Kevin & Johna .com

One of my goals with Netcot this year is to really take advantage of the renewed success that its seen in the last couple of years. For those of you who don’t know, it was actually one of the very first Disney fan sites on the internet and for a period of time considered to be one of the Big 5. As more sites came on-line, we tried to differentiate from the rest of them as much as possible.

Netcot quickly became the opposite of everyone else. If other sites put watermarks on pictures to prevent you from re-using them on your own website or computer - we put up twice as many in higher quality without any watermarks. If other sites banned people, we encouraged people to speak their mind and be constructively critical about EXACTLY what they thought of Disney-stuff. The format worked. People found Netcot to be a refreshing change … except other sites, who seemed to see us as an enemy. To this day, I don’t understand why we couldn’t just all get along.

We then hand the brilliant idea to massively redo the site with a new design that was unlike anything else out there. It was an ambitious idea… and it didn’t work. The site eventually launched (on our 4th design concept) 3 years later than expected. We came back on-line and found that only a small group of core fans were still there waiting for us. (There was also a whole “legal” incident related to a misunderstanding of our satirical approach on ride reviews - but I’ll save that for another day).

We regrouped, retooled and restarted.

The latest generation of Netcot started a little over 2 years ago when we launched the Netcot podcast. Since then, Netcot has become bigger than ever! The podcast has been one of the featured iTunes Music Store podcasts (on iTunes & AppleTVs) for 26 months in a row (”Kids & Family” category)! Tens of thousands of people download the show each month. Our first-ever video podcast episode also continues to attract attention over at YouTube.com.

Last June, we launched the newest version of Netcot.com, this time determined to be one of the best sites to find the biggest and most interesting Disney news. In the last 6 months, well over a million people visited Netcot.com and the numbers continue to grow every week. Google’s news site polls Netcot.com frequently and often uses Netcot as a news source in their Google Alerts system. We’ve even been told that some radio station DJ’s have mentioned Netcot as their source of a Disney-related story.

We’ve even attracted the attention (in this case, GOOD attention) of Disney themselves, who recently wrote us to clarify confusion of Netcot visitors over details of a press release we covered. We got advanced notice of these corrections a full day in advance of the press release being corrected and re-issued to the media!

There are a number of people that have also stepped forward and offered to help at Netcot. We have 5 people on “staff” that donate their time to helping out with the site writing editorial articles, covering news stories and publishing original artwork for the site. We have a number of sponsorship deals in the works, including one with an upcoming book publisher. And today, our first full page ad hit a targeted magazine audience…

The site continues to grow in popularity and I continue to be amazed and thankful to everyone who follows it, listens to the weekly podcast and participates in the message boards. Their passion for Netcot fuels my late nights of keeping the site updated and cranking out a podcast. Long after Johna and Kyler have been asleep, I can be found in the “studio” working on last minute editing before that week’s show is launched.

I’m thrilled about where the site is now and I can’t wait to see where it goes from here…

As a father, its my duty to teach my children everything I know to prepare them for life. So far, we’ve spent time reviewing the finer points of car design, Disney and Macs. I thought it would be a good time to test Kyler by throwing him a curve ball that went against everything I’ve taught him on one subject so I could see his reaction. Enjoy:

(Quicktime required to view video.)

I refuse to be one of those parents that has a kid and then suddenly can’t find anything else to talk about with people. So, with that in mind, let me tell you about my dishwasher.

Wait, don’t leave yet.

We have a dishwasher that has systematically had features stop working over the last few years. The cost to fix it was estimated at $300 on up. So I set out to get a new one, quickly, since doing dishes by hand isn’t on my radar screen at the moment. I checked the usual suspects Lowes, Sears and Home Depot. I found a good deal on one at Home Depot and told the sales woman “wrap it up!”

Nearly TWO HOURS LATER she had finished the entire sale from the time I first walked in and started talking to her to the time I had paperwork and was on my way out the door. It was at that point that I noticed the price was off by $25 because of a sticker they had mistakenly left on the display floor for a promotion that was now over.

After a bit of discussion, she agreed it was fair to give me the extra $25 off but admitted it would be a pain to cancel the order in their computer system. She began to frantically look for a solution to this problem. Her brilliant idea was to hand me a parts kit, worth $20, and have me return it at a later date.

