The Story of Jodo

Share Know, Make Dough, Help Grow!

2009-09-17T12:30:00.000-07:00

After a pretty full on 24 months getting King of Shaves to exactly where I want the brand to be, it's now time to mobilise Jodo to demonstrate the power of knowledge collaboration to mutual benefit. Keep watching this space ;-)

Jodo Knowledge Engine, Evolving

2007-03-03T12:40:00.000-08:00

As I have posted previously, Jodo.biz has proven itself effective in beta as a 'standalone solution' - providing people with answers to questions that Google would struggle to answer. The delight of the web, and developing businesses within it, is the extraordinary flexibility that can be used to shape a business model, to make money.

Part of the reason jodo has been slower than I hoped in evolving is that I fell into 'discussion' with a leading entrepreneur, who I thought saw the massive potential for it, and who wanted to exclusively harness it - which would have been good, because he's very well known .

However, it's important to 'look beyond the obvious' especially on the web, and the thing people have complained about jodo so far is 'how can i trust it'? Bizarrely, it's only people who haven't used it, who have complained thus, those that have (Jodo has generated £8,000 ($16,000) worth of income so far are happy!

Now that this has fallen through, it's time to let jodo become the Knowledge Engine it was designed to be, both on a 'payment' basis and a 'free' basis (probably supported by AdWords revenues in the early stages. The closed messaging system with jodo will allow knowledge seekers & knowledge providers to interact without issues of spamming arising, and if successful, it is likely to evolve into a knowledge powered social netWorking space (with the emphasis on the Working rather than the Social).

So, watch this space...www.EntrepreNet.org and www.Aprosha.com are lined up

Jodo - leaving Beta...

2007-02-12T14:50:00.000-08:00

After extensive testing, and just over three months 'live', Jodo has worked extremely well, earning Jodoer's over £8,000 and solving a myriad of problems which were otherwise impossible to sort out. Watch this space for new developments...

Crowdsourced Search & Know: Jodo & Wikiasari Employ "The Wisdom Of Crowds"

2006-12-23T06:17:00.000-08:00

If you're a surfer, you 'feel' when a great wave is building up power behind you. Whether it's the seventh wave in a set, or a sense of action starting around you, you instinctively 'know' something is coming up fast.

And you have to paddle like fury to make sure you don't miss maybe 'the' ONE wave. Because if you do, then that might be it for the rest of the day...

Well, there is an absolutely MONSTROUS wave building up on the Web right now, which has been gathering momentum since the phrase crowdsourcing was coined in the context of the web earlier this year.

And that wave is using 'The Wisdom of Crowds' in 'Search'. And its just been announced that Wikiasari, 'human refined search' is going to launch Q1 and aim to rival 'algorhythmic, electronic search' a la Google. At the moment, the satisfaction of search is determined by the page that the sophisticated searchbots determine most accurately reflects what you are seeking. Why may well not be the page you end up at first, second or even fifteenth.

Searchbots and Algorhythms are not Arbiters of 'True' or 'False' 'Right' or 'Wrong'. That is why humans preside over courts of law, making 'Life and Death' decisions, not Computers.

So, why should this be any different in Search? Well, it shouldn't be. Where Wikiasari is concerned, this programme should give the user quicker access to what they are searching for. And, of course, where www.Jodo.biz is concerned, we are using EXACTLY the same crowdsouring mechanism - mobilising many for me - to deliver task, answer or search satisfaction.

What will this mean? Well, it will mean in Q1 of 2007, people may start to use Wikiasari to search for what they Really REALLY want and Jodo to ask other Jodoers (Humans) what they can really really do or recommend.

The wave is coming...and we are paddling very VERY FAST to catch it.

PADDLE.

Article on Jodo.biz in New Media Age yesterday

2006-12-22T04:45:00.000-08:00

22.12.06
News: King of Shaves founder opens site to 'monetise brainpower'

Platform: Internet Author: By Andrew McCormick Source: NMA magazine Published: 21.12.06

Will King, the founder of shaving brand King of Shaves, has launched an online service that rewards users for solving problems.

www.Jodo.biz invites people to post problems and questions online. They place a value on the answer to reward the user who comes up with the best one.

It aims to get users to sign up to the service through the tagline 'Sign up, share know, make dough'.

