[TI] Kate, you have founded The Fetch, Cloud Peeps and Social Melbourne, prior to this your were in a role as digital director for Niche Media (publisher of Marketing and Desktop magazines), why the change and the desire to create and invent your own business?

[KK]I think I’ve always been entrepreneurial at heart and wanting more out of life. I remember sitting at my desk during my role at the magazine publishing company having a burning desire to go to San Francisco. I wanted to talk product and ideas to geeks working on the next big thing. I quit in May 2010, headed there a couple of months later and while it’s certainly been a bumpy ride, haven’t looked back.

It’s probably a similar journey to others, but I felt like I couldn’t not create my own venture. I have somewhat strong opinions about how things should look and function, so I wanted the freedom to make decisions myself and to move with agility. I also wanted flexibility – I love connecting, researching and exploring, so needed to craft a work schedule that suited me. We’re slowly moving out of the pseudo-industrial notion of a workplace and into the future though with many startups leading the way. I believe women will especially benefit from the change.

It changes daily – I go through periods of intense optimism followed by feelings of hopelessness. So many monolithic media companies simply can’t innovate at the speed of the market. The web has obviously changed everything and I don’t need to pull out some sexy stats to show the decline of traditional media and the sharp incline of new – especially social media. Everything is evolving so rapidly, I think our current classification of what’s media doesn’t even work anymore. Multiple layers are being added to the ecosystem – we started with producers but now find ourselves with a myriad of other roles such as visualisers, curators, aggregators, people who add context and depth, and people who summarise for our newly-developed low attention spans. The mindset I feel is failing most right now is the ‘build it and they will come’ one – community and relationships with people can make a brand!

In the immediate future, I think we’ll see a wave of continued consumption from the late majority still discovering the way of the web and a return to simplicity for many of the innovators. These guys are unliking, unsubscribing and unfollowing to get a breather from the sheer content abundance to focus. In terms of business and media, the main revenue source will continue to be advertising-driven and you know, that’s okay. Contrary to current marketing opinion – I actually believe advertising (deals, sponsorships and classifieds) work.

Ah, I kind of touched on this above. I definitely think there will be and already has been a swing. It reminds me of the hipster movement – it’s cool to be contrarian, meta-contrarian and do the opposite etc. Many of my tech-savvy friends are blogging about how they got rid of their iPhone or how they go on digital sabbaticals or silent retreats. I think this is rather characteristic of an extreme audience though – if you work and live on the web – everything seems more intense. So, in the bigger scheme of things, the swing will be insignificant and smartphones will continue to rule the roost. Generally though, people are just developing the tools and understanding to cope with the advances in technology.

It’s rather funny as I’d say I haven’t got any balance in my life right now and I think that’s one of the toughest challenges of being an entrepreneur. I’m a bit of wannabe lifestyle designer, but when you go out on your own – you either end up working 24/7 or experiencing periods of stagnation. Tim Ferris talks about the concept of mini retirements, and although unintentional last year felt a little like this for me. I’d do six months of working non-stop without leisure time (mainly at home in PJs!), to then take off somewhere around the globe doing the part-time digital nomad thing. Sometimes I feel rather spoilt – being able to wake up and do whatever I want each day but there’s a voice inside of me that keeps saying this isn’t real and I should go get a proper job. Better yet, a “career”. I guess all entrepreneurs feel like this. It’s nice to have received a bit of recognition of late though through The Age and Brazen Careerist props.

I was struggling to keep up with all the great stuff happening in Melbourne and couldn’t find a central place for the information. If I wanted to find out what was on, I had to click on 20 different websites and bookmark things for later. People were also starting and running exactly the same events without knowing each other existed. I’m a bit of a neat freak and like putting things in order so I decided to put all the information in an email and send it to my contacts. The response was promising and it quickly spread to other people and cities. The links are similar to what I’ve been sharing on Twitter for a while but more scalable and easier to digest.

What is next for Kate Kendall and The Fetch?

I’m also working on a not-yet launched startup called Cloud Peeps, which connects startups and SMEs with community managers. More soon. I’ll also continue roaming between Melbourne, San Francisco and Berlin.

Failing is crucial and something we need to accept more – particularly in Australia. It’s cool if you have failed something because in most cases – it means you tried. One of the reasons I love Silicon Valley is because of its attitude towards failure: take what you can from it and apply it in the future. There was a time where I thought I failed everything I did. But it’s how you look at it and about the environments you subject yourself too. I’ve done two degrees and although I’d like to think I’m academic, there were some shockingly average marks in there. I’ve had work experiences that didn’t turn out as expected. And relationships too. What I thrive on is the learning. I think you grow more from the struggles than you do the successes.

I go through stages on Twitter. Often I’ll be link happy – sharing what I’m reading and things I recommend, other days I use it just as a pure direct messaging platform and don’t post publicly at all. It is random – and considering I’m in a plethora of times zones at the moment – not really optimised to a certain audience. I have the one Twitter account for personal and professional use – so you might find a tweet of me verbalising an existential crisis followed by a work announcement. I’ve never been one to babble back and forth to connections or share a first world problem though, and am also respectful of quality and output. The last thing I want is my little face spamming your feed!

