I was just struggling with this one thought regarding work. I can clearly see that there are two schools of thoughts on work:
1st. Do (Work) what you like; and,
2nd.Work as a mean to sustain self.
1st School – sounds quite enticing… but people are not sure of financial benefits in this. Probably people are only considering short term benefits and are unable to see long term. Lot many successful examples here – book writers, entrepreneurs, artists, creatives, singers, musicians, photographers, etc. Persistence, willpower, passion followed by good benefits. Some singers, artists, entrepreneurs etc. keep on following their dream for several years before they actually achieve success.
2nd School – people keep doing what they are doing. What they have been tuned to or forced to take up by parents, society, education, etc. They take work as means to achieve other things in life. Roti, Kapda aur Makaan. Then other things like hobbies, likes, etc. One can find good examples here as well. Infact, large population falls under this category only. Best in this creed give 100% to work. Take life as it comes and enjoy walk of life (atleast try to believe that they are...). Follow your year on year KPIs to get promotions, good salaries, etc. Don’t find many negatives in this approach as well. Easy to adopt. Easy to follow short term specific goals. Sureity of basic necessities getting addressed. Sureity that things (finances, positions, etc.) will improve with time and experience.
And then there is 3rd. Probably worst of all. Heart says follow 1st. Mind says 2nd. Days pass in doubt whether to go with 1st or 2nd. Then weeks... then years. They can't enjoy present, can not give best to their job, keep shuffling between two worlds. Keep switching between dreams and reality.
These thoughts leave me totally worked up...!!
No one thought is good over other! I think it totally depends on the individual and what he has accepted gracefully in his life. Problem starts only when someone is stuck between two thoughts and unable to commit to one and take action. Yeah... Probably :s !!
This is typical Mumbaiah (related to Mumbai)… and whoever has ever commuted through local train to work would have noticed it. Whenever one gets out of a local train during morning hours… ‘tak tak tak…’ there is this familiar sound of wood knocks around. It doesn’t take much time to figure out the source of this unusual sound – couple of shoemakers on the platform. Curiosity took me to one of them and what a skill they have… 3 mins flat to get done with a pair. I was delighted with the service and their efficiency. And what they get for it is just Rs.5. This left me wondering about shoemakers’ daily/monthly income.
If we observe we could see that these shoemakers get good footfalls during 3 hours in morning (8 AM – 11 AM), then moderate footfalls for next three hours and minimal footfalls thereafter. Based on a rough calculation we can say that on a good day a shoemaker would make Rs. 450 - 500 (20shoes x 3 hrs x Rs.5 + 5shoes x 3h x Rs5 + 3shoes x 3h x Rs.5). Out of this most of the earnings (60-65%) happen during peak 3 hours. So, 2/3rd of earnings happen in 1/3rd of the working time. This gives us another food for thought… is there a way out in which these shoemakers can use remaining 2/3rd of their time more productively?
Couple of crude alternatives I can think of: (Please feel free to add…)
1. Switching between stations based on time of the day – Shoemakers can render service on stations toward town during peak hours and they can probably shift to stations in suburbs during evenings. (There are more commuters from suburbs towards town during morning hours and opposite movement happens during evening hours). But point to consider here is that a person going to office in morning is more likely to get his shoe polished compared to a person coming back home. So again attractiveness of this alternative during evening hours has to be validated.
2. Alternative work after peak hours – Shoemakers can seek out work in some other areas like mills, factories, etc. after peak hours. Problem here could be their limited skill set and availability of such type of opportunities.
3. A new ecosystem – Another option is to build an ecosystem to productively utilize their skills. Why do we need to have leather tanning / polishing industry limited to some specific areas in town? What if there are leather work related shops close to some of the stations? This could give shoemakers an opportunity to be involved in regular source of income as well. Again, the problem to consider in this case is whether there is really a need/demand for so many shoemakers? Is location (distance to work) really a constraint?
I could think of only above 3 alternatives off the fly. Brainstorming could help us to come up with few more options and further refining the identified alternatives. If at all anything can help to increase productivity and 'Shoestring' income of these shoemakers!!
'Entrepreneurship by Demand' Vs 'Entrepreneurship by Choice'
Lesson on Entrepreneurship from likes of 'Jack the Ripper'.
For more than one year now, I have been reading much around Entrepreneurship - Biographies, Success stories, books, articles and whatever interesting I get my hands on. And this interesting thought striked me while I was thinking about the right time to get into Entrepreneurship. Interestingly, if we look closely, we find that there are two types of Entrepreneurs – Entrepreneurs by Demand and Entrepreneurs by Choice.
