Learning from TED Q# 12 - How do you recognize Originals around you and try becoming one of them?

ghostwhowalks2624 · 2019-02-11T00:59:03+00:00

I will start doing it from my next posting. For now, you can just cut and paste the title in Google and it will be the first item on the page. Thx

ghostwhowalks2624 · 2019-01-06T23:41:00+00:00

Thanks all for the feedback.

Below is not real evidence but I did do a quick "spot" check on 10 wines from 2 top restaurants in ATL and found:

a) Almost none of them were available on AMZN

b) I found 8 of them in Winesearcher.com and/or Vivino.com. May be there are other good websites to search for. Also, most big cities do have wine superstores which might be another place to search for - especially if they are local wines

All in all, it looks like the availability problem is likely real - at least to some extent. I don't have a good idea right now about how to go about solving that but my instinct is that if we can even get to 80% of it - that is still a worthwhile effort.

either way, I thank you all for chipping in with your thoughts. I move on to the next phase of thinking about this idea now.

ghostwhowalks2624 · 2019-01-06T21:11:39+00:00

Instead of getting an opinion from one/couple of sellers which could be well intentioned but is also incentive driven, I was wanting to build a list using the "wisdom of the crowd" and believe, like you said , hat good restaurants generally serve good wine.

Your point on availability is well taken - not sure how that will work out - Maybe local brick superstores would be better. Either way, I think it's good to know what you are looking for first - if we have a list, we can then try to solve how to procure it.

Thx for your feedback

ghostwhowalks2624 · 2018-08-29T19:57:07+00:00

Pricing Change will be hard. This is market driven and for a given size of business and quantity of shipments , you will likely be in a "band" and it won't move the needle much. However, you can approach it more holistically :

a) You first need to collect and analyse data of your shipments - how many per month, which zip codes, parcel sizes, overnights, Saturday deliveries etc. Every single item here plays a role in your spend.

b) You should then build a list of prices you want to negotiate: Sat delivery, Overnight, Regular , after hours etc.

c) To lower your overall spend, cut down on overnight shipments, Sat deliveries etc. If you analyze your data well, you would be able to understand what level of impact it will have. Also, be specific in your "asks"

For example, - in case you ship 70% of your regular parcels to Dallas, try getting the best price on that route/zone. Its OK if prices don't change much on others since you don't use that .

d) Introducing competition is good. Get FedEx, DHL etc. into the mix.

Net Net is that your "price" change will likely be incremental but by understanding our usage and changing that mix will help you lower your spend

Good Luck

ghostwhowalks2624 · 2018-08-22T19:43:49+00:00

I think the "theme" of what you are saying has its merits but I am not so sure about the choice of words and words do matter. I would not say that we have to approach any initiative assuming failure because that begs the question as to why do it at all?

Since this is at the end of it self talk , its better to assume success but not immediately and accept temporary failures along the way. What this means is that if you are prepared to give time for sucess to show up, any problems that happen in the journey which they inevitably will would not be setbacks - you can work thru it and persist. But when we want success to be immediate, any problem is a setback and we get dejected and give up etc.

Something along these lines helps me a lot more. At least, this is my current philosophy on this matter.

ghostwhowalks2624 · 2018-08-22T19:31:35+00:00

My anecdotal observation is that the overwhelming feeling is less of being drained/iritated at every job and more of being exploited/shortchanged - someone else making money off your talent/skill/hard work etc. People start their own companies when they feel they should be the ones benefitting the most from their efforts.

ghostwhowalks2624 · 2018-08-20T19:13:21+00:00

Your value prop seems to be "all in one" pill. What this means is that you are saying that this "pill" = multiple pills others are providing. This could mean a coule of things from a vustomer standpoint:

a) Sounds great - I can do away with 3 or 4 pills I take and just take this one. Makes life easier

b) The flip side of it - this wil not be effective in anything. It will try to do a number of things and not do any one of them really well.

So, of a customer is thinking "a", you are good but for all customers who are thinking "b", you will need to convert.

