Episode 48 · 31:58
Be ready for ANYTHING
When two band members are delayed, the gig becomes proof that preparation matters most when the plan breaks. Dan and Tom connect that experience to curated maps, paid recommendations and better ways for creators to package local knowledge.
Both halves ask the same thing: how do you make useful experience available when somebody suddenly needs it?
The useful bits
What to take with you
- Contingency plans are valuable because real conditions rarely match rehearsal.
- Curated knowledge can be a product when it saves people repeated research.
- A paid layer needs to offer more confidence or convenience than a free list.
- Design around the moment information is needed, not merely how it is collected.
Watch the conversation
The original episode.
Full conversation
Transcript
Transcript generated from YouTube captions. Dan/Tom speaker attribution is AI-assisted and may occasionally be incorrect.
Okay we're on gig number two and lo and behold we are down two members our BAS player and our keys player are currently stuck in [Music] traffic star don't be a door star don't be a door star welcome back to don't be a door stop and today we are talking about Instagram if I remember correctly um Instagram I want to say food SL Maps yeah well remembered if that's correct uh my brain has gone fried because I've literally just.
Started the Apple event and just paused it so I was more focused on that event might some live commentary it's of the iPad Air we should live at some point we'll have to live stream these so somebody can like watch it while we're actually doing it and then feeding comments and questions um which would be even funnier but yeah we do them at so like random times in the day or whatever or at night or whatever I say it's.
Always hard to get people online at the exact same time we'd have to like plan a bit more so yeah and that's not us maybe in the future we're getting better at that but before we get into Instagram let me tell you a funny story so exor gig number two turn up to the gig the night before uh not to the gig sorry turn up the night before stay over with sister and brother-in-law travel then to exitor the next day get there and.
Literally there there is no time there is no schedule for you to rehearse there is no like sound check they do something called a line check which is essentially once you plug it in we just need to know that we have a signal from you that's about it there's no time to like run through songs or anything like that or get things too balanced so anyway I'm like cool I've got a laptop and a load of stuff to plug in so hopefully that'll.
Work and for the first time ever we were running with IM which is like an inear monitor system for Kimmer uh so that's done by you know those radio mics have these like receivers um so they have this like a box with a little aerial which sends and then you have a little like um kind of like power pack that you clip onto your um your belt or your waist um and that goes into your headphones so we were trying that for.
The first time um thankfully it all went without a hitch because all you got to do is like be super patient and like if the sound guys is not getting sound or whatever you can tell on the box and the box has not got signal so I'm like no wonder can't Kim and can't hear anything you've got no signal going to the box so the sound guy was like oh yeah like fiddled around and then he got sound.
Going to the box and then now she can hear cool and this is all happening like between between bands so it's a bit of like pressure light but what they did actually is they had two spaces um they evacuated the room like everybody go upstairs you watch the other band and then that gives us a bit more space and time to like make the changes and then like everybody comes back down for when the other band is finished they come.
Back into the room and then there's now people with you so that's good because I was worried that like Evacuate the room and then when you start nobody's there but they did bring everybody back down anyway we come to like maybe the like the afternoon time and our BAS player and keys player basically got stuck in traffic so they won't turn up until like maybe 10 minutes or five minutes before we start then had a phone call later.
Like they're not going to turn up until like quarter of an hour into our set so I'm like cool that would be rock and roll as they just slide power slide in with a guitar or bass or what yeah this is like um this is like gig number two right and I'm like I'm so glad I did all this all yeah this like spontaneous slide on your legs into the gig I'm like this is not going to fly like one they.
Can't just turn up because we're using somebody else's like who knows there's too many variables so it's like cool if you're not going to make it Kim and I will do the gig okay we're on gig number two and lo and behold we are down two members our BAS player and our keys player are currently stuck in traffic so you can hear the band prior they're doing like an acoustic s Kim and I will go on next and.
Thankfully I have tracks so it'll be fine but it's going to be it would be horrific if we didn't have tracks if it was acoustic we wouldn't be able to play so you will see us play with tracks which is well like we've basically created iteration or like scales of like how many members you would have so like the first scale can be like Kim can do it on her own with backing tracks and the scale up to that is like we've.
