Category: entrepreneurship

prepare for numbers

Everybody likes numbers. Think of those clickbaity lists or data presented in a nice infographic. Numbers are tangible. If Jay-Z knows what he’s talking about, numbers, as opposed to men and women, don’t lie.

The problem is, not everybody knows how to interpret numbers. Specifically, large numbers are tricky. After all, our capacity for statistical inference is relatively limited, especially if untrained.

Malcolm Gladwell once said: everybody likes numbers; it’s a matter of preparing the reader for them.

When you publish numbers directly connected to using your product, such as the time people will save, the percentage with which their efficiency will increase, the weight they will lose, the number of customers you have, the number of transactions you processed… Gently prepare your leads and customers for the numbers before you bombard them with data.

Build a story around your numbers.

availability cascade

The simpler an idea can be represented, the faster it will spread. Especially true for initially very complex ideas.

Collective beliefs gain popularity precisely because someone straightforwardly translated a particular complex process at some point in time.

Once the idea starts spreading, there is no stopping it. Network effects kick in. In the proverbial blink of an eye, the idea is now everywhere and became a collective belief, almost overnight. This phenomenon is often described as an “availability cascade.”

Fantastic if the idea is factually correct. Dangerous if it isn’t.

Water running down in cascading waterfalls can’t be physically made to flow the other way around. The concept of availability cascade, though, can, in theory, be reverse-engineered.

The easier you make a real-world problem, the bigger the likeliness you can leverage the availability cascade. Whether that problem is a concept that’s tough to grasp, a process that’s hard to guide, or a task that’s tough to perform.

Looking back at heroes who are walking or have walked this earth. Concepts like gravity and relativity are incredibly complex by nature yet have been made easy to understand for a broad audience.

Make things as easy as you possibly can for your customer.

not optimizable

A new business model can’t be optimized for success before launching. There are just too many unknown unknowns. While it’s possible to draw inspiration from other novel business models or adhere to general best practices, there is no playbook with steps to follow. Hence, strategical planning for success, for a business model that hasn’t been invented yet by replicating other success stories, is impossible.

On the other hand, a tried and true business model can definitely be optimized for success prior to launching. With enough insight into the market, the circumstances can be molded for success. It’s not easy, requires much hard work, but it’s possible.

When engaging in an entirely new business model, optimize your plans for not failing instead of success.

(un)missable

What’s the difference between an employee and a founder? One wants to be unmissable, while the other wants to be as missable as possible.

If employees make themselves unmissable, the company needs them more, so they’ll be harder to fire. This status will increase job security for the employee and help them climb the career ladder within that company.

Entrepreneurs, on the other hand, have to make themselves super missable. If they fail to do so, they themselves become the business.

Scaling a human being is hard. Apart from some productivity tweaks, at the end of the day, there are but 24 hours. Scaling a business is difficult as well but significantly easier than scaling an actual person.

Chances are, the easier it is for an entrepreneur to move into the background, the easier it is to grow the company. For an entrepreneur to take a step down, every process, every piece of knowledge must be well documented, easily transferrable, and readily accessible.

If you are the business, you don’t have a business.

plan b is plan a

When you miss a turn, the GPS automatically recalculates. It almost instantly finds another way to the same destination. Maybe it’ll ask you to double back. Perhaps, it’ll come up with an alternative route. Even when you keep missing turns or road works pop up, it vigorously keeps recalculating and prompting you to follow its instructions.

Comparing humans to GPS’ isn’t fair. GPS’ consisting out of hard- and software, don’t get frustrated or tired, provided they have enough power to run. Although the way these devices go about their business is certainly something I envy.

When we set out to reach a goal, we’re bound to encounter an obstacle or two. We might have even reached our destination unknowingly and flew right past it.

In the face of adversity, never lose track of your goal. Keep recalculating your route until you get there.

fillers

An album is (arguably) a collection of hit singles, supplemented with filler tracks.

Shouldn’t every single track be a hit single? Well… If all tracks were hits, the so-called hit singles would no longer stand out.

On the hit single “Many Men (Wish Death)”, 50 Cent rapped:
Sunny days wouldn’t be special if it wasn’t for rain. Joy wouldn’t feel so good if it wasn’t for pain.

An uncomplicated metaphor. There wouldn’t be “good” in the absence of “bad.” At least, it would be pretty difficult to distinguish good from bad. Without being able to make a distinction, it becomes almost impossible to compare.

Entrepreneurs put their hearts into every single one of their products and services. Yet and still, within their range of offerings, some will be more appreciated than others. That’s totally fine.

Eliminating fillers, down to the very last one, is counter-productive.

laziness supreme

Sometimes I want to get a snack, but I’m too lazy to get it, so I end up not eating a snack. Thank you, laziness.

Laziness doesn’t rhyme well with entrepreneurship. It doesn’t really fit the hustle and grind image. When you get down to business, nobody will do it for you. There won’t be any handouts. So laziness is bound to be a short-lived quality among entrepreneurs.

Or is it?

Laziness can be an excellent quality. Suppose you are reluctant to perform a (routine) task more than once. To make your life easier, you automate the task (partly). In that case, you’re already optimizing for growth.

What’s entrepreneurship if not a burning desire to constantly improve and optimize problems?

Laziness, if applied correctly, can be a great asset to entrepreneurs.

toxicity from within

I was once in a toxic relationship. What’s worse, I went out of my way in an attempt to save the relationship.

It’s hard to see the forest through the trees. Love makes blind. From within the relationship, it’s tough to notice. Only when you take a step back and allow for time to progress, you come to understand.

What’s true for amorous relationships is also true of work relationships. If
If you catch yourself spending much time trying to figure out what you could have possibly done (wrong)… It’s time to run.

You should either know or ask and receive a straight answer. Anything else is a waste of time.

pattern shifter

Some wicked tunes are created by shifting patterns. Play a chord, have a synthesizer chop it up and then rearrange it. Outcome; hit single. Obviously, a lot more is required to reach the top of the billboard charts, but pattern shifting plays its role within compositions.

In an attempt to save energy, our brains try to unify separate actions into patterns. For instance, driving a car is no longer, crank the engine, pop the clutch, hit the gas, shift into gear… We simply draw from our pattern library and pull up the one for driving a car. Notice that when you first started driving, these actions weren’t a pattern yet. Just a few weeks later, you’re driving on (human) autopilot.

Breaking patterns is very hard. The neural pathways become eroded over time. Depending on the pattern’s age and how frequently it has been used, it becomes increasingly difficult to crawl out of the neural pathway ditch.

If, for some reason, a pattern must be broken, try rearranging or shifting it first.

i could never do that

Fifteen years ago, I was about to leave the country for work, without knowing when I’d be back. In the last week before my departure, I met up with a friend. He told me: “I could never do what you do. There are too many things for me here to leave behind”. I always assumed he didn’t mean to imply that I had very little to leave behind.

Muslims fasting for Ramadan often get asked: “so, not even water?” After confirmation that water is indeed excluded, the follow-up statement usually goes something like this. “Whoa, I could never do that.”

Of course, you could. You can leave everything behind, start all over, abstain from food and drinks during the day for a month. Overcome trauma. Heck, you might even be able to move a mountain.

Action isn’t just the effect of motivation, It’s also the cause of it — Mark Manson.

With enough intrinsic motivation, there is nothing we can’t do.