How my daughter’s desire to have a new “old” bike gave me insight into an alternative form of innovation

How my daughter’s desire to have a new “old” bike gave me insight into an alternative form of innovation

Vintage is the thing

Vintage is THE thing at the moment in my house. I have a teenage daughter who seems to be intent on making our house a shrine to all things old. Of course old means anything pre 1990’s which makes me feel pretty vintage too.

Recently she has been desperate to get her hands on a “new” bike. The “old” one with twin suspension, 18 gears, disc brakes and aluminium wheels has now been replaced with a new one that to my eye appears to have been designed in the 1920’s.

It turns out it was.

The Pashley Bicycle Factory

The Pashley bicycle factory is located not far from where I live in the heart of William Shakespeare's Stratford Upon Avon. It is a fair statement to say that they are the purveyors of high quality hand made push bikes whose design is pretty RETRO.

The company was founded in 1926 by William ‘Rath’ Pashley who was a World War One dispatch rider. The business originally built its reputation making carrier bikes for companies like Wall’s ice cream and the post office. They are hand made and robust. A version was so tough it was licensed by Landrover another local and iconic tough bit of machinery.

My daughter's interest of course comes from the current hipster fashion for Edwardian style memorabilia. Celebrities such as Ewan McGregor, Helena Bonham Carter and Keeley Hawes have been seen regularly riding their Pashley’s around the hipper parts of London.

As well as the celebrity patronage, there are high profile customers such as a Savile Row tailor, high class London estate agents and Pret A Manger use these classic bicycles to further augment the sense of quality.

It seems that people with a Pashley love them with a passion.

Communities of interest surround their use such as the official My Pashley element of their website or the Guvnors Assembly

I find that at times my thinking can be confined to thinking that innovation needs to be shiny and new to be considered modern. My daughter's interest shows me that that the folks at Pashley have shown, innovation need not just be.

Pashley’s innovation has been to make a bicycle a style statement.

They have realised that a core feature of their product is a quintessentially British quality. Innovations around rationalising production would so easily have jeopardised the image so carefully crafted.

Their innovation has been to capitalise and build upon their community and customer service.

If you liked this

I hope that you have found this article of interest.. If you did then I have written more ideas with techniques to make your innovations punch above their weight. I call my book Innovation Muscle. Its a short sharp read as to how you and your team can innovate fresh powerful ideas. Using these processes you will be able to create ideas that punch above their weight.

You can download my book by clicking here: INNOVATION MUSCLE

Anyone purchasing the book will receive not one, but TWO FREE mini e-books that are supplied directly as PDF files to your inbox. These can be distributed to you team when starting a new project or used simply to sanity check your existing processes.

Until next time 

Paul

How my mum's (mom's) advice could help YOU start your next innovation

How my mum's (mom's) advice could help YOU start your next innovation

My feet pointing forward

I was brought up in the North of England near (but not in) the city of Manchester famous for it's rain; Manchester United and a broad speaking common sense.

As I grew up there were a few mantra's in our family house that largely came from my mother. All of them are good, but the one that I think is useful for today's entrepreneur of stuff is:

"Your feet point forward"

Not rocket science I grant you, but let me explain why I think its relevant.

You see whenever you start an innovation there is a moment when I think "Crikey is this going to be any good". I guess that when you start out on something new you think the same.

• Innovation fear is a natural part of the phenomena of creativity. 
• Innovation fear is the outcome of betting on something that is not a sure bet.
• Innovation fear is a prerequisite for innovation

Frankly if you are not thinking that the thing your about to innovate is scary, then you are not innovating my friend.

I have had fear making every single game; I have had a fear with every single business I set up; Heck even have fear writing these blog posts.

Making that first step can be daunting so it can be easier to procrastinate than to start.

Here are some of the feelings I have identified in myself that cause procrastination along with some hints at how I solve them.

1. The feeling of uncertainty

A feeling of uncertainty comes from not completely understanding what needs to be done. This gives me a feeling of great anxiety that sits squarely in my stomach. It gets me to um and err sometimes for days.

It is the lack of knowledge that creates this anxiety. Every innovator has to start from ground zero.

I counteract this feeling by reading. I read up on every thing I can to stem these thoughts. By increasing my knowledge I create a feeling of security that punches my uncertainties squarely on the nose.

2.The feeling of making something that people will think crappy

I'm not alone on this one. Earnest Hemingway once wrote "the first draft of anything is crap".

At the risk of sounding all "life coachy", failure is the nemesis of everyone. But really it shouldn't be. Failure is a natural part of the risk of making something new.

I've made games for a living. In my business it seemed at times that there were journalists bent on being the games equivalent of Jeremy Clarkson. They made a living trashing my living. This hurt for sure but then there were reviews that were glowing.

I counteracted these fears eventually by not reading ANY review. I made my focus on the development of work that targeted at the group of people I knew intimately and made products that I knew would be of value to them... not some twenty something journo with a Clarkson crush.

3.The feeling of frustration

Sometimes when I start a new project there are moments when the signals from my head and my subsequent actions don't seem to match. Its like that time when I tried to learn guitar; or when I tried to stand up on a surf board or tried to learn the front crawl. That feeling of shear frustration has me rage quitting like a teenager.

I counteract this one by programming myself to realise that procrastination because you are no good at a thing is like being a toddler crying because he cant make his Lego right. I try to recognise this build up and take a break sure in the knowledge I WILL come back to it. As we all know ignoring something wont make it go away.

There comes a point though that I may realise its kind of making me ill or worse the results are still shocking. At this point I delegate the task to someone who knows more about it than me.

Those Wise words from my Mum (Mom)

If you are going to innovate you have to move forwards... and as my mother has helpfully pointed out for all these years is the way your feet point.

If you find yourself procrastinating over your innovation banish those silly feeling because everyone has them.

Remember your feet point forward and make the step to innovation glory.

You know it makes a lot of #Mancunian sense.

If you liked this

I hope you find this article interesting, check out my ebook,  Innovation Muscle. Its a short sharp read as to how you and your team can innovate fresh powerful ideas. Using these processes you will be able to create ideas that punch above their weight.

Innovation Muscle
Techniques to Make your Innovations Punch Above their Weight

Check out my book by clicking here: INNOVATION MUSCLE

Anyone purchasing the book will receive not one, but TWO FREE mini e-books that are supplied directly as PDF files to your inbox. These can be distributed to you team when starting a new project or used simply to sanity check your existing processes.

Until next time 

Paul