King said that Jodo.biz can be best described as a network of knowledge merchants aimed at "monetising brainpower".

"The short-term aim is to get 10,000 people a month posting questions on the site," he added.

Jodo.biz employs payment system PayPal. It's the latest venture for King, who launched King of Shaves in 1993 and bought the website shave.com in 1995.

He said he will start a drive to get users to the site in early 2007.

jodo.biz
///

Reiterating The Story Of Jodo.biz

2006-12-20T17:22:00.000-08:00

From Knowledge Merchants to JoDoers: How JoDo.biz came to be...

Dreaming whilst shaving of a network of knowledge merchants.

Back in 1992, I had an idea to create a company called Knowledge Merchants International. This company was to be a network of individuals buying and selling knowledge. I would own a 'gateway' that would levy a small charge on the knowledge transaction - a toll-booth on an information dual-carriageway (as opposed to the information superhighway that was yet to be built - email, mobile, SMS and Skype). As you may imagine, in the paper-based world of the early 90's it was difficult (ok, impossible!) to get the idea going, let alone funded. However, I had already printed the letterhead with the logo 'KMI'. In addition, I had also discovered that to have 'International' in the company name, you had to be international! “So”, I mused “what do I do business-wise, and what do I do with the ($750 worth of) letterhead?” I always wanted my company to have 'American Level Service Values' so the 'I' would be short for Inc. (an American limited company). I wanted to keep the 'K' for Knowledge (not King!) and the 'M' would stand for Merchandising rather than Merchants. Thus Knowledge & Merchandising Inc. Ltd. was born, and that company's first product was called King of Shaves Original Shaving oil - the shaving product, that became a global brand and challenger to Gillette (www.shave.com).

2006: Web 2.0 and an individual discovers 'crowdsourcing'.

Fast forward 14 years. In June 2006, I was at my brother Doug's (Doug is a successful hedge-fund founder). He had a friend over - a senior executive at Dell Computer, and we were talking about business. I happened to also be reading The Times and chanced upon an article called 'crowdsourcing'.

Now, I suck up knowledge and words like no one else but I hadn't come across the term "crowdsourcing" before. If you haven't either here is the etymology courtesy of two chaps at Wired.com (or google 'crowdsourcing'):"Thus the term crowdsourcing (a term, for the record, coined jointly by Mark and myself that day, in a fit of back-and-forth wordplay). Simply defined, crowdsourcing represents the act of a company or institution taking a function once performed by employees and outsourcing it to an undefined (and generally large) network of people in the form of an open call. This can take the form of peer-production (when the job is performed collaboratively), but is also often undertaken by sole individuals. The crucial prerequisite is the use of the open call format and the large network of potential laborers (sic)."

I quickly realised that this means of solving a problem - or getting a job done - was only being used in a very limited way: for creating internet software applications and, I later found out, by large corporations like drug companies to solve major league problems. It wasn't about getting any Job Done or any question Answered.

This was exactly what Knowledge Merchants International was about! An 'Open Call' to a group of 'Knowledge Merchants' (now I call them JoDo'ers) to see if they (or someone they knew) could answer a question, any question at all! Now all I needed to create was that toll-booth for transactions and then to build the communities.

I've always enjoyed making up new languages, logo's and business models, and JoDo is no exception! I could have called it Knowmer.com - short for Knowledge Merchants - indeed, maybe this is a good name for it. But, as the design team at Kempt were keen for it to have a strong identitiy - I came up with JoDo.biz, JoDo being nothing more sophisticated than an abbreviation of 'Job Done' (it also happens to be a Japanese martial art which I quite liked!). The team at Kempt then came up with our logo, along with the phrase 'Light Work, Many Hands Make' which I thought was entirely descriptive of the site and so trademarked it. It has a certain Yoda-ness to it.

I hope you find Jodo useful, if you don't - it simply won't exist - if you do, spread the word!Enthuse, Exceed, but above all - Enjoy!

Will KingFounder, www.Jodo.biz

Build It And They Will Come.

2006-12-20T16:47:00.000-08:00

The princely number of 769 people visited www.jodo.biz in November 2006...

But by December 20th, 6,400 had visited, with 24,700 page views and a return rate of 20%.

