What now? Well today was my last day at Ericsson. A little over 4 years service to this Scandinavian company. Now what?
Over the last 8 years I have built two companies from scratch. Zero to greater than $1m AUD...
Are you Invaluable? ChangeThis is a site that frequently posts manifesto's that support and spread great ideas. Topics are diverse and most provide interesting reading.
A recent short manifesto that intrigued me was The...
Animation - Drive: The surprising truth about what... Recently I had an opportunity to visit my daughter's classroom and was amazed at the degree of technology in the classroom today. Multi-media was everywhere. What an amazing vehicle to facilitate learning.
I...
Should I Do with My Life? I enjoy reading books about Silicon Valley and the culture that prevails there. Recently I finished reading Nudist on the Late Shift by author Po Bronson. Another interesting book Po wrote was What Should...
Shift Happens - Did you know? Karl Fisch, a high school administrator at Arapahoe High School in Littleton, Colorado, pulled together a powerpoint with some interesting and thought-provoking ideas.
Shift Happens - Did you know?
Karls...
Well today was my last day at Ericsson. A little over 4 years service to this Scandinavian company. Now what?
Over the last 8 years I have built two companies from scratch. Zero to greater than $1m AUD in annual turnover. Mind you both companies are not doing greater than $1m in annual turnover now but that is a different story! So what I intend to do over the next few weeks is build a business but instead of renting office space, hiring staff and carrying a lot of overheads I’m going to build a business with the following parameters in mind:
Mostly online
Build with virtual architecture that is transparent and cheap
Use open source as much as possible
Carry minimum inventory (strive to drop ship)
Create an automated vehicle for generating revenue without spending a lot of time i.e. build a business that runs on autopilot
Own a business but spend minimal time on it
Sound ambitious?
So off the top of my head it needs to be a product business. Avoid the services per-hour model as it doesn’t scale. To put a business on autopilot I need to avoid direct customer contact where possible – hence another reason to steer away from a service business. To narrow the field of potential products I’ll look to test a product that costs no more than $500. I’m not the type of guy that invests and hopes for the best. I will do smart testing, smart positioning and make sure my distribution is up-to scatch. Further I will limit wholesale distribution so as to maintain a consistent profit margin.
OK so I’m going to pick an affordable niche market and attack it. The order to start a business is 1) find a market, 2) define the customer 3) then I’ll find or develop a product for them. It is more profitable to be a big fish in a small pond than a small undefined fish in a big pond.
ChangeThis is a site that frequently posts manifesto’s that support and spread great ideas. Topics are diverse and most provide interesting reading.
A recent short manifesto that intrigued me was The Six Invaluable Factors by Dave Crenshaw. Basically Dave outlines succinctly the 6 attributes that make one invaluable. The less valuable you are the more susceptible you are to being let go/fired and reduces your earning capacity. Worth a read. Check it out at http://changethis.com/manifesto/show/73.03.Invaluable
Recently I had an opportunity to visit my daughter’s classroom and was amazed at the degree of technology in the classroom today. Multi-media was everywhere. What an amazing vehicle to facilitate learning.
I came across what must be the ultimate multimedia educational tool – animation. This is a brilliant, 10 minute video of a talk by Dan Pink and illustrates the hidden truths behind what really motivates us at home and in the workplace. Check it out… it will amaze you.
I enjoy reading books about Silicon Valley and the culture that prevails there. Recently I finished reading Nudist on the Late Shift by author Po Bronson. Another interesting book Po wrote was What Should I Do with My Life? For those entrepreneurs amongst us there are parts that ring a bell particularly those of us starting out in a second career. Stories abound of individuals who have overcome fear and confusion to find a larger truth about their lives and, in doing so, have been transformed by the experience.
Some key highlights of the book to think over are below. Enjoy and thanks Po!
Of our life we demand something deeper, or richer, or more substantive
We will not have squandered our time here
People who have unearthed their true calling fought with the seduction of money, intensity, and novelty, but overcame their allure
attack on our freedom made life precious and weighty. People were reassessing what mattered to them
Ordinary people – did not have available to them resources or character traits that gave them an uncommon advantage in pursuing a better life
In hard times people usually changed the course of their life; in good times, they frequently only talked about change. Hard times forced them to overcome the doubts that normally give them pause.
They spoke of fulfillment not happiness
I became hyperaware of what mattered to me
Very real stumbling blocks that prevent us from pursuing this question: not enough money, never enough time
Many psychological stumbling blocks keep us from finding ourselves
The quest for identity through ones labour – American phenomena
Its so easy to let yourself be talked out of it
Paradox of trying to make a “right” decision in the absence of experience
Patience, long-term planning, resilience. Thats when you embrace your true identity, you will discover a productive power you never imagined having.
I’d rather help than watch. I’d rather have a heart than a mind. I’d rather expose too much than too little. I’d rather say hello to strangers than be afraid of them. I’d rather know all of this about myself than have more money than I need. I’d rather have something to love than a way to impress you.
They want to find work they are passionate about.
We need to encourage people to find their sweet spot. Productivity explodes when people love what they do.
The value in their companies came from the employees who were passionate about being there. The extra effort came from them. The new ideas come from them. They took it upon themselves to teach and lead others.
Those who are lit by this passion will be the object of envy among their peers, and the subject of intense curiosity. They are the ones who, day by day, will rescue this drifting ship.
turning point
We are looking for an environment that nutures our soul
Perhaps you identify yourself, by age, gender, race, where you live, number of kids you raise or your PROFESSION
We are not identified by what we do – our identity is anchored in what we’ve had to overcome to get there
pay attention and not sleepwalk through life
Inevitably time will erode memory and I will be left with fading highlights, and then only fond feelings
A calling is not something you know, its something you grow into, through trials and mistakes. Work should be like life-sometimes fun, sometimes moving, and defined by meaningful events.
Freedom is the confidence that you can live within the means of something your passionate about. Failure’s hard, but success at the wrong thing can lock you in forever.
Get your mind 80% of the way there, then go looking for a catalyst.
Karl Fisch, a high school administrator at Arapahoe High School in Littleton, Colorado, pulled together a powerpoint with some interesting and thought-provoking ideas.
Michael Wesch is an incredible visionary and is is Assistant Professor of Cultural Anthropology at Kansas State University. His presentation, “Web 2.0… The Machine is Us/ing Us” is incredibly thought provoking and really nails down the fact that we only can estimate technologies advancements but are yet unable to comprehend the affect on every day life.
At the end of the financial year I gather up key staff and retreat to a place where quality time can be spent planning. The interruption free environment allows us to throw away what we have done so far, start with a fresh canvas and create the future. There are planning events continuously throughout the year however the financial year end session has a greater bearing as it marks a milestone, gives us an opportunitiy to celebrate successes from the last year, allows us to decompress and reflect and then move on to face the challenges and excitment that the new year will bring us.
To some extent these planning days are structured with a framework generally followed so as to ensure that we arrive at the end of the planning days with outcomes. That said there is a high degree of free-form, as there has to be to engender a creative environment. The Strategy Session framework workbook is available at the link below albeit with confidential material removed.