Realized now there's a new scale which is like me drumming with backing tracks and Kema so that's like the White Stripes effect then you can be like can I have a bass player a keys player a horns and all that and it can like scale up right now if the Basse player and the keys player not there thankfully I have their pieces in MIDI so I can enable them to play those parts so not as if I'm playing just backing tracks with.
Like obscure sounds and horns and like effects it's like there is a baseline there is a keys line so thankfully I had I was the one that set all that stuff up in Ableton so I was like cool I'll just run it with their tracks on we actually ran with their tracks on anyway for the previous gig so so I'm so thankful that I know my stuff and I was like you've got to be prepared for these like curve.
Balls like in the moment so I was like Co I'm just going to do it I will just have to have the energy of Three band members so we did it went with absolute without a hitch got loads of compliments and one of the guys was like very complimentary of the fact that I was drumming along to tracks because when you think of that you think like oh a guy drumming along to a CD that's going to sound awful but it's not like that.
Right it's other instruments and the instruments are loud and and they've got better effects on them and stuff so it sounds Blended and the drummer really is the most entertaining Ain in person physically anyway right like with moving arms and stuff so I just gave like extra energy Kim is giving her energy and it went without a hitch so I'm so glad so for Gig number two like lo and behold two band members don't turn up still do.
The gig and everybody's like I was so buzzing after it cuz I was like actually I buzzed more than when we had them play with us kind what was the thoughts and feelings before that was it like you already planned for worst case scenario or was it like uh oh no we have to figure out worst case scenario on on our place if that makesense I was ready for this I was ready for this and I know even if I fall ill kimma can still run.
The tracks like through another format as in like there's a web link so the sound engineer can play these tracks through the speakers so like that's the like the worst case scenario so combination that only you could play the drums and there's a track of Kim singing there actually is so there actually is a drum track um and there actually is vocal tracks but they're not uh necessarily always the correct vocals but I can play it with kimma um singing.
So even if she was like can't sing this last song I like enable it on along so it's like having these like layers and I'm so glad that I didn't delegate the creating the tracks to like another band member because we would have been screwed not only did the band member let's say for aring not only did that band member get stuck in traffic but they also are the people that run the tracks so then I wouldn't have.
Actually been able to play myself because I need cins because the tracks are a little bit obs skure in some parts so you want the like the Rhythm because you can't always hear it clear if it was just purely the tracks so um yeah got lots of compliments for Kim's performance um and it went really well so U yeah that's like gig number two two members don't turn up and then now it's like gig number three um they're not.
Able to turn up again um because of their um working arrangements and I'm like cool well we've already rehearsed me and kemma so we'll do the White Stripes effect again like more money for us right a new opportunity you I guess you'll definitely stand out I think if anything well weren't they a drummer and a basist yeah yeah yeah it was a a drummer and a guitarist I think yeah yeah so it's like The Ting Tings white white stripes I think the white stripes.
Are like cooler and people remember it more because it' been around longer because I have no idea where the tintings are so but um yeah so we're the newly formed white stripes and it's funny right you never knew that this was going to happen but I prepared for it and then turns out day two you know to do that iteration that was kind of like literally your worst case scenario it's just funny it's just funny so yeah there.
Was loads of unknowns and it's all about trying to get rid of the unknowns to like confidence right to to like knowns and I was like right I know if I'm in a good heads space then that'll give confidence to Kimmer to be in a good head space she doesn't need me as such but it helps if I'm like no I'm good I'm like ready to go smash through the tracks I'm pressing play pressing stop so I'm like driving it she's doing her.
Talking bits went really well um so yeah we're on for rexam this Thursday so she'll do a solo one in the first gig um because there's you can't have a drum kit played in that venue for some reason I don't know why um random maybe it's the not jump involved yeah I've not I've not got that iteration so um or an spdx like an electric k thing so that'll be the first gig and then the second gig will be with.
