willie jackson

Blog

  • Your outlook

    If you look for the good in people, you will find it.

    If you share kindness and generosity with the world, you will have a never-ending supply.

    If you treat your craft with the sensitivity and spirituality that Steve Pressfield does, it will reward you.

    If you desire change and act with boldness when opportunities presents themselves, you will be rewarded with adventure.

    If you do the things that terrify you most and cultivate a habit of this, your life will unlock itself.

    Don’t take my word for it, though.

  • Thoughts on Uber

    Uber is a service that’s halfway between a personal driver and a taxi.

    It’s more expensive than a cab, but it’s magic when it works. You start by registering for an account and putting your credit card on file (the brilliance of this comes to light in a moment). You then download the Uber app onto your iOS or Android device and sign in.

    Once launched, the app gives you a realtime view of the cars available in the area. Once you position the marker on your location (it does its best to locate you with GPS, and gives you the option to place the marker manually or type in the address), you select “Set Pickup Location” and then “Request pickup here” to call for a vehicle.

    Depending on a few factors such as time of day, your location, and how busy they are, your vehicle generally arrives in 5 to 30 minutes. I’ve been picked up in luxury sedans, SUVs, and coupes. The driver verifies who you are, asks you where you’re headed, and then you’re off to the races.

    The experience

    Uber doesn’t own vehicles itself, just the software powering the app, so they contract with companies that provide the drivers. Some drivers are more enjoyable to ride with and are more familiar with Uber “culture” than others of course, depending on how long they’ve been working with the company.

    Some vehicles are equipped with wifi, computers, iPads that control the stereo, and all manner of madness. Others are just regular Town Cars.

    When you reach your destination — and here’s what seals the deal for me — there’s no friction. The distance has been logged via GPS, and your credit card is on file, so you just hop out and get charged automatically.

    Here’s what I would do if I ran Uber

    • I would have a special vehicle in the lineup on Saturday nights only. Maybe a Bentley, a Ferrari, or a Hummer. The excitement, scarcity, and marketing are baked in.
    • There would be some data analysis around what people are saying, and figure out how to delight them in the event that they are disappointed. It could be with a free ride, a service credit, or simply a tweet expressing sympathy. Something.
    • An algorithm for identifying customer experiences that fall below an excellence threshold: if a certain number of failed requests (Uber can’t always locate you a vehicle) take place by a single user, someone’s internally needs to be notified.
    • For customers who spend over $1,000 per month or more on Uber, I would offer a greater level of personalization: what car they like, what driver they prefer, and even what they like playing on the radio. There’s no rule against that.

    And then I would update the homepage. It does the service no justice.

  • Expensive is cheap

    I had a discussion recently with a very successful entrepreneur who was hiring my team for some work. He needed some work done urgently, regardless of the price.

    He didn’t flinch at the price quoted, and was pleased to pay more for good work. He said, “You know Willie, one of the things I’ve learned…is that expensive is cheap.”

  • Execution matters

    Yesterday, I saw a friend announce a project he’s been working on.

    Several months ago, I gave him the idea. Since then, there was no word of him working on it or even considering it beyond the requisite, “that’s a really good idea” formalities.

    I experienced the full spectrum of emotions.

    Excitement that the idea had been used, confusion that I wasn’t made aware of the project’s development, and petty (and unrealistic) frustration that I wasn’t acknowledged in the pre-announcement.

    None of that matters, though.

    My friend took the idea (there’s actually no guarantee that the idea was new to him when I mentioned it, but it makes for a great story to assume) and actually did something with it.

    “Idea people” (in this context, I mean people who never ship anything, but rather spend their time spouting off ideas for everyone while avoiding the hard work of creation) represent the antithesis of people who ship.

    I wouldn’t consider myself (just) an idea person, but you can think of me as one in this example to illustrate the point.

    Few ideas executed brilliantly are original. As a matter of fact, original ideas — so far as I can tell — rarely result in commercial success. But the people who take the time to execute on things properly, and see things through to completion, win. Often.

    Could I have moved on the project myself? Well of course I could have.

    But I didn’t.

    Too bad.

  • Freelancer pricing

    Herein lies the ultimate, foolproof plan for getting started when freelancing and trying to determine your pricing.

    It is an exhaustive and comprehensive summary of everything I’ve learned as a freelancer, and what is perhaps the most effective path to financial success in this space.

    Without further ado:

    1. Make something up.

  • Twitter Stories

    Twitter has launched an effort to highlight amazing stories contained in a single tweet.

    Today we’re launching the first in a series of Twitter stories. Read about a single Tweet that helped save a bookstore from going out of business; an athlete who took a hundred of his followers out to a crab dinner; and, Japanese fishermen who use Twitter to sell their catch before returning to shore. Each story reminds us of the humanity behind Tweets that make the world smaller.

