Wednesday, November 25, 2009

Microtrends

'Microtrends - the small forces behind tomorrow's big changes' is a wonderful book for those who are interested in learning about socio-economic trends and in general how people behave. The book doesnt explain why people behave that way. All it explains is how people in small groups act like microcosms and why their needs are different. It is a wonderful treatise on the way these small groups are changing the political scene and the policies. It also talks about potential business opportunities targeted to these small groups.
I did think about a few of business ideas (not a million-making ones, but good enough to live ones) while reading the book. A couple of them I share here.
Idea: Mobile pantry cafe
Target market: local train stations for commuters
This idea is very simple. There are estimated 3.4 million extreme commuters (traveling more than 90 miles one way). If you could figure out the places they are headed to, you could have all the early requirements for them and help them out at cheaper prices than starbucks or a simple breakfast at much cheaper price. For example, in San Diego, where I live a lot of people head to Mira Mesa, Sorrento Valley Blvd in the morning. This is a perfect place to have mobile cafe. In fact I saw one a couple of weeks ago. So I presume people are already acting up on it.

Idea: Social network for empty nesters
Target market: there are estimated 10000 people retiring every day. Most of these people are empty nesters with either their spouse or no one who live with them. They would be pretty bored at home all day along.
The idea is to create a social network, but with much more active participation. Find out empty nesters in the community and arrange for simple fun games or activities for them, for a very nominal fee. An online facebook like of application would also work, if we can streamline the applications to suit their needs. Of course it got to be less technology oriented than facebook and just no nonsense kind of network.
anyway, there a lot of niche markets that can be targeted. i strongly recommend all my friends to read this book. If you like to buy it, here is a link for it.
Microtrends: The Small Forces Behind Tomorrow's Big Changes

Thursday, November 5, 2009

Do not procrastinate


Even though I make it a point not procrastinate things, once in a while either I get lazy, or I dont look down the timeline to see what is in future, which leads to procrastination of few things. And sure, these things come back to bite me in the ass :). A while ago, I had to write a test code which required me to install a plethora of tools, compilers etc just for a small test code. I figured out if I just use some machine which has all these I can get away with it and avoid the delays in installing all the unnecessary tools that will eat away my PC's memory. So I went to a friend who had all these tools installed and got the work done. What I overlooked is the fact that once you write a piece of code, it will forever be yours and you would be help responsible for it. Sure enough a few days later I got a call asking to change this and that in that small piece of code. Again, I had to scramble again to find the friend who helped me earlier. This time he was in a hurry which basically meant he is hinting you at getting your own tools. I was like, yeah, just this time. Well that just this time was just another time. Now I am at a position where I cannot live without installing those tool set. So, I am going to install all those tools which if I had installed the first time would have saved time, a bit of humiliation and given me an opportunity to learn more.
My passport is about to expire in February next year. I thought I have plenty of time to get it renewed when I realized it in August. So I procrastinated it. Before I realized it is October without me following up on it. And then suddenly one day I realized we have holidays coming up. We planned to go out of US, may be to Europe, Mexico or New Zealand. In the process I realized I cannot go out of US unless I get my passport renewed. Even then by the time we figured out expenses, we kinda said no to a trip outside US. And hence I procrastinated again. But later on, we thought we can go to Mexico for cheap, just to realize my passport needs renewal. So now I am scrambling to get all the documents together and get it done.
Procrastination is never good. It might save you time in the short run, but in the longer run is always a hassle. By far procrastination is the main negative point in me that I need to work on. Unfortunately it will always come back in the most wrong time.
I wondered about ways to get over procrastination. Here are few that I came up with. Please leave a comment if you have more on this.
  • Make sure you always look at long term before you decide to procrastinate a thing
  • Know the consequences of not doing it now
  • Find out the time it would take to do it now, compare it with the amount of time you mgiht be spending later on if you dont do it
  • Make a list of things to do and keep track of them regularly. You may use any of the things to do software, if you like, for example tracks (written in Ruby on Rails)
  • Clear up your things to do once in a while, so that pile is maintainable


Monday, November 2, 2009

Holiday Time!

Its holiday time and I just want to help my friends to find good gifts. Amazon has a good collection of gifts. Follow the banner and see!