Josh Greene

MyFitnessPalv2

2011-12-04T16:27:00.001-05:00

A follow up to the previous post - I've been using MyFitnessPal for the last two weeks. It's made a noticeable difference in conscious eating. It's also helpful to see how much concentration is needed to maintain the level of protein consumption I'm working on.

Hot Chocolate 15k

2011-12-03T16:29:00.000-05:00

Why you should be careful about putting on a terrible road race in the era of social media. Many reviews, including several from friends, of the Hot Chocolate 15k.

MyFitnessPal

2011-11-21T15:07:00.001-05:00

I've been using MyFitnessPal.com for the last week or so for tracking meals. it's been great. There's a Blackberry app, as well as a web page, and it's been really useful for seeing what the actual nutritional content of things I'm eating are. The two takeaways have been that I'm eating considerably more carbs than I think, and that getting over 200g of protein a day requires a concerted effort, and several whey protein/water shakes.

BNX, pt. 2

2011-11-16T18:00:00.000-05:00

BNX release earnings for Q3. While not great, the main takeaway (and I'll post more later) was that they've got enough money to get to Q1, that's when they tend to get cash flow positive given the emphasis or their business on tax season. So, even it they get delisted, they should be able to continue on, while holding on to their portfolio of domain names. It appears one of their bigger holders is going to get out regardless of price, which seems to be the reason for the rapid decline over the last two days.
If you've got some mad money laying around, it looks even better at 4 cents/share, than it did a 8.

2011-11-14T11:48:00.001-05:00

If you're interested in SEO, PubCon always has some good information. Good liveblog information linked below:

Pubcon Day 2:
Pubcon event takeaway: Some fascinating thoughts on how to avoid having to use captchas
Pubcon Day 3:

BNX

2011-10-29T17:19:00.000-04:00

Occasionally, I'll see a teeny, tiny stock I'm curious about. Currently, that stock is BNX. At a recent price of $.08, the entire company is valued around $2.1MM. It's traded on the Amex, and is about two to three weeks away from being delisted, unless they can get an exception.

Looking at the financial numbers, as of June 2010, they had 147k in cash. On a yearly run rate, their finance related business (based on about 700K in Q2) is probably about 2.5MM/year.

They just announced they sold Look.com for $400k on Friday. If assuming their cash position really didn’t change much in Q3 (they’re exiting the search business, so the business will look smaller, presumably they’re rightsizing for that, it’s after the tax season, etc), they probably will have about 500k in cash to start November.

They’ve done a variety of things to raise cash (they borrowed 600k against Banks.com for working capital, the CEO’s loaned the company money, etc.)

They have 9MM in intangible assets, which they’re gradually depreciating. If they were forced to liquidate, it’s my belief you could sell 3 of their domains (irs.com, banks.com, and filelater.com) for 3 to 5MM. Given the market cap is 2MM, the stock could potentially pay out 100%, even if it was forced to liquidate off the pink sheets. Obviously, if you bought it higher anytime over the last few years, you’d be unhappy. However, if you can buy shares for $.08, it seems relatively low risk, even if you’re going to end up holding an unlisted stock for a while.

There may be an opportunity to pick up more low cost shares between now and year end, as any existing holders take the tax loss - so definitely worth putting this one on your radar screen.

More to come...

Food Trucks

2011-10-20T13:41:00.000-04:00

Last night, I attended the SMCDC event at Edelman downtown

in DC. The focus was on food trucks.

Observations:

From the marketing standpoint, they seem to be surfing the wave of

being first.

No formal marketing program - "currating" the community that they have.
Partnerships only if beneficial.
They don’t want to feel too corporate.
Don’t use too much in tools.
Key element appears to be managing/growing community.

I asked a question about saturation - is there a network effect of having more food trucks apear, or is there a limited market?

The Big Cheese and Cupcake truck synergistic, goingsomewhere together.

Reference to owners with 4 trucks (taco truck) starting to have overlap.

Traditional media will be tougher as there are trucks - is there a novelty in the third cupcake truck?

