Katie: Hey there. Welcome to the BusinessMakers Overtime show, heard here and online at thebusinessmakers.com. I'm Katie Laird.

Esther: And I'm Esther Steinfeld.

Katie: And this week on the Overtime Show, we're chatting on what happens when an angry mommy blogger takes on an appliance company, and about YouTube looking towards online movie rentals and popcorn, pop, and CEOs channeling their Family Guy.

Esther: Then we'll listen back to Erica O'Grady's great interview with PR and social media whiz, Shell Israel, on his contributions to conversational online marketing in the business world, followed up by an Overtime book report covering practical ethics, and a few simple steps to making a name for yourself.

Katie: I love it. Sounds like a great one.

Esther: I know. I'm excited. Let's get right to it.

Katie: Let's do it. So YouTube is now looking to kind of move beyond the funny ceiling cat and crazy children in the back seat videos. Like what's up with that? (Laughs)

Esther: I know. They're ready to grow up.

Katie: Exactly. They're looking at some of the major movie studios to actually be posting full-length feature films for people to rent online.

Esther: That's right. Reuter's was reporting that the online video site was in talks with several major movie companies about renting movies to users by streaming the movies over the Internet. Really, what's cool about this is this is the first time the world's most popular video site would charge its users to watch videos.

Katie: and I mean I think that that's kind of exciting to me. Like, granted, I do appreciate all the free content on the Web. A lot of times, you do pay for what you get, and there's a lot of trivial fluff on YouTube that I just don't wanna see.

Esther: You know what? The truth is that YouTube cannot support itself on advertising, especially because millions and millions of people are watching videos on their site daily using up bandwidth.

Katie: Absolutely.

Esther: And this is just proof that no site can operate on advertising alone.

Katie: Exactly. So you YouTube.

Esther: It's impossible.

Katie: It's kind of wisening up, revamping its business model. Like this I guess is good for us in that it's probably gonna stick around if they're really thinking outside of the box to get some more funding.

Esther: Exactly. And, honestly, it's better for other sites that are also trying to charge for content.

Katie: That's true.

Esther: It's one thing if the tiny little affiliate of NBC decides they can't support themselves without charging for content. Who's gonna pay for that? But if YouTube is charging for content, it becomes normal.

Katie: I'm a huge Hulu fan, which, of course, is a free service. But it's funny. For some reason the kind of content that they've got on there working with major television networks and whatnot, like that is some of the only advertising that I will ever, ever watch. Like it's actual quality advertising. And I wonder if in some weird way, this is gonna happen with YouTube, too, it's gonna raise the caliber not only of the content, but of the people contributing in other ways.

Esther: Very possible.

Katie: Maybe the advertising community will jump up.

Esther: I'm sure they will. I mean, advertising in general is changing so much already that we'll see some major shifts. Although, we've also proven that traditional advertising is still successful and still exists and it's not going anywhere.

Katie: It's not. And it's good for companies to be really considering online video, 'cause it is to many, especially – I mean, I really feel like it's the wave of the future. Video is just here to stay. And something else that might be interesting – I mean, on YouTube, just the regular videos. They do have all these new ways that you can annotate and comment on certain part of little video clips. I wonder if there's gonna be some interaction. Probably it's not gonna just let people's weird comments pop up throughout the movie if you're paying for it.

Esther: Right.

Katie: But wouldn't that be funny to be able to may interact with your friend list? Like, maybe there'd be a way to allow people to mark their favorite part of the movie that you're buddies with, and you can comment back and forth during the film.

Esther: Very cool.

Katie: So this will be... – exactly.

Esther: It's exciting the possibilities because YouTube is so forward thinking in the way they promote content. I'm sure we'll be seeing some exciting things from them in the future.

Katie: I love it. I'm gonna stock up on Raisinettes and Diet Coke in my kitchen.

Esther: Talk about innovation in the Internet world. Customer service.

Katie: Oh, man. It's –

Esther: This brings us to another interesting thing from the Internet. We've got mommy blogger.

Katie: So it's a gal that goes by – her blog is dooce.com. And a lotta people will just call her Dooce. But her name's actually Heather Armstrong.

Esther: Alright.

Katie: And just to give you a little bit of history, dooce.com, Heather is actually a former Web professional that got fired from her job because she was blogging in an open public blog about her boss and about people she worked with, and they were not very complimentary things. So anyway, they find this blog and they're like, "Uh-uh, not having any of that," so she gets fired. And that's where the term – I mean, you may occasionally hear it. Whenever somebody's dooced, it's because they've been let go or their professional lives have been hurt because of online content. So she's kind of –

Esther: Right, which is happening all the time.

