Real Gifts, Virtual Addresses – A New Opportunity
Dec 29, 2009 Companies, Technology, ideas
Thanks for coming back. =). Glad to see you. If there's anything I can do for you, I'd love to hear from you. Drop me an email, or leave a comment, introduce yourself. I'd love to connect with you. Or if you have your own blog, why not let me promote your work?
Have you come across TigerBow yet? If you haven’t, you should check it out. I haven’t got the chance to use it yet, because it doesn’t accept my Singapore postal code (which has 6 digits vs America’s 5), and as such cannot authenticate my credit card. That said, I think it’s a great idea. Sending a gift to a virtual recipient.
I think this speaks greatly about the nature of relationships nowadays, and how they’re moving online, but that’s not what I want to highlight here. What I do want to highlight is the opportunity here for other companies. Imagine if Amazon implemented something like that. They already have an option to ship an object as a gift to someone else, why not allow the shopper to send the gift to a virtual recipient in the same process that TigerBow does? Shouldn’t take too long, and shouldn’t be too hard for them to implement.
Or what about other startups? Why hasn’t someone built a system like that, but allowing the user to choose any object from Amazon? In my mind, it could be as simple as a 3 page process. On the first page, let the user input his name, the recipients name, and the Amazon product url. On the second, let the user select a delivery method, and optional wrapping/card, etc. And the third page would be for checkout. The system then sends a message to the recipient, like Tigerbow does, and if the recipient wants to receive it, he inputs his mailing address. The system can then place an order on Amazon for the object, ship it to the startup’s office, where it can be wrapped and all, and then send it out to the recipient. If the startup’s office is in America, the shipping costs wouldn’t increase too much, I think (it’d just be one additional local shipment to America).
It’d take some manual effort, but I definitely think it’s feasible. What do you think? Anyone up for trying it?
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Tags: amazon, gifts, opportunity, startup, tigerbow, virtual recipient
There’s No Such Thing As Bad Press
Sep 26, 2008 Random
Brad Shorr from Word Sell, Inc shares six reasons why business blogs should welcome negative comments.
All are really good reasons, but here’s one that I want to point out specially.
Fifth, negative comments in and of themselves are unlikely in and of themselves to drive business away. Other readers are more interested in your response to a negative comment than the comment itself. For example, the comment “How come your sales rep never calls on me?!$*” by itself doesn’t look good. However, if you respond with, “We are extremely sorry about that. It is never our intention to ignore any customer. You will be hearing from your rep this afternoon, and we hope it’s not too late to rebuild our relationship,” you may find yourself actually attracting new business and turning indifferent customers into evangelists. Of, you could choose not to blog, and risk having customer tell twenty of his friends how unresponsive you are.
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Bad comments are not just bad comments – they are opportunities for you to respond and build new relationships.
In today’s world, you can monitor and track whatever is said anywhere. And as such, I think that Brad’s point can be applied to anything that’s said about you, not just comments on your blog.
As long as people are talking about you, it can work in your favor. Even if it’s bad, it’s a chance for you to jump in and contribute to the conversation. It’s a chance for you to correct any mistakes – be it on the report’s end or on your end. It’s a chance for you to build new connections.
There’s no such thing as bad press, just opportunities to respond.
How do you respond to the negative things that are said about you?
Tags: blog, Comment, Conversation, opportunity, Respond
Opportunity
Feb 26, 2008 life
Eric Beall wrote an article about opportunity.
In a business filled with lemmings, it’s not a bad move to change things up, and go left when everyone else is going right. That’s called a reverse, and it usually results in nothing but an open field of opportunity up ahead. Go team!
Opportunity is always around. The trick is knowing where to look for it.
[?]Tags: opportunity
Problem = Opportunity
Dec 19, 2007 Uncategorized
I know I said I’d do a podcast. But I’m having a cough and all, and my throat isn’t too good. So I’ll just write what I intended to talk about.
It’s been a really interesting past week. A lot of ups-and-downs. But one thing it has thought me is that with every problem, there’s an opportunity. An opportunity to try something new, to do something else, which might work out even better.
My Windows system had been screwing up a lot last week. And it got really annoying, so it pushed me to change to Linux. I’ve been wanting to try out Linux (Linux Mint, to be specific) for quite a while, but never got around to it, because well, Windows was doing just fine. So with Windows starting to screw up, yes it was a problem, and yes it was annoying. But it pushed me to switch. And it’s a switch that so far has proven to be really good. The response speed and boot time is a lot faster, and I’m loving it.
Another thing that went wrong is FeedReader. I’ve been using FeedReader, the desktop application, as my RSS application. Last week, something went wrong with it, and it just stopped working. So, I lost my whole RSS list. My last backup was about a month ago, though, so not all my subscriptions were lost. But it was still really frustrating. So I’ve now moved to Google Reader. It’s working alright so far, and I’m still yet to get the hang of it, but I’m confident it’ll turn out well, considering how everyone’s been saying such good things about it.
