Tag: Business

1. Anyone can come up with an idea for a product.
2. Fewer people can get the resources necessary to make the product.
3. Even fewer can actually make the product with the right resources.

Finish reading Products and Customers

Steve just started at a new job. He makes $40,000. A year goes by, and Steve has not received a raise.

Steve: I need a raise.
Boss: What have you done for me lately?
Steve: Uhhhh…..

Finish reading Is this good for the company?

Smashing Magazine is one of the top web design blogs and web design news sites out on the web. This past week, they did something a bit radical. They pulled down all of their site’s content for 24 hours to sell a $10 e-book. In their plea, they explained that, while they aren’t going out of business, they were in need of some financial boosting. While I like the risk they took, I do not have any sympathy for their financial woes. It’s their job to figure out the money part, not mine.

Finish reading Figuring out the Money part

We see selective benefits all over the place. Senior discounts, social security, handicapped parking. Pretty much everything the government does.

Most of these services are great because they help people who really need it. Please do not mistake my arguments below as saying we should get rid of these things. I do not want to do that. Rather, I want to better understand the real costs of selective benefits.

Finish reading Selective Benefits and Balance

This is all theory of course, but in the modern age of machines, I would think having a blue-collar job would be very stressful. Not because the job is tough; the opposite in fact. Because the job is so easy, you are now replaceable. By cheaper labor, outsourcing, or a machine that doesn’t need lunch breaks.

Finish reading Stress-free blue-collar work is now very stressful

The extremely long John Mackey (CEO of Whole Foods) interview in the New Yorker inspired this piece.

Altruistic companies can be found in almost every vertical. In the clothing world, we have Toms Shoes who give away a pair of shoes for every pair sold. In the automotive industry, there is Tesla Motors who strive to make an all electric car for both the sports car enthusiasts and the everyday commuters. The financial industry is fairly bleak, but startups like Mint.com offer financial insight and easy advice for free. There are likely other examples in other industries, and I am going to make the big assumption that they exist and people like them. These may be tiny players, but they are beginning to blur the line between corporation and non-profit. But there isn’t quite the range of duality seen in these as there is in the healthcare industry.

Finish reading Conscious Capitalism and Making Money with Good

Here is a free business idea. If I knew anything about running a franchise like Jason’s Deli, I would run one of these instead. Below is the basic premise.

The Stock Market Sandwich Shop prices its sandwiches based on how well they are selling that day/week (maybe month). There would be a big board that would have prices fluctuation 5 to 10 cents every hour. There would be a ticker with symbols like CLUB and TURK that would show their current price and change over the last day. There would be price floors and ceilings built in so the program running the pricing wouldn’t go crazy. There could be an online component using google charts to show historical pricing. The menu’s would just have product descriptions without any pricing. And, there could be an override to have specials or promotions if necessary. But, the overall idea is to have

Finish reading Stock Market Sandwich Shop

I read quite a bit of blogs of varying styles, but the one that really grabs me is Seth Godin’s. Mostly, it is his ability to use 150 to say something that would take most people 500 words to say. Little messages, simplified for better understanding.

Finish reading Recreating success as a goal is a bad plan

In more than one occasion at more than one job I have been asked to create a list of things I have done with the day. I view this as the most evil kind of busy work. Work by tracking your work? That’s like blogging about blogging (which I realize I did at the top). It seems that a computer could be able to tell me what I have done. It keeps track of the websites I visit, the emails I send, the files I save, and so on. It also keeps my calendar, and could say how long I was in meetings and who they were with. This is what computing power should be used for: tracking metrics and items that I am busy working on. Like an assistant who writes down what I do every hour. I think that was a plot on The Office.

Finish reading What are you working on?

I am a tech guy at heart, so CES and macworld week are fun times for me. I watched the Phil-note, and there wasn’t much there, besides the late mention that I can now buy music over EDGE. That may cost me a few dollars over time, but everything else was boring business/pro stuff that I don’t really care about. So, turning to CES, I didn’t expect there to be much there to wow me. Hopes of wireless USB and other real technology advances were not seen, instead getting some new netbooks and one special phone.

Finish reading The new palm pre