My wife tells me that birth is painful. I intellectually understand that but it wasn’t happening to me when she gave birth to our sons. I was only there in the delivery to be yelled at.

Today, is the soft launch of the new website (my third since 2000) that will go along with the new book, Bounce! which will be release in January. It has been a painful project to reorganize and rethink all the content from my “Frankensite” that we developed 5 years ago especially with the Web 2.0 technologies that are now available. I decied to go with Wordpress throughout the site so it would have the optimal technical design. The site is now a start.

I want to thank Susan Nigrosh (web), BJ (I don’t even know her last name, but the wordpress maven), Laura Roeder (Design), and Mary Jane Grinstead (editing). I want to thank Katherine Stoica in advance since she will be keeping the website updated and dynamic.

The most difficult part about working with so many people with a variety of expertise is to coordinate all the skills and opinions. This project was no different. Thank you to all of you for cooperating working together and showing me what teamwork is all about.

I talk in my speeches about the fact that the only sustainable competitive advantage is outstanding customer service (or as I call it Crazy Customer Service). This past week, I had one of the worst customer service experiences ever at the hands of the cable monopoly that brands itself Comcast.

At a second home we just purchased, I drove 2 hours to meet the Comcast cable person. Unlike real businesses, these utilities give you a three hour window in which they will show up. (in this case 1-4 pm). I hate waiting for anyone, but I understand you have to make sacrifices if you want to get the services (internet, cable and phone) of a monopolistic giant like Comcast. I dutifully waited my 3 hours after driving 2 hours (total elapsed time for Comcast so far 5 hours). At 4:00 PM, I called and they said they would be 15 more minutes, but not to worry, they had an ontime guarantee (they would credit my account with $20). After not showing up over the next 2 hours, I called again at 4:30, 4:45, 5:00, 5:30. At 5:30, they said they would be there every time in 15 minutes. Finally they set the time at 6:30. I left at 6:00 PM to walk down the street to make another phone call, since there is no cell service at my house. At 6:07 I get a call saying the cable guy was there and left (since I was not home) and did I want to RESCHEDULE! I had waited 5 hours plus a 4 hour drive (round trip) and now I would get no cable today. Somehow, the cable person sneaked on my property and left within a few minutes. Needless to say I was furious.I had waited 5 hours for them and he couldn’t wait out of respect 5 minutes? This certainly is customer cruelty.

When I called to complain, they offered a free installation ($59) for my 9 hour wait the next time I wanted them out there. Ridiculous. In fact, the supervisor took no responsibility for this and said "that’s just the way it is". If one of my bills was late, do think I could say that’s the way it is?

Imagine if I said to one of my clients that I was to give a speech to at 9:00 AM that I would show up to speak between 8 AM and 11 AM and that the audience should just wait? Imagine if you did that to one of your clients? I understand that Comcast does these 3 hour slots so they can better utilize their service people in the field since they do not know how long it will take to do a call. But better utilization should never be at the expense of the customer. They may have utilized the service person well that day but they burn through 9 hours of my time. Where is the respect for the customer?

Over the long run, I hope to believe that this hurts Comcast’s business when more customers like me get tired of waiting and waiting and waiting. Although, the market does not strictly determine these things since in this part of the country, there are no other choices for the bundle of services Comcast provides.

I am not sure who said this, but I frequently think back on this quote. In our business society we are constantly told to drive to that next goal with laser precision. We specialize too early in our careers. A bit a wandering is good. Think back on that last vacation where a day was not overscheduled and you just did whatever came up. Remember the things you discovered about where you were? Remember the things you discovered about yourself?

According to Hesh Reinfeld,

If paranoia is the mistaken belief that you have enemies, then pronoia is the mistaken belief that you have friends. You may succumb to this belief when none of your customers openly tell you that they hate you, so their silence is interpreted as a sign of affection. 

I am a movie guy. Last Friday night while I was in Portland, I had the pleasure of seeing the 90 minute Irish Film, Once. This movie is the 2007 equivilent of a musical. I was glued to the screen. Run don’t walk to see this movie if it is stil playing by you.

What is most amazing is that it was done by non actors on a tiny budget of $150,000. As I say in my speeches, "sometimes, too much money can make you stupid".

From Wikipedia, "Produced with a shoestring budget of only $150,000, funded by the Irish Film Board, the film was shot with a skeleton crew. Money was saved by shooting the party scene in Hansard’s flat, with his personal friends playing the partygoers/musicians.The Dublin street scenes were done without permits and with a long lens so that many passersby didn’t even realize that a film was being made. The long lens also helped the non-professional actors relax and forget about the camera, and some of the dialogue ended up being improvised.^"

How does it feel to lose 10,000 times? Ask the Philadelphia Phillies. Earlier this week, they lost for the 10,000th time in their 125 year franchise history. But something different happened according to Yahoo Sports:

"By the ninth inning, with the outcome inevitable, the boos turned to cheers. Fans in the sellout crowd of 44,872 thumbed their noses at the dubious mark, standing and applauding. One held up a sign that read: "10,000 N Proud"

Not even my Cubs come close. We have only lost 9.425 times!

When visiting the Baseball Hall of Fame last year, I saw a favorite sign:

"The secret of managing a club is to keep the guys who hate you away from the people that are undecided"

I think what Casey Stengel says applies to companies too!

I was speaking at the Angel Capital Association Conference today, and one of my favorite business people (VCs) was there: Matt McCall. When Matt talks, I usually write: Today he said,

"If it seems like a stupid idea, it probably is a stupid idea."

While I was in New York last week, I met up again with Laura Allen who is growing her business, 15 second pitch. I have always loved this idea because I think that you need to tell someone who you are in 15 seconds or less- an elevator ride is just too long! On her site, she has automated tools and personal consultations to help you.

In May of 1995, I woke up one morning with very blurry vision. It was the beginning of my diagnosis of diabetes. Many people are not as lucky. Many times, diabetes does not hit you on the side of the head with symptons. This is why it is called the silent killer. The facts are brutal. 60 million Americans are unaware that they have diabetes or are at risk for developing it. Take the risk test. Don’t take a chance.