Me so it'll be the White Stripes version which is just funny it's just funny and and now like there's less Logistics there's less everything so it's like okay cool why not do the White Stripes version as like priority shot themselves in the foot if you don't need them I mean if the gig went awful and they were like oh you could have done with a basic like but nobody knows right people think that this is this this is the.
Arrangement this is the norm and and it worked like this is the norm so as long as you don't tell anybody obviously we told people because because they're like the organizers right and you kind of like then you get a bit of Grace like oh yeah two band members are stuck in traffic like that's awful but I'm going to stick out and I think because we told what the like the the host guy he was like super impressed that I was able to.
Groove along to tracks and stuff but like we were always going to run tracks right you know so it's funny I'm really there was never those two bad members at all yeah we F it's your go-to chat every time a it's the way you know what it would be it's cuz they wouldn't pay extra for they wouldn't pay extra for two members they pay extra for four members though wouldn't they right so every time you go and do a b you be like.
Oh yeah got four members and then all the time they randomly get stuck in traffic or whatever and then they can't make it to the idea yeah yeah fake band members AI band members so you can get extra pay but yeah so I thought I'd start off the podcast with that because I'm not sure if I actually did I actually tell you that before even now um I found out through family members that turn up and I was wondering when I saw some photos.
And videos I was like either these B are very well hidden or where are they on this stage I thought they must have been like behind stage or something yeah because obviously you did see the photo of the original like four of us in a band kind of thing so yeah I thought they just got sacked there that bad yeah like gig number two you're not you're not coming back so so I thought that was a funny thing to share so yeah you just.
Got to be roll like you just got to roll with the punches because you're not going to do all this I'm not going to drive down to was in exter not going to drive down all the way to exter to not play a gig and I think I've come into this space I've rehearsed yeah exactly I've rehearsed I've put in the time so I should be allowed to drum now I should be allowed to Showcase my talents for.
Kimma like on behalf of kimma like as part of her Entourage kind of thing so it's like yeah makes sense I'm not going to not play because you guys didn't make it like no I'm getting my I'm scratching my Edge kind of thing so yeah it was lots of fun the other thing I noticed like when I drum the snare drum was like basically crushing my nuts because it keeps moving forward so for some reason it was like.
Moving forward and just kept on like pushing into my leg so I was trying to like push it back bizarre moving forward CU surely that's moving a wet how big are you sorry sorry sorry sorry it's it's moving backwards yeah I'm not that old it's basically moving backwards uh because of obviously the vibration is kind of like jumping it sliding into you basically yeah like usually what happens is you as your bass drum slides away from you while you're.
Kicking it but thankfully that stayed still cuz I was on a carpet but I was like my my snare drum um stand mustn't have been wide enough and it must have been like too kind of like uh too high yeah it should have been like the Baseline should the base point should have been like more expanded out for it to be more uh more stable but it was just like slowly shifting into me so after every song I have to move back to.
The middle it was like coming too close into my uh into my you somehow like attach it to your chair or put weights on it but I guess it's difficult taking it always around with you there is a thing that you can attach to the chair so your bass drum doesn't slide because then I'm the weight and it doesn't slide away from me but in this case it's sliding towards me so it's like I don't know like basically I should have just.
Expanded the legs but I I could I didn't realize because I wanted it a particular height so if I didn't expand the legs I would have had so high anyway it's the funny things that happen when you're in a gig so oh things that you learn yeah absolutely like and that's the like that's like the Obscure ones like one is like um like wearing a ring sometimes your skin gets pinched or you'll have like like what are the calluses on your.
On your hands and stuff because your like stick is splintering or it breaks yeah not your drum kit moving as much yeah so that was um it was a really good gig though really good crowd nice audible crowd interacting and stuff anyway back to program to the topic yeah and it's my topic so you're going to hear me again is your topic so so a couple of weeks back I um so I have uninstalled all my Social Media stuff.
But a couple weeks back I needed to be on Instagram for some reason I can't remember what I was checking something so anyway download the app or logged into it again and these foodie people turn up on it right in London great place you have this guy that is obviously paid to eat a bunch of food and showcase that food of all these different restaurants and I was like it' be really cool if you went to this guy.