In terms of checking my iPhone first thing in the morning, yes, I’m guilty as charged. I usually check apps in the following order: Gmail, Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, Path and Flipboard.

I’m still figuring it out myself but I’ve found the more I live in a non-conformist manner, the better life gets. So, I’d say live outside “The Matrix”, believe in yourself, have independent views, never stop growing and embrace change.

All the links are available through http://katekendall.com, @katekendall and http://thefetch.com.

A cup of fresh mint tea.

Hi Dan, you have founded Nerdi, prior to this you were in a role as Clinical Educator with the Ambulance Service of NSW. Why the change, the desire to create and invent your own business?

I’ve always had a really strong drive to make a difference. It’s why I became a Paramedic. As a Paramedic you can make a profound difference to a small number of people each week. In the beginning I was buzzing all the time. It’s so rewarding to help people in that way

As my skills improved I realised there was always more to know. The better Paramedic education was, the greater impact Paramedics could have. I became a Clinical Educator as I knew I could have a much bigger impact in the community if I could lift the quality of Paramedic education. Instead of affecting a limited number of people each week I could indirectly affect hundreds or thousands through my students by improving their clinical knowledge and thus the treatment they administered to their patients.

As I became more skilled as an educator I started to consider the really big picture. I began thinking globally in terms of education and knowledge as a means to improve people’s lives. I decided I’d have a much more significant impact on many more people if I contributed in this space.

I started to explore opportunities to disseminate quality educational content to the world. I was aware of the difficulties for educators to reach audiences via the current educational infrastructure. Some of these barriers are: the tyranny of distance, wealth, political climate, education level of peers and family, culture, access to technology and the value we place on education.

I also believed my expertise was valuable and I was realistic about my financial situation. I knew I had to find a way to generate sustainable revenue from it.

The opportunities boiled down to just a couple of unsatisfactory options…

1. Give my content away for free on YouTube alongside millions of other people’s videos of games, entertainment, dancing dogs and other non-educational content.

1. Build an educational blog and store. To be effective, this would require a huge outlay in terms of capital, time and relentless effort, with the hope I would eventually build a name and reputation.

The combination of these two solutions was the “eureka” moment for me. I realised I was not unique. There must be thousands of talented, dedicated, driven educators out there with no effective way of doing what I was trying to do. I decided this was the direction I should take. I shifted my focus from the content I had accumulated for dissemination to the content that all educators could have to disseminate.

This was the genesis of Nerdi and of my move from an educator to a startup co-founder.

Nerdi has some pretty large ambitions and can only exist due to the continued evolution of the internet. Give us your view on the immediate future of media/ technology.

I think the immediate future of media and technology revolves around the portable device. We are seeing the most rapidly changing and exciting advances every week in this shiny new field.

In September 2007 Apple released the first iPod touch. This delivered an amazing way to interact with a device far more intuitive than anything that had previously existed. Just a few months later the iPhone came out. Then came the App Store and the ability for thousands of amazingly talented developers to create applications for the devices that took advantage of incredible new technologies, such as the accelerometer. This compelled users to take the devices out of their pockets and start communicating and interacting in whole new ways. The iPhone and iPod Touch were well beyond devices that simply played music and allowed you to phone people.

We’re now starting to see the lines blur between pocket portable devices and computers. The tablet revolution is growing and has produced another round of applications specifically suited to these devices. Again they’re doing things never dreamed possible just a few short years ago.

Apple effectively created an entire new section of the market. There are many companies creating similar devices. Some of those devices will surpass the functionality and usability of the Apple offerings if they haven’t already. Google has created the Android platform. This competition has created an uncanny similarity to the Apple vs Microsoft battle in 1987 with the advent of the Mac and Windows 3.

Then, as now, there are significant similarities. Apples iOS is locked to Apple devices. Android can be implemented on numerous devices. Apple is once again relying on brand loyalty from its customers. As the Android-activated products improve, Apple will experience customer creep just as they did in the 80’s and 90’s. It will be very hard for Apple to stay out in front as the hottest company forever. Perhaps this time they will licence iOS to run on other devices.

We are also seeing other amazing advances as a result of new programming languages such as CSS3, Ruby on Rails and HTML5. These languages have the capacity to greatly improve user experience on the web and improve our ability to communicate with each other in intuitive new ways. We’re going to start seeing new websites tomorrow we can’t even dream of today. Its a very exciting time for technology.

Ultimately this leads to a new way of communicating with each other and enormous new and exciting opportunities to disseminate knowledge and information and share experiences.

What is your view on the idea of a technology rebellion, where people decide to head back to Nokia for a simple phone and texting handset to try and simplify their lives?

I don’t see it as a big deal really. I am, and always have been, an early adopter of new technologies. I have rarely gone back to using old things except where I have had a nostalgic connection with them. I love playing old board games but not at the expense of exploring new entertainment technologies.