We're off...but where we go, we don't yet know!

But Crowdsourced Powered, Fee Paying Question Answering Is A Reality.

Of that I AM sure!

So Who's Making The Money On Yahoo! Answers? Well, it's not YOU for sure.

2006-12-18T15:26:00.000-08:00

I read today that Yahoo! is set to roll out its Yahoo! Answers product in the UK. This is at the same time that Google Answers has given up the ghost! So, what's going on? How come one of the most successful 'search' companies has stopped providing an innovative service, whilst another is trying to make a go of it?

The web is certainly a funny old place.

And the incident gets more interesting, because Yahoo! Answers expects people to answer questions for free! Getting more eyeballs, and quietly building new advertising revenue models.

But surely that's not right? Yahoo! making the money, whilst the people doing the work "do it for love" and for no money. Surely this is exploitation of a Dickensian era on the World Wide Web?

Think. Yahoo! is a multi-billion dollar company. That means it is worth over $1,000,000,000. Count the zero's. It is allowing YOU to get your question answered, but the work isn't done by a Yahoo'er - oh no - nothing like that. Yahoo! gets YOU to do the work too!

People have asked me how Jodo is different to Yahoo! Answers. Well, it's different for one simple reason. Jodo places a VALUE on knowledge and allows the person DOING THE WORK TO EARN THE MONEY.

I for one will be building the network of Jodoers, because there is a business for them to be built here to their advantage, they are not being taken advantage of by a faceless 'Search' company.

You read it here first. Say Yah Boo to Yahoo! and Go Jodo!

Press Release

2006-12-18T05:56:00.000-08:00

I sent out this press release today via PRWeb.com...

Introducing Jodo.biz Enabling Crowdsourced Knowledge Sharing

Jodo.biz is a revolutionary problem solving, knowledge sharing website based around the 'open call' concept of crowdsourcing in a Web 2.0 environment.

(PRWEB) December 18, 2006 -- Jodo.biz seeks to be the world's leading knowledge transaction portal, revolutionising the way knowledge is shared (valued and monetized) on a global basis. The site uses the tagline "Light Work, Many Hands Make", matching seekers of 'know' with providers of 'how' on a dynamic, macro-unstructured scale,

Jodo is deceptively simple to use, and sublimely effective in execution. It enables an 'Open Call' to a group of Jodoer's to see if they (or someone they know) can answer a question or task posed. The parties then tie the KNoT (KNowledge Transaction) with each other, payment is then made and the site uses a rating or feedback mechanism to ensure all parties are happy with the result. Jodo is securely powered by PayPal, used world-wide by over 100M people.

The origins of Jodo date back to 1992 when the founder, Will King had an idea for a netwok of 'Knowledge Merchants' who would transact their 'knowhow' through a portal, sharing knowledge and knowhow world-wide. Jodo.biz is inspired by a concept termed 'crowdsourcing', which itself means ''The act of a company or institution taking a function once performed by employees and outsourcing it to an undefined (and generally large) network of people in the form of an open call. This can take the form of peer-production (when the job is performed collaboratively), but is also often undertaken by sole individuals. The crucial prerequisite is the use of the open call format and the large network of potential laborers'.

Will King, Founder of Jodo.biz comments: "I am hugely excited by the concept and potential of Jodo to truly get 'Any Question Answered, Any Task Done' in a dynamic and cost effective way. Already, the site has solved a number of problems or facilitated solutions which otherwise would almost be impossible to deal with".

We're On Our Way To San Jose (maybe)!

2006-12-11T09:29:00.000-08:00

Today was a landmark day for Jodo - I tied the KNoT (KNowledge Transaction) with our first 14 official Jodoer's, all of whom are founder members of Jodo (more about this in the future).

This proves THE SITE CONCEPT works, and now we simply need to build mass.

So, as Mr. Jodo says "Sign Up, Share Know, Make Dough" (that's money to those of you who don't get this particular English phrase).

We're looking for 100 FoJoDoer's (Founder Job Doers) - will YOU be next? You have to apply for a job, or post a job to be considered.

Go!

Guaranteed Money Back If Your Job Isn't Done!

