It's funny, I thought as I was brushing my teeth, how little changes through one's life. It is as if your past returns to haunt you with ironic echoes.
When I was in primary school, at the tender age of seven I was placed in a team as were all the arriving pupils. There was a choice of Red, Blue, Yellow and Green teams, or Houses as they were known. The Red team was very popular, but did not excel in quite as many fields as the Blues, who seemed to dominate everything as if by royal decree. Then there was the Yellow team, which while quite clever lacked leadership and commitment to the greater glory of the House; and they just didn't do very well. Then there was the Green team, who seemed always to come last. They failed at everything. If there was a three-legged race they would grow an extra leg and get disqualified, or trip over it. If it was a question of achievement through class work the dunces of the Greens could never cut the mustard. While the Yellows were seen as Also-Rans, the Greens were seen as Never-Rans.
I was placed in the Greens.
In the last year at primary school I managed to come top of the class one week, after working my way up by sheer hard work, and I had also become Green Vice Captain and a Prefect. After years of failing at sports and lazy scholastic mediocrity I had groped my way to the top of the top class in the school. Sitting in my place of pride in the number one desk at the back of the class I put my hand up to answer a question the teacher had asked: what is the name of the mark that goes before an 's' to show a missing letter, an abbreviation as in "it's". I knew the answer was "An apostrophe" but for some reason my brain locked up and my mouth fumbled, saying "A comma in the air." With a withering look, a sneer and a scornful echo of my words, she finished my career of excellence as she turned away to someone who knew the correct answer, and a hot flush of shame suffused my whole being. I realised in that moment that there was no point in a Green trying to rock the established order of things. I decided to take it easy and loaf along in the middle ground where I could comfortably get through life at school without the strain of trying to be top.
Jumping forward a half century, the Greens are still at the bottom, although everyone knows in their hearts that they are right. The Reds (or New Labour as they are now called) are in control at the moment, but the Blues (or Conservatives as they call themselves) are jostling to regain control. The Yellows (or Liberal Democrats) still lack leadership and still are unable to decide which side of the fence they are going to land on. Like the others main parties they are neither Liberal or Democratic! None of them seem to realise (for instance) that the planned expansion of air traffic will negate every other measure on the domestic front to curb emission of CO2 and other climate changing pollutants. It is an uncomfortable truth, I am afraid. We will all be suffering deprivation at home in order to permit more jaunts abroad and inward migration, without affecting the increase in our emissions.
So, as I said, nothing seems to change. Nuclear energy is now linked to renewables in the Doublespeak of our Orwellian Government and is again the flavour of the day for both the main parties, while the Yellows aren't quite sure. And everyone has forgotten Chernobyl.
Wednesday 30 April 2008
Sunday 27 April 2008
Investment Readiness
On Friday I attended a seminar on investment readiness, and as always I picked up a little nugget or two of information that made me think differently. One nugget was that the product often was less important than the Business Model. Normal people tend to think of an article and put a sale price on it - so in this case the Rotaire Dryline is priced from £29.99. However, smart business people would think: "How else could I get value for this item?"
Howard Hughes was the heir to the Hughes Corporation due mainly to his father's foresight in leasing his revolutionary oil drilling head rather than just selling them. Nowadays the internet will allow you to subscribe rather than selling the programme because the downstream revenue is higher than if it were simply sold outright. I have to think of other ways to sell the product in case I could find a better business model.
Another nugget was when I was talking to a lovely woman called Melanie about the difficulties of public speaking, selling a product and the Elevator Pitch. She said that you only need to make three points and one central message in the short explanation of your product, and I think she is right.
1 Everyone has a need to dry laundry.
2 Drying takes energy wherever it is done.
3 Energy is expensive and is literally costing the Earth.
MESSAGE: Get energy-free drying with the Rotaire Dryline, so every day can be a free drying day.
I also need to produce a list of Frequently Asked Questions about rotary washing lines and about the covers. For instance, Q: "What is the mesh skirt for?" A: "Because rain doesn't fall vertically." Q: "How does the mesh catch the rain?" A: "Because the holes are just the right size, and as soon as a raindrop touches the mesh its surface tension causes it to adhere and then it runs downwards under its own momentum plus gravity."