The digital photography revolution is a perfect example of a new iteration of a technology that effectively made an old technology redundant. Almost all photographers enjoy the amazing flexibility of digital image making. It doesn’t necessarily produce a higher quality image its just a new way of operating and interacting. Its far cheaper, you can instantly review your photography, and make subtle adjustments on location, which generally enables a far higher quality outcome.

I remember the stress of working as a film photographer, wondering if I got the ‘money’ shot. Was the exposure right? Did the model move or blink? Does the bokeh have the right characteristics? Did I strike a perfect balance between shadows and highlights with my chosen exposure? Now it’s simple, faster and far less stressful. It also happens to be less romantic.

I don’t think there is a lot of romance in my old Nokia phone or even in a new “feature-lite” one though. I think it is safe to say that most people would prefer to carry one device to do everything really well than multiple devices to achieve more or less the same outcome.

With the aim of democratizing education… can you first explain what that means and secondly, how do you measure something like that?

Essentially what I came to for Nerdi was that I wanted to create a platform that would allow for the democratization of education. In essence this means making education easily, cheaply and effectively accessible to everyone. Access to education has the ability to bridge geographic, social, economic, religious, class and political boundaries.

There is no group of people who are more deserving than another of the capital of knowledge that the human race has built. And yet there is an enormous divide between the people who have access to knowledge and those who don’t.

As a Paramedic I often heard colleagues comment on people living in squalor, unable to take care of themselves, their homes, their bodies or their families. One of the contributing factors to the failure of these people to function well in society is their access to education. They were almost exclusively raised and residing in low socio-economic areas with limited opportunities.

I’ve often been accused of being idealistic, which I take as a compliment. I truly believe people can have better lives if they have access to basic human rights. Education is one of these rights.

I hope to provide an opportunity for people to easily access knowledge to improve their lives and outcomes across the full spectrum of need and aspiration. From learning simple skills and acquiring basic information to inspiring creativity and innovation.

I want people to be able to educate themselves wherever they are, whatever their age or circumstance, in whatever topics they’re passionate about, in the time they have available, and in a format that suits them. I would like everyone to be able to access knowledge without barriers, external influence or financial constraint. In a way we are trying to provide the catalyst for a new era of equality, creativity and wisdom.

Measuring this is of course difficult. We’ll be able to collect data about how many people are accessing educational content, what sort of content they’re using most and what devices are used to consume it. In many ways this doesn’t look at the big picture. How much has someone learnt? How much have they changed as a result and how will they leverage their new knowledge? What sort of access did they have before and have we made education accessible to them in a way that makes a difference in their lives? These are the things we would like to measure.

Perhaps in 20 years we can look back at a world where educational wealth has been more evenly spread across the globe. I think this is happening already but we’re trying to make it easier, more urgent, prolific, profound, enjoyable, valuable and practical.

For a person who has made the shift from executive career to entrepreneur, firstly, has this had an impact on what some people refer to as your work life balance and secondly, is work life balance a myth if you actually find what you love?

The trick to attain “work life balance” is to do something you love for work. Be passionate about it. Want to make that part of your life with your family and friends. Get them involved with what you do so they can share your life with you. I love talking to my son about Nerdi. He is excited about it in a way that I was never excited about my Dad going to his work. I don’t want to separate these two things and I think if people were following their passions they wouldn’t want to either.

I have never spent as much time with family as I do now. I have bought my work into my home. I very seldom spoke of my work with my family in my career because I was working in an organization that was doing a good thing but I had no personal connection with the organization itself. When I was at work I wanted to be at home. Now home is work and vice versa. It is a liberating arrangement. I contribute in a much more important way at home now and I love it.

It has also allowed me to be far more productive. I now have access to my work at 2am when I dream of a fantastic way of doing something. I can talk with my peers all day or night about the best way to create, inspire and achieve our goals. I have built a community of colleagues, friends and family who are invested in what I am doing because they are invested in me as a person. They are proud of me and are pleased to see me doing big things with big ideas. I have definitely blurred the boundaries between work and play and that has been fantastic.

Why Nerdi, in regards to the name that is, and who is the Nerdi brains trust – the people making this thing happen?

My wife and I often joke about what a nerd I am now. When I was 13, the worst thing in the world you could be at school was a nerd. We were in a race to see who could get to the bottom first. We never valued the opportunities our high school education provided us. I went to a sad school with teachers who were burnt out, frustrated and lacked support to inspire kids to learn. I actually thought I was dumb by the time I left school at 18 because I had not achieved what I thought I should have.

After school I completed a Bachelor degree and once again learnt the same lesson. I was dumb. It wasn’t until I finished university and wondered what on earth I was going to do that my wife Andy (yep, married quite young) found a really exciting course in New Zealand…Adventure Tourism. I’d done loads of travel and Andy and I were doing back-to-back ski seasons at the time. It sounded like a great course so we flew to NZ and I started the course.