Finally, my birthday. It was on Sunday, and the friend I was supposed to go out with canceled on me on Saturday. So that really hurt. And I was really down about it. Messaged a couple of my friends to see whether they would be free, but given how last minute it was, I didn’t expect it. Turned out I was wrong. On Sunday, at about 4 in the afternoon, Cindy messaged me, and said she was. So we met at 5, had dinner and all. And yeah. it made my day. I’ve been wanting to meet Cindy for quite long anyway, so getting the chance to meet her was good in itself. And yeah, it just made my birthday really enjoyable and fun (thanks again, Cindy!). If my other friend hadn’t canceled on me, I wouldn’t have had the chance to meet up with Cindy. It wasn’t how I planned it, but it turned out well in the end, and was fun.
3 problems that happened. But it also opened up 3 other opportunities. That’s always the case, isn’t it?
With every problem, there’s an opportunity. They’re two sides of the same coin. It’s just how you look at it.
Oh, and on a side note, I’m now 17 (and 3 days)! Just one year away from being able to legally drink and go clubbing and all.
[?]Tags: life, opportunity, perspective
Friday Flip-Through: iWoz and Bringing Down the House
Nov 30, 2007 Uncategorized
Every Friday from now on, I will post a “Friday Flip-Through”. Basically, it’s where I review/write about books that I’ve read and find interesting. I’ve been thinking of reviewing and sharing books with you guys for quite a while, but never got around to it. So this will serve two purposes. First, it will spur me on to read more books. Which is always good. Secondly, and more importantly, I hope that you’ll find value in this. It’ll basically allow me to share what I read with you, and I hope that it’ll maybe help you discover more books, that you might not have read already. Or if you’ve heard of the books I mention, maybe it’ll encourage you to go get the books. Or just to go read more in general.
So, for my first ever Friday Flip-Through, these are two books that I read about a month ago, while I was in Boston. Bringing Down the House
Bringing Down the House
It’s a really cool book. A non-fiction narrative thriller, that reads as well as fiction. It’s a true story about how six M.I.T students used card counting methods, and won millions in Vegas.
Other than being quite well written(in my opinion), I really like the premise of the story. And the fact that it’s a true story just makes it all the more intriguing. It’s a really good narrative showcase of the possibilities available around us. Yes, it might be on the verge of morality, but nonetheless, the creativity shown by the M.I.T students is awesome. It really shows the possibilities out there. And while I don’t encourage you to go and try to win millions by using these methods in a casino today, it’s a good reminder that our lives don’t have to just be the boring, standard 9-5 lives that society expects. It’s a good reminder of the excitement out there, that is available if we think creatively and use our abilities well.
As you read it, it will definitely get your mind going as you start imagining what’s possible. And who knows, maybe it will spur you on to something amazing as well.
iWoz
There are so many lessons we can learn from his story. Throughout the book, the first thing which comes across very clearly is his passion for technology. And it’s clear to see how that was a driving force in his life. That’s a very valuable lesson for all of us. Yes, he’s (arguably) a really successful person, being one of the people behind the first Macintosh, but he didn’t get there by wanting to get rich. He got there because he enjoyed doing what he did. The passion for technology and electronics was what made the Macintosh possible.
A second lesson that comes across really well is how he was educated from young. He writes about the impact his father had on his life, and how his passion was nurtured from the time he was a child. And if not for that, he probably might not have been able to do what he did.
There are more lessons that can be learned, so I encourage you to pick up his book. It’s always good for us to learn from people who have impacted the world, and Steve Wozniak is definitely one of those people. Read his story, learn from his life, and apply the lessons in your life. You can change the world too.
If you like these books, check out my other recommendations at my aStore.
Tags: change the world, education, friday flip-through, opportunity, passion
"Sui Generis" College
Nov 27, 2007 Uncategorized
Jeff Pulver asks the question of “How would You Reinvent College?“
You probably know by now that I think the formal education system is broken, and I’m glad to see more and more people challenging it. And I just can’t resist the invitation to add in my thoughts on this. So if I had the chance to build a “Sui Generis” College, this is what it would be like.
My college would be all about opportunities. Giving students opportunities to pursue and explore what they are interested in, to let them forge their own path.
The first thing I’d implement in order to achieve that is the policy of 20% time. Like what Google does. In my college, students will be allowed to pursue whatever they want in 20% of their time. It’s something I mentioned in an earlier post, and I’ll just repeat it here. “If a student is interested in business, let him use that time pursuing a business opportunity. If he’s interested in music, why not let him use that time maybe composing songs? For students interested in drama, how about letting them plan and produce their own performance? If he’s into soccer, let him spend that day creating their own freestyle tricks (maybe even record a personal instructional/showcase DVD).” Let them explore their own path, and give them the freedom to. This segment would be ungraded, of course.
