Business Networking: One-to-One with Kimmo Hakonen from Responsified

Kimmo Hakonen

I recently had a One-to-One meeting with Kimmo Hakonen from Responsified. Responsified is a web site design company in Gothenburg specializing in responsive design.

Responsive design is the method recommended by Google for building smartphone optimized web sites. The idea is to serve the same content, regardless of the device used for viewing, but use CSS3 style sheets to layout them differently depending on the size of the viewing device. With responsive design text is always viewed at a readable size, and pictures are resized to fit the viewing window.

One of the reasons why responsive design is big, is that Google boosts the rank of web sites that use responsive design. The main reason though, is that more and more people surf the web using smartphones and tablets. According to a TechCrunch blog post, more than 1.3 million Android devices are activated each day. Add to that the iPhones and the iPads.

With browsing habits changing, there is a need for responsive design, and that is where Kimmo and Responsified are focusing their efforts.

Kimmo and I met at Business Network International (BNI) (BNI International, BNI Sweden). Web designers and photographers can help each other out:

Some of my clients need help with web page design, so I can refer clients to a web design company that I trust.

In his work, Kimmo's company sometimes has clients that need photos for their new website. If you start looking at business websites, it is amazing how often the photos on them could do with a bit of extra pizazz. If Kimmo and his partners like my work, and trust me, they can refer clients to me.

You may have noted, it all boils down to mutual trust. This is why Kimmo and I met, not to do business, but to get to know each other, to see if we can be of value to each other, and to each other's clients.

Getting to know each other means more than just understanding each other's business. Kimmo is a painter. He also works with Photoshop, starting with a photo which he turns into an abstract work of art. His work is different from mine, but I appreciate and enjoy it a lot.

Over time, we will continue to meet to explore how we can build a trust based, mutual benefit relationship. At the same time, we will both explore in other directions, with clients, fellow BNI members, and others.

Because we will meet at BNI meetings once a week, building a working business relationship will be much easier than it would otherwise be.

Photography Business: Tipping Point

The trick to building a stack like this, is to begin by positioning the top piece of wood, and then work down. Most people try to build from the bottom up, and fail. The picture was shot at a science fair in Nordstan, Gothenburg.

Most people who start a business ask themselves what to do. For example, a photographer might ask: "what kind of photography should I do?" Most photographers come up with similar answers, like "be a wedding photographer", "shoot babies" (with a camera, of course), "focus on food".

I have chosen to do it a bit differently. I started by asking "why":

• Why do I want to be a photographer: Because I love to create a good picture. Because I can share at least a piece of the wonder and excitement I feel, because I might inspire other people to strive to fulfill their potential as I do mine, because I myself have been inspired by other people and want to pay it forward, because I want to pay my bills, because I can combine photography with other things I love: writing books, and business strategy.
• Given that everyone can take a picture, why would anyone be willing to pay for mine: Because my pictures are a novelty: They can show people and things flying, flesh melting, body parts rearranged. Lots of people do not want that of course, but they are still intrigued, and drawn in.

So I do have a few things going for me. I am constantly trying to find things I can do that improves my usefulness to my clients.

To do this, I watch closely what other photographers do, but I am even more interested in what they don't do.

If I can find things I can do that clients would like, but other photographers don't do, I have an edge.

Take this mug, for example. All photographers I have checked provide pictures for their clients digitally, usually on CD. Most provide prints.

I do that of course, but I believe it is more fun for a client if they can have their pictures on useful items, like mugs, phone and tablet shells, key rings, hats, bags, and other items.

So, in addition to offering digital files and prints on paper, I also offer prints on mugs, hats, etc. It is a differentiator, just like my trick shots are a differentiator. And in business, we are interested in differentiators, because they can give us an important edge.

A differentiator does not have to be large. If clients like it, then, over time, it can make a big difference. Eventually, when you do things like this, you will build a reputation, and business will take off.

Oh, and I should tell you, the mug differentiator has a small twist, a second level differentiator: The mug is normally black, and the picture is invisible. When you fill it with a hot beverage, the mug turns white, and the picture becomes visible.

On top of that, there is a third level differentiator, but that one is between me and my clients. :-)