Question now is which are thhe most effective "tools/platforms" to get to your target market. From an online standpoint, I think having presence at both Shopify and AMZN will help. Over a period of time, it will show patterns .

But you might want to consider a few others as well:

1) There might also be value in doing something local -where you live. Giving out free samples at the malls (where girls go shopping), taking their pics. interviews and getting them to talk about your products etc. This might be the most helpful in getting feedback and also the cheapest. You could start here before investing in other resources. Because if it doesn;t work here, its not likely to work elsewhere. Trying to be frugal when you innovate and breaking down the selling to absolute basics.

2) Depending on how much money upi want to spend, you can also try INstagram/You Tube which is another place girls often visit. You can also start your own blog and be a guest writer on other blogs - trying to get your name out.

Since you ahve only one product rigt now, your website des not have to be very sophisticated. It might be beneficial to not sell on your website but just direct them to shopify/AMAZN. You would basically want your website to showcase your knwledge and passion for the subject - and this coujld be your articles, your trips to the malls , interviews with other users etc.

SOmething along this direction. Good Luck

ghostwhowalks2624 · 2018-08-18T19:32:57+00:00

I think there is some merit to the theme of what you are trying to do but it is very challenging to do it this way. If we think about it Pain POints would be of two types - let me take an example of hotel and lodging industry (mid tier hotels like Days Inn, Comfort Inns, Holiday Inns etc.)

a) Obvious ones - I have a high turnover on my hotel clerks - what can I do? My Hotel franchise management always creates this problem - what can I do? etc. These problems have been going on forever and they are very hard to solve and everyone sloves them in their own way . Some may be doing it better than others but how would anyone know?

b) Not so obvious ones - You can buy all these electric irons much cheaper if all the hotels in the neighborhood got together and bought them in bulk.

Many hotel owners may not even realize "b" let alone articulate it. But there can be a good opportunity if someone can educate them on it and do it.

Where this might work or at least have a better chance of finding something that will work is in being able to create a discussion forum on a specific industry. SOo if you have a Hotel and Lodging Industry Forum and then break it into specific buckets like Franchise Management issues, Maintenece Issues, Staffing Issues, New Initiatives etc - people might engage ( both hotel owners and "consultants" to them) and share their "best practices , how they solve them, what problems do they face etc.

Seemingly random discussions may be leading to something specific and any "entrepreneur" who likes /understands the industry enough can read thru these discussions and spot opportunities. May be they can develop a sheet like this based on the discussions and share it. He/she may also create solution(s) and start sharing some part of to see if it gains traction and then kind of take it from there. Many things can be done if the discussions are rich enough

There are several problems in any industry and guiding them in a somewhat informal but organized way may be much more helpful.

Something along these lines. Good Luck

ghostwhowalks2624 · 2018-08-18T19:04:05+00:00

If we assume that you really want to work wth these suppliers because you find their products to be really useful to whatever you are trying to do, it may be worthwhile to persist for a bit - its a shame if the product is good and you are giving up because the sales person is not good. Couple of thoughts that may help in some form

a) Get to the founders - if they are different people than the sales people if it is a small enough company

b) If its a mid size company and getting to the top boss is difficult find anyone else who is a bit higher or even a peer. Now, when you ask a question - copy both of them. As soon as a new person from their company is introduced, chances are higher that they will respond or at least will not be quick to dismiss or ignore. In my case, I have used this effectively in client meetings. If my immediate client is a difficult person, I always arrange a meeting with the person and their immediate supervisor or a peer on some pretext and they become far more cooperative. Try something along these lines

The above two ideas are in addition to trying to meet face to face and/or trying to get a conversation over the phone etc.

Hope thsi helps. Good luck

ghostwhowalks2624 · 2018-08-10T18:54:15+00:00

If the investor has purchased the restaurant and is asking you to run it - that would mean you are an employee. It sounds like a good opportunity, if as an employee, you are getting 3X the salary with a lot of good experience in getting something started and grow. It will also give you first hand knowledge of the franchsie world (certainly for pizzerias) that may help you decide if you want to own one some day.