And said hey all of these restaurants why don't we put them on a map and then you could like charge people to see these restaurants that you're rating because right now I'm just seeing one post and he's rating burgers or whatever personally for me I'm super into burgers and I want to find really good burgers I have like black of burgers is my like top I want to find like similar ones and he's like his videos are pretty good I.
Like the the ratings or like his opinion of it so he's obviously rated a bunch of bger places where are they in the UK or where are they in London anyway I was like that's a great idea and I was like I wonder if he's already done it indeed he has so he has this map of his locations that he's rate ranked or rated and it's in this Instagram is it or on a yeah so it's he he is like an Instagram.
Influencer of sorts it then links through to a website this website allows people to create maps of different locations um and sell access to those maps and I was like ah like of course somebody's already done it because a lot of the time these ideas have already like new to the game so I was like that's a great idea for a food influencer to sell access to their database of things that they've rated especially when it's like local to.
Somewhere it's like a an Airbnb guide but like a location guide of of some sorts right of like things not Airbnb what's what's that green one with the eyes um green one can't remember what it's called yeah there's like an owl looking thing and it's like rated for it rates different like um attractions and stuff in a particular location yeah I can't remember that's good branding for you it's like an owl looking thing I can't remember the name but um yeah so it it's.
Really clever idea so he's selling access to these like Maps but you can see like one-offs so you can see like where he was last um and you would just have to search it because a lot of the time you know when they say like for example I'm looking at like um spars these like top five Spar in London and some influencers like hey I'm at this Spa I'm at this SP this SP I'm like I need to scream screenshot this to then.
Go and Google each one of them that you've rated and it'd be better just to have a map of the ones you've just rated and finally enough there is a platform that allows influencers to create these like paid access location maps and I thought that that's such a good idea because I was like so interesting it's a problem that I have like this guy is saying this burger place is great I'm having to manually find out where this burger.
Place is and then I'm like this is one drop of time he might have rated something better pre viously I don't know I mean like there might be somewhere closer that's better as well guess with Instagram they do have those guides but I'm assuming I think they're free aren't they where they'll have like guides are the top 10 places to go in Wales or whatever I think um visit Wales have got that um and I guess he could do.
That for burgers but I guess he's he's losing out on being able to sell it as a product by having it on the Instagram page unless they created a system that you could sell your more um ones that you put more energy and effort into but then also have free ones so then there's that Duality um to it that you can play around with yeah cuz the free ones are essentially your Instagram account because if you happen to be there today.
And you see one of his videos that he's posted in the last couple of days that's the free thing but then gaining access to this database so funnny enough it just happens to be an information product right it's a bunch of information in a data or like a database product um that he's selling and it's very visual so his his funnel is like let me show you this one burger place or this dessert place and like look at this.
And that is so popular in cities um for like spas or like hotels or like restaurants especially if you did like Niche restaurants like specifically burger places or specifically like Indian food or specifically like you know and I guess if like chicken shops or yeah if you like his rating system then you're more likely to trust whole um topic as well yeah so if you tried two those then it helps you go oh he's created a last list of 20 and I.
Only tried number five and I thought that was really good but I tried number 20 and that was awful so then you buy into the whole list of gray I don't need to go through the whole list I'll just jump to the top five or whatever's closest to me yeah it makes me think so I have for hackathon I built a product that's um million million dollar business ideas.com so this is me using um a bunch of influences from like news current.
News and like um kind of like startup ideas blending it together with a particular user interest and it comes up with like five ideas for you now that goes into a database so now I have like 1,200 million Doll ideas because I've seeded it with some already so AKA created some on like in one batch and also allowed people to add stuff and I did like this paid access so you pay to download the whole database of like.
1,200 ideas right um which gives you like a blueprint it gives you like a design of like how you're going to put the first version together um it gives you an idea of how you're going to get your first 10 people like your marketing and it gives you an idea of how you're going to get your first million pounds out of these ideas um now that's all great but you might find that people aren't really interested because they.
