The Meatball Sundae

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Goodbye!

The semester has ended, and as most of you know, this blog project has been a blend between a school project and a personal one. Rather than get a third degree, I decided to learn the principles about business from Seth's work. I blogged for 10 weeks, and the goal for this blog was to read and write about Seth Godin as much as possible. I read and wrote about the following books:

All Marketers Tell Stories

Who's There

Purple Cow

The Big Moo

Free Prize Inside

Tribes

Bootstrapper's Bible

The greatest lesson from writing this blog was that you get what you focus on!

Thank you so much for reading and posting. The blog is going to move to a different address, but I am in discussion with Tumblr on how to best do that. I will let you know as soon as possible about the move. 

Just to be clear, I will continue to write once weekly at a new location!

Thanks again for all your support!

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Non-coding mutations in genes

Last post we talked about how a single change in a DNA nucleotide can cause a mutation in the protein it codes for, and this mutation can cause disease. Many times, however, the single nucleotide change can happen in non-coding regions of a gene, which means it will not change the sequence of amino acids in the protein. 

Non-coding mutations in genes

There are regions of DNA within a gene that help regulate how often the gene is made into a protein. These DNA sequences don’t actually code for any protein but they allow for other proteins, whose job it is to come in and make the protein in question, to do that. You can imagine that DNA changes in an area that regulate the making of a gene can influence how much of a protein is made. 

The cell works very hard to maintain the proper balance of proteins so that everything happens smoothly and works well. Normally, it is a well oiled machine, but changes in the balance of proteins, like if one is made too much or not enough for example, can start a cascade of events that can lead to all kinds of problems.

Today in the journal Nature Neuroscience, scientists published on a gene called FKBP5, which I have also published on here. FKBP5 is made after stress. There is a single nucleotide in a specific region of this gene where changes are found between people. There is one nucleotide that protects you and one increases your risk of developing psychiatric disease. Interestingly, these scientists have found that this one nucleotide can change how much of that protein you make, and if you have the nucleotide that is associated with disease you make more of that protein upon stress. 

So if you are under extreme stress, generally during childhood, you make a lot of this protein and it leads to long lasting changes in the DNA itself, which changes how the gene is regulated for the rest of your life. 

The gist here is that you can have changes in your DNA that don't affect the protein sequence but can still have bad effects on health. 

The challenge, then, is not only to create therapies that are made in conjunction with people’s DNA, but with people’s experience too, since we now know that experiences changes how your DNA gets regulated. 

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What changes in genes are problematic?

There are many changes in genes that can be problematic. Today we will discuss changes in the DNA that change the amino acid that is supposed to be in a protein. These are called protein mutations.  

Protein Mutations

The human gene pool is very diverse and nature has made this on purpose. The system is made so that some mistakes happen over time. As time goes by, changes begin to arise between two previously identical strands of DNA. These changes start small, just one unit of DNA, called a nucleotide, is switched for another. A change like that is called a single nucleotide polymorphism. 

What scientists can do is look at the number of people with the disease that have that one nucleotide change on that one gene and see if people with disease have that one little change more often than people without the disease. 

What is incredible is how much of a difference one nucleotide change can do. We have over 3 billion nucleotides according to genomics.energy.gov. Not all of them are important. According to Salvo Mag, only 3% of DNA codes for proteins. The rest is not all junk either, but scientists don’t know the whole story.

Most of the time, a single nucleotide change does not make a difference. For one, the cell is very good at preventing and fixing mistakes. Two, there are redundancies built into the interpretation of DNA to prevent single nucleotide changes from causing an alteration in the protein it helps code for.  Three, most DNA is not even used to code for proteins!

But sometimes a change in a single nucleotide happens to fall in a sequence for which there is no fix. Sometimes, that change is also in a region of DNA that codes for a protein and it changes the amino acid sequence, called a protein mutation. When the amino acid sequence is changed in a protein it can alter the way it functions.

Sometimes, the change comes in a part of the protein that is the most important region for its function. And sometimes, the protein is so important that even if you only have the mutation in one copy of your genes (remember that we get one copy from mom and one from dad) you get the disease. This is called an autosomal dominant familial disease. Alzheimer’s disease is more than 95% not familial, according to the Alzheimer’s Association. Very few people have a familial form of the disease.   

It’s amazing how much of a difference a little nucleotide can have!

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How do scientists know which genes are bad?

One way scientists figure out which genes increase your risk of disease is by looking at all of the genes in each person of a large group of patients. Then, they compare them to all of the genes in each person of a large group of healthy individuals, called a control group. They look to see if a particular flavor of a gene, called an allele, is over-represented. 

What is over-represented? Well, if certain flavors of genes are rare in general, then they should be rare in the population of people with the disease as well. By doing fancy genetic analysis scientists can test for this. If a gene flavor occurs significantly more often in the patient group than in the control group, then they can say that this gene increases the risk of developing the disease, because for whatever reason a large portion of sick people have this flavor/allele that is much less common in the general population.

However having "at risk" genes is not completely causative, since often people have the risk genes and never develop disease.  As a result, genes are not the whole story. In fact, they are a small part of the Alzheimer's disease story since more people develop the disease that can be accounted for by genes. This indicates that the environment, and experience is also a problem.

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Breaking News in Alzheimer’s Disease Research: New gene is linked to an increased chance of developing Alzheimer’s disease

A rare mutation in a gene, TREM2, has been recently found, in two studies published in the New England Journal of Medicine, to be linked to an increase in propensity of developing Alzheimer’s disease. 

As an Alzheimer’s scientist, one of the questions I get the most is, “is Alzheimer’s genetic?”  The quick answer is that for most people, no, but for some people, yes. As a result, I will be writing a series of articles where I discuss the genetics of Alzheimer’s disease and what it means for you. I want to help people who don’t have a science PhD to understand what it means every time a new study about genetics and Alzheimer’s disease comes out, and what role genetics play in the disease.  

[Disclaimer: This is based on previous research and today’s research. However, tomorrow this could all be proven wrong and we could all have a new understanding of how Alzheimer’s works. Also, this is not a substitute for a medical doctor’s diagnosis. If you think you may have a medical issue, you should see your doctor.]

ARTICLE 1

Quick biology lesson

This article is very important because knowing the basics of cell biology, which are easy and everyone can do, is imperative to understand the relationship between genes and Alzheimer’s. I’ll make it as easy as possible, I promise. 

Our whole body is made of trillions of cells. Your brain? Cells. Your liver? Cells. Your skin? Cells. Your tongue? Cells. Your bones? Cells. How about my hair? Ah ha! Your hair is made of protein, which is made by cells. Everything your cells do requires proteins, even to make proteins. They provide transport, and make chemicals, and allow cells to talk to one another, and help make energy for the cell, etc. 

Ok, so proteins are important! But what are proteins made of? Proteins are made of amino acids that are linked together in a chain by the protein-making machinery of the cell. The cell makes proteins when it needs them. Some proteins, called peptides, have only 9 or 10 amino acids linked together, while other proteins have 400 or 500 amino acids linked together. 

So, how does the cell know which amino acids to use? I thought you would never ask! DNA tells the cell which amino acids to use. DNA is only a recipe. It’s very beautiful how it all works. Basically, your cell knows when it needs to make more proteins. So it opens up its DNA and says, “Okay, we need more of protein X. The recipe for protein X is here. It says we need to take 1 methionine amino acid and link it to one arginine amino acid and link that to a histidine,” It does this ad nauseam. 

Takeaway 1: From experience you know that a bad recipe makes a bad cake! So if you have “bad” DNA, you are going to make “bad” proteins, which lead to disease. The opposite is true, some alleles are protective for certain diseases. As a result, scientists are trying to figure out which genes cause problems, which prevent disease, and which are neither good or bad.  

Takeaway 2: For reasons we don't know, not all people with "bad" DNA develop disease. As a result, being born with the wrong genes does not always mean you are destined to become sick. It just increases your chances of becoming sick.  

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The Bootstrapper's Bible

Book #7 The Bootstrapper’s Bible, by Seth Godin

I love this book. It gives you business 101 from the man himself. The main idea of the book is that bootstrapping is a state a mind, a way of thinking about the execution of your professional goals.   

The tone of this book is classic Seth Godin inspiration. It begins with a section titled “The Bootstrapper’s Manifesto.” The advice is to tape the manifesto to your bathroom mirror and read it out loud before you go to bed.

I have included it here as a block quote for you to think about, and post on your bathroom mirror, and read it to yourself at night (smiley face): 

I am a bootstrapper. I have initiative* and insight* and guts*, but not much money. I will succeed because my efforts and my focus* will defeat bigger and better-funded competitors. I am fearless. I keep my focus on growing the business—not on politics, career advancement, or other wasteful distractions. I will leverage my skills to become the key to every department of my company, yet realize that hiring experts can be the secret to my success. I will be a fervent and intelligent user of technology, to conserve my two most precious assets: time and money. My secret weapon is knowing how to cut through bureaucracy. My size makes me faster and more nimble than any company could ever be.

I am a laser beam. Opportunities will try to cloud my focus, but I will not waver from my stated goal and plan—until I change it. And I know that plans were made to be changed. I’m in it for the long haul. Building a business that will last separates me from the, and is an investment in my brand and my future. Surviving is succeeding, and day that goes by makes it easier still for me to reach my goals. I pledge to know more about my field than anyone else. I will read and learn and teach. My greatest asset is the value I can add to my clients through my efforts. I realize that treating people well on the way up will make it nicer for me on the way back down. I will be scrupulously honest and overt in my dealings