Mark Wright’s Blog

With the recent Swine Flu outbreak, more people have taken to wearing surgical masks in the hopes they will not catch the disease.  A number of online companies are taking advantage of this by offering potential customers the opportunity to not only order the masks, but to make a statement.

These companies are designing mask with designs.  You can get everything from a pair of lips to a pig snout on them.  You can even go so far as to get a mask with a moustache and beard or the bottom half of a skull.

One business reports shipping out more than 2,500 masks in the past week to people wanting to protect themselves from the virus.  This ability comes from being able to market their products on the internet.  Since I am in the business of website design and search engine optimization, stories such as these fascinate me.  These stories also help to instill the concepts we preach to our clients on a regular basis.

Your customers have to be able to find you.

They have to like what they initially see.

They have to be compelled to purchase.

If you have a strong internet presence, you have the ability to reach so many more customers than with a simple brick and mortar storefront.  You can become a national or even international company if you so desire.  You also have the ability to change or expand your message or products almost instantaneously.  The designer masks are a perfect example of this sort of marketing. 

While some might say that this is exploiting a bad situation, I strongly disagree.  If they were the only people that had surgical masks and they were selling them for $100 a pop, I would say that is exploitation.  People are going to buy the masks.  If they want something with a little more flair, then they have that option.  They are meeting the needs of their customers.    

For the past week, I have been following the drama as the Captain of a cargo ship was held hostage in a lifeboat in the Indian Ocean.  Captain Richard Phillips was safely rescued after U.S. Navy snipers killed the three Somali pirates who were holding him hostage. 

The drama unfolded when Somali pirates took over the US flagged Maersk Alabama.  The crew was able to take back the ship but the captain was taken hostage by three pirates who boarded one of the ship’s lifeboats. 

This has been one of the first times, a Somali pirate attack has been thwarted.  Over the past year, pirates have attacked numerous ships, holding the crew and cargo ransom.  In most cases, the ransom is paid, with the amounts ranging in the millions of dollars. 

When people think of pirates, they think of Blackbead, Captain Hook or Captain Jack Sparrow of The Pirates of the Caribbean movies.  However, these pirates have very little charm.  The Somali pirates have vowed revenge. 

Every morning when I come to work, I look out the window of one of our conference rooms and see all of the ships entering and exiting the harbor and wonder if one day they might be captured by the pirates.  As a former crewmember of a navy ship, I have been in the region where this is taking place.

The successful rescue of Phillips and the Maersk Alabama will not stop the pirates.  The only thing that will stop them is a continued show of force.  While it would be near impossible to watch over every ship, it is important to send a clear message to these thugs that this sort of action will not be tolerated any longer.  These terrorists need to be brought to justice.   

Last weekend I went to go see The Fast and The Furious movie.  Now I am guessing Vin Diesel will not be accepting an Oscar next year for his performance, it wasn’t bad.  It was two hours of really cool cars and high speed chases. 

Today Southern California had its version of the movie with a real live high speed chase.  The only difference instead of high performance tuner and muscle cars, there was a Scion Toaster car.  I call these toasters because they look like toasters.  It took officers from Orange County, CHP and Long Beach to finally subdue the woman driver.  During the chase, they got up to speeds of 100 mph. 

Now I have a couple of questions.  How in the world did they get that fast?  I have been here for five months and with the crazy traffic they have, you don’t get anywhere fast.  If I don’t have to drive, I don’t.  I am fortunate enough to live close to the office and pretty much anywhere else I want to go.  I walk, a lot.  Personally, I am not a speed demon but even by my slow standards, traffic moves at the pace of a snail.  Also, Why do people think they can get away?  If they do get away, then they are still going to be pursued more vigorously.

I never understood the whole concept of the high speed chase.  Sometimes I think people see it on TV shows and movies and think they have a chance to outrun the cops.  Here are a few things to consider if you are thinking about outrunning the cops, here are a few things to consider.

If you are driving a Scion Toaster Car, you don’t have enough speed to outrun a high performance police car. 

Car scenes in movies are based on fantasy, not reality.  The Fast and The Furious would be a pretty short movie if Vin Diesel got caught in the first five minutes.

Police have helicopters, numerous vehicles and the ability to set up road blocks.  You also have news helicopters that love to film high speed chases.  You don’t really have anywhere to run.

When you try to evade the cops, you are putting lots of people in potential danger.  If you are running away because you have a bunch of speeding tickets, you might as well pay the tickets or maybe go to jail for a little bit rather than deal with potentially injuring or killing an innocent person. 