Don't know what's in there so if I actually did like a Tik Tok video of like million doll business idea and I I served it up in like a visual video yeah and then that like that's one one throwaway video and then it's like one like 1,200 of them download this database of ideas and you can add to it and stuff so like essentially like going further up the funnel now so now I've created the product you now need to.
March forward to be like cool so this is the marketing for it whereas CH are he did the reverse right he did videos first and then was like now I have a 100 reviews I can create the database yeah yeah that's that's really interesting that is fascinating because I think that's the thing with Instagram I feel like they've not really tapped into the sort of geolocational side to things I think they used to in the past but they've.
Sort of watered that side down a lot more places that you can't access if you're on like Safari on Instagram quite light you can access it if you're on the app m obviously that's clever cuz then it pushes you to get the app but even with the app you go on a location and let's say you're looking at London but there's like 10 different London London City London central London rather than how can you sort of compile those into.
One or just a group of londons or whatever so then you can rinse through looking at what's there um I think there is a definite more interesting element that can be brought to that that than what they're doing currently but I don't quite know what that is but I know I feel like it's missing the mark on on some element there there was an app called for square which is um like a location based restaurants like reviews like scoring points um like point system.
I think they've like disappeared or they've converted into like a location database you know like Yelp or Yellow Pages type thing so they're providing that as a service but I thought that was a great app where again you want collated together reviews because these days let's say that you searched for um like mattresses right to sleep on like a bed mattress chances are you'll come up with a Blog and that blog will be like these are the top 10 mattresses and.
Chances are the top one will be Casper right or whatever and Casper happens to have bought this blog or paid to be number one right because that's like a really good way of doing it so these like independent ranking or like reviews typically a company may have paid to be be number one right yeah um therefore they're becoming less and less trustworthy so if you can move that to like many people's opinions then that's good but also sometimes it's just too.
Much noise so you want something kind of in the middle and that works well with these like food food influencer type people you appreciate their opinion and you like it and it's unlikely even though yes he's probably being paid to review like it still probably aligns to what you like anyway right yeah so it's um yeah these like based or influencer based Maps is really interesting business again it's like localizing it right like could you create a influencer based map for like each.
County or whatever and You' be like you have these three characters in your county and you can click through them and those three characters have like shared different things so you have like you know like Pokémon style or what um like nature guy nature guy and then these are the like the walks or the hills that he likes walking at and then you have like um I don't know extreme sportswoman or whatever and then like these are the like the high ropes or.
Whatever you're like doing you know you have it all ranked yeah I guess it's making the most of that Pokémon go but bringing a element of reality to it a little bit more so it's not just a Nostalgia gamifying stuff but how can you link up I guess tourism with a Pokémon go style um to link them up together of finding the best burger place or the best trippy place face or the cheapest or or whatever I've also.
Found that like really I'm kind of a creature of habit in the sense of I found somewhere that's really tasty for me and I try other places but they just end up disappointing so I'm like when you really do something nice AKA let's for augment sake you eat a BN you eat a bunch bunch of vegetables in the week and then like other weekend you have a burger you're like what's the point of trying something that could be.
Disappointing I like don't do it I like I'll go to the staple place so you're like you want I will only try something that's like almost better or equivalent than but there's no app for that because I want like high quality experiences although Sam's kind of putting together an app like that right high quality experiences for the high-end user but um that's what I'm wanting to do and this influencer is looks like the food is higher quality or as high so I want to.
See these Maps but funnny enough I didn't want to pay for his Maps I love the idea I love the fact that he's doing it it's a great product idea for himself yeah that's that is a really good idea I I guess it's one of those things I wonder if you could create an app that you type in a location and the app is called um what did you say better or the or not the same yeah better or the same.
Yeah same or better same or better maybe that should be the app so when you search like this burger place it will give you either the same or better options that you could go for absolutely absolutely cuz I I find it so irritating when I have spent basically the equivalent amount of money at a place that I hope is going to be better but it turns out to be worse and I typically do that through deliveroo right I typically.
Do it through like ordering um through fast food stuff right so if there was some sort of better or same it reminds me of um you know the decision making of like after work we're going to a pub or whatever um yeah but sometimes you might be in a different place or or whatever and you just want to know like where should we go to for drinks and it will suggest somewhere that's like close to where you are um and it was an app that.