    The brilliance is that it’s so easy to participate (and more importantly, to spread the remarkable ones), and the one-tweet format is in line with the Twitter ethos.

    One of the first contributions in my timeline was from a friend:

    @jessicalawrence: In the past year, a job, an apartment, and the amazing man in my life have all come from Twitter. #TwitterStories

    I can relate.

    I’ve met dozens of great friends, solved many problems, secured many clients, and witnessed many small miracles through the power of Twitter over the past year or two.

    This isn’t just about Twitter of course, it’s how our ever-connected society is interacting in new ways. The significance of geographic location is quickly fading, and giving way to an era in which we are all instantly connected across a variety of platforms.

    The challenge is to do something with this that’s more substantial than learning what a friend in Brussels is having for lunch.

  • Street King

    50 Cent is probably smarter than you.

    One of the things I enjoy studying most is the business success stories behind the names we know and love in the entertainment industry. Curtis “50 Cent” Jackson is adored by fans for his music catalogue, but I’ve long since been enamored by 50 for his marketing savvy and business prowess.

    I came to fully appreciate the brilliance behind 50 Cent’s operation upon reading The 50th Law, which has become one of my favorite books.

    It details the story behind 50’s astronomical success and how he made the leap from street hustler to music mogul and successful entrepreneur.

    The underlying concept, however, is developing an utter fearlessness in all aspects of life. It’s a powerful book, and one that I re-read often.

    50’s latest project is called Street King, which represents his effort with the United Nations World Food Programme to combat world hunger.

    “I want to feed a billion kids and I need your help to do it. I need you to utilize your energy, your voice, to provide additional motivation for me at times. My new project is called SK, Street King and y’all know the plan.”

    It’s an energy “shot” that has a humanitarian slant: every bottle sold provides a meal for an impoverished child. The effort was conceived during a trip 50 made to Africa, which opened his eyes to the devastation poverty and hunger.

    I think this is the future of entrepreneurship. Social good combined with sound business and powerful brands like 50s make for a formidable combination.

    Good on you, 50.

    Fun fact: the Street Kings website runs WordPress and CloudFlare. Neat.

  • Being Elmo

    Kevin Clash is a big kid.

    “When I was nine years old, it was just a dream that I had — wow, I wish that I could work with the Muppets.“

    He also happens to be the voice, soul, and heart of the Elmo. Being Elmo: A Puppeteer’s Journey is a documentary about the international icon and his brilliant creator.

    The film, created by Constance Marks, follows Kevin’s improbable journey from his parents’ tiny house in Baltimore — where, at age 9 he knew that he wanted to make Muppets and work on Sesame Street — to New York City, where he was mentored by and worked with such luminaries as Frank Oz, Kermit Love, and the legendary Jim Henson.

    It’s a moving story of love, passion, and how a singular focus on your dreams can alter the course of your life (and the lives of countless others).

    “If everybody else your age is doing something very different than what you’re doing, there’s always gonna be someone saying that you might not succeed…you might not make any money with that…and all of those things will go away if you really focus on what makes you happy.”

    Me, Elmo, and Kevin

    See if the film is playing in your area.

  • Eliminating deliberation

    One of the most deceptive and seductive tactics that Resistance uses against us is the feeling that we’re making progress towards our goals when we’re not.

    We invent tasks and activities and never-ending checklists for ourselves to complete before we give ourself permission to do the hard work of actually getting started. And make no mistake, that is absolutely the hardest part.

    An example would be an aspiring programmer who—instead of sitting down and cranking out line after line of bad code (until it improves)—spends three months seeking out the best programming books available, reading every interview done by their favorite technologists, and emailing programmer friends (and anyone who will listen…) for advice on how to get started.

    Another example is the aspiring sound engineer who puts off honing their craft because they’re saving up for a prohibitively expensive piece of software used by pros (and completely overkill for amateurs), when there are comparable free and open-source programs that would be just fine to begin with.

    There will always be a reason why today is not the best day, why circumstances are not ideal, and why the timing isn’t right. Eliminating deliberation is how you win.

  • Shoe science

    …or, “not really.”

    It looks like Nike tried to emulate the magic of Apple product videos and fell short in a major way. It’s almost painful to hear the cliches being dropped, and it doesn’t help that there’s not much in the way of actual shoe science being discussed at all.

    I’m a bit disappointed with Nike’s efforts here. Not sure they tried very hard.

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?NR=1&v=D8YbNCPZxXQ

    [Email and RSS subscribers: here’s a link to the video embedded in the post]