Howard Hughes was the heir to the Hughes Corporation due mainly to his father's foresight in leasing his revolutionary oil drilling head rather than just selling them. Nowadays the internet will allow you to subscribe rather than selling the programme because the downstream revenue is higher than if it were simply sold outright. I have to think of other ways to sell the product in case I could find a better business model.
Another nugget was when I was talking to a lovely woman called Melanie about the difficulties of public speaking, selling a product and the Elevator Pitch. She said that you only need to make three points and one central message in the short explanation of your product, and I think she is right.
1 Everyone has a need to dry laundry.
2 Drying takes energy wherever it is done.
3 Energy is expensive and is literally costing the Earth.
MESSAGE: Get energy-free drying with the Rotaire Dryline, so every day can be a free drying day.
I also need to produce a list of Frequently Asked Questions about rotary washing lines and about the covers. For instance, Q: "What is the mesh skirt for?" A: "Because rain doesn't fall vertically." Q: "How does the mesh catch the rain?" A: "Because the holes are just the right size, and as soon as a raindrop touches the mesh its surface tension causes it to adhere and then it runs downwards under its own momentum plus gravity."
Wednesday 23 April 2008
It's Not Easy Being Green
As my friend Brigit Strawbridge says, "It's not easy being Green."
But then it is important, isn't it? When you see your culture going the wrong way, like lemmings over a cliff, isn't it important to say... "Hey, hold on, I think there may be a better way." I took that decision a long time ago and when I recently took a carbon footprint test (I recommend George Marshall's excellent book Carbon Detox, which has a good test in it) I found that my footprint is only half a ton over the 2050 target. That is less than half the present average figure. I was amazed, but it just means the rest of you must be consuming LOADS!
Anyway, about 3 years ago two friends and I invented a cover for a washing line; one that would fit a rotary line, drier, airer, whirligig, call it what you want so that you could dry clothes at any time rather than just when it is sunny. Since then I have done most of the work, and at last I have a product ready for sale, patented, trade marked and all. People who have tried it like it and it will typically save up to 1000KW a year as against a tumble drier. That would mean 4 tonnes of CO2! Nearly a third of your annual average. Even modest use is a waste that is avoidable, and the Dryline will pay for itself in about 6 months. It even speeds up the process when it is sunny, which I still find surprising.
So now I spend most of my time out selling the product and trying to find those ethical consumers who want to do the right thing, or the busy mums who need to put the washing out before going to work and hate coming home to find it wet. Perhaps the older ladies who like to dry outside but have to watch the clouds and dash outside whenever a spot of rain falls... And now I have started a blog to record my progress or lack of it. I have no idea who might read this but I hope you enjoy it, dear reader.
But then it is important, isn't it? When you see your culture going the wrong way, like lemmings over a cliff, isn't it important to say... "Hey, hold on, I think there may be a better way." I took that decision a long time ago and when I recently took a carbon footprint test (I recommend George Marshall's excellent book Carbon Detox, which has a good test in it) I found that my footprint is only half a ton over the 2050 target. That is less than half the present average figure. I was amazed, but it just means the rest of you must be consuming LOADS!
Anyway, about 3 years ago two friends and I invented a cover for a washing line; one that would fit a rotary line, drier, airer, whirligig, call it what you want so that you could dry clothes at any time rather than just when it is sunny. Since then I have done most of the work, and at last I have a product ready for sale, patented, trade marked and all. People who have tried it like it and it will typically save up to 1000KW a year as against a tumble drier. That would mean 4 tonnes of CO2! Nearly a third of your annual average. Even modest use is a waste that is avoidable, and the Dryline will pay for itself in about 6 months. It even speeds up the process when it is sunny, which I still find surprising.
So now I spend most of my time out selling the product and trying to find those ethical consumers who want to do the right thing, or the busy mums who need to put the washing out before going to work and hate coming home to find it wet. Perhaps the older ladies who like to dry outside but have to watch the clouds and dash outside whenever a spot of rain falls... And now I have started a blog to record my progress or lack of it. I have no idea who might read this but I hope you enjoy it, dear reader.
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