Fish 1: How’s the water?

Fish 2: What the hell is water?

It’s a funny way of saying that when we’re part of something for long enough, we don’t notice we’re part of it. It becomes all there is. Despite all my rage, I’m still just a rat in a cage!  Anyone remember that line from that Smashing Pumpkins tune (click here) ?  Anyways..

I was reminded of this when reading Ikigai by Sebastian Marshall, who talks about very simple tweaks – ie such as placing your gym bag next to the door of your room – physical reminder that makes it easy to pick up do that activity. I keep my guitar directly in front of my bed to remind me to practice. A book next to your bed, a book in your bathroom – to keep reading.  The purpose behind this is to create an environment in which the change you seek naturally occurs.

I mean this is just changing the things around you, what about the people that are around you? Nev Medhora wrote recently  about your top 5 influences in his exciting blog – check it out here.

I read the first few pages and instantly got drawn to this unusual story.  It’s a topsy turvy life story by Yvon Chouinard, who reluctantly started a business based on his love for the outdoors, mainly rock climbing and hiking, etc.  He started to create tools and materials that he felt he needed. He realized others liked and desired these products too, so he created this company as we know today as Patagonia. I like this guy a lot cos he challenges conventional wisdom on business.  Not to just aim for pure profits, but make society better.

Anyways, I got curious yesterday and thought.. I wonder what there blog is like?  So I did a search and came across this beauty post explaining their latest advertising in the New York Times.

DON”T BUY THIS JACKET is the headline!  On America’s greatest consumer holiday – Black Friday!  I mean you must be thinking oh how clever. Addressing the consumerists. Say don’t buy it, taking the opposite approach to capture attention. That’s what my initial reaction would be to this if I didn’t know the Patagonia back story.  AND yes! That’s what it is  – however this is not just a stunt.  Patagonia throughout it’s history has had this philosophy:  don’t buy more if you don’t need it.

It’s controversial, yes, but the motive is  to cause you to re-examine your purchasing practices. Do you really need it? Maybe you were leaning this way, but this might push you to be even more mindful.  Perhaps to check out Patagonia’s website to learn more if it’s a strong interest to you. This is my kind of advertising.  Some people hate marketing, but don’t realize this is the equilibrium we live in. This is how you fight back.

I try to convince my friends that the reason to use twitter is learn about all this amazing insightful stuff on business, psychology, latest health studies by scientists, etc. Yes I follow Conan as well for comedy relief. I mean it’s what you want it to be – entertainment or learning, if you choose to follow the right people.

I came across a tweet by Ramit on Starbucks raising prices.  You can check out the article by clicking here.

There are some fancy words in the article, but this part right here caught my eye:

A key attribute of those practicing value based pricing is never explicitly saying that they are practicing value based pricing. There are always other reasons and you never say pricing at customer willingness to pay. A key part of practicing effective pricing is effective pricing communication and managing customer perception. Failing that you will face backlash as some brands recently did.

Its true, its all about elasticity of pricing and the lack of concern by Starbucks coffee drinkers.  They’ll pay whatever asked for their favorite cup of coffee.

These caffeine addicts almost want a reason by the company so that they themselves can justify paying more to themselves and there friends!

This won’t work with, say Bank of Montreal, because they don’t offer a premium service that consumers know them for.  Instead, they offer standard banking services, which gives consumers very low switching costs.  Starbucks is about the feel you get when you walk out of the store holding their brand in your hand.  Bank of Montreal is about getting the best ROI (a pretty poor one).

This is where TO DO lists come in. I’ve been experimenting with this and time tracking (inspired from Sebastian Marshall, his site is amazing).  You write 3 tasks to finish and that’s it, focus on them till completion.  Mine is a bit of a adaptation of this. I write 3 things that must be done – the night before – then snap a pic of it and make it my iphone home screen.

So whenever I look at my phone during the day ( a lot) I always reminded that I must get shit done.

Happy 2012.

ps: pushing the off button and the home button at the same time -  takes a screen shot.

It’s a breath alcohol tester.  It gives you a rating on how hammered you are. I like to carry it with me at bars just to make sure no one drives home above the limit. Okay actually because it’s just a lot of fun! Everyone gets curious to see what there rating is.  It becomes something to talk about.

It doesn’t have to be a nifty gadget either.  It’s when your buddy mentions at a party how godlike amazing Under Cover of Darkness (click to  have a  listen!) by the Strokes sounds.   Or that favourite author or killer new Iphone app – it’s why two people start chatting and relating to one another.   You do it without thinking in conversation all the time.  So that’s also the warning: make a product that can incite conversation! That is the cornerstone of any marketing.

Back in 2009, I had a goal of reading 40 books. I read 28.