It was fantastic! For the first time in my life study came easy. I was inspired by what I was learning. I was able to sit for hours doing my work because I absolutely loved it. I did loads of fun stuff like cutting the snow pack to see the weakness or strength in it, raft guided on grade 5 rivers and flew around in helicopters through canyons only a few feet wider than the rotors. These things weren’t the only things I excelled at. I also blitzed risk management, leadership and pre-hospital care.

Then it dawned on me…I was in fact not dumb at all. I was actually really intelligent. I just needed to be inspired. I needed to choose what I was learning because it is natural to do well at what you love. This became my mantra for educating students for the next 10 years. If you’re learning something you love you can learn anything and succeed. All of a sudden I had truly become a nerd, ironically, doing the coolest thing ever – setting off avalanches in the remote New Zealand Alps!

When Paul Voulas, the other co-founder of Nerdi, my wife and I started talking about names for Nerdi we definitely wanted to have some sort of reference to education. We also didn’t want to be too serious – education should be enjoyable. We played with words like geek, geeky and nerdy. We eventually settled on Nerdi which is a bit of a word play with the i from iMac, iPhone and iPod. I think Apple made it cool to be a nerd so it’s a subtle homage to that.

I love working with Paul. He has a totally different take on the world to me. He’s really obsessed with technology and has loads of experience in tech development and software engineering. He totally out-nerds me, which gives my 13 year-old-self some comfort. Paul is full of fantastic ideas. Much of what Nerdi has become is as a result of robust conversations between us. We basically spend our whole day joking with each other and Nerdi has benefited enormously from the laughter.

Together we‘ve been able to combine our experience, expertise and enthusiasm to create a platform that will revolutionize education. I am really proud of this. And insanely excited.

When can we expect to engage and learn from Nerdi?

In November Nerdi will be ready for user testing. In January we will open an invitation only Beta. We’re currently letting content producers know there’s an incredible new platform to share and disseminate their expertise. Once we have enough content we’ll be able to open it up to the world. Its hard to say how long it will take to reach the critical mass of content because nothing like this really exists at the moment.

Educators have never been focused on creating content for sale due to a lack of opportunity. We are essentially repositioning non-formal education as a commodity and that may take time. However, like the App Store and eBay, people may quickly recognize the enormous potential of Nerdi and start climbing over each other to establish themselves early and get the biggest slice of the pie. And that’s going to be the best possible outcome for educational consumers worldwide.

Important question, and we would love to hear your take, how important is failing to get to where you need to go? Or do you prefer to focus on “quick wins”?

People often say you need to fail to learn. I don’t really agree with this because it’s really only half of the equation. Every person has wins and failures all the time. Both make you stronger. You can learn from both. The trick is to never close your mind, to never be complacent, regardless of what you have achieved. To keep pushing, always exploring how you can do things better.

Nerdi has enormous potential but we have to educate our audience about the opportunities we are creating. This may take time. We’re in it for as long as it takes and we’re excited about this. That’s the difference with doing something you love. When you have belief and passion you can overcome any obstacles, keep learning, evolving and striving for the best.

Social Media… how important is it and how often do you engage in tweeting, is it randomly or do you have a disciplined approach? For example, when you get up, are you straight on the iPhone?

Social media is relatively new to me. I love it. I’ve had a huge ideological change toward it recently. I come from a very private family – a hangover from the persecution my Grandfather endured during the Second World War. He told me never to tell anyone who I was or what I believed. He was terrified by Facebook when it came out. He thought it was a conspiracy so “they” could find “us”. I’ve always rejected his paranoia but I think a small part of it did discourage me from sharing my life first on Facebook then Twitter, etc. Now I’m kind of playing catch up. I love tweeting more than Facebook. I just like the format better.

I speak to my young cousins who have only known a world with social media and they assure me their 900+ Facebook friends really are their best friends and they know them all really well. I find this really funny but I also think they’re at a huge advantage when it comes time to network, get jobs, meet people and share their lives with those they care about.

A lot of my friends think you’re a wanker if you have more than 50 friends because how could you possibly know that many people? In essence I think what they’re missing is that Facebook and other social media technologies are not just about finding long lost friends (which my cousins won’t ever have to worry about… They couldn’t lose their friends even if they wanted to.). It is about building a personal brand, reaching out and making people’s lives better.

It’s about communicating, connecting, sharing – things we all instinctively crave. No one is really excluded now. Even the unpopular kid at school can have a massive group of online friends and be the coolest kid in his ‘space’. Whatever his interests are – online games, miniature dogs, anime movies or Turkish tattoos – there are guaranteed to be thousands of people worldwide who share his passion.

These technologies are crucial to a business like ours. Every time someone ‘likes’ what we’re doing they’ll ‘talk’ about it across a myriad of online platforms to all their friends and followers. This is way more world wide web than the world wide web ever was. I also love that there’s no such thing as six degrees of separation any more. It has to be down to about 3 degrees. Can I count my cousin’s 900 friends as 2 degrees? Does he really know all those people?

In terms of a schedule, I dedicate the first part of my day to exploring blogs, Twitter and Facebook to stay connected and current. I tweet every day, mainly from my iPhone as its always with me. I guess you could say its a disciplined approach as I actively include it in my day but the beauty of social media is its immediacy and ability to transmit your ideas, reactions, news in the moment, in the emotion, in real time.

