Insights

Ideas and Insights

Ideas are usually born from some insights. Google founders' insight was their PageRank algorithm.  They realized they could sort the web by their link popularity. The more incoming links a page has, the higher it ranks. For Showtimes.my, the simple insight we had was to deliver what the user wants (showtimes) in the fastest possible manner. This meant showing all the movies that are shown in your area at once and format the showtimes nicely so it's easier to read.

Obviously, the better the insight, the better idea will be.  So far, most of our ideas are developed from rather simple and common insight. Hopefully, one day we'll have some rare insight to a problem and build a solution for it.

Time to StartNOW

2 days ago, we launched StartNOW. We are hoping that the site will inspire more people to take action and work toward their dreams. 

Making ideas happen

Making ideas happen

On the site you'll be able to create project for ideas that you want to work on and also ask/answer questions from the community. It's still a work in progress so be gentle on it. We'll be adding more features to the site to improve its usability and usefulness.

If you got something you always wanted to do, well this is it, go and StartNOW!.

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Seeing it through

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Every time I start working on a fresh new idea, I get really excited and motivated. The first few weeks will be extremely productive as you have momentum and optimism on your side. It's similar to the feeling when you first got a book. You'll go through the first few chapters really quickly. If you're fast, you might even finish it on the same day.

But unlike reading a book, working on an idea and developing it can't be done in a day or two. It's a marathon not a sprint. So what happens when your initial enthusiasm and motivation wears off?

You'll start to be less productive and suddenly everything seems hard. At times, you might even ask if you should continue working on it. You'll start to notice all the flaws and problems with your idea.

My advice is that you have to see it through somehow. Nothing great and worth doing has ever been easy. You'll learn more from finishing it and fail than abandoning it half way.

It is said that failure is the best teacher. I think success is a better one but to get to either, you actually have to reach the finish line. Whether you succeed or fail, you win. You lose when you give up half way.

The only other reason you lose is that you didn't even start. So get started and make sure you persevere till the end.

 

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Taking action

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Around the same time I started this blog, I also started a brainstorming group with a few close and smart friends. We called it Idearum and met up every fortnight to share ideas and discuss certain issues. Then early this year, we restarted the group and with some new members and started discussing about business ideas and things we can do. We all agreed that instead of just brainstorming ideas, we should try implementing some of them.

Inline with this new direction, I've decided to start an online community that encourages people to take action and work on their ideas. Hopefully, with the support and resources from the community, it will be easier to realize your dreams and bring ventures to life.

At this moment, we are still developing the site itself so hopefully soon we'll be able to launch it and inspire more people to take action and create value. After all, life is too short to not do something that matters.

If you got an idea that's been stuck in your head for a while, it's time to take action and work on it. Start a newsletter or work on that painting you always wanted to do. Lead a movement or build that iPhone app you wanted.

Whatever the idea, nothing will happen unless you start taking action. And maybe, just maybe, with enough of people doing great work and stuff that matters, we might be able to change the world.

Default choice

If I'm returning to a restaurant, usually I'll go for what I like best. This is will be the default choice unless i'm returning more often which I'll then flip flop between a few of my top choices. My reasons are rather simple.

  1. Saves time - It can take a while to decide on what to eat, so going for the default choice gives me more time enjoying the food and less time deciding.
  2. Safe choice - Being the best choice usually guarantee that I'll have an enjoyable and tasty meal. Yes, I'm not that adventurous simply because I hate sucky food.
  3. I get the best they offer - My choices are usually the restaurant's signature dishes. This means I'm ordering something they are really good at, at least to me. No reason to go KFC and have the fish burger. Go for their best meal. (hint: chicken)

The caveat here is obviously I had to go through some of the food before discovering my favourite. But once I found it, it'll be my default choice until something change.

What about you? Do you have default choice or you prefer to try something every time? Or maybe it's dependent on the current alignment of the stars?

Starting out

Flexible working hours, minimal commuting and being in control are just some of the many perks of being self-employed. Increasingly, graduates nowadays are looking at self-employment as their first career of choice. Based on my personal experience, I believe you should try to spend a few years in your industry working for others before venturing to start your own business. Here's why:

  1. Connections - Working for others means you have colleagues, bosses and those working next door. It expands your social circle and creates new connections that might allow you do open doors that you never thought possible. Remember to never ever burn bridges.
  2. Knowledge of your industry - Get yourself involve in the entire process and be familiar with all the processes, practices and taboos of the industry. Nothing beats first hand experience. You might not like how certain things are done but you can't change something that you don't know. So understand it first before you attempt to improve anything.
  3. Understand the business model - The business model of the company determines what type of clients they have, how much they charge them and the amount they pay you. If their model is to treat you as a cog in a machine, you are getting minimal wage. This is important when you start your own company. Your business model determines the path your company takes.
  4. Realize the value of everyone and everything - Once you are familiar with who does what and why certain things are the way they are, you realize that everyone has a value to the company. There's always a mis-match between the value you think you have compared to the value your boss perceive from you. It's a matter of perception and knowing how to better portray your actual value is very important. Always know your own value.