Knowing that my wife and son were at home expecting me to be home nearly 3 hours earlier, I agreed.

However, the whole thing ate away at me. I got poor service, had someone argue with me over the price that was clearly marked on the floor and then spent a good 30 minutes waiting for her to find a way out of having to re-enter something in her computer system.

As a consumer, my only real method of communicating my satisfaction with a company is with my spending dollar. With that in mind, I went back to Home Depot and spent another 30 minutes backing out of the transaction - 29 of those minutes were watching an employee navigate a computer system.

I drove 2 blocks down the street to a mom-n-pop type store and found the same washer for $30 less than the price advertised (which, remember, I never really got) at Home Depot. I also saved $80 on the install and suddenly didn’t need all the permits and tool kits that the Home Depot woman insisted were required.

It reminded me how good some of these stores really are and how much more fun it can be to shop for things at them. I need to make an effort to shop at places like that more often.

Two of my favorite things together, at last.

WWE and ATT (the former “Cingular”) announced this week that they’ll being offering all sorts of wrestling goodness on your cell phone. Now … all I have to do is convince my boss that I’m watching wrestling matches on my phone for business purposes.

(Announcement link)

I posted an article on my “professional blog” about this topic. In short: I get TONS of calls from people when I’m at work that want to sell me something or stop by to tell me about their wonderful product/service/company. I simply don’t have time to listen to all of them or call them all back. After all, I get paid to get things done, not to listen to sales people all day.

I decided to keep track of all of the things I say to these people for one week. I have a bunch of them in my head and thought I’d be fun to write it down and publish it for others. Check out the “work” version of this posting on my DominoKeys Blog.

But … there’s another half to this. Telemarketers who call at home. Ladies and Gentleman, I give you my “home” version of how to handle these people:

• Tell them you need to give the phone to someone else in the house who can best help them. Then give the phone to your kids.
• Tell them you need to give the phone to someone else and ask them to hold for a second. Put the phone down on the counter and walk away until you hear the telephone company beeping at you.
• Say: “I’m really busy right now. How about you give me your home phone number and I’ll call you back when I have some time to talk about this.” (aka ‘The Seinfeld Method)
• Say: “I’m unemployed.”
• Say: “I’m going through a nasty divorce right now … this is a bad time for this kinda crap!”
• Say: “I’d love to apply for that credit card, but I don’t think the courts will let me. I’ve kinda been in collections … a lot … in the last 2 months.”
• Say: “I’m actually housesitting for these people.” (if they ask when they’ll be back, say “Dunno.”)

Enjoy. What are your favorites?

Let me take an inventory for a moment…

• J’s parents are selling their house and finishing construction of their new one.
• My brother is moving to a new place.
• My mom and dad finally sold their place and are (as I type) looking for a new house.
• … and we’re still stuck in the same house that I said I’d be out of “in 3 years, tops!”

Time to change. We’ve been working on getting our house fixed/repaired/enhanced and ready to sell. The list of things we have to finish is getting smaller and smaller (if anyone has a good lead on a cheap driveway repair service, let us know). I thought I’d post some pics of our recent activities:

New light on the deck - why didn’t I do this when I moved in?!

Another view of the light. Doh, I need to fix the gate in the background. “J, add something to our list…” Kevin yells from the office.

New bathroom light. Hella-bright!

Johna and her mom on the roof repairing trim.

… or maybe posing for the camera.

J spent most of the day on the roof, but it looks great now. I need to go take “after” pics.

I’ve been going to the Wayzata Caribou Coffee since about 1992. Lately, I find myself there several times a week in the morning as I stop by to get my liquid motivation for the business day.

This morning, the staff informed me that my usual drink is so well known, that instead of adding all of the details (read: “customizations”) they simply enter a memo stating “Kevin Mocha.” — How cool is that?!

What is a Kevin Mocha you ask? Its a small, skim mocha, less chocolate and no whip. And its about the healthiest mocha I can create to appease my doctor but feed my habit. — So if you stop by that particular store (in the morning) ask for one!

Apparently, I need to visit the store a minimum of 3 times a day, 6 times a week before I get my own button on the screen. I’ll work on that.