A column dedicated to the original thinkers and mavericks. Arguably, the most feisty media moguls are Antipodeans (case in point: Rupert Murdoch). Sojournpussy asks Kiwi Martin Moodie, the publisher of the world's no.1 online travel retail mouthpiece*, on what it takes to make it on Web 2.0.

SJP: You started out www.TheMoodieReport.com from your shed, and five years later it became the best commercially successful and respected mouthpiece on travel retail. What keeps you going?
MM: Self belief; refusal to countenance failure; ambition; enjoyment;
ultra-competitiveness; my Kiwi sense of where I came from and where I'm headed.

SJP: How do you deal with doubts?
MM: I have plenty of them because I am a perfectionist and ultra
self-critical. Driven people often hate themselves in reflective
moments. But I always try to look forward not back and not to dwell on my mistakes or those of others. If you're confident in your judgement you won't stop to doubt too much.

SJP: Imagination: how important is it in your decision-making, in the way you approach web reporting?
MM: It's critical. I came to the web late and I never got consumed by its 'machinery', just its capability. I'm like a little kid with a new toy
each time I learn we can do something new. Innovation is key in any business you care to name. We're always trying things and we're not
afraid of failure. We're only just starting to realise the power of visual reportage.

SJP: You were a No 10 in your rugby team. I was a cox. We were an explosive mix when I was was working for you at The Moodie Report, ha ha. How do you choose and lead your team?
AA: The analogy is great for a publishing team. Just as rugby allows
everyone to excel – from the fat kid with stumpy legs and no neck to
the skinny speedster on the wing and the nuggety, in your face wee
scrum half – so a good publishing team will combine different traits.
You need your flair players – you were one (you would have been a
winger, often brilliant sometimes maddening) – and you need those who will drive the ball up the middle and never let you down.

No 10s are feisty little guys who generally like to boss. They also give direction, take responsibility and occasionally go it alone. I'm like that, maybe too much of the latter. As a rugby player I always liked to take on the biggest guys in the opposition. I love taking it to the opposition in journalism too, especially the English.

I think if I'd rowed in your boat you may have chucked me overboard. I don't think any rower has ever asked a cox before: "Are we going the right way?"

SJP: Travel tips — what can't you live without when you travel?
MM: My laptop, which proves I'm a) sad b) a workaholic c) how much I love the web. Good wine and food. Dylan and Zevon on iTunes.

SJP: "Anyone for Tee": this is your chance to plug it. What is it about?
MM: It's in hibernation sadly. It was founded by Clive Carpenter, son of famous 'Know what I mean 'arry?' boxing commentator Harry, and me. It was an alternative look at golf, a great sport that is ripe for great
satire more than any I know. It had its moments of real comic genius
and we'll kick start it again (it's still alive) as soon as I get rid of the day job.

SJP: Do you read Sun Tzu Art of War?
MM: No but I just took a look. I liked 'let your great object be victory,
not lengthy campaigns'. I'm going to re-double my efforts.

SJP: Who do you think will beat the All Blacks at the World Cup?
MM: No one. The class of 2007 is one of the truly great sporting teams in history, a triumph of skill, hard work and multi-culturalism. Booing the haka should be a hanging offence.

SJP: If The Moodie Report has got a theme song, what will it be?
MM: It's got two. Natalie Merchant's Motherland because it always reminds me of how far I am from home and that there's no way to go other than forward. And Dylan's Mr Tambourine Man, because I always play it when I'm working late in the shed and it never fails to inspire.

Sojournpussy likes...
The Moodie Report www.themoodiereport.com
Anyone For Tee www.anyonefortee.com

Interview by Salina Christmas.
*The Moodie Report is the first online trade publication that employs photo reportage to primarily illustrate its news on the web. Comments: editor@sojournpussy.com