2006-12-08T11:11:00.000-08:00

I've just realised one of the BEST things about Jodo is that - if your task isn't done, problem isn't sorted or question isn't answered, then you will get your money back (less the Jodo & PayPal fees).

This must be UNIQUE. Think. If you take an ad out in the paper, you have to pay the newspaper irrespective of whether you get what you want from your ad - employee hired, car sold - whatever.

But with www.Jodo.biz you are free to CANCEL your job at any time* and get the vast majority of your cash BACK (*see terms & conditions for cancelling jobs - eg you cannot cancel a job if a jodoer has applied to do it).

So, there you are. The internet keeps things evolving to the benefit of you - the visitor and hopefully Jodoer!

"Sign Up, Share Know, Make Dough!" Jodo is Go!

2006-12-08T09:38:00.000-08:00

I've had an ASTONISHING response to the launch of the site with ideas to grow awareness of Jodo.

THANKS!

There are a few teething problems, but I am excited about the possibilities and look forwards to traffic slowly building as we attract more Jodoer's to do tasks posted.

So, spread the word - At Jodo you 'Sign Up, Share Know, Make Dough!' It's a new way to share knowledge, make money!

Will Alex Tew It Again With Pixelotto?

2006-12-03T05:52:00.000-08:00

It's Web Tew.Zero!!!

Background: It was in September 2005 that I first heard about the www.MillionDollarHomePage.com phenomenon that was British student Alex Tew's idea - sell a million pixels for a $1 apiece.

Normally quick to embrace ideas like this, I didn't advertise www.KingofShaves.com on it - big mistake.Anyhow, long story short, turned out that Alex Tew used King of Shaves, we got to know each other, I did him a favour and put him in touch with my PR adviser and he was good enough to do a talk with me Tew 400 youngsters about Entrepreneurship and stuff.

So I was delighted to hear from him last week, with a 'heads up' about his Web Tew.Zero (!!!) - new www.Pixelotto.com site - a neat (if I do say so myself) twist on the original sell pixels, make money website.

I've registered King of Shaves this time, as it's the run up to Christmas (and we're doing 3 for 2 on our products), plus I've put up the URL's for two brand new websites of my own being developed by my Flop Flip LLP www.jodo.biz and www.twomo.com.

Do Tew think it will work? Tew bet it will! Media interest is already spiking, it's free to play and advertisers need eyeballs. There are already some hardcore web companies there, ready to tew roll (sorry can't resist the puns) on Tuesday 5th December.Will Tew become a Millionaire? Well, visit www.Pixelotto.com - click an ad, and be in with a chance!

Tew'd better believe it. First and fast to market wins the race

Not YoJodo but Yo Yo back to Jodo

2006-11-27T10:28:00.000-08:00

It's funny this, but naming companies/brands always takes ages. Anyhow, after emphatic resistance about renaming www.Jodo.biz www.YoJodo.com (and also having bought www.ojodo.com and www.YoJodo.co.uk in the interim) we're now back with....

www.Jodo.biz

I bet this sort of yo yoing to and fro isn't dealt with in any building brands books!

WK

YoJoDo.com - the new name for Jodo.biz

2006-11-26T09:39:00.000-08:00

Decided to rename jodo.biz to YoJoDo.com today - ie YOur JOb DOne. I have been iffy on the .biz end for a while, and made the jump to YoJoDo from buying ojodo.com earlier this week.

I know it's little details like this that can make the difference between success and failure, having originally launched King of Shaves as Sunrise before it became KINGS and eventually 'King of Shaves'.

Interesting to read about www.WAYN.com today as well (where are you now) - social networking on the move. The internet is certainly inventing business models at a rate of knots!

slowly....

2006-11-25T16:16:00.000-08:00

Jodo's got less jobs on it now than when we launched back on November 5th? Why, well, some of the multi-person programming was faulty, and there was no point making people aware of the site if the job they applied for mysteriously 'disappeared'. I have also to'd and fro'd with how '.bizzy' the site is - eg calling it jodo.biz as opposed to askjodo.com - i have even bought www.ojodo.com to give it a .com ending

But, the site has worked for me - like my King of Shaves shaving oil, I have posted two jobs on it - one for an ironer (obvious) and one to get some fancy dress costumes made up (less obvious) and amazingly, someone knew someone who could make a Sonic costume (although i am still waiting 100% on this).

