Thursday, December 17, 2009

role models

Why is it these days we worship performers rather than people who better the world through action? The real Heroes.

Is it we have no time for each other, or that the main medium of consumption for the mind is filled with crap. It's probably most easy to satisfy our need for instant gratification sitting on the comfort of the couch, rather than undergo through the efforts in changing the messiness and the ugliness of most interactions.

How do you shift the attention to thinking of the needs of others?
In the age of self-centred consumption - does family get you there - is being a parent make you focus off from the TV, Internet, devices and all the distractions the age of abundance has given us?

Monday, November 09, 2009

art of travel

“the normal is the rarest thing in the world,” and when he was traveling he spent little time looking at the sights, but went off instead “on the search for emotion,”

“A novelist must preserve a child-like belief in the importance of things which common sense considers of no great consequence,” he wrote late in life. “He must never entirely grow up.”

I want to see life and death, and the passions, the virtues and vices, of men face to face, uncovered.”

“What is the use of hurrying to pile up money when one can live on so little?”

Somerset Maugham via http://www.worldhum.com/features/travel-books/the-perfect-traveler-20091026/

determination

"So here in sum is how determination seems to work: it consists of willfulness balanced with discipline, aimed by ambition."

from the blog of Paul Graham http://www.paulgraham.com/determination.html

Saturday, November 07, 2009

Room for rights?

An individualistic society equals more room for depression?
When you have to look after the needs of more than a billion people is there room for rights?
http://www.dw-world.de/dw/article/0,,4867151,00.html?maca=en-rss-en-all-1573-rdf

Tuesday, October 27, 2009

art of hiring future stars

Excellent article from Harvard Business
http://blogs.harvardbusiness.org/cs/2009/01/the_interview_question_you_sho.html

Main points:
  1. Ask the correct question - What do you do in your spare time?
  2. "Obsessions are one of the greatest telltale signs of success. Understand a person's obsessions and you will understand her natural motivation. The thing for which she would walk to the end of the earth."
  3. With different occupations narrow down to 2 or 3 spare time activities which are most important

Wednesday, October 07, 2009

art of marketing hustle

"The art of hustle is being willing to set everything aside to get what you need and want. It is about doing what it takes in the moment to achieve what you need to move forward. It is about taking action again and again and getting better at it. It is about implementing and profiting."

"When you need to make things happen hustle is the key to success, do what needs to be done, put your pride aside and get to work. There is no failure except in doing nothing."

"Success is a series of actions that you take even when you don't feel like it and don't want to, it is not something that happens by buying a box of anything."

"Practice fearsome focus, work hard, do what others don't want to do, follow through, leverage your time and your money, keep what you earn and make it grow, take some time out for yourself now"

http://boldapproach.typepad.com/bold/

Tuesday, October 06, 2009

coaster canvas

new samples of the commerative 100 years of Audi - well done to the company for pushing the levels of high design.











Thursday, October 01, 2009

on friendship

" Direct contact is the basis of a true relationship. Writing a letter, picking up a phone, hey - even meeting in person. The positive action that provokes a response is the bricks and mortar of a real relationship. "
Chad Taylor

on choice
The Paradox of choice - options make us miserable? does more choice achieve better results?
" to be rendered choiceless is to be free.."
Sarah Wilson

Tuesday, September 22, 2009

consulation for restless soul

Travel reminds us not to get annoyed at the little things, to realise that we don't need to carry around so many material things to enjoy the excitements that life has to offer.

It allows us to be braver towards other people, to gain confidence in ourselves to overcome that initial fear or invisible barrier that we put up between ourselves and people.

In an age where we continually push ourselves to be better and compare ourselves to the images of perfection, sometimes what's broken is authentic and enjoyable.

Sunday, September 20, 2009

Design is pervasive

Cooper's mantra was that good design is good design, regardless of the medium, a position Strausfeld has shared with her current colleagues.

http://www.fastcompany.com/design/2009/featured-story-lisa-strausfeld?partner=mod

Thursday, September 03, 2009

Daily distractions

Thought for the day

There are so many things that you will come across daily that will stop you focussing on the important things....empty the noise.

