to launching a half-baked app, I’ve told the developer we’ll move forward only after everyone is convinced the Android version is bulletproof. Might take a while longer than expected, but I refuse to hand you something that will disappoint.
Updating those who didn’t update before
I’ve taken a lot of heat from Supporters who didn’t update their records in May and June, upset because they’re on the website but not in LookLocal. Admittedly, about the twenty-third time someone on Facebook got angry about it, my own patience began to wear thin (it stings to be chewed on when you busted your buns to help folks out with something that’s free to begin with). [click here to continue…]
How many groups and communities out there are publishing lists of independent brick and mortar merchants? (Answer: Not enough) How many consumers actually carry that list around? (Answer: Even fewer)
How do we fix this?
Answer: We give them the list on their smart phones.