What is your best ever piece of advice?

It’s a bit embarrassing because it is such a cliché… “Live every day like it was your last on earth”. I love this mantra because it reminds me not to take what I have for granted and always strive for more. I’m constantly trying to find ways to improve my life, my friend’s and family’s lives and make the world a better place. This is the thing that keeps me focused.

OK, where can we find you online?

Best place to start is www.nerdi.com. When we launch it will have a blog or you can follow me on Twitter @dansolocreative, or us @TheNerdi.

Thank you Dan Solo (Best name ever), please finish this sentence… “What the world needs now is more…

Tolerance. No, not tolerance – a celebration of diversity. We need to do much more than just tolerate people. It’s insane that we keep hurting each other. It doesn’t matter what color your skin is, which god you believe in, which country you come from, your sexual preference or your gender. Everyone should be treated with respect and dignity. Our diversity should be embraced, admired and cultivated.

[TI]How was the idea for Nectar and Pulse created? 

[NP]We have traveled around the world and lived in many different cities but never found a guide which really satisfied our needs – so we decided to create our own as we saw there was a gap in the market.

What made you live out your idea? Where you afraid of failure or leaving the comfort of the 9-5 and weekly pay cheque? 

To realize an idea like this you need a lot of persistence. Of course there were days where we didn’t know how to get further but what made us go on was this huge vision we had. And of course each other. It’s a lot easier if you have someone who is as crazy about an idea and motivates you when you are lost.

Can you share with us some of your notable highs and lows? 

Highs:

Getting our first delivery.

Seeing the first guide in a shop.

The first order from our  web shop.

Holding a speech at Tedx Salzburg.

Reading our first big press article.

Having the first radio interview.

Lows:

Suicide in the family.

Running out of money in between.

What is in store for the next five years with Nectar and Pulse? 

Creating more city guides, offering a mobile solution and creating a funky range of products inspired by traveling.

How do you achieve a work life balance?

We think that if you do what you love you never work. We couldn’t imagine a life without N&P since it combines all things we are passionate about: fascinating people, traveling, design, fashion, photography, music, culinary delights and hidden, authentic places. To work with what you love most balances you and your life automatically.

What do you believe the world needs right now? 

More love – as always. People who rather wanna be happy than persisting on being right.

Does your company have a story? 

Not just one. We love adventures and document our journey as urban nomads, curious designers and passionate entrepreneurs on our blog: http://www.yourdailylifeguide.com/

Who do you look to for inspiration? 

People who make the most of now. Wise people. Curious people. People who are really good at what they do. Confident people. Geniune people. Loving people. Creative people. Everyday heros and heartfelt pioneers. Breathtaking pictures, powerful words, timeless beauty, complex music, independent films, ecstatic dances, intense flavours, epic experiences.

What projects are you working on right now? 

Creating more guides for more cities. Developing a mobile version. Improving our website and web shop. Contrive some deals with other companies.

What country is on the top of the to visit list? What has been your favourite country? 

Next countries: Brazil, Japan, Island and Russia.

Favourite: Changes constantly.

Name: Andrew Denton
DOB: 4^th may, 1960
Place of Birth: Subiaco, Perth
Lives: Several, but currently enjoying this one.
Occupation: Personality.

[TI] Hi Mr Denton. Zapruders Other Films website describes you as “not tall but your brain is big and interesting”! Define interesting? 

[AD] That was long-time Zapruder producer, Polly Connolly’s, description of me – so maybe you should ask her.  My definition of interesting? Being John Malkovich.

A colleague of mine defined interesting recently as Andrew Denton.

He / she needs to get out more.

[Smiling] It seems like your Zapruders adventures (Gruen, Hungry Beast, Can of Worms) are overtaking your own career on TV, is that part of the grand plan?

No. The grand plan is to time travel back to 1987 and try to rescue my record collection before selling it off.  This is all part of a shabby plan.

What time do you start work each day?

Like most Australians, about half an hour after I sit down to start work.

From office or from home and what are your thoughts on work life balance? Is it as I suspect…  just myth?

Office. Home. Car. Depends. Work/life balance needn’t be a myth. Not if you work at it. Really hard. 60 hours a week, 52 weeks of the year.

How is it that Zapruder keeps on coming up with relevant content for Australian audiences when everyone else continues to pump out rubbish? Hungry Beast is more Gen-Y than Gen-Y yet it also appeals to a wide demographic?

Your claim, but let’s assume it’s true: We are arrogant enough to think that not all good television ideas need to have been a hit overseas first. And daft enough to think that it’s OK to fail as long as you’re shooting for something.

What are you shooting for?

The same thing. Always. A great idea flying true.

How important is Social Networking and New Media to Zapruders strategy? What role does it play?

It’s one of our key considerations. We now budget in every show for a Social Media co-ordinator. Their job: Audience build. Show awareness.. Gifts for our audience. Gifts from our audience.  For more detail, check these out:
Web: http://www.zof.com.au
Twitter: @Zapruders
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/zapruders
Tumblr blog: http://zaprudersotherfilms.tumblr.com

Do you tweet and how important are social networks to you?

