Bloody Startup Competition!

Last night I had a moment of frustration and a moment of “do I really want to continue with http://www.donttell.com.au?”

Why?

The idea for sharing outfits, searching them and browsing them came to me over a year ago but I didn’t execute properly and it’s only now that things are really moving forward. Unfortunately it looks like someone else executed properly within that year and have moved themselves a few steps ahead of where we are with Don’t Tell.

Everything I read says “be the first in your category” which we would have been had I executed properly a year ago. Now it looks like we’re second.

Not to worry though, I’m going to push on because we do have slightly different positioning to our competitor. I just need to get it into my head that competition is healthy – in footy do you just lay down and stop playing if another team turns up?

Each day so far is new ground for me so I’m learning, learning, learning. I wonder what will happen tomorrow.

don’t tell – australian street fashion & outfits

We’ve just launched the new and improved version of Don’t Tell (www.donttell.com.au), the first portal dedicated to Australian street fashion and outfits.

Here is a little snippet from an article describing the site:

Don’t Tell is your portal into Australian street fashion. It’s for what you wear when you’re out partying, grabbing a coffee, having dinner with friends or even walking the dog. It’s all about funky looks, fresh faces and having fun.

As well as creating our own content, we’re linking to other aussie fashion bloggers and sites so that there is more exciting stuff to read.

If you or someone you know would like to be linked to please let me know.

In the meantime go and checkout some of the outfits and articles: www.donttell.com.au. If you get excited, put a photo of some of your outfits up!

Thank you Mia

Mia took up writing for Don’t Tell a few months back and she just recently hit her 15th post. To me that is a huge milestone worth celebrating.

Her writing is coming on in leaps and bounds and it always gives me a smile.

Check it out and subscribe: http://mia.donttell.com.au/

Thank you Mia, I’m looking forward to your next post.

Resolved in Recovery

It was simply the strangest thing. Over the past week or so I’ve had my head deep in development mode for a new service to Australians that should be launched tomorrow in beta. Don’t Tell has always been on the back of my mind – it just isn’t moving as quickly as I want it to in the direction I want it to. How can I make it move the right way?

Cut back to Thursday night when I underwent surgery to have my collar bone put back into place by inserting some pins and a plate (I’m now part machine – look out!). Before the operation I’d lost a bit of my interest in Don’t Tell and all my other ideas, I just couldn’t get too motivated. Maybe it was because nothing was really happening, maybe because all my efforts seemed to hit brick walls, maybe this idea just wasn’t meant to work.

I went into surgery at about 7.30pm – 8pm and went under a general anaesthetic. I was knocked out about half way through a conversation with one of the surgeons…

Only to awake in a different room, with a nurse present (no surgeons), trying to finish that conversation! I realised the silliness of this and stopped talking, just lying there recovering and steadying my mind and breathing.

It was at this time that suddenly an entire deal structure, product channel and way of pushing Don’t Tell forward sprang into my mind. The whole thing! After surgery I couldn’t sleep because I was so busy writing everything down.

My enthusiasm and motivation is renewed, let’s see how it all goes…

“Yeah that’s a great idea!”

In trying to get www.donttell.com.au up with thousands of Australian women interested in fashion visiting each day I’ve had a lot of “yeah that’s a great idea” from both male and female friends. However, translating that “yeah that’s a great idea” into a “yeah I’ll tell all my friends” or a “yeah I’ll help you create content!” is a whole different ball game.

You’re making a pitch to the individual, you need to understand what they’re after and you need something to back it up. When I first started telling people my pitch – “it’s this great place where people can share clothes, fashion and beauty you should help out!” – it didn’t take into account their needs and I didn’t have enough content on the site to back anything up. I didn’t ask myself “why would they want to help?”

Now, whenever I’m speaking to anyone that says “yeah that’s a great idea!” I start thinking:

1. What is this person interested in? What are they passionate about? In this case of Mia her interest was in fashion and her passion was in writing. She just loves writing – so I gave her a blog!
2. What is their situation? The first person I tried to involve in www.donttell.com.au had just started a new job that they wanted to excel at. I tried to get them deeply involved in everything, I should have considered their situation and involved them in light, quick and fun tasks.

Once I can see the angle they’re coming from I look at what, at that exact moment they could start doing for Don’t Tell. It’s important that it must be something concrete, not everyone dreams as much as you or I do and can hang around for those dreams to start becoming reality.