Secondly, I would let students hold their own classes. If the students have something they are interested in, or something they are passionate about, let them hold a class to teach other students (or even the faculty). Something similar to the unConference rules, where anyone can host a session, I’d allow students to run their own class. It would firstly pass the responsibility to the students themselves, to take charge of what they are doing. And it would also train them in terms of public speaking and presentation. And even management skills (because teaching isn’t just about talking and presenting, is it? It’s just as much about interacting with the people in the class.)
Thirdly, and again in accordance to the unConference rules, I’d want to introduce the “law of the 2 feet” in my college. Students would be allowed to leave classes (quietly, of course) if they feel they aren’t learning anything from that session. They wouldn’t be forced to stay in any place or follow a fixed schedule. It would be in their hands. If they aren’t learning in one class, let them go to another class and explore. Students wouldn’t be required to have registered in that class or anything. I would go so far as to say students won’t be required to register for class. Attendance wouldn’t be compulsory. Students would be required to be on campus during specific hours, and during those hours, they can attend whatever classes seem interesting. If nothing appeals to them, they would be free to just hang out in the corridors and talk. It would encourage discussion and conversation, and help build community.
A fourth policy I would implement would be a regular party/social event. Maybe monthly or so, where the school would just host and run a gathering. Just get a hall, with drinks and snacks, music in the background, etc. I would do this almost as a class, part of the curriculum, perhaps (students could be required to attend a certain number of these parties before they graduate). The purpose is to allow students to interact with each other. So many people have talked about how one of the biggest advantages of college is the people you meet there. I completely agree with that, so my college would explicitly encourage and mandate that interaction.
Fifthly, and finally, a lot of this would require a very different grading system. Having no fixed classes would mean that standard exams are impractical. Students would each have a mentor who attends to them individually and helps them in their education. And they would be graded with narrative evaluations and comments from their peers and faculty, instead of letter grades. A narrative evaluation also reduces the fear of failure among students, and make it less about beating others and getting the best grades, and more about learning to the best of their ability. This isn’t exactly a new feature, but that’s definitely one thing I would have.
Of course, all these would require a very good admissions office and faculty. Students admitted would need to be self motivated. So, my admission process for students would be similar to how 37signals recruit their staff. Quantitative grades would be of low priority in admission. The majority of the admission decision will be based on qualitative things, reviews from others, the student’s past work, interviews, written essays. And of course, a quick Google search to see what they stand for, and what they are known for. As for staff and faculty, they would be required to be professionals in their field, and also go through a similar qualitative review to ensure that they will help build the community and encourage innovation and creativity among students. They have to be devoted to the students and to education.
My college would be something like that. It would be all about giving the students the opportunity to explore and the encouragement to try new things. It would be about truly being who you are and having the freedom to pursue your passions. Oh, and on that note, I would have Personal Branding courses as well, in my college.
Now, who’s willing to give me a building and/or cash to support this? Haha. If so, you can send cash via Paypal to derrickkwa@gmail.com
But on a more serious note. What about you? How would you reinvent college? What would you do to make college worth the time and money, such that you would wholeheartedly want to go there yourself, and send your kids there?
[?]Tags: creativity, education, freedom, opportunity
What I Learned From the World Pool Championships 2007
Nov 8, 2007 Uncategorized
I’ve been watching the World Pool Championships 2007 today. And as always, there’s a lot of things that I think can be learned from it.
I mentioned 9 ball a while back, and the lesson on positioning that it thought me. But today, I want to focus more on the trends in the tournament.
Soft breaks are a lot more common now, it seems. A few years ago, everyone was breaking really hard, just hitting it and hoping for a good spread. But now, it’s a lot more controlled, and almost everyone is going for a soft break. The first lesson it shows is something that I’ve written about before: control. Sometimes, holding back is better, because it allows you to have more control over the results.
Something interesting from the commentators as well. One commentator talked about how because the soft break gives less spread (the balls don’t fly around the table as much), there tends to be more clusters of balls, and could create more trouble. A while later, I heard another comment, this time saying how the balls are closer together after a soft break, thus the cue doesn’t need to travel as far, making run outs easier. Just goes to show how everything is a matter of perspective. The same soft break, the same result (less spread of balls), but two completely different conclusions.
A third lesson that watching this has taught me is that everyone has an equal chance, and it’s all about taking your opportunities. I’ve seen so many upsets, with the supposed underdogs pouncing on one mistake. And especially with the winner-break format, they can easily string a run of racks together to win. Lesson here – even if nobody expects you to win, you can. All you have to do is maintain your mental strength, and wait for your chance. Then make the most of it. No matter how much the odds are stacked against you, you will get your chance (I don’t think I’ve seen ANYBODY break and run out the whole match).
So there it is. 3 lessons from watching the world pool championships. The value of holding back – the control it gives, the importance of perspective and what a huge difference it can make, and how no matter how unlikely it seems, opportunities to succeed (in whatever you’re doing) will come, it’s up to you to make the most of them.
This is written as an entry to this month’s “What I Learned From…” group writing project.
[?]Tags: control, games, lessons, opportunity, perspective