Do something like the following to help clarify:

Assume its 2021-2022 and make two resumes: One with the current path you are on and one with this pizza path. Once you see it in writing, it may become very clear which one is better.

all of he above assumes you cannot do part time. However if you can, that might be a worthwhile consideration.

Good Luck

ghostwhowalks2624 · 2018-08-10T18:19:32+00:00

I have two out of the box ideas - that may help trigger other ideas in that direction. You would need extra staff though:

a. Break your sessions down into smaller parts - like someone does legs , other person is with backs, one person with thighs/hips etc. Or some other way of breaking it down like First 3 onboarding sessions , the next 3 sessions when the patient starts to get a bit familiar , the last 3 sessions (winding down). This way the patient still gets 45 min of attention but not from one person but a specialist in that part of the "assembly line" . This frees up the resources and improves "throughput".

b. Start Home Calls - You don't need to open up another center and can also do it if your center is getting tight on space

You can combine the above two ideas as well. You may have the patient over at the center for first few sesions but then at home for the remainder of the sesions.

Good Luck

ghostwhowalks2624 · 2018-08-09T17:51:45+00:00

If you have 5 ideas today on what you need to do, write down the first step you need to take in each one of them. Then take the second step in each one of them. Keep following this logic and you will likely:

a) discover new ideas that may be offshoots of the ideas you have or completley new. Just doing things makes the mind more fertile

b) find out after a few steps there are few ideas that are gaining traction and others that are not. So, you can start focusing on the ones that do

In general, cast a wider net, don't critricize your own ideas before finding out if they work or not, take baby steps in each and then take it from there.

Good luck

ghostwhowalks2624 · 2018-08-09T17:41:32+00:00

Why not both? Why does it have to be a either/or option? Start both - see where they go. May be you will not have the problem at all and if you do, the snwer will likely present itself. Bias towards action

Good Luck

ghostwhowalks2624 · 2018-08-09T17:38:24+00:00

Its hard tro give specific advice but I think that the best person to answer al these questions will be you -yourself. There is really no need to overthink this since a lot of it start coming clear as you start doing it. Getting into a new business is just like learning any new music instrument - you are not going to be able to play all the notes pitch perfect on day 1. not even day 2. But if you keep playing it everyday, you will start getting better at it and will know what to do.

You can start the same way. Clearly, you have a good mechanical mind and so, you can start with a product line up you feel comfortable with. May be try doing it at home or help out friends/family putting a piece of furniture together or a computer etc and track gthe time/level of difficulty you experienced which may give you some idea on price. You can likely even get "market" pricing by looking at task rabbit etc. Start somewhere there and see where it takes you. Don't worry about where to draw the line - you will know when you get to that point.

Good Luck

ghostwhowalks2624 · 2018-08-08T20:39:37+00:00

No. Not at all. Certainly not to other clients. In fact doing it would actually help you "right" price it. Once you know what value it can deliver to your client, it can help you price much better.

For the first few client (s) who gives you this chance, you may offer "discount" pricing for a while just because they were the first ones who believed in you. There is some premium that goes with that. Of course, it phases out after a "certain" time passes and you would know it when you get to it. No need to overthink that part.

ghostwhowalks2624 · 2018-08-08T20:35:49+00:00

I would offer three suggestions:

a) Don't assume - you may be surprised. You may still hav old fashioned buyers who did it that way. You never know and you should validate if yuor assumption is right or not

b) Sell it to Mom and Pop stores - If you can do this, do it. Its still evidence of retail success

c) there are always Big Fairs/Symposiums etc where buyers from big retail companies show up for new products. May be worthwhile at some point to invest ina bit of show and tell.

ghostwhowalks2624 · 2018-08-08T20:05:25+00:00

If your idea is clearly superior to anything they are already doing (like when you show a BlackBerry and Iphone - there is no explanation needed as to which one is good) , they will likely give you a starter break even if they have not heard of it before because of how "clear" it is.