No. And not much. I don’t tweet because I have a million other opportunities to communicate. And I don’t have much interest in social networking because I prefer solitude and letting my brain free-wheel where it may.

Who should we be following from Zapruder or more specific who in our midst is the future of media?

I have no idea, but here’s some interesting brains currently rambling around the Australian landscape (some of whom are Zapruder people): Jon Casimir, Dan Ilic, Daniel Keogh, Chas Licciardello, Marieke Hardy, Geoff Lemon, Sam Simmons, Claudia O’Doherty, Angus Sampson, Matt Okine, Tom Ballard.

Do you think that’s why Zapruder continue to produce great content; Because of the people in your team?

A key lesson I learnt many years ago was never be afraid to surround yourself with really smart people. Even if they’re smarter than you.  So…yes.

Slight shift and curious on your thoughts… Is it as good as over for the newspaper as we know it?

Not just yet. But the broadsheet does seem to be coughing and wheezing a lot.

What does your life look like now?
From the air, quite attractive with a pleasing outlook. From close up, modest, but with renovation potential.

Have you achieved everything you have wanted to achieve?

Yes. When I was 7 I decided that all I wanted to achieve in life was a full set of teeth. I achieved that. Setting the bar so low at an early age has been the secret to my incredible sense of accomplishment.

What is next for Zapruders Other Films?

Randling – it’s whitewater rafting for your brain. (Watch this space).

Thanks for your time.

Pleasure. Can I have it back now please?

Adam, thanks for taking the time, give us a quick background on Adam Ferrier and Naked Comms:

Lets start with your generation:

I’m proudly Generation X, I say proud as growing up we never thought our generation would get a name like ‘The Baby Boomers’– there was nothing holding our generation together. Then Douglas Coupland wrote the book Generation X and told us that we were all cynical, ironic, nihilistic, unhappy and hard on ourselves. Once we had that label we were much happier.  They are now giving out way too many labels to generations – even before the previous generation is complete. I pity Generations Y and Z, and the iGeneration, and Generation C – who are you? You’re not even real generations.  Generation X was the last  of the iconic generations – it’s now all just one big remix.

Tell us about Naked & how you came to be involved:

I was in Paris and missed a call in the middle of the night from a friend, Mike Wilson. Mike left a message saying he had an ‘interesting proposition’ for me. I was 1/2 asleep listening to the message and when I put my phone down to go back to bed I put it in a full glass of water. My phone broke, so it took ages for me to get back to him, but when I did we talked about starting Naked in Australia. It all sounded fun and we went for it.

Where are you now – literally & metaphorically?
Literally:

Sitting on a black leather couch.

Metaphorically:

Lying under a black leather couch watching the world rush by.

What makes you tick / get up in the morning / think you’ve had a good day:

I sincerely enjoy doing repetitious, low involvement tasks. I once had a job at university where I had to lick and seal envelopes all day – I did 4 days of this straight and it was really peaceful.  I guess however I don’t have to do that every single day to make a living.  So, I’m incredibly thankful that I still have a job I like, wife I love, and good family and friends. I good day is when I find myself appreciating all of that.

UnclutteredWhiteSpaces.com creates a platform for people who challenge the status quo. We like to focus on thought activation and cross with inspiring content and amazing design. As a result, a lot of our readers are entrepreneurs, business owners and creatives. With this type of work comes a lot of highs and lows. Can you share with us one of your notable highs:

We’ve had a lot of highs at Naked this year. We had a brilliant Christmas party, achieved good financial results, and created some fantastic work. I have a soft spot for some of the ideas we created particularly in helping save independent radio station Fbi (www.fbiradio.com).  With the Fbi guys we created a campaign called ‘Ask Richard’, where we asked Richard Branson for a $1,000,000 (www.askrichard.com).  We also helped create a new FMCG brand called ‘The Ministry of Muffins’ which was great fun. Other highlights include helping launch the Witchery Man line extension for Witchery.  As well as lots of other things. We enjoy ourselves at Naked and I think the work and ideas born reflect that.

How about a notable low:

The lows happen, but they are difficult to talk about in an open forum.  You’re never quite sure who is going to be reading?

Any relationship between the two?

The brighter the picture the darker the negative. It’s no coincidence that 2009 has been our most successful year, and yet also a difficult one too.  As my fictitious personal instructor once said to me ‘No pain. No gain.’

So if you could fix one thing right now… anything, what would you fix?

Africa.

Adam’s Mission?:

Be wary of people who have a mission – they’ll try and recruit you.

My Social Networks… where do we find you online or out and about if we were considering stalking you?

Chances are you’ll find me at work if I’m not there try my personal mobile device (try 0413 633 344). In real life you’ll find me at The George in Melbourne having a glass of wine and sharing a steak with my wife Anna, or possibly I’ll be in a pretentious Sydney bar having a girly cocktail.  Online try www.theconsumerpsych.com. Don’t bother looking for me on Facebook or Twitter, both are really doing my head in and I’m trying to disentangle myself from them.