Like literally did exactly that you put in where you are and it says this is the nearest pub that you should go to and then it's like done we don't need to have a massive conversation like the app has spoken you know taking away the decision making but then it's like it's this is not like oh I don't want any other burger place like American style burger or whatever or Korean style like um burger or I want like yeah literally.
Same or better actually maybe that is a thing that should be done same or better but then it's like the curation of that how do you make sure it is same or better it would have to be that I'm going to have to try these burger places myself expensive just for challenge accepted R&D research right so yeah get loans for it just to get try out different Burgers to be like this is higher or this is worse just have a.
Scales how do you how do you scale it um how do you uh yeah how do you scale it yeah so those are the things that have been like uh bubbling on the yeah yeah fres off the day oh final final thing so I've been trying to do the uh Mark Zuckerberg style like you know he used to wear those like gray t-shirts blue trousers like all the time I think it was that c right same same never have to.
Think about it you just do this thing I kind of want the same but not necessarily boring I just want like good clothing that's like fits well and like Works efficiently for me so I was like upgrading my wardrobe you start at the at the boxes like find someone that's like got decent boxes so I tried the what are they called One Step they're really cool okay like now switching back to my old style doesn't it doesn't work as good it.
Just doesn't feel as nice I'm like cool I found like that TI then I'm like trying t-shirts um so I've bought a bunch of t-shirts from a company that I've literally forgotten the name of true Classics I think it's called true classic oh I've heard about them yeah because I I just want like good fitting t-shirts that are not like stupid you know like t-shirts that are like short in the arms but social media on Instagram well this is actually one of.
Them they just arrived today and I think they're great like obviously I probably could like bug bulk up my arms a bit to fill them but they fit fine like they fit really well I think the challenge is what I find is like when you wash stuff so when you wash stuff is when you figure out if a t-shirt's good or not because it like does it hold does it like start to bag does it start to like.
Whatever so I decided to just like invest in buying like six t-shirts like different colors uh different gray um different shades of green or because that's my color scheme and um they're not all coming soon yeah yeah shades of green yeah um that's why I've been insinuating not insinuating um in what you call it with all the yeah Inception Vibes with all these lights um although this is more like teal than green but yeah so I've basically um trying out.
These true Classics t-shirts and see if they work like so far this t-shirt I'm wearing feels pretty good so if that's the case then I've got my like t-shirt style things and they just like I just want to take away the decision making process and you just then know that you look good right um which is helpful as well so um yeah that's another thing I'm experimenting with so there you go better or the same with dance closet yeah better or the same.
Actually you could do well you could do that with everything right better or the same with any products and I wonder whether or not you could crowdsource the information um so like you could be like cool what what do you currently have and then what's better or the same and you just rate your own like opinion of something right MH um yeah I'm all about like efficiencies in in lots of different areas um so yeah t-shirts happen to be.
The area that I'm applying the efficiency and I'm also trying to get myself some more blood tests to find out like um minerals and vitamins deficiencies and stuff again not that there's any problem but I want to you know the like all this one of the things that we don't like look at is like uh minerals and vitamins stuff in your blood but you'll take a bunch of supplements but you might be taking extra supplements and making essentially.
Your urine very expensive so yeah why don't we do that and actually kind of tied together with um one of Steve Bartlett's newest podcasts it was some like Health Guy saying exactly the same sentiment of like we do all other stuff with attention to detail and data but we don't do our health with data and I know why because the chest is not going to be able to give you a blood test every six months are they but if you are in a in a.
Place where you can give yourself a blood test privately then maybe you could do it once a year or something to see so it can give you some direction because otherwise you're essentially doing it blind until a problem turns up yeah yeah exactly yeah yeah I'm very like human hacking here biohacking so that's it I think we've given enough um variation of content that's for sure from there you go food to blood yeah from best burgers to cheap.
Urine yeah that's what you ideally want and on that note keep hammering those Nails bye for [Music] now St St.