Have You Checked Out Pinterest?

It would appear that Pinterest is the next big thing on the web. It is a virtual pinboard where you can organize and share images you find on the web. Once you register for the site,  you can create various themed "pinboards" and "pin" images to the pinboards. For example, if you are into photography, you can pin images which you find on the web or on your computer to your "Photography" pinboard. Like with Facebook, people like your pins. Like with Twitter, people can follow you and see what you pin to your pinboards from time to time.

Businesses have gotten into the act as people pin images of a business' product they like to their pinboards. Images sourced on the web will link people back to the business' website. The "Like" and "Following" features create an opportunity for viral marketing of a product or service.

As recently reported in Inc Magazine, when someone wore a Camiband, a new fashion accessory, recently on the Today Show, they got 3,500 hits on their website. However, when a raving fan pinned an image of a Camiband on their pinboard, it went viral and Camiband got over 40,000 hits. Clearly, Pinterest works for B2C businesses. It will be interesting to see how B2B businesses take advantage of it.

Pinterest has an interesting approach to registration. They have taken a page off gmail's marketing strategy. A user must apply to be invited to join. I have yet to hear of someone not being invited to join, but their approach has helped to create the buzz that's starting to fan out. Pinterest is growing fast. According to web measurement company CommScore, in January 2012, 13.76m people worldwide visited, and spent an average of 89 minutes there.

I have started a Pinterest page myself and I have begun experimenting with it. I plan on having an Entrepreneurship pinboard where I will pin images of interest to my following of fellow entrepreneurs. I will also create a Photography pinboard on which I will pin images relating to my hobby. Follow me on Pinterest to see how it evolves. Let me know if you have any suggestions.

Check out Pinterest yourself and I will follow you! 

Are Internships Exploitive?

I have very mixed feelings about internships for students and recent graduates. I have encouraged my own kids to seek them and they both have had excellent experiences, which in my son's case turned into a full time job. However, employers, who can otherwise afford it, are bringing young people into their businesses for little and often no pay. These young people have absolutely no bargaining power and are at the whim of the employer. They are also potentially taking work from others that the employer would have to pay.

I can see it from the employers' perspective - they are providing on the job training to young people who are otherwise relatively unemployable. To many companies, this is an opportunity to give back to the community by bringing young people into their business. Important skills are learned and the young person is better prepared for their first paying gig. In return, the company gets free or low cost labour.

However, from the young person's perspective, they are providing their time and energy and are receiving very little remuneration in return. Often they are doing low value tasks for which the employer would have to pay someone else. While it is true that they have the opportunity to learn important skills which will stand them in good stead for future employment, the young person has absolutely no bargaining power to ensure that they are treated fairly, particularly since unemployment rates are so high for their demographic.

Furthermore, students and young people looking for entry level opportunities don't have the financial ability to carry the cost of the internship. While they may not have mortgages and car loans to pay (mind you, many of them do), they do have to pay tuition and carry student loans.

To me it seems a bit exploitive. With governments cutting back education and student job funding, there will be more pressure on industry to provide internship opportunities and more and more young people will be joining the work force for little or no pay for an "internship experience". As far as I am aware, there is little in the way of regulation or governmental protection for these young people, other than minimum wage laws perhaps.

There is also a class issue that arises as young people from affluent families are better able to take a low or no pay internship than a student from more modest means. My kids had the luxury of having internship experiences for little or no pay as my wife and I are prepared to underwrite their education, including the costs of launching their careers through internship experiences. Not every student can afford to do so.

Now I am not advocating unionizing interns or anything as draconian as all that. However, I think there should be a debate around the issue of internships and some consensus as to what is fair in the circumstances. My own view is that unless there is a formal (perhaps accredited) educational benefit coming from the internship, the young person should be paid fairly for their work. What do you think?

What do you do with a Deadbeat like Mohit Gupta?

We all have collections problems with customers from time to time. However, I have an issue with a customer that's driving me crazy. Its  bad enough that he stiffed me for my bill, but what really irks me is that he lied to my face about paying it. Here's the story.

In the summer of 2008 I was retained by Mohit Gupta of Geo Drilling, an Indian company that was interested in finding a Canadian partner with expertise in the natural gas business. I asked Mohit for a retainer and the funds were wire transferred to my account. I then arranged a series of meetings in Calgary with potential partners and we went to Calgary together for a whirlwind couple of days.

On the morning of the last day, Mohit advised me that his grandmother was seriously ill back in India and that he had to go home right away. He asked me to represent him at the meetings on the last day of our trip and off he went back to Delhi. I finished up the meetings and sent him my report and my final invoice. I never heard from him again.

I sent emails, made telephone calls, all to no avail. My final invoice remains outstanding to this day.

That would have been the end of it, however, in the Fall of 2009, my wife and I were on vacation in India. It was Diwali and we were the guests of a friend and his wife who took us to a series of Diwali parties one evening. We were at the first of 3 events that we attended that evening and I couldn't believe my eyes - in a country of over 1 billion people, the first person I bump at this party was my old "friend" Mohit Gupta.

Rather that avoid me, he came right up to me, apologized and asked to meet with me to discuss the project and my invoice. My wife and I were leaving for Bhutan the next day, but Mohit and I agreed to have dinner in Delhi upon our return from Bhutan 10 days later.

So, off we go to Bhutan. I am busy telling my travelling companions about the Karma of running into Mohit and how he is going to pay my invoice. We meet for dinner my first night back in Delhi and he apologizes profusely, provides me with a long story about business challenges and promises to wire transfer my funds so that they will be waiting for me upon my return to Canada.

That was the last I heard from Mohit Gupta. I re-sent my invoice monthly. I sent emails, made phone calls, left voicemail messages, and yet I never heard from him again. My invoice is still outstanding almost 4 years later.

I did get some modest revenge as I was contacted by someone on Linkedin who was asking for a reference on good old Mohit. Suffice it to say that I gave the guy a strong warning.

So, what's the lesson? I got 50% of my fee prepaid as a retainer, so while I didn't lose money on the project as I was able to cover my out of pocket expenses, I got stiffed for the balance of my invoice. I suppose I could have gotten 100% of the fee up front, but that seemed a bit excessive at the time.

I guess the bottom line is to be careful who you are dealing with. Get references. Get as much of your invoice paid up front as possible if you are dealing with foreigners. And finally - don't do business with Mohit Gupta of Geo Drilling and MG Industries of Delhi, India.