I'm particularly excited by the multi-person jobs that I've posted for KMI, the toiletries company I'm the founder of, as getting freelace people to look after us instore will certainly prove the success of the 'open call, crowdsourced' business model, but the big 'IF' is yet to come - we are yet to email out the 6,000 database followed by a larger 300,000 database to 'populate' the site.

Despite what people think, I'm a patient sort of chap, and I've had plenty on at King of Shaves, www.twomo.com, www.willbar.com, www.jymvest.com and www.planetsicknessbag.com to keep me busy.

PS - I saw my first IMAX film today with my 6.95 year old at the Science Museum in London, to say it was FANTASTIC would be an understatement. Go.

The First Seven Days And No Time For Resting!

2006-11-12T13:47:00.000-08:00

Well, Jodo's been up a week now and it hasn't been without its issues! Bugs aplenty have presented themselves, but have been ably sorted out by the site maintenance team. A slight delay in getting banking details aligned with PayPal meant that the site might not have looked as 'secure' as it really is, but that has pretty much been sorted.

Site navigation & ease of use issues have been pointed out, and to date, jobs that have been posted have been from the jodo team and myself.

At the end of Week 1 we had 8 Jodoers' (up from zero on November 5th).

There was a big article in the Sunday Times today on Mike Moritz, the Sequoia Capital partner who has picked stocks like Google, Yahoo and YouTube to back - there was a lot of talk on Web 2.0 (although he thinks that's now an irrelevant term) and caution for people to be real.

As long as people trust Jodo I think our business plan will pan out - the problem will be in matching Job Posters (or Knowledge Requirers) with Job Doers (or Jodoers').

The site will remain advertisement free for the forseeable future, there is no reason for it to need ads as long as it attracts visitors.

So, the second week is dawning...we hope to email a database of 6,000 this week, hopefully at least 100 of those will register and post or do jobs.

Check out the jobs I have put up - 'Promote Jodo' and 'What do you think of Jodo?' as well as a not-for-profit site to do with Planet Meltdown (Go www.PlanetSicknessBag.com and 'Pay The Favour Forwards'!

That's it for now,

Night.

KoD
jodo.biz

Seth

2006-11-05T10:30:00.000-08:00

Seth who works for a company in Leicester, England is the first person to receive a job opportunity from Jodo. He will become the first Jodoer by responding to me, I will then post the next job that will light Jodo's blue touch paper - suitably apt for Bonfire Night.

The message sent to Seth was:

Remember remember the Fifth of November
Gunpowder, treason and plot.
I see no (t)reason why www.jodo.biz
Should ever be forgot...

Will King
'King of Doing'

Remember Remember The Fifth of November!

2006-11-05T10:16:00.000-08:00

After a couple of last minutes glitches were resolved by Chris and the team at Kempt, i was able to post the first ever job on jodo, ironically to one person rather than thousands, as i want him to employ the crowdsourcing methodology that will either make jodo a stunning success or 'just another internet site'

our stats packages are up and running, and jodo.biz has earned its first money, albeit from me!

i hope i'll have good 't'reason to remember today as when along with my team i launched a site that will work to revolutionise how 'tasks are done, problems are solved, knowledge is gained' in a way that helps everyone.

Go Jodo.

'King of Doing'

So near....

2006-11-04T10:27:00.000-08:00

After a lot of testing on Friday, we now have a fault with the user log-in mechanism which is stopping me posting the first job for a chap who lives and work in Leicester, UK. How annoying.

Jodo nearly Go Go

2006-11-03T11:28:00.000-08:00

3.11.06: I had a dream, to mobilise hundreds of thousands of people to simply 'share knowledge & make money'. chris, colin, paul and janno are the jodoers who alongside me are aiming to revolutionise how jobs are done, tasks are completed or knowledge is gained on the internet using the phenomenon called 'crowdsourcing' - for a definition of this visit wikipedia.com

will we succeed?

well, the site goes live on 'Remember Remember The Fifth of November' to one person in one company in one city in the UK. From that person, i anticipate a ripple effect outwards that should culminate in one of the most successful business internet sites of the modern age, with limitless use and scaleability.

as the little fat guy says, 'Light Work, Many Hands Make'.

So, lets Go!