Buying gasoline futures business launches

On April 3, 2006 I wrote a longish post about a crazy idea I had: buying futures of gasoline.

The game of finding lower-priced gas is just a diversion from the pain of having to buy it in the first place. Maybe we kid ourselves that we make out ahead of the game. Maybe we do make out ahead by playing the game. I don’t think that matters, I haven’t seen a lot of gas companies go out of business.

At the same time all the gas companies are trying to find ways to keep customers loyal. They offer a commodity product and try to differentiate it with fancy tech-sounding additives. They have a schizophrenia. They want customers to pay at the pump for convenience, yet they also want customers to come into the store to stock up on chips and pop. But it’s a gas station. People pull in for gas or to use the bathroom. That’s about it. There doesn’t seem to be a lot of opportunity for building the business based on the site.

Now I have an idea for how gas stations can make their customers loyal: selling gas futures. What are gas futures? They’re essentially price speculation in the present on the future price of gas. It’s what commodity traders do all the time. Buy at one price and exercise at another.

Now someone has gone out and done it, Springwise reports. A company called MyGallons (ouch, I guess they’re doing business only in Imperial-measuring countries?) has launched that lets its members buy gas in bulk today at today’s prices, then decrement their account in the future. Sounds close to what I described, but not as interesting and not strategically with the same benefit for gas stations.

Also, the comments on the Springwise post make MyGallons’ reputation look a little smelly, so buyers beware.

So what do you think? Would you pay today to lock in a price for gas that you could redeem tomorrow?

Work Industries becomes Boxcar Marketing

Spring is traditionally associated with change and renewal. A time to clean things up. A time for new seeds to be planted. Spring also happens to be an excellent time to announce the evolution in our business.

As of April 2008, Work Industries will be Boxcar Marketing.

Same great service, strategy and team you expect, with a new name. It’s still Monique Trottier and James Sherrett and a merry band of partners working hard behind the scenes. Except now the scenery has changed.

Why the name change?

We wanted to better describe the type of “Work” we do: “Marketing.” At the same time, we wanted to keep the feel of a hard-working, industrious shop, which led us to “Boxcar.” Last, we wanted to do away with inconsistency over our name (Work Industries) and domain name (www.iworkindustries.com).

So after a few sessions at the white board and too many domain name searches, Boxcar Marketing was born.

We’ve let some friends and colleagues know about the name change, so it’s percolated out there into the great Google. Now this announcement makes it official.

What does the name change to Boxcar Marketing mean to you?

Where you saw Work Industries, now you’ll see Boxcar Marketing. On invoices, cheques, business cards, contracts and in email addresses, we’ll be Boxcar Marketing. We’ll do our best to redirect all the Work Industries points of reference to Boxcar Marketing. But if you spot an old reference to Work Industries, please let us know.

As is the nature of our business and our philosophy, we expect and want your feedback. We practice and preach conversational, 2-way communications.

So let us know what you think. If you have questions or concerns or just want a little more information on the name change, please contact us. We’re still at the same phone numbers and office address. But now we’re Boxcar Marketing. Please update your email address book:

Monique Trottier
Email: monique[at]boxcarmarketing[dot]com
Monique Trottier’s vCard / hCard: View.

James Sherrett
Email: james[at]boxcarmarketing[dot]com
James Sherrett’s vCard / hCard: View.

(hCard? Make your own!)

Marketing Tip: Respond to Email and Phone Calls

If someone contacts your company via email or phone, respond.

I know this sounds elementary, however, last week I was looking to hire a web design company and I was astounded at the number of companies who never returned my phone call or email.

James and I were talking about how this affects our perception of a company, and we shared tales of bad experiences about company sites without contact information and companies who insist on filtering people through online contact forms but who never respond to those email. It was quite the rant.

And then, over the email transom came this great tip from The Guerilla Marketing Association:

If somebody from among those 40 or 50 million people on the Internet takes the time and trouble to write to you, take the time to write back.

Designate people within your company to respond to various topics. Design your Web site to route e-mail to the appropriate person.

Internet experts say that rapid and certain response is probably the single most important factor for building a die-hard audience, just the kind you want.

So if you want to stand apart and generate positive feelings about your company, simply answer the phone and respond to emails.

Barcamp Vancouver 2007 event details

Barcamp Vancouver 2007 is set to kick off tomorrow night, August 17, at 6 pm. The monster that is Barcamp Vancouver 2007 then runs for 24 geek-packed hours, wrapping up Saturday, August 18 at 5:30.

If you registered many weeks ago, all the details for the good, good fun are below. If you missed out on registering, I’m pretty sure we’ll be running again next year. So stay tuned in July for an announcement.

But before we get to the details of the event, I’d like to pimp the session I’m pitching for Saturday. Here’s the pitch:

Zero to 30 Seconds in Less than 1 Hour or So You Think You Can Make an Ad?

