I started a business. It made me want to drink copious quantities, smoke myself into oblivion and hit my head against a brick wall. Instead I wrote a blog.
Site Launch Day: 17
User Count: 26
Going right: Visitors to the site highest ever yesterday.
Going wrong: Can't for the life of me after 3 hours of studying the analytics, figure out why.
Comment: If I can't figure out what I do right, how am I supposed to know what I am doing wrong?
Copy writing. I've mentioned it before. It's the bane of my life. And that front page text has been changed more than a pair of whore's knickers.
During this cycle of beta testing, I have asked many, many, many people to click onto the website and give me their feedback on what they see. Some have actually done it. Forget Myers Briggs. I have a better test of personality.
Some people get it straight off. They get excited. Passionate even. Those are the analytical geeky guys/gals.
Some get confused.
"What are you? Like a one stop shop for independent consultants?" (Thanks btw to the adviser who gave me that, I liked it and put it on there. It's cheesy, but am partial to cheese). These are the old-school in-the-box thinkers. Good solid professionals but wary of change...
"There are too many messages." That's from the people that are sales & marketing focused. And then they quote business school theory at me.
"As the client, you should tell me what is in it for me." Yes thank you, I read that book too.
"You should have something that my granny could understand in 15 seconds."
What the hell is your granny doing there on the first place?
"Change your company name, Investment Impact makes me think of banks."
Price Waterhouse Coopers is not a self-explanatory name (is it a department store? a Law firm? a consultancy that Prices Without Conscience? Who knows...) and certainly not more self-explanatory than Investment Impact. But it's already famous (or infamous). It has leeway that I don't yet have.
The difficulty is that I have two distinct segments that I have to attract. Consultants and Clients. But for me they're all USERS. Most consultants will download some files, even if it's just the free ones. And any user can be an expert and in fact all of them will be in something.
"Everybody is a genius. But if you judge a fish by its ability to climb a tree, it will live its whole life believing that it is stupid." - Albert Einstein
The way I have designed the model is to attract a type of User. Experts. People seeking experts. Not the so-called 'clients'.....
But hold up! They won't earn you any money! (See, I can hear you from here). My goal is to create a community first. If the community is excellent and thriving, then the clients will come.Why do I think this? Because of my own hormones...
My favorite haunt in Paris is Le Violon Dingue. I loved it so much that once they had to carry me out. Ahem. And most bars' policies are to employ empty-headed young girls dressing them in tight promotional lucky strike t-shirts and short skirts.
To the US - think Hooters.
Now Hooters is all very well, but it doesn't attract many women. Le Violon Dingue has a different policy. They employ 5-7 20-something, handsome Irish lads.
To the girls - think Ronan Keating or Cillian Murphy gazing at you with bright blue eyes, serving you a Pina Colada (in an Irish accent) and doing Tom Cruise style tricks behind the bar. Wet yet?
Where girls go, men follow. Le Violon Dingue gets many, many customers by knowing human nature.
Back to Investment Impact."Why don't you change the tag line so its more obvious? 'We can see the future' - what does that mean anyway?"
We can see the future. We have a superpower that other consultancies don't have. We can help you make the right decisions at the right time and make sure your investment is the right one. The prophesy tagline is the bit I love. Makes me feel like I'm Neo in The Matrix.
My goal is to make the site attractive to consultants, experts and analysts, especially those who are new-wave and innovative, dedicated to excellence, those who are committed to co-creating their lives and changing the world. And hopefully the clients will come, attracted to the excellence like flies to shit. Or the other less rude expression that escapes me right now.