So thank you all for your kind comments on the new design - it still needs a bit of work but we are doing the restructuring in iterations (I do the business restructuring and TK does the technical part), I can tell you though - we have a bit of surprises coming up.
TK, Mark and I have for the past couple of months been talking about the toothless tiger tagline - and the other evening it was suddently there.
So guys - may I introduce the new Tagline: Toothless Tiger: No more business as usual.
We all thought it was perfect - and encaptures what we are doing, trying to achieve and it has a touch of mystique to it as well.
I hope it leaves people curious.
next up is to figure out what exactly we are - are we a web agency, a geek agency, a freelance web/geek agency, are we an agency at all ( I know that you, dear readers, know that we indeed are a web rockband of freelancers- hey as I am typing I think that this definition might work)..
I would highly appreciate if you could tell me what you think Toothless is...Or what would be the best "format" for us...
oh and btw - if there's any of you web freelancers out there that wants to be "with the band" contact me and let's see if we can work something out - i am aiming to have top 15 freelancers attached to Toothless ( maybe even more) - so we will have a great basis for great work with other great people
[tagline, business, definition, freelancer, rockband, agency]
[69 comments]
I have always wanted to be in a rockband. But it didn't turn out that way. When I was 16 my biggest wish was to give a concert on the orange stage at Roskilde Festival. These days I know it's probably not gonna happen. Firstly I don't really play my bass guitar anymore ( I haven't ever really done that actually - but it's still the coolest thing in my house).
I am 28 and I still want to be in a rock band. I want to be either the frontsinger or the guitarist with mystique, or the cool keyboard player.
Last night before I went to bed I was thinking; Toothless Tiger is my baby, it's more a playground for me than a business. Heck it could even be a rock band.
Toothless Tiger came from rock'n'roll. My daughter is named after a groupie in the film "almost famous". Thomas and I hooked up at a Sleater-Kinney concert. The first thing Thomas and I did together was to go to Leeds Music Festival in 2003.
And now I have decided to run Toothless Tiger as a rock band. It might sound crazy - but it totally makes sense to me.
Business for me is not about making business, it's about making something more than business. it's about letting go and trust the people you work with making them each into representative Toothless Tiger satellites of their own coolness and person. It's about being yourself and acting as yourself and doing what you please - and keeping the rest of the band in mind when you act.
is this doable and becoming a more of a close community than a business ? Can you run a business as a rock band ?
The essense of a rock band is to be true to yourself as a person and embracing the rest of the band as a family - keeping in mind that everyone in the band has their own coolness factor and their own unique personality. Everyone involved in Toothless Tiger is an independent satellite anyway - it's not that we have big ego's (well maybe some of us do =) but we are all extremely independent, working in different directions, balancing the borders of technology, social and humanism.
A rock band is based on trust and working closely together, it's based on everyone deciding how to prioritize their involvement in the band and finding out for themselves what projects to work on. it's based on the individuals not the company. It's the personal brand of "me" that people work with - not exactly the rest of the company.
So... Toothless Tiger isn't exactly a part of the rock'n'roll industry. But every company could in essense, be managed as a rock band.
Im gonna give it a try - and if it doesn't work out then it's OK - cause im with the band =)
[creativity, innovation, rockband, business, toothless tiger, change, leadership, return on involvement]
[51 comments]