In your view, finish this quote: ”What the world needs more than anything right now is…”

What the world needs now is love, sweet love It’s the only thing that there’s just too little of What the world needs now is love, sweet love, No not just for some but for everyone.

These words say it better than I ever could.

Thanks Adam. To learn more about Adam, stalk him on his mobile device or visit the web site.

An Interview with Chris Guillebeau on the Art of Non-Conformity uncluttered white spacesChris Guillebeau served as a volunteer executive for a medical charity in West Africa from 2002-2006, he is a  keynote speaker (to presidents), has hung out with warlords, studied at the University of Washington and most intriguingly, has been to 125 countries with a long list yet to visit prior to turning 35.

Chris is an entrepreneur with an interesting history ranging from importing coffee from Jamaica, search engine optimization in its early days, Google Adwords and Adsense arbitrage, and building a small publishing company while volunteering in Africa. He now writes on his site and is a published author.

We took some time to ask Chris a few questions about his interesting journey… here is what we found out.

Thanks for taking the time to talk to uncluttered white spaces. What are you doing right now?
I’m on my end-of-year review where I take a week out and spend time thinking about the previous year and planning the forthcoming year.

Where would you rather be?
Nowhere.

Your book, The Art of Non- Conformity, is described by Barbara Sher, she states it teaches us how to live with gusto, on our own terms, and bring excitement into our lives. Inspiring even the least courageous person to make bold steps. How would you review your own book in one sentence?
This book provides an alternative to everything else you’ve been told.

When you write a book like this, what are you hoping, more than anything else that people take away from the book.
I want to inspire readers to take action to create positive change. What that looks like will be different for everyone.

I am a big believer that time is just an illusion and that 9-5 thinking creates a platform for excuses… if it matters enough, we make it happen regardless of time constraints. What are your thoughts on the conventional approach to business?
I agree. Time exists independently and can’t be managed, and as you say, we make time for what’s important to us. It’s fair to say as well that it’s not just 9-5 thinking that creates a platform for excuses; entrepreneurs and other self-employed people can also become complacent. The trick is to fight complacency wherever it shows itself.

What projects are you working on right now?
Let’s see… I just finished a 53-city book tour in the U.S. Next month I head up to Canada to visit every province there. I’m also creating a new business project called the Travel Hacking Cartel. Shortly I’ll begin writing my second book, and after the Canada tour I’ll resume my quest to visit every country in the world. Those are the main projects on my mind at the moment.

How do you  define success?
Continual progress toward improving myself and others.

You say you spend 10% of your time on “business” and the rest doing the things you love. Is this a realistic goal for all of us?
I think that most of us in the privileged part of the world can find ways to spend our time on things we are motivated by. In my case I chose a 90/10 ratio, but I don’t this is the only way.

Is work life balance a myth?
I’m not sure it’s a myth but I’m also not sure it’s the right pursuit. In my case I don’t believe in separating life and work; I’d rather find a way to create convergence in my life among everything I’m passionate about. I also think “balance” is a word employers use to make their employees believe they are happy.

If you could solve 1 problem right now, what would it be?
Access to clean water for everyone.

What are your top 3 books?
Top 3 is hard to choose! But let’s say Man’s Search for Meaning, Mountains Beyond Mountains, and A Wild Sheep Chase.

Finish this question… what the world needs more than anything right now is… ”   ”
More people asking why they do the things they do. I have a screensaver on my computer with a sign that reads, “Why do you do this every day?” It’s a helpful reminder.

Where do we find you online?
chrisguillebeau.com or @chrisguillebeau

Thanks Chris for your time… you can read Chris’s blog here or follow his Flickr stream here.

Alissa Walker is a writer, a gelato-eater, and a walker living in LA. We delved a little deeper.

Your Generation:
I’m Generation X but I’m Millennial-adjacent and I think I relate much more to that generation’s values.

Where are you right now & how you did you come to be involved:
I’m on a Virgin America flight heading back from speaking at a fantastic conference in Washington DC on cities and technology called Open Cities.

Where would you rather be?:
I’m thrilled to be heading home to Los Angeles to spend the next few weeks studying the city’s culture through a USC/Annenberg Getty Arts Journalism Fellowship. But have to say, seat 6A with wifi and a House marathon on this DirectTV screen is pretty sweet.

Every time we search for inspiring content, we seem to find you looming close by writing inspiring pieces about how we can make things better, be smarter or at least, how we can reduce our impact. How did you come to care so much about earth (when so many really don’t) and what are you doing that you are most proud of?
I wouldn’t say that I really write about the earth, although I’m a big fan. I think I write about creative people who are using their skills to connect people to their community and causes that matter to them in a fun, engaging or interesting way. I’m proud that I can help get the word out about great projects to people who can help take action.

What makes you get up in the morning / think you’ve had a good day:
I have no problem getting up in the morning—that’s when my mind is clearest and I do the best work. I’ve had a good day if I’ve written a little, thought a little, walked a little, laughed a lot, and ended the day with friends and a fantastic meal.