In one session we’ll go from concept to finished product on one or more advertisements (depending on number of participants) for anything we want. Email me if you’d like to get started on a few briefs before the session. — James Sherrett, ad hacker

I expect things may be a little wooly at first. It’s a pretty ambitious goal to bang out a few ads in less than an hour. But I think it’ll be one grand experiment! I’m interested to see how it shakes out.

Anyone interested in going a little pre-session preparation? Contact me and I’ll pass along the briefs I’m working up to get us rolling.

Alright, now the details.

Hello Barcampers!

Here’s our quick note with some details about Barcamp Vancouver 2007

Below you’ll find information on:

• registry and attendance
• t-shirts
• list of topics for sessions
• schedule of Barcamp events
• spreading the love

---

Registry and Attendance
http://barcamp.org/BarCampVancouver2007Attendees

We’re oversubscribed (yay!), which means that some people who want
to come won’t be able to come (boo!).

So please, if you’re in the first 120, check your dates and availability.
Are you sure you’re coming? We want to minimize the wiki squatting.

If you’re not sure you’re coming, please strike out your name and post
the name of the top person left on the waiting list in your former place.

If you’re on the waiting list, are you sure you’re available to come?
If not, please cross out your name. If you’re still keen on coming,
check back on the list to see if you’ve been added to the first 120.

We don’t mean to be too anal about this. We just want to make sure
that all the people that want to be there and can be there do get
to be there.

And to do that, please help us get the word out to all Barcampers.
Blog this message if you can. Forward it on to friends who are
interested so people are in the know.

We’ve gone through the list of signed-up attendees. Everyone who
left an email address has been sent this message. But that’s only
53 of about 160 people and email is a fickle mistress.

We’re missing out on getting in touch with some folks and we need
your help to get the word out. So blog the hell out of this and
we’ll (hopefully) reach everyone.

---

T-Shirts

We have printed 120 Barcamp Vancouver 2007 t-shirts to cover our
collective nekkidness.

They’re fuschia (!) and they’ll be available at the door on a first-
come, first-served basis.

We’re taking a suggested donation of $20 for each t-shirt, to
finance our lavish unconference lifestyle. Any monies left over will
be rolled into financing next year’s proceedings.

---

List of Topics for Sessions
http://barcamp.org/BarCampVancouver2007

One of the suggestions from past Barcamps has been to post a list
of potential topics for sessions before the unconference. That way,
people can do their homework and get a hint of the sessions
available.

So that’s a great idea. Now let’s put it into action.

On the Barcamp Vancouver 2007 main page we have a heading called
Topics. So far, we have 2 sessions listed. The page is a wiki.
Anyone who wants to add a session, please go to it.

From past unconferences, we’ve seen that topics for sessions that
get listed beforehand have a much higher chance of getting selected
and getting great participation, which is, after all, the point.
So if you want to lead a session, or even just see a session on a
particular topic, please post the topic.

We’ll do some active wiki gardening to lend some order to the list
of topics, but anything is fair game. Go. To. It.

---

Schedule of Barcamp Events

Friday, August 17: food and drink at the Alibi Room

• appetizers all evening
• open bar starting at 6:30 pm (until our credit runs out!)
• we’re in the private area downstairs
• The Alibi Room, 157 Alexander Street @ Main (map)
• sleepover at Workspace, 21 Water Street, Suite 400

Saturday, August 18: conference day all day

• start at 8:30 AM with day organization
• pastries and coffees available
• pizza lunch to be delivered at ~noon
• Workspace, Suite 400 - 21 Water Street (map)
• end at 5:30 PM
• your own reconnaisance

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Spreading the Love

Lots of folks have worked hard to make Barcamp Vancouver 2007
happen. Sponsors have ponied up cash. Busy people have volunteered.
People with work to do have reinvested their attention to see
things get done.

So if you have a chance, thank a volunteer or a sponsor or one
of the folks at Workspace (our venue!) for making the event happen.

Last of all, thanks to all of your for all the enthusiasm, energy
and passion. And for reading this far.

Barcamp lives in the relationships between all of us. All of us
make it happen. So come to the unconference ready to rock and
help us all kick some ass.

---

Any questions?

Check the website for answers:
http://barcamp.org/BarCampVancouver2007

Ask an organizer:

• Kris Krug - www.kriskrug.com
• Roland Tanglao - www.rolandtanglao.com
• Robert Scales - www.robertscales.com
• Zak Greant - www.zak.greant.com
• James Sherrett - www.adhack.com
• Ianiv Schweber - www.blogaholics.ca
• Megan Cole - www.megancole.org
• Jordan Behan - www.telltenfriends.com
• Aaron Gladders - www.2paths.com

See you at the conference!

BarCamp Vancouver 2007: register now!

As one of the organizers for BarCamp Vancouver 2007 I have a bit of an inside track on information. At least, I thought I did.

Then I looked at the BarCamp Vancouver 2007 registry and (gulp!) we were almost halfway to capacity! That was late last week, so I registered myself and Monique.