Then in 2010, I had a goal of reading 50 books, I read 40.

This year my goal was one book a week. I’ve read only 30 far. I’m built weak I know.  By the way, I’ve come across recently an article on reading a book in one hour  from the Personal MBA website by Josh Kaufman. Click here to check it out.

Anyways I know you’ve heard how good reading is for you. You don’t accept things on face value.  If you read a variety you relate different ideas together, string them together. Gives more confidence about what your talking about it…. I mean if you can’t talk about it casually you don’t know it. And EVEN if you can talk about it casually, doesn’t mean you know it.

But this all came about taking some small steps that eventually became a habit. Back in university days, I barely read anything outside the text books compared to now. This changed rapidly, as I read books like Four Hour Work Week, I decided I wanted to go backpacking! Traveling with family is fine, but backpacking with friends sounded unreal.

One of the places I visited was sunny Australia. Land of the Oz.   Now ever since I watched the movie Point Break I wanted to sky dive. Remember the parachute scene?( click here cos it’s awesome). So I finally did it in Mission Beach on the East Coast.  I remember this day fondly. It’s that feeling you were suppose to be dead, but you were still alive!! I loved it.

Soon after landing, the Aussie Sky Dive man, John, had the nerve to ask me “Why is this so amazing to you?” I was a bit dumbfounded by his question. Then he mentioned he jumps out of a plane 4-6 times a day, 5 days a week. It became not such a big deal to him, but a routine. He was curious how his regular job resulted in one of the most adrenaline packed day of my life.

Well John, because its not usual to jump out of a plane. There are so many ways to interpret this, but I think the main thing for me was keep doing things that stretch you, ignore your lizard brain – could be as simple as waking up on time every morning.

Lately I’ve been getting this question from friends.. “Neesh, can i ask you something? yes anything I usually reply back. Well why do you write all the time on your blog, it’s not like you’re making any money hahaha!! ” Very Funny. True I haven’t made any money. I haven’t inserted any ads. I actually want to get rid of these weird ads I suddenly see on my blog. Anyone have knowledge to get rid of them?

To get back on subject I did this  to improve my writing, number one. Also to learn and share the little (or lot depending on your experience) I know of marketing and business.  Improve my critical thinking. Be a better man!

For instance, it has indirectly made me better at sales. For example, I was doing some spring cleaning a while back (back in Spring) and found my amazing old 32 GB white 5th Generation Ipod !! This is the version before it went all fancy with Ipod Touch. It was just loaded with the coolest hits of music, like the best music up to 2008ish. Seriously it was awesome for about 3 mins till I realized, I need to sell it. I already bought a replacement one and have an Iphone, this needs to be utilized by someone else.

So I made bet with a friend, that we have still maintained today – who can sell the most on kijiji, craigslist? I put all my copy writing knowledge to the forefront. And it worked.  I sold it for 120 bucks, which I was quite pleased with. The buyer was thrilled too.  I know it may seem like nothing. But it came about from this self study.  

So to make a long story short. There are indirect benefits to all of this. It’s a way to meet interesting people. That would be ideal, but it also keeps me accountable.  See how I’ve progressed. So that’s the lesson I can take from this experiment so far.

Oh and whenever someone only judges you on how much money you make, show them this clip:

You may have seen the film Slumdog Millionaire or City of God that brings these characters to light.  These movies resonate with me,  because these kids are the real deal. The reality is these kids are hustling, testing what works, what doesn’t and getting so good that they know exactly what works.

I recently came across this video below while browsing Ramit’s site ( all about personal finance  – seriously you must spend a day going through it!) Anyway,  When I heard this little kid speaking different languages I thought.. damn, how did he learn that?

Now I’ve mentioned before there is beauty in good enough. Yes that works in the short term, creates momentum when you’re getting started. But in the long term, you have to keep getting better, practicing what isn’t so normal.  Malcolm Gladwell says it takes 10,000 hours, I personally feel shorter, just always taking it one step further.

The other things is, what I’ve always thought, but really starting to realize is most of what we know comes from tinkering, doing things. The process of trial and error. For example the internet wasn’t made for its use is now, it was a military application. The list goes on for many other technologies.

And why aren’t these imaginative kids, making less than 5-10 dollars a day, not profiled in business magazines?

It got me thinking of what makes me slow down while driving.  The only deterrent to speeding is a consequence such as paying a fine. Think about it. If you knew that there would be no consequence, would you slow down? I doubt it.

I snapped a photo of this sign from my car, while it was raining!  No one was harmed, relax.

This sign creates an emotional appeal on why you should slow down. Quite different than the usual threatening of fines. Dan Pink finds these emotionally intelligent signs everywhere, click here to see some other ones.