You are an immigrant (forced or voluntary) and have come to a new country, new place to make a living. You don’t have any support system, you don’t have enough money. You have to support your family and you have to earn a living. You have to start from scratch. You are talented, you are skilled… but you are unable to land with a job. Now, all you can do to make a living is to sell (use) your talent directly in the market. A roadside shop to sell your art or some law advisory. Anything depending on your skills. But, you have to start something on your own. Bingo! You are an Entrepreneur. And this is Entrepreneurship by Demand. Look at the history and many of these Entrepreneurs have made a big fortune starting from the scratch.
Another scenario. You are a person from a stable family. You always had access to good education. You always have been a good student. Now you have a good cushy job. After a relaxed sleep you get up refreshed in the morning. You have filling breakfast and go to work. You are at work from 9 to 5. You come home and have good time with you family and kids. End of the month, you are taking home a decent salary. You have build up few assets and you have reasonable savings in your account. And then, one fine day you decide, you don’t want to work ‘whatever’ for ‘whoever’. You want to be your own boss. You are filled with gallons of confidence that you have accumulated over years. You take a stalk of your strengths and skills. You decide to start something of your own. Bingo! You are also an Entrepreneur. And this is Entrepreneurship by Choice.
So, whenever I think about Entrepreneurship, I find two types of entrepreneurs:
1.Entrepreneurs by Demand.
2.Entrepreneurs by Choice.
So, which one of these makes a more successful Entrepreneur? I could not decide and I understand this is debatable as well. Some will vouch for Entrepreneurs by Demand and equally for Entrepreneurs by Choice. Nevertheless, let us give it an attempt.
Probably, we can start by high-level comparison between both these type of Entrepreneurships side by side:
Entrepreneurs by Demand
Entrepreneurs by Choice
Initially driven by ‘Urgents’
Primarily driven by ‘Importants’
Play on existing strengths
Play on existing + Develop required strengths
Tactical focus
Strategic Focus
More perseverance , ‘Do’ or ‘Die’ situation
Less Persevereance
No looking back. Commitment.
Can switch back to cushy jobs.
So, can we say which one is better? Hmm… No concrete conclusion yet!
I was just wondering if we can draw some parallel from criminal psychology to deduce which type of Entrepreneurship could be better. In criminal psychology, it is said that there are two types of criminals – Criminals by Demand and Criminals by Choice. Law enforcers and Psychologists vouch that it is harder to catch Criminals who are criminals by choice and that they are shrewder than criminals by demand. Remember Charles Shobraj, Jack the Ripper.
Now, would it be fair to compare entrepreneurship with crime scene? I guess not, but here I think we are comparing the cases where environment Demands us to get into some action Vs where we make some thoughtful Choices within the given environment.
If we accept Criminal Psychology then we should agree that Entrepreneurship by Choice should be better. So, why is it not true always? Why history stands equally behind Entrepreneurs by Demand.
Looking closer we find that there is one underlying principle which we have been ignoring all this while when we are trying to make direct conclusion based on the analogy of criminal psychology. Criminals, irrespective of whether by choice or by demand, makes an ‘irrevocable commitment’. It is difficult for them to again become acceptable in the society. In most of the cases, they commit themselves to the criminal lives. The same is not true in case of Entrepreneurship by Choice. Failed Entrepreneurs are acceptable in work and social life though there is some social stigma of failure that they have to face. But, there is nothing like point-of-no-return for Entrepreneurs and especially for ‘Entrepreneurs by choice’.
And again, this difference now becomes of greater prominence when we compare Entrepreneurs by Demand and Entrepreneurs by Choice. Entrepreneurs by Demand, because of demanding pressures, have higher level of commitment to the Entrepreneurship route they have been forced to take. They are bound by a commitment which is kind of irrevocable.
So, based on this thought would it be justifiable to conclude that ‘by Demand’ or ‘by Choice’, the most important thing for any Entrepreneur to be successful is ‘To make an Irrevocable commitment’. And, I have started to believe that this makes the real difference between Entrepreneurship by Choice and Entrepreneurship by Demand - ‘Irrevocable Commitment’ of never looking back. If both type of Entrepreneurs are bound by similar level of ‘Irrevocable Commitment’, I believe Entrepreneur by Choice would be more successful. And why not? He would have all the time and all the resources to take more informed decisions and he would have time to develop on his skills and to plan his moves strategically. But, apart from all these good to have time and skills, there is this one thing that Jack the Ripper can teach all Entrepreneurs is the importance of ‘Irrevocable Commitment’.
Speed Dating concept has been used by a New Zealand online portal Speed Renting for finding flatmates.
It helps people who are looking for sharing flats/rooms. The site provides a platform to bring likeminded ideal flatmates together. All this for a price tag of NZD 12, which includes a free glass of beer/wine.
More than 9 million posts and comments in about 56 hrs.
160,000 posts and comments per hour.
Buzz is already creating the Buzz!!
These are only two numbers being released by Google till now...