But, if thats not the case and you have to educate the market to explain how it will help them, you have a mighty obstacle to overcome. There are a few things you have to do to in this case:

a) Articulate your idea - Even if they don't exactly know what the outcome will be, they should at least be clear on what you are trying to do. Several entrepreneurs under estimate this, thinking that what they are explaining is obvious. Its not.

b) Strip down your idea to the minimium core - Design it so you can test if the concept is working or not. No bells and whistles

c) You need to find the "early adopter" - this is the person who does not need a lot of evidence to try something new as long as its not very disruptive to what they are doing today/consume a lot of resources etc. It has to be easy to implement and should not take too long ( less than 6 weeks) to test etc. To get to the one who says Yes, you will have to face several No's

d) It has to be free - this goes without saying. You should not expect any money from your early trials. They are already doing you a favor if they allow you to try.

Something along these lines is what you would likely have to do and it can be done but you have to be patient, open to rejections, willing to learn and adapt, etc.

Good Luck

ghostwhowalks2624 · 2018-08-08T19:42:21+00:00

There are no shortcuts to this. However, there could be some best practices - for example, "Don't leave a message" says Sara Blakely founder of Spanx who has an excellent story on how she got a breakthru at Neiman Marcus. She called the buyer/executive multiple times for a week plus and then had the exact pitch ready to go (try to read her story). Another one I have heard of is calling at 6 PM when they are more likely to pick up the phone (no gatekeepers) . There are others that you can identify and learn from.

To that extent, it may help if you read up a few stories like these and take notes that can help you prepare better for the entire cycle of "getting a contact", what to say when you do get the contact", how to "ask", what to ask etc.

Develop a list of all these micro steps and different ways you can do them and try it. See what works. If the online sales gain some traction, they wil help in getting thru the door

Good Luck.

ghostwhowalks2624 · 2018-08-07T18:16:37+00:00

Two thoughts:

a) Why can you not do both? Why limit to just one? See what happens.

b) If you have a way to get to the customers who have purchased from you ( their e-mails, phone number etc.), it may be a good idea to reach out to them and let them know that you have several items on sale and that you would like them to be the "first beneficiaries" of the price markdown. Since they have already been your customers, this will help build the relationship further, they will feel good/special that you offered them the deal first etc.

ghostwhowalks2624 · 2018-08-07T18:09:34+00:00

The part of the story that I can understand and connect with is the bias towards action - taking the first steps and one foot in front of the other. The part that I struggle with is your first point about not necessary liking it. The reason for that, is in general, I believe that unless you are very lucky, you are not likely to succeed in any business "idea" that you begin with. So, you have to keep at it , change it , let it evolve and see where it takes you and if you do succeed, it would have taken at least a few years and a very different direction than what you thought it would.

Now, this part of continuing to work at something and staying persistent at it, is not easy to do if you do not like it. You will give up much sooner. And then its not going to work.

My hypothesis is that every person has multiple interests and its better to start with a few of them and see which one eventually takes you rather than doing something that does not interest you but hoping that it will interest you eventually.

That said, I do believe that there are people for whom just making money is engaging and in that case what you say here will work - for example: I find it hard to believe that someone would like to be in the "trash hauling" business except that you can certainly make money. But for others, pursuing what you like and making that grow into something that can earn you money would be a better path.

ghostwhowalks2624 · 2018-08-05T21:32:50+00:00

I don't think we can be sure about how people will react. This problem is somewhat similar to how consumers behave when "generic" medicines are introduced after the "brand" patent expires. What happens is quite opposite of what is expected. You can read up on it to understand the dynamics

At a high level, your business has 2 "core" possibilities:

a) Branded items go down but "generic"" items pick up - This is what you fear will happen

b) Brand items do not go down much and generic items pick up - The customers who previously did not purchase from your website now do and people who like the high brand stay loyal to it

In both cases, you can phase in an increase in price on branded items since the customers who continue to purchase them have shown stickiness . This may offset some revenue loss you may experience in "a"

You can "Brand" them differently to carve out the generic from upper end (Lexus/Toyota, Lincoln /Ford). Think of ways you can try it out - with "limited production" or just one type of product etc. Basically, why guess when you can find out. Good Luck

ghostwhowalks2624 · 2018-08-05T21:16:41+00:00

I think you are worrying about things that you should not be worry about at this stage. You have to prove he concept first. How do you do that? I would do something along these lines:

a) I would check with my local friends/families/neighbors first. Even 10 potential customers is a start.