Katie: All the time. So anyway, so what's happened more recently with Heather, who's now this – I mean, literally, a professor blogger. Her family is supported solely by advertising. I mean, this is one way that advertising is working online solely.

Esther: Yeah.

Katie: So she's been having problems with her washing machine. And now – I mean, if you or I were to have problems with our washing machine, chances are we'd call Sears or whoever sold it to us and maybe scream at and then sweet talk the repair guy to come back a couple times. Hopefully, it works. In our position, there's maybe not a whole lot that we can do except just hope for the best and keep paying the guy to come out. But, when you are an incredibly visible blogger, a blogger that gets 5,000 comment in every post you write about your family or your dog, you do things a little differently, apparently.

And so now what Heather did is after fighting with her Maytag washing machine brand new $1,300.00 Maytag washing machine after it sopped working just after a few weeks of having it in the house. She called – went along the regular channels, called the customer support line, had repair people coming out and they fixed it, and it broke. They fixed it; broke. And finally, she's like, "Enough is enough." And she calls them out on Twitter to her millions of followers and say multiple times, "Do not buy Maytag. Maytag has been nightmare for me. Do not buy Maytag." And from there, I mean, that was like the Tweet that was heard around the appliance world. (Laughs) People have gone crazy about this.

Esther: Apparently, every other electronics company was Tweeting her. They gave her a free washing machine and dryer – another company, and she donated it to charity.

Katie: She did, and it's funny 'cause she made the point that, I mean, she was really specific. I mean, this is an investment. She and her husband, Jon, have recently had another baby, so they have an infant the house. They wanted a good, solid washing machine, and this is what they saved up for and researched and decided to buy. And now that this has happened, yeah, everybody's like, "Oh, oh, oh, we'll – come here. Look at me. I will do it. I will do it." And she's like, "No. I want this company to fix what is wrong because it is my right as a consumer to be taken care of.

Esther: Right. I'll tell you what disturbs me about this.

Katie: Okay.

Esther: It's not her. It's not the situation. It's how retailers responder to every other customer that doesn't have a million followers on twitter. I'm talking about the customers who aren't on Twitter, and don't even care what it is, would never use Twitter, would never think to post a status update on Facebook about their washing machine.

Katie: Washing machine. (Laughs)

Esther: Now what happens when this person calls into Maytag and says, "I have this problem"? How does Maytag respond to that? This is what's upsetting to me as somebody who works in the retail space. I mean, part of what we do is respond to every single customer all the time. And this speaks to customer in general on how pathetic it is. I really just don't think that retailers think it's important enough to treat every customer the same.

Katie: Every single one, no matter how matter what your name is.

Esther: We're getting too caught up in the term influencer. Yes, it's important in today's social media world. However, not everyone is an influencer, and not everyone is going to tell a million people when they like or dislike something. That does not mean that you should teat that person any less, and treat their problem with any less respect than you would somebody how –

Katie: Absolutely.

Esther: – has a certain influence.

Katie: But I mean, maybe the way that companies should think of it is that everyone, in fact, is an influencer. I mean, everyone has kind of a bigger or smaller footprint, but everyone does have an audience. Just because it's only their family and their immediate friends, it is worth leaving a good brand impression and just being decent and taking care of your people, of your customers.

Esther: Exactly.

Katie: It doesn't – yeah. I mean, it doesn't matter how many people are listening. Just do the right thing.

Esther: Another thing that's happening on the Internet that I think is interesting is Jack Welch, who we all know, former General Electric –

Katie: The Jack Welch, author of Winning, one of my favorite business books.

Esther: Yes. He's quite –

Katie: Brilliant, but kind of crazy guy.

Esther: Exactly.

Katie: Love him. (Laughs)

Esther: Well, he's invested in online education.

Katie: He has.

Esther: Pretty cool.

Katie: It really is. So he has paid I think about $2 million for a share in Chancellor University, which is basically an online –

Esther: MBA program.

Katie: Yep, masters MBA program. And not only has he put this money towards it, but he's given his name. Now it's going to be the Jack Welch Institute, the Master Business Administration Program.

Esther: Can you imagine actual credibility for an all online business school?

Katie: It's – I mean it's tricky because there really are some phenomenal mostly online programs. I mean, Harvard, Boston University – like there's some phenomenal schools that are finally embracing the Web. But this is a little bit different that in – I mean, what's next? Are we gonna go to George Foreman University? We're gonna –

Esther: Mm-mhmm.