With such a grand start... what's going to happen in microblogging and social networking scenario.
Check out Ben Parr's analysis and insights here at Mashable
Figures say that for 1 USD we donate to NGOs, on an average only 70 cents goes to the actual cause.
Rest 30 cents are wasted as fundraising and administration cost.
As per global trend people are increasingly willing to donate today,, but they want each cent of their money to be utilized for the real Purpose. Whereas, in the wake of such facts people end up asking “Where is my money!!?”
This high administration and fund raising cost severely affects NGOs Productivity and Efficiency.
NGO Productivity α Total Funds Raised for the cause.
NGO Efficiency (%) = Funds Used for Cause
Total Funds Raised
Fund Raising Efficiency = Total Funds Raised
Fund Raising Cost
Problem defined:
‘How can NGOs increase their Productivity and Efficiency?’
Reasons explored:
If we assume that all the funds finally available (after deducting fund raising and admin cost) to the NGO are being used completely for the cause then there are two clear factors that affect Productivity and Efficiency of NGOs.
1.Total Funds Raised
2.Cost of Fund Raising
So, what are the reasons that are holding back NGOs on these parameters?
1.Total Funds Raised
a)Limited Geographical Reach – Fund raising activity is limited to area of operation.
b)Limited Penetration/Awareness – Even in the area of operation not everyone is aware of the NGOs.
c)Lack of Credibility – I don’t know if my funds will be completely used for the cause.
d)Lack of Tangibility/Transparency – I want to see where my funds are being used.
e)Limited Resources – Limited volunteers and resources.
f)Poor supporting technology infrastructure – Not using adequate technology and infrastructure because of limited funds.
2.Cost of Fund Raising
a)High fund development cost – Capturing new private and corporate donors is costly.
b)High Marketing Cost – High cost of marketing, road shows, awareness campaigns, etc.
There is a need for an efficient fund raising channel for NGOs.
Solution Proposed:
A web based ecosystem for NGOs
An Internet portal to provide a one stop website solution to connect global donors and various (participating) NGOs.
However, it is not simple as it seems to fill the gaps by simply building a portal.
The portal should be designed to fully exploit the potential of Web 2.0 (Interactive web, social networking, facebook, twitter, etc.) to reach millions of users.
Some of the desirable features of such portal could be:
·A large user base.
·Integration with social networking sites like Facebook, Twitter, etc.
Not sure of the traffic situation!? Not sure which route to take!? Log on to ‘Twitter’!!
All of us are aware of inconvenience caused by bad traffic situations. No one wants to end up burning fuel and getting mad in such situations. One day while traveling to office, I found myself stuck in a similar bad traffic!! Traffic jams are not unusual here in Mumbai, specifically during office hours. That day it was real bad as it took me 90 mins to cover a distance that I cover in 30 mins on a reasonable day.
That time I started thinking how could I have avoided such traffic and started wondering of ways in which such traffic situations can be made available to the commuters.
Available solutions and their inherent problems:
There is an official traffic police website where they ask you to register your mobile number so that they can update you about bad traffic situations. Irony is that I have not received a single SMS from them since I have registered around one year back and moreover no one has a clue what they actually mean by bad traffic. Only source available to us (commuters like me) is the traffic update broadcast on radios/FM. That is one thoughtful step, but again even that is subject to few limitations. There is absolutely no control of user/listener on the timing of information broadcast. Sometimes you don’t have that much time to wait and other times you don’t want to listen to those useless songs while waiting for the broadcast. And, just in case you are lucky to catch the timing, you need to be very attentive so that you don’t miss the specific update. So, is there any possible solution to this problem?
Problem re-defined: How do I get accurate traffic update whenever and wherever I want?
Solution thought of:
I can think of one solution to address all the problems captured above.
Answer lies in ‘Twitter’.
How about having a website which would broadcast real time traffic updates through ‘Twitter Tweets’!!
Potential Product: A website to broadcast real time traffic updates.
Now, another problem for such website could be to get the real time traffic updates?
I can think of two solutions to address this challenge.
Alternative 1: Collaborative model
1.Users to contribute real time traffic updates:
a.Through SMS; or
b.Through their reply ‘Tweets’ or through ‘Twitter’.
2.Users to update any upcoming event and the anticipated route diversion in advance.
Alternative 2: Crawling.
1.Get traffic updates by scanning, crawling and searching various websites like Facebook, twitter, Orkut to capture any traffic related user status.
2.Structure traffic updates area wise.
Broadcasting/Dissemination:
1.Braodcast/Tweet as and when website receives any new update.
2.User to follow the website Tweets to get the traffic update.
3.Subscribe/follow area specific traffic tweets or general traffic tweets as per your need.
Potential Benefits:
Real time traffic updates on the go, whenever and wherever needed.
