Well I’m on the way home now. Had a decent day at work. Good start in the morning, and decent finish- I shipped a post that started in one place and ended in another, and I’m quite happy about it. I did get a little bit distracted along the way so the challenge is for me to reduce that. I also tend to kind of zone out in the middle of the day, then I get into a kind of “gotta get home” panic and end up leaving work later than intended. I need to make it a point to always leave on time, no compromise except serious emergency, etc. Man, I’m pretty hungry.

Let’s see, what else is there to talk about. I’m trying to figure out how to get myself viscerally grounded in the broader ecosystems that I’m a part of- to take more ownership of my position and use that as leverage to do greater things. I’m blessed to be working in a company where my efforts have a very real and direct impact on our circumstances- so it’s not like I’m being paid to do factory-line stuff regardless of the quality of my work. The better my work, the more power I accrue to my organization, the more fun and awesome stuff we’ll get to do. There really are no limits but the ones inside my head.

So let’s tackle those. What are they? What’s stopping me from doing more amazing stuff? If I can solve this for work I can solve this for my personal life too, and vice versa. The first step is probably just getting into this state ans having this conversation with myself, day in, day out. It might seem repetitive, but it’s not as repetitive as the anxiety and frustration I used to feel and do still feel from time to time as a consequence of my procrastination, fear, underachievement.

Repetition might not be the best way of changing things but it works, I think, and done is better than perfect. The okay path you head down is better than the perfect one you don’t.

Stuff thst naturally drifts into my mind- have a plan, if you fail to plan you plan to fail. Structure is good, you need structure. Ok so I need like a timeline of things that have to come out. I need deadlines, deadlines good. I need focus, focus good. I need to practice mindfulness and meditation. Word vomits are powerful in helping me clear my mind and so I need to do them everyday. Twice a day in fact. Need to stay fit need to stay hydrated and need to sleep early. I need to become someone worth working with, and I need better things to say when somebody asks me what I’m working on. What am I working on? I’m trying to help online merchants and retailers sell better. I’m trying to be a force for superior content, for stuff worth talking about, stuff that’s beautiful, valuable, useful, memorable. I’m channeling Seth Godin quite a bit but I don’t care as long as the content is good. I’ll develop my own voice soon enough.

I think it’s important to ask good questions. Let’s take a stab at them.

What is a blog for? It’s a superstructure for accelerated thinking and learning through articulation of thoughts and ideas.

What is the internet for? It’s a medium for communication and sharing stuff that’s useful.

What is commerce for? For economic agents to solve problems and fulfill needs.

What is marketing for? To communicate value.

What is ecommerce for? To do commerce in a manner that is more connected and convenient at a global scale.

What is a referral? It’s a sharing of information that is socially useful- I bought this, this is great, you should try it. Try my doctor. Check out this band. Hey, I know a guy.

What are referral programs for? To encourage the naturally occurring (and socially beneficial) behaviour of referrals, to make it more deliberate and systematic, and less reliant on randomness. (They don’t work if the product doesn’t deliver on its promise.)

What is ReferralCandy for? To build automated referral programs for online stores so they can get the benefits of referral programs without having to manually manage all that data and information… freeing up time and energy to focus on building awesome products.

What am I in ReferralCandy for? To help accelerate growth of ReferralCandy (the software, and the brand) in the ecommerce marketplace. To do marketing (communicate value). This means getting more retailers to use our product to boost their sales and spread the love among their customers.

At higher levels, it means helping to refine and improve our product so that it works better for our retailers. This means improving copy across the board, it means understanding the product inside out.

I’m not an engineer, so I think my role (as per optimal division of labour) is to help people better understand how referral programs work. Before selling automated referral programs, I need to sell referral programs period. They work. How do they work? Why so they work? These are questions everybody should be able to answer. I think that should be a part of my job. If you don’t understand referral marketing, I’m not doing my job.

Once we’ve got that settled, the value of an automated referral program is practically self-evident.

On top of selling the idea of referral marketing, and selling the product that is an automated referral program, growth for RC means selling ourselves. Selling a relationship with us. (That always sounds so transactional when it’s laid out like that, but that’s why people pay more for brands they trust.) It has to be a real human promise of quality that is delivered, fulfilled. I’m interpreting this to be- we have to be trustworthy and reliable. We have to respond to queries and troubleshooting and feedback. (Our engineers and customer support folk handle this beautifully, and I want to help- ideally further up the chain, so that fewer queries are necessary at all.)

Being trustworthy means being honest and real, and the first thing that comes to my mind is acknowledging weakness. Have we got the best piece of automated referral software around? We sincerely believe we do, in the specific space of the marketplace that we’re operating in. If you’re a massive mega-brand with mega-brand customization needs, we might not be for you. If you’re a part-time hobbyist selling stuff for pleasure with almost no profit, we might not be for you.

Also, is an automated referral marketing program necessarily the most important thing you have to have going for you? Quite possibly not, and we’ll have to be honest about that with you. The most important thing anybody has to do is typically to build a great product with a great value proposition that fulfills a real need that real people have. Referral marketing doesn’t magically increase sales, it simply amplifies the power of word-of-mouth marketing. As a retailer, the first thing you should do is to make that “base score” as high as you can, by building a great product.

So if there’s anything you need to do that’s more important than having automated referrals, we should point you in the right direction. Because not only should you be able to depend on us for a kickass automated referral solution, you should be able to depend on us for good advice and perspective on building a great business. Because ultimately, we want a sweeter marketplace for everybody- where good businesses flourish, and consumers are well-informed through their network of peers about what’s good and what’s not.

Questions to revisit and explore and think/write about: What is marketing? What is referral marketing? What’s more important than referral marketing?