What Risk Really Mean

Risk is a neutral word, which means it can be positive or negative.

The next time someone asks you, "What if you fail?",

Ask them "What if we succeed?"

Or go further to ask, "What are the challenges if we really succeed? Are we ready to succeed?"

Courage To Start A Business

Do you need courage to start a business?

Hmm... I used to think "yes". But I think what's more important is a solid plan, and the commitment to follow through.

One Way of Overcoming Obstacles

When you are stuck on approaching a problem, why not try adding "anti-" in your questions?

How does a cafe create a unique value proposition? How about anti-cafe?

How does one handle an unhappy customer? Any anti-unhappy strategies to turn them loyal?

How can we market our new product into the saturated market? How about some anti-marketing?

Love and Hate For Work

I have friend who posted once, "We hate it when we're at work, but eager to work when we have no work."

I answered, we want to work because we all want to be productive, to contribute. But we usually hate work because it is not the work we want to do.

Similarly, for you schooling youths out there, there are some adults who want to go back to school, because it's a step towards our dreams. However, students do not enjoy studying because students do not understand why education is important.

Find a mentor who can help you understand, and you will find your potential to excel.

The Three Things a CEO Needs

Quote from a VC:
"A CEO does only three things. Sets the overall vision and strategy of the company and communicates it to all stakeholders. Recruits, hires, and retains the very best talent for the company. Makes sure there is always enough cash in the bank."

By the way, avc.com has great reads for anyone interested in business.

What Content Marketing Means

In my previous post, I defined content marketing as the creation of owned media that provides values to target audience to build and nurture long-term relationships.

Yet, it has no mention of things such as the company or profits. C-class executives who do not really treasure customers are not going to understand the importance of content marketing.

Content Marketing is So Important

Content marketing is, by this blogger's definition, the creation of owned media that provides values to target audience to build and nurture long-term relationships.

It's really important that businesses start to take content marketing seriously, because (1) it's really the best way to create value for your customers, (2) it creates assets that your business owns, and (3) it's one of the oldest form of marketing, ie it had been proven to work.

It's inevitable that businesses will eventually be involved in the media business. It fact, it has already gripped every industry. One must realise that being in the media business also puts one competing with others outside their own industry.

Reality is Broken

The Internet world an utopia, and reality is broken in comparison.

Time is eternal in the Internet, someone is always using and contributing to this world. There can be no race or religion, and the lack of differentiation allows one to approach issues equally with others. Everyone has a voice, and anyone can get opportunities from this world.

The reality sets standards, where people are used, and only people are limited in ways they can contribute. Race and religion is the first filter for many to decide to listen to others. Only the voice of the rich is heard, and governments seek to restrict the Internet for their own interests (not the people's).

Unimportant Questions in Life

The question "How many holidays have you had this year?" just seems so insignificant.

Is it supposed to be a sign of affluence? Level of experience? Is work so sad for people they need to "cool off"?

Why shouldn't the question be "What have you learnt about the world this year?", or "How many people have you helped this year?"

Limit Your Limiting Thoughts

Instead of saying, "Why is this so impossible to achieve?", ask "How do we make this possible?"

Remember, asking the wrong questions will give you the wrong answers.

The (Sad) Culture of Free

While running my business, whenever my manager do certain things, I often ask my manager, "Doing this will get you a certain type of customers. Are they the type of customers you want?"

In asking that, it was not to deter, but to ensure the right promotional/marketing etc efforts are in alignment with what the business is trying to achieve.

This thought made me recall what the governmental organisations do: the exploitation of "free" to boost their numbers. At events, they will give away free stuff like goodie bags.

While nothing is wrong with that promotion method, when used for years, the type of audience they have attracted are those who want free stuff.

There is a misuse of the "free" strategy. If the result is the attraction of people who have no understanding nor care for what an organisation is trying to achieve, the event, and eventually the organisation itself, has failed in its purpose.

Are You Sure You Should Use Facebook?