Truckeroo "activates spaces" 25k people to a location.

Bad Customer service alert

2011-09-15T13:40:00.000-04:00

Reposting for my brother: Doubletree hotel in downers grove, il refused to extend our wedding rate an extra night when we got in early - then I gave them a low score on their online survey - they called to "resolve" the issue - and told me they refused to do anything for us! For $30 they could have had a fan for life - instead I will make sure I never stay there again!

Wachovia's transition

2011-07-25T15:22:00.000-04:00

Wachovia's in the process of rebranding as Wells Fargo. For the past three or four weeks, it appears that the signs outside of every Wachovia have been replaced by vinyl Wachovia signs. Clearly, this is because of the need to install thousands of permanent Wells Fargo signs in advance of the changeover. So, those signs have been installed, and thousands of vinyl signs with the current Wachovia logo are in place until the changeover, when, presumably, they'll be recycled or trashed.

Wachovia ATMs also currently end transactions with the equivalent of "We know that many banks would be delighted to have you as a customer, and we appreciate you banking with us." This violates one of the key marketing tenets, which is, "don't give people a reason to think about going elsewhere." My initial, and not-unique reaction was something along the lines of "why, yes, I'm an important customer. Is there somewhere else that would like my business?".

Traditionally, with big bank mergers, 1+1 equals 2.5. With this start, Wells Fargo-Wachovia looks unlikely to buck the trend.

Socks from Switzerland

2011-03-07T16:41:00.002-05:00

In a sign that the group shopping craze continues to spread, and is now rapidly approaching the ridiculous "we're giving away free money, to get you to sign up with us" stage of things, two recent examples.

The Living Social "get $20 on Amazon for $10" deal.

And, a deal from Black Socks.com that wound up with me getting a pair of cashmere socks, shipped from Switzerland, for essentially $7.

Nice as a consumer, but clearly getting to be tougher to build a business moving forward, if that's the kind of promos you need.

Slow slide of blogging?

2011-02-22T11:50:00.002-05:00

Good article in the NY Times yesterday on the slow decline of blogging. Also, a good counter reaction in Marketing Pilgrim as well. Not sure if there's really a trend, but personally I definitely get more reaction off Facebook posts, so I tend to gravitate there for sharing information / getting feedback.

Samsung HLS- 4666W

2010-11-16T10:56:00.003-05:00

Jeremy's always talking about raving fans. Well, Samsung earned themselves one last week. I had bought a 46" DLP TV - Model HLS- 4666W about four years ago. It's an unusual type of TV, and I was aware that the "bulb" would eventually need to be replaced down the road.
A few weeks ago, the screen started developing white dots. I'd heard this could be an issue with this model.

I checked online, and saw it was a common issue, and apparently there was a recall on the chip in the TV. I called Samsung, and a week later, a service tech showed up, on time, no charge, took apart the back of the TV, replaced the parts, and 18 white dots vanished off the screen.

Extremely happy with the customer service. The only downside is my excuse for buying a new TV is gone for the time being.

Google Places

2010-10-23T07:20:00.000-04:00

I've been to two locations recently that have had Google Places stickers on the door. I wasn't sure if they'd been getting that much traction in the marketplace, so I asked the owners. Turns out, if you get a certain number of visits to your profile, Google will automatically send you one.

Reminds me of the early day so AdWords, when Google used to be very generous with swag to get the word out. Anyone have any traffic stats from Google Places they'd like to share?

Shop.org

2010-09-19T16:01:00.001-04:00

I'm going to be at Shop.org next week in Dallas. Let me know if you're going and want to catch up.

East coast breakdancing championships

2010-09-05T19:12:00.004-04:00

The "Mid-Atlantic Bboy Championships" were yesterday here in Virginia. They were about five minutes from my house, so I decided to check them out. It's always fun to explore a completely different culture - and this definitely was one. Hosted by Urban Evolution, they've got some great photos online. There also seem to be a few video clips here and there on YouTube and onsome forums.