You could start your own company and learn all this as you go along. But not everyone have that luxury and being in employment even for a while makes you a better boss.

It could takes years or decades before you think you have learned everything you need to know. And even then, the industry changes all the time and there's always something new. Learning is a life-long process after all.

Which ever path you choose to start with, make sure it's one that you will be able to learn from.

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Exponential growth

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I'm sure all of you know the power of compound interest. Whenever you add the interest you earn to your principal and let the interest itself earns interest, you have compound interest. The growth on your principal over time is exponential. What this means is that, if you have a steady growth of 10%, your principal will double in roughly 7.2 years. This is known as the Rule of 72. In order to calculate when your principal will double, take the number 72 and divide it by the interest earn per year.

10% interest per year - 72 / 10 = 7.2 years

7% interest per year - 72 / 7 = 10.28 years

3% interest per year - 72 / 3 = 24 years

If you attempt to calculate how long it will take to double your net worth with the current fixed/term deposit interest rate, you'll find out it takes an awful long amount of time. Most of us will consider 2-3% growth a year to be rather small and at times negligible.

But things are very different when the numbers are much bigger. Take world population as an example. Current population growth rate is around 1%. Total world population now is at 6.8 billion. 1% is equivalent to  68 million.

1% of 6.8 billion = 68 million

1% growth per year means it takes 72 years to double.

In about 3/4 of a century, there will be more than 13 billion of us on this planet

No one can explain the power of exponential growth better than Professor Albert Bartlett (retired Physics prof. at University of Colorado-Boulde). In his presentation titled "Arithmetic, Population, and Energy", he show us what are the consequences of 'steady growth' to population and energy usage.

The greatest shortcoming of the human race is our inability to understand the exponential function. - Professor Albert Bartlett

Set aside 1 hour of your time and watch his presentation on Youtube. It's just simple arithmetic and very easy to follow. It makes you wonder if steady growth is always good and grasp the true meaning of the exponential growth. I've included the first video below for your convenience.

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Ramp vs Treadmill

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Are you charging higher and higher for your products or services as time goes by? Or are you charging the same rate or worse, less and less? Dave Navarro argues that if you are not charging more, you are using the wrong business model.

Your business can be one of two things: A ramp, or a treadmill.

A ramp leads to a bigger and bigger business.  A treadmill leads to more of the same, and a plateau of sales.  (Or, if you have a fancy treadmill, a gentle incline that doesn’t get you that much farther.)

A ramp gets you to the next level.  A treadmill doesn’t.

Credits: Dave Navarro

However, don't be mistaken and think that all you need to do is increase the price of your products. You need to increase the value provided by your products and services. To command a premium, you need to improve your skills, innovate and be different.

Read the post by Dave on why you should build your own ramp and how to go about it.

Don't be content with running on the same spot. Build a ramp by improving and innovating the value you can deliver to your customers. Only a ramp can bring you and your business forward.

Trading time for money

We are trained since young that we can trade our time for money. You can give up some of your play time and do some chores around the house for extra pocket money to buy that toy you always wanted. This is reinforced as we enter the workforce. An employee is compensated weekly or monthly for their services while a freelancer charges hourly for her work.

Since there is only 24 hours a day and 7 days a week, the most obvious ways to increase your income is to get a higher paying job or to charge more for your products and services.

Ideally, you wouldn't want your income to be limited by the time you spent on your work. You could hire others to help you grow and expand your business.

However, not everyone have the luxury to get others to work for them. Most of us have to do the bulk of the work ourselves. So how do we make this trade worthwhile?

I believe the answer is passion. With passion, you will be willing to sacrifice your personal time to get things done. With passion, the work you do is art. And without passion, whatever you do can and will be replaced by someone or worse, something else in the future.

If you are passionate in what you do, you wouldn't mind trading as much as your time for it. In fact you will make time for it. And with all that passion, I'm sure the result is something others are willing to pay more for.

Don't just trade time for money, trade it for your passion and you wouldn't need to worry about money then.

Be creative, anywhere, everywhere

One of the reason I chose to work in the software industry is that it makes it possible for me to create something. The ability to turn your ideas into reality can be extremely fulfilling. The software industry is part of the creative industries where you deal with ideas, knowledge and information. If you are generating or exploiting knowledge and information, then you are too part of this industry.

Personally, I think everyone should be in the creative industry. What I mean by that is that everyone should be creative in their work. No matter how repetitive and boring your job is, there's definitely something you can change and make a difference.

If you are a factory worker doing the same thing like everyone else, you could lead your fellow co-workers to ensure that all your benefits and welfare are taken care of.

As a sales person in multi-national company, you could treat your clients with respect and provide the best customer service among your colleagues.

No one else is better suited to improve and enhance your job than you. You are armed with the domain knowledge to know what works best for you and your clients. All it takes is some creativity to bring things to the next level.

The next time anybody complains about their job, tell them to shut down their lizard brain and start getting creative in their work.