Directions

Many things can go awry when businesses shift gears and directions.

I'm sure many of you have experienced this sort of thing - scrambing for customers or users, a site signs up with as many as possibly can whenever it can, however the directions of the idea start to take a differing turn from what was originally anticipated.

Part of it lies in marketing - if you make a product that sells to flamingos, but then market it towards penguins, naturally you'll end up seeing your product used a lot more than penguins than flamingos.  The question is whether or not having birds of all sorts is what you initially wanted in your aviary.

This is not to say it's a bad thing - having one bird over the other is not bad, but sometimes it can start to be a defining moment in your business.  And it's at this point that you have to step back and check your bearings - what is more important, your idea or your business.

In a way the two are inextricably linked - without one there is not the other.  But sometimes there can become the pursuit of business for the sake of business.  That's akin to cooking for the idea that you have to eat.  Sure it will fill your tummy, but in my humble opinion it will not satisfy your desire.  

I'm a huge foodie, so one of the things I focus on is flavor, even a simple dinner to me has to be appealing in flavor or enjoyment.  I don't do this all the time, sometimes I will scarf down a burger when pressed for time.  But the enjoyment of a meal is one of my life's guilty pleasures.  

In the same way a business has its drive to satisfy the bottom line.  But when it no longer satisfies your idea, when your purpose goes to something else, then I think some of that enjoyment and soul leaves with it.

The winds are blowing differently now than when KaZuum was first founded - the economy has soured, there's a myriad of social classifieds networks out there.  We want to move forward and create something valuable and useful without ending up like the ones that failed before us.  One of my great fears is that we end up just being a site overrun with spam and useless information, a storybook tale for a site that aspired to be something different but ended up being the same.

So I'm reflecting on the directions we're choosing, and the decisions we've made coming to this juncture.  

As always if you want to leave us feedback, feel free.

best regards,

-Ag.