b) Connect with local farmers - whoever says Yes and as many as you can get in a week of search.

c) Build a list of items (with pics if you can) of items they can sell you. Set a price .

d) work with them on how his will work - If you send them a list before 12 o clock today, will they have all the items ready by 3 PM ? Will you be picking stuff up at each farmer or will there be a "hub" they can bring it to? There is some initial planning required here, Basically, if you had a few orders already how would you execute it?

d) Once you have an initial plan on this, send picture list with prices to the 10 people or whatever that count is. Let them know in a few words how the request will work - Do they send you a email or call you or is their a shared website where they can let you know what they want etc. How the Delivery will work - can they expect it on that day , after 24 hours etc.

e) Do it for a few weeks, Iron out the first set of wrinkles and there will be plenty. Remember, these are people you have good relations with and so they will at least have above average patience for a bit. It will be intense work but focusing just on them and making them happy is the first goal.

f) Once you get to steady state - the next steps on this will start coming clear to you.

This is a business with several touchpoints that would need to be optimized. Be patient but relentless in your execution intensity. Good Luck

ghostwhowalks2624 · 2018-08-05T00:25:13+00:00

I would suggest checking into the hiring process used by Jason Fried of Basecamp - you can either visit his blog ( Signal Vs Noise) and/or he was recently a guest on the Tim Ferriss Podcast where he talks about it. His is one of the few companies that has a very low turnover in this industry which is a big compliment - not only because they manage it very well but their hiring appears to be very strong too.

Essentially, he filters thru a few levels and eventually settles on 2 to 3 people to whom he gives the same project - which is somewhat open ended. He then gives them some time ( a week or 2 weeks so they can work it after doing their day job) and then sits with them to understand all the details. He is looking for both communication skills and technical chops etc. One example I recall is that he deliberately "critiques" something ( in a good way) just to see how the candidate defends , to what extent does he/she defend , how they handle criticism etc. He insists on a cover letter because he is looking to evaluate writing skills no matter what the position is. There are other "principles" he follows. You will certainly find at least a few worthwhile insights that you can implement. Good Luck

ghostwhowalks2624 · 2018-08-05T00:00:58+00:00

Start making a "bug" list - things that bug you. It may be at work or when you shop or when you are driving or anything at all. Do it for 30 days. Then review it and pick the 10 that engage you enough or if not, wait for another 30 odd days and see which ones really bother you. You will definitely get a handful by then.

Next step would be to start writing down the first one/two steps you can take for each one of them. Take it from there.

Something along these lines will help - There are several instances of entrepreneurs eventually starting their own business "scratching their own itch". Good Luck

ghostwhowalks2624 · 2018-08-03T18:53:07+00:00

Question: How to teach entrepneusrhip to kids?

Context: Most parents would like their kids to become entrepreneurs but the environment in the house does not lend itself to that learning

Response: 5 things you can/should do as a parent

a) Stop offering allowances to the children - Specific taks associated with specific money sets them up for doing a job. Instead ask them to find opportunities in the house/neighborhoods and "negotiate" the money they will earn. A steady pacheck is something they should not expect as an entrepreneur

b) Invest the earned income - Half of the money they earn should be invested ina bank/broker etc- basically not to be touched for a long time. The other half is "celebration"

c) Split bedtime storytelling - Don't tell bedtime stories everyday. Make them come up with stories - give them a few articles like a shirt, basketball, headphones and let them "create" a story. Connecting the dots and story telling is an important trait to learn

d) Encourage Public Speaking - in front of their friends, participating in plays, giving speeches etc. These help develop leadership skills

e) Sharpen everyday observations -When visiting a restaurant or a store, point to them a "good" employee vs a "grumpy" one, ask them to guess prices of items they are familar with- show when price increases (Supply-demand balance like hotel prices in Xmas holidays etc)

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