Hmm... is it so hard to understand that not facebook page for a business is part of an organisation's plan? Having a facebook page does not mean doing social media. Having, or not having, a facebook page pages boils down to what the marketing plan of the organisation is. Or more importantly, what the content marketing plan is. Is your facebook where your audience is? Can you provide a consistent stream of content that is of value to the audience? How does facebook factor into the overall marketing plan?

Experience Over Product

I am one to go for service. Of course, food quality has to be of a good standard, and I will choose a restaurant with average food and smiling waiters, than a restaurant with excellent (and probably exorbitantly expensive) food but a waiter with the terrible i-hate-life face. The underestimation of the value of the smile is an indication of lack of care for customers, no matter how the company writes how it values customer relationships.

The Biggest Lie On the Internet?

I think it's "LOL", right? Lol

The Fallacy of Rights and Wrongs

I think one of the biggest fallacies as a human being is the belief of right and wrong. When humans think of a situation being "right", they think of any other situations as "wrong", thus limiting themselves to understanding or appreciating the true situation. The truth is there is no such thing as right or wrong. There is only the matter of what is. I am not going to argue that Hitler wasn't wrong. He did kill millions of Jews. However, I _choose_ to apply a moral standard, and condemn him for what he did. He was "wrong" in my eyes. However, many injustice in our world can be avoided by not assigning what's right or wrong. Religion is the worst offender, dictating themselves as right, and everyone else wrong. Homosexuality is wrong? You haven't even started to consider talking about human rights. Girls should not be allowed to work? They are half the economy for goodness sake.

Quotes 8

Fashion trends are strange. When a certain look or hairstyle gets popular, it is already out-of-date.

Online Collaboration For Newbies (Bonus)

I need to mention something important for the previous three posts: YOU have to take the initiative. 

In many cases, you will become the designated leader of the group, as you will be taking initiatives, making sure milestones are met, keeping everyone aligned with the goal, and looking out for the members.

Online collaboration may just be putting infomation online, but you will be the one to bring about collaboration.

Online Collaboration For Newbies (Part 3)

Stagnation of activities can come easily, for example a facebook discussion stops as everyone is waitjng for everyone else to take action or to speak up.

The solution comes in two fold.

First, build momentum by engaging those who speak up. Don't worry about being inclusive during the discussions. What you want to do is bring the conversation to a good frequency, at which point hopefully the quiet ones will join in.

Second, be a "nagger". Always check in with the members. Are they going well with their part of the work? Any difficulties they may be facing? Deadline in six days? Touch base with them in three days. You may be naggy, but you are engaging.

Online Collaboration For Newbies (Part 2)

If task allocation is an issue during your online collaboration, then there are two factors you need to look out for.

One, ensure everyone is on track towards the team's goals. You want to ensure everyone is productive towards the same goal.

Two, clear and defined milestones/tasks for each member. "Everyone try to do XXX," will only result in nobody is doing! While you might not be able to play to each person's strength as you do not know them well enough yet, the show must go on, and get everyone to deliver.

Online Collaboration For Newbies (Part 1)

Online collaboration is not as easy for some teams. If you have recently formed a new team through an online platform, you may face some problems.

Some of the problems may include the alignment of the goals of various members, task allocation and responsibility sharing, and stagnation of activities from online discussions (I will just talk about these three across three posts).

Alignment of the goals of various members. It's difficult to get a sense of other members' alignments because honestly, you are not meeting them face-to-face. It's like agreeing on a contract with a stranger, but he isn't going to shake hands with you on it. Just doesn't feel right, does it?

That is not to say that they are not trustworthy! Everyone believes what they are saying. Though some new collaborators may not know to check each others' alignment with the team's goal, or some members may say what they think the team wants to hear.

The way to overcome this is to be sure about each others' goals. Be open about it, video chat if you need to. This will show the earnest need and your sincerity towards the rest of the team. It's useful to return to this too, especially when the team starts to be in danger of losing sight of what it is trying to achieve.