Monday, August 03, 2009

Book summary - Made To Stick

Made to Stick
by Chip and Dan Heath

One of the best books that I have read recently on the art of communicating, whether it be in
teaching, marketing or for a presentation or pitch.

http://www.madetostick.com/excerpts

SUCCESs
Simple
Unexpected
Concrete
Credible
Emotion
Story'
s
- a checklist designed to be a tool for normal people in normal situations to make a profound difference with their sticky ideas.

Book can be purchased at the book depository with free worldwide shipping.

Monday, July 06, 2009

Chasing up clients for late payments

Some really useful info and guidelines for current economic climate:

https://mybrc.com.au/Money-Legal/Managing-Money/Business-Finances/Pages/Five_Essentials_Invoicing.aspx

source:Debt collection guideline for collectors and creditors: joint publication by ACCC and ASIC

Full guide here

21. Legal action and procedures
[a] This section should be read in conjunction with part 2, sections 19 and 20 of
this guideline.
[b] Creditors and their agents have a right to pursue debts through the courts.
However, in pursuing or threatening to pursue legal action you must comply
with the consumer protection laws.
[c] Do not make misrepresentations about the legal process. For instance, do not:
• misrepresent the nature or purpose of correspondence. Ensure the layout,
wording and design of documents (for example, letters of demand) are not
likely to create the impression that they are court process or other court
documents, or that they come from a solicitor’s offi ce, when this is not
the case73
• suggest that telephone calls are recorded ‘for training purposes’ (and, by
implication, only for such purposes) when those calls may also be used
as evidence
72 See Offi ce of the Privacy Commissioner website at: ww.privacy.gov.au/publications/.
73 See also s. 26(2)(a),(c),(f)(g) Fair Trading Act 1992 (ACT); s. 21(2)(a),(b),(c)(f) 2 Fair Trading Act 1999 (Vic.); and 9
s. 43(2)(c) Fair Trading Act 1987 (SA). These provisions relate specifi cally to misrepresentation regarding 7
documents, court process etc.

• misrepresent that failure to pay a debt (where no fraud is involved) is a criminal
or police matter, or is likely to be referred to the police74
• misrepresent that you are a police offi cer, court offi cial, or have some offi cial
capacity that you do not have to claim or enforce payment of a debt
75
• state or imply that unsecured basic household items can be seized if the debtor
is made bankrupt
76
• state or imply that you have instructions to start legal proceedings when this is
not intended, or you have received no such instructions
• state or imply that legal action has already been taken, or judgment entered,
when this is not case.
d] In certain circumstances the way legal action is threatened or employed can
amount to unconscionable conduct or harassment. For instance, this may be the
case if you start or escalate court action against a debtor when you have agreed
not to, or when a payment arrangement is in place and is being complied with.
e] When you know or can reasonably obtain the debtor’s current address, we
recommend that you issue debt recovery proceedings in the jurisdiction where the
debtor lives.
77
In some circumstances, limiting a debtor’s ability to contest court
proceedings by starting those proceedings in an inconvenient jurisdiction may
constitute, or be part of a course of conduct constituting unconscionable conduct.

assertiveness - Dale Carnegie

1. Describe and summarise the facts of the situation
2. Express your thoughts and feelings
3. Clearly state your wants and needs (and hopefully include the benefits to the other party)

Tuesday, June 30, 2009

Vietnam - back to the beginning

street peddler taking a rest in streets of Vietnam

Just some of my thoughts upon returning to my place of birth after over two decades. I personally feel a sense of empathy when I witness how people survive the day, whether it be a woman in her 60's carrying 20kgs in the heat of the day or a cyclo peddler sweating with perspiration during the same time. Life still is hard for the many in this developing country, and I was struck by how safe I felt, there was hardly any beggars on the streets as I saw in Indonesia, Malaysia and Bangkok.
People here seem to give anything a go, they are really resourceful with the little that they have, some things are slow, unplanned, unstructured and there are opportunists everywhere.