Katie: I mean, I don't know how I feel about the Jack Welch Institute. Like this better be a damn good school –

Esther: Exactly.

Katie: – if he's putting his personal brand, his stamp, on this education program.

Esther: Maybe he'll have some sort of say in the curriculum, because it looks like the former school, Myer's University, went bankrupt.

Katie: (Laughs) It's bankrupt. (Laughs)

Esther: And it looks like maybe they're rebuilding or restructuring the program a bit to bring it back to life with his $2 million.

Katie: Yeah. It's a little bit questionable. It does excite me that there is this increased credibility in online education, but I'm sure that he knows what he's doing. But I really hope that this turns out well for him 'cause he's –

Esther: We don't know.

Katie: He's been a tremendously successful guy and I'd hate for this to be one of those things.

Esther: A tarnish.

Katie: (Laughs) A tarnish.

Esther: A tarnish to the reputation.

Katie: On Mr. Welch's reputation.

Esther: Yes.

Katie: (Laughs) So now let's take a different approach at what CEOs can teach us. We're gonna go from Jack Welch and his online learning institute to some other CEOs that actually say quite the darnedest things.

Esther: That's right. Entrepreneur Magazine profiled four up and coming CEOs in their September issue, which is pretty cool. They feature some young entrepreneurs from time to time.

Katie: How nice.

Esther: And two of these entrepreneurs are the focus of a segment we call "CEOs Say the Darnedest Things." So sometimes we associate wisdom with age. But these youngin's have shown that they actually have a thing or two to teach their elders.

Katie: Oh, I think a like this.

Esther: Yeah. Hold on here, though. Maybe they benefit from never having had to face the pitfalls of convention in this post-modern world we live in. Maybe they never had to have a desk job and then make a transition into an online type of world. They just jumped right in.

Katie: Yeah.

Esther: So maybe they benefit from that. Or maybe they're just lucky or maybe they just have a lot of money to start a business. I don't know.

Katie: Hey. (Laughs) All the things are good. (Laughs)

Esther: So all of these things could be possible. However, they have some really interesting things to say.

Katie: Right.

Esther: Our first quote comes from Brian Taylor, the CEO of Kernel Seasons Popcorn Seasoning Company conglomerate.

Katie: Ooh, nice. They should be talking to YouTube. (Laughs)

Esther: That's right. So he says, "The great thing about being an entrepreneur is that I'm not always at the office. Like my dad always said, I keep my office between my ears." It's kinda cool.

Katie: That is kinda cool. It's not about the – your office credenza and shag rug on the floor. It's about the knowledge that you bring with you, I guess, and hopefully share.

Esther: Exactly. Well done, Brian Taylor.

Katie: Well done.

Esther: We like it.

Katie: Yeah. Send us some popcorn.

Esther: That's right.

Katie: (Laughs)

Esther: Another CEO, Jack Levin – he's the CEO of ImageShack, an image hosting service. Actually, before I get to the quote, Jack was one of Google's 20 original employees and had a stake in the company.

Katie: Really? Hello startup capital.

Esther: Exactly. And when he –

Katie: Well done.

Esther: Yeah, and when Google went public, he took the money and ran, pretty much, and started his own business, which totally makes sense.

Katie: It does.

Esther: His technology is on every phone. You've probably used it before, to be honest.

Katie: Okay.

Esther: So he's what he to say. "Unlike other people that might come to money, I'm not interested in celebrity status or being well-known. Enjoying my family and enjoying my kids are my No. 1 things."

Katie: Oh, Jack, I really dig that.

Esther: We like you.

Katie: (Laughs)

Esther: It sounds like he has his priorities straight. And in today's world, I think that's just incredible. So many divorces, so many people putting business before family.

Katie: Exactly.

Esther: And it's so easy to get caught up in that, isn't?

Katie: Yeah. No, it really is. It really is. So to have a job and a business that you're passionate about, that is successful, which, I mean, as a CEO, as a young entrepreneur, the hours that you do have to put in to make it a success. But still, yeah, fun, absolutely pleasure, and smiling little faces. I know. (Laughs)

Esther: So we salute you and your darnedest things that you say, CEOs. And keep on saying 'em.

Katie: Amen to that.

Esther: We're gonna take a little break, and when we come back we're gonna be hearing from author, Shel Israel, the author of Twitterville. You've been listening to the BussinessMakers Overtime Show, heard here at online at thebussinessmakers.com.