As I write this, 78 people have registered — 78 out of a maximum of 120 spots!

So if you want to come to BarCamp Vancouver 2007, go to the attendees page and add your name by clicking on Edit at the top of the page. That’s our formal registration process. We may also ask for a donation of $20 at the door. C’est tout.

So what is BarCamp?

The standard definition:

BarCamp is an ad-hoc un-conference born from the desire for people to share and learn in an open environment. It is an intense event with discussions, demos and interaction from attendees.

In my experience, it’s a 24-hour, loosely organized, collaborative event with a focus on community, discovery and relationship building. We create a space that is intimate, open, casual and modest. Professionally, it is a refreshing and inspiring place to be for a few days. No one is selling you on the idea, we’re inviting you to be a participant.

Because everyone is a participant to the degree they’re comfortable. If you want to present, you’ll have a chance to present. If you want to just watch, you’re welcome to do so. If you want to see interesting, creative people in action and take part yourself, you have to see it to know it.

From about 6 pm on Friday, August 17 to about 6 pm on Saturday, August 18, we’re going to take over Workspace and participate in the making of culture.

Sponsor BarCamp Vancouver 2007

Of the organizers, Megan Cole and I are responsible for rounding up sponsors. So would you like to be a sponsor?

Sponsorships are $500 and limited space is available. Deadline for sponsorships commitments is Friday, June 22, but don’t wait because we anticipate being over-subscribed. In fact, we already have 5 companies signed up. More information is available on the BarCamp Vancouver 2007 sponsors page.

If you’re interested, get in touch with me and I’ll fill you in on the details.

Buxfer is cashflow management software on the web

Today I came across the Buxfer website and liked the product. The name could definitely use some work, since it doesn’t pass the simple tell test (Say the name and someone hearing you shouldn’t have to ask you to spell it.), but I liked the clean graphics.

Most of all, I liked the idea of making your money visible, and had the following thoughts:

• Buxfer looks to me like a personal cashflow manager. The team behind the product don’t call it anything, so I’m calling it a personal cashflow manager, which is a brilliant idea. I want one!
• I wonder what the pay-to-play-more version will look like? What kind of pricing will it feature? (About $15 / month seems about right to me, though you could also have tiers at $9, $20 and $40 for graduated features.)
• What they should do is make this a small business cashflow manager. I know from experience that it’s hard to manage the cashflow of a small business. There’s a huge market opportunity available for someone who does it right. I’ll pay for it! Cashflow management at the moment is a DIY Excel proposition that works but is far from elegant.
• Why can’t my bank do this for me? They already have me logging into their website to manage my accounts. They already have all the incoming and outgoing account management functions. Why don’t they offer an added software service to manage my account in a more relevant and valuable way? In fact, that would open a huge host of services they could offer. And I’m not talking about unlimited ATM withdrawals.
• I’m going to try to change something with this idea.

What do you think? Any love for Buxfer or suggestions for cashflow management tools?

Update: I ought to mention that there are some options available apart form simple DIY Excel spreadsheets cooked from scratch or from templates. Freshbooks is hinting at providing additional (un)accounting functionality to go with their leading invoice management software. But until they do, the industry standard is Quickbooks from Intuit, although their online edition is only available for Windows users on Internet Exploder (boo!).

Experimenting with the hCard Microformat

Over the past few months I’ve been paying a bit of attention to the growing momentum behind microformats on the web. What are Microformats?

Designed for humans first and machines second, Microformats are a set of simple, open data formats built upon existing and widely adopted standards. Learn more about Microformats.

Basically they’re a more advanced way of marking up some common content on the web. Things like people, reviews and calendar events. See them all here.

The one thing I thought they were missing were recipes, an almost perfectly standardized type of content that would benefit hugely from being standardized. Imagine no longer wondering how many millilitres are in a cup. Instead, choose your measurement standard and the recipe is translated into that system. Imagine not having to wander through recipes matching what you have to what’s called for. Just search for the recipes with your ingredients. I digress.

To try my hand at getting started I chose the easiest and most useful Microformat - contact information - and used the hCard creator to make myself an hCard. Simple, I thought. I liked it.

Then I tried to add my personal contact information to the Work Industries contact page. Oh. Not so simple.

I’ve got my James Sherrett vCard working to show my information and image. But what I want to do is create a keen way to download my contact information like they have on the Habaneros contact page (click on the contact details link then try the card link: presto!).

Anyone have any pointers? I feel like I’m one simple step away from getting it yet I’m at the end of my technical tether.

Beyond my technical flailings though, I want to point out that my experience with Microformats illustrates the problem on the web: it’s too hard. There’s too much friction to doing it. For Microformats (or any website or web application) to catch on and provide the benefit they promise, which would be a great thing, they have to offer lower friction. It’s simply too hard to do many things today. See the diagram at the top of this post. Do you understand it?

I’m even kind of a nerd about this kind of thing, I use an FTP program, and I’m stumped.