I had a great 3 weeks travelling through the country with my friends, discovering the coast of Vietnam in Hue, Da Nang and Ho An (was one our favourite places due to the rustic architecture and shops). My top 3 foods were the mini banh xeo (off the street-Saigon) Fruit-fed suckling half wild pig (Tay Ninh farm) and the Hue specialty - lotus shoot salad (Hanoi)


Monday, May 25, 2009

Social media - Entrepreneurship forum

The 3 lines you can base your business relationships from:

This is what I can do.
This is what I can't do.
This is what I won't do.

Customer service
- give customers individual attention
- have convenient operating hours
- give customers personal attention

Maintaining contact with the customer after sale is more powerful than advertising

Referrals are based on 90% relationship
Power of networking, "who do you know in this room to get you where you need to go?"

Trends
- more CRM (automated)
- less choice
- loyalty is a novelty (jump without thought)
- customers are far more knowledgeable

Notes from presentation by Heath Kilger www.footytips.com.au

business background
+ 20 million page hits
+ cold calling via phone by asking for the right person who organised the footy tipping within business
+ fortunate to be around when Victorian Labour govt came into power delivering on a political promise of national footy tipping competition

- cashflow issues
+ creditbility: bought by Tattersalls
+ sites licencing backend software from www.footytips.com.au
started in 1998
+++ media assets worth much more than software assets
FOCUS on goals of business

Social media
+ genuine engagement
+ ebay and amazon as social networking
+ sharing information (reviews)

Friday, May 15, 2009

Moving meditations - Relationships


How real are the relationships around you? In the advent of access to unlimited access to possibilities, which ones affects you the most?
Have you given up the hardest ones?
Would you rather enjoy the passive ones that elicit tears without the actual experience of undergoing the pain?
The excitement on an imaginary character's face when they sate their curiosity?
Our attention and ultimately, our efforts in this world is increasingly being divided into multiple slices. Without properly attending to, or being very disciplined in our natural tenancies, we will indeed become "slaves to the machine".

The machine being whatever we choose to spend our most energies investing into - your iphone, your TV, your virtual world.

Wonder what the behaviours of the next generation will be like:
"rather be somewhere else?"
"I read enough about you already to bother trying to engage you?"
"it is quite a privilege for us to be having a real conversation, as it has been determined that our psychometrics match nicely"

So where is your emotional attachement? and does it help you grow, can it be nutured and is it like a living thing?

Monday, April 20, 2009

Moving Meditations


- what am I running away from?
is me avoiding the prospect of committing to having a house and settling - an avoidance of responsibilities, life's milestones?
- is it me speaking or my ego speaking?
- how am I going to test my confidence, or the reality of the ideas without spending the time to make it happen ---always floating around, sometimes making me frustrated at myself for not taking action

- how am I gonna make it work?
- other people cause me stress - mainly work atm, clients saying one thing, things not going right
- what is the point of being self aware??? to know what drives you so what?? how can you use this to enrich life, be more efficient, productive, realise happiness, create excitement?

1. Define the problem /obstacle 2. Proposed solutions 3. Results

Tuesday, March 31, 2009

Bob Isherwood former World Creative Director of Saatchi and Saatchi on 3 Keys to Success


me getting a glimpse of the man himself

the 3 are ORE (Originality Relevance Emotional connection)
Originality is the inspiration for originality.
- encourage yourself to challenge the brief: what is the business problem you are trying to solve?
- techniques to assist: visual, power of words, power of music
- has to be relevant.
- avoid cynical people, work with great people to get inspiration.

Sunday, March 29, 2009

Readings - Duct tape marketing

Hermit Crab, Cook's Bay - Tasmania, Australia
Duct Tape Marketing
author: John Janstsch

Discovering your core marketing message

"Find something that separates you from your competition; become it and speak it to everyone you meet.
Quality isn't it, good service isn't it, fair pricing - not it. These are all expectations. The difference needs to be in the way you do business, the way you package your product, the way you sell your service, the fact you send cookies to your clients, the fact you show people how to transform their lives --
it's in the experience you provide..."

The talking logo - what you really do for a living
It may not really tell them what your really do, but will force them to take note and want to know more.
Part 1. addresses your target market
Part 2. zeros in on a problem, frustration, or want that market has.
E.G "I teach business owners how to get famous"

The pattern: action verb (I show, teach), target market (business owners, teachers), how to solve xxx (solve problem or need).