Can you share with us a notable high in your career?
When I got my first essay published as a freelancer, a story in the Los Angeles Times about my brother, Luke Sky Walker, that kickstarted my career:

How about a notable low:
When I had just started out as a freelancer and I had no work and $300 in my bank account.

Any relationship between the two?
Those two moments happened within two weeks of each other. It just goes to show you how quickly your life can change, and that hard work will always be rewarded…eventually. And of course, that Star Wars is awesome.

So if you could fix 1 thing right now, be it community or global… anything, what would you fix?
I’d want more people to realize they could have a happy, fulfilled and more entertaining life if they chose not to drive a car.

If Arnold Schwarzenegger called you tomorrow for some advice on the most important issue in California right now, what you tell him?
Well, I’d tell him I’m glad he’s finally been relieved of his duties! And I’d ask him to tell Jerry Brown to be vigilant about turning our schools into centers for creativity.

Do you have a personal Mission?
Humor can achieve much more than anger.

Do you fill up at BP?
I don’t have a car.

Who do you look up to, or more importantly, who do you follow on Twitter?
I follow about 400 people on Twitter, mostly only people who I’ve met in real life, which include writers and thinkers who I admire, and the organizations that they run. You can check the list here.

We have a saying at 6.2 that we apply to everything we do, (though i’m sure it is not original), we focus on the statement “make it mean something”. You connect with thousnds of people every day all over the world through Fast Company, Good Magazine and Gelatobaby, what are your top 3 articles you have written and in your view, “did they mean something”?

1) The story that acted as a turning point in my career was “Real World Studio” for GOOD’s Design Issue, where I traveled to Hale County, Alabama to observe a group of designers attempt to solve local problems.Writing the story helped them to raise over $40,000 to help connect residents to the municipal water supply, and it made me realize that my writing could actually be a part of the solution for causes I cared about.  .

2) “The Fake Freeway Sign That Became a Real Public Service” for my column at GOOD, which is about an artist who made his own interstate sign when he got frustrated by the poor directional signage on an LA freeway. The city didn’t notice for nine months, and it worked so well they left it up for nine years. Such an amazing story.

3) “Why I Write About Design Now” is something I wrote in response to New York’s Design Week, which frames the importance of design through the sale of overpriced chairs. Which it, of course, is not.

Where do we find you online or out and about if we were considering stalking you (you are quite easy to stalk by the way)?
I’m on Facebook and Twitter , and I also take lots of photos at Flickr (click the links).

Why Gelatobaby?
On a trip to Europe where I was attempting to find myself, my life suddenly snapped into focus when I was in Italy, consuming three to five helpings of gelato a day. I thought it was definitely related so I wanted to find a way to bring gelato into my life daily. You can read the story at my website:

In your view, finish this quote:
”What the world needs more than anything right now is…” gelato, baby.

Thank you Alissa, you can learn more about who Alissa is, what Alissa write‘s, and even see where Alissa lives and works by clicking the links. Don’t forget to follow Alissa on twitter and subscribe to her awesome blog.

We were so inspired by the re-launch of the Palladium brand, we wanted to know more about the man behind the campaign. Read on.

Barney hails from the suburbs of London, England and has been in marketing for twenty years.  Barney’s first job was in the software business at Lotus Development, which took him through the launch of Windows, the emergence of the internet, and eventually gave him the opportunity to move across the Atlantic to the company’s headquarters in Boston.  After IBM acquired Lotus, Barney looked for an opportunity to get back to a fast paced, fast growth environment and joined Puma, switching from software to sneakers.  He spent seven years as VP of Marketing for Puma North America during the brands rapid growth period.  In early 2009 K-Swiss tapped Barney to re-launch Palladium, a sixty year old French boot brand that they had just acquired.  Barney is responsible for developing the Palladium brand strategy and the re-launch of this iconic brand.

My Brand: Palladium Boots, an authentic boot brand founded in Lyon, France in 1947 and originally worn by the French Foreign Legion.  Re-launched in 2009.

My Generation: Born in 1971, so my late teens coincided perfectly with the birth of electronic music.  1988, the summer of love.

Notable high: The Boston Red Sox winning the 2004 World Series and the Boston Celtics winning the 2008 NBA championship.

Notable low: The England soccer team not winning anything, ever.

A quote to live by: My therapist thinks Im too judgmental, but thats because he is an idiot: Anon

My Mission: Professionally, to build Palladium into a long term volume brand that retains it’s desirability as it grows, and to always keep something special for those that were onto us first.

My Fave web site:

My Social Networks: England, Boston, New York, Los Angeles.  All connected via Facebook.

Finish this quote: What the world needs more than anything right now is… Truth in journalism.  The US media has basically taken sides, which has destroyed any integrity left in the profession.  The news can’t be trusted.  Sad but true.

For more information in relation to the latest campaign by Palladium, you can visit the web site by cliking here. We recomend taking some time out to view the documentaries. Amazing.