And the Winner is... not Vistaprint

2010-08-20T06:31:00.000-04:00

I get a ton of email. I get a lot of email from web merchants, especially after my stint at Shop.org. I'm used to all sorts of subject lines, but "And the winner is...Josh!" really got me going. The email told me that I've won "free invitations and announcements". It turns out, you get 10 invitations for free! However, to upload your design is $4.99, if you want a proof that's $1.99, etc, etc. Plus shipping.

I'd love to hear how that email performed, if anyone has stats.

Goldman

2010-08-05T09:37:00.001-04:00

Awesome link bait approach to getting traffic to your new startup. Expose Goldman Sach's secrets.

eTail East

2010-08-01T09:43:00.002-04:00

I'm going to be heading up to eTail East in Baltimore next week, speaking on a couple of panels about Social Marketing. If you're going to be up and want to catch up, drop me a note, or post a comment.

RIP, John Callahan

2010-07-28T11:27:00.002-04:00

I saw that John Callahan had passed away in the Style section of the Washington Post today. There's a great article about him. I was first introduced to him from a book my Dad had brought home from work. It was his bio, and one of his cartoons was on the front - a picture of an overturned wheelchair, with some tracks leading off into the distance, and the title - Don't Worry, He Won't Get Far on Foot Amazon appears to still have them in stock - if you're interested in learning more.

Thirty Day Challenge

2010-07-26T13:24:00.002-04:00

Last year, I took part in the 30 Day Challenge by Ed Dale. It's a program designed to help people earn their first dollar online. There was a lot of familiar information, but also some great new tools to use, especially Market Sammurai. If you're new to Internet marketing, or just need a refresher course, I'd highly recommend it.

CVS

2010-06-27T20:55:00.001-04:00

I had a previous post about CVS doing an "online focus group" on implementing "grab and go" packaged foods. I don't know if they've rolled it out system wide, but they have at the one around the corner. I have to say, it looks pretty good - and it seems like it would be considerably easier than ducking into the Harris Teeter around the corner.

Smithsonian Scavenger hunt

2010-06-24T10:23:00.002-04:00

I attended a blogger breakfast yesterday at the Smithsonian. Go Smithsonian is launching a scavenger hunt this weekend. The opening event is this Saturday, and you can win an iPad. The game looks like a lot of fun - if you're around, I'd recommend checking it out. Plus, the Folklife festival is going on at the same time.

The evolution of the focus group

2010-05-16T10:35:00.003-04:00

I took part in an online survey this week. It was about whether I'd buy "quick serv" food items from a nationwide pharmacy chain. Two things stood out to me:
Clearly they're feeling some pressure from the success 7-11 has had in the category, and trying to expand traffic into the stores - if you're coming in to buy breakfast or dinner, you're going to be much more likely to pick something else up.
Secondly, if you can get people to participate, it's a cheap way to get some feedback on new ideas. They were offering $10, and the it was a pretty extensive review of every category of food you could grab and go.

Has anyone used something similar to get a read on new product ideas?

Wagshals

2010-04-04T19:50:00.003-04:00

It's always fun to see obsessive craftmanship in action. Wagshal's Delicatessen is near the 1-800-PACK-RAT building. They've got brisket that they've spent several years perfecting, and it makes for a fantastic sandwich. And, this story in the Washington Post is just as good.

Setting up a Google Custom Domain

2010-03-03T18:41:00.003-05:00

Google has announced that they'll eventually stop supporting ftp access, which I've used to publish this blog for the last seven years or so. Apparently, it's been a major support issue, and given the grand total I've paid for use of Blogger over the years ($0.00) it seems like a reasonable decision. Nonetheless, a giant pain.

My choices were to either migrate the blog completely over to a Wordpress blog - which long term is probably where I'm heading. On the other hand, I tried out migrating to their Google Custom Domains - some ANAME and CNAME tinkering in my DNS settings (not for the faint of heart) and I was set. Well, not entirely. Two days later, I needed to log in and delete and extra CNAME record (which was not easy to figure out) and then everything was set. Presto - same old blog, slightly faster updates, and no need to move seven years of content :)