It is kind of funny that I am writing this right now as the cars from the Formula Drift series are practicing.  I can see and most definitely hear them from the office as they rev their engines and squeal their tires.  So for all of you that want to outrun the cops, think twice about it. 

It has been 15 years since Nirvana frontman Kurt Cobain committed suicide.  It is hard to believe that 15 years have passed.  It just doesn’t seem that long ago.  Normally, I am not that affected when someone famous passes, but in Cobain’s case, I felt a tremendous sense of sadness. 

I was lucky enough to live in Seattle when the whole Seattle Sound movement came about.  I was introduced to a host of really good bands such as Soundgarden, Mudhoney, Mother Love Bone, Pearl Jam, Alice in Chains and of course Nirvana.  The music was loud and aggressive and the lyrics were about alienation and sadness.  It was a radical departure from the good time music of hair metal. 

However, the sadness they sang about was all too true.  Many of the pioneers of this music are no longer with us.  Layne Staley of Alice in Chains, Andrew Wood of Mother Love Bone, Kristen Pfaff of Hole and Stephanie Sargent of 7 Year Bitch died from drug overdoses.  Mia Zapata of The Gits was raped and murdered.  Numerous other bands dealt with serious heroin addiction.  Cobain himself was a heroin addict up until the time of his death. 

When I heard Cobain committed suicide, I was sad but not shocked.  He never really seemed comfortable with being a rock star.  I’m not going to pretend to know why he decided to take his own life.  I’ve heard everything from him not wanting to be a rock star to having incredible stomach pain.  Many have speculated on his reasons.  Truth is, nobody probably knows. 

Time moves on.  Most of the bands of that era are no more.  I haven’t been to Seattle since 1992.  We all move on to different jobs and our interests change.  Kurt Cobain would be in his 40s now.  It would be interesting to see what he was like now.  Would he have the same intensity?  Would he even be playing music anymore?  The truth is that we will never know and that makes me sad.  Rest In Peace

I love stories about perseverance and overcoming obstacles.  At Blue Sand as with any business, you face obstacles that have to be overcome.  Success never comes easy but it wouldn’t be worth it if it did.  I like to use sports analogies in business.  I think sports and business work hand in hand because in most cases you are part of a team.  I have used an example of a recent sports story as a form of motivation not only for myself but with the Blue Sand team as well.

For those of you who don’t know who AJ Allmendiner  is, the is a NASCAR driver.  Allmendinger’s story began a few years ago when he made the transition from open wheel racing to stock car racing.  He signed with Team Red Bull, a Toyota based organization making its initial foray into NASCAR.  Allmendinger had many obstacles to overcome.  He had a start-up team, new manufacturer and had never driven stock cars before.  It showed.  His first season was pretty dismal.  He failed to qualify for numerous races and when he did, the finishes were pretty bad.

He started last year with more of the same.  He failed to qualify for races and was replaced by veteran NASCAR driver Mike Skinner on a temporary basis.  Allmendinger could have sulked and pouted but he did the exact opposite.  He was at the track every week learning as much as he could from Skinner and the others.  When he got behind the wheel again, his improvement was dramatic.  He no longer had trouble qualifying for races and started to have some decent finishes. 

You would think things were sailing smooth for AJ but that wasn’t the case.  Red Bull had a hotshot driver named Scott Speed who formerly drove in Formula 1.  Speed was a developmental driver for Team Red Bull and was having some success in the ARCA Remax and Craftsman Truck Series.  Red Bull decided they wanted Speed to be their second driver, leaving AJ out in the cold. 

It would have been very easy for Allmendinger to go back to open wheel racing.  He was a hot commodity in that discipline and his services would have been valued.  Allmendinger continued to move forward.  He signed with Gillette Everham Racing to take over the #19 car driven by Elliot Sadler.  Sadler didn’t appreciate this and filed an injunction keeping him in the car.  Once again it looked like Allmendinger was out of luck.  He finally signed with Richard Petty Racing with only six races guaranteed.  In addition, he didn’t have a spot locked in for the Daytona 500 so he would have to qualify on speed.  He not only did that but finished 3^rd in the biggest race of the season.

His sponsorship was extended another six races.  Since then, Allmendinger has gained additional sponsorship which will take him through the first 26 races.  He is currently 20^th in points and doesn’t have to worry about qualifying on speed.  Speed on the other hand has already missed on race because he didn’t qualify and has not run very well.  He is dealing with the same problems Allmendinger did his rookie season.

Chances are Allmendinger will end up running the entire season.  If he continues to run as well as he has recently, he shouldn’t have to worry about the problems he’s overcome in the last three years.  However if he does, I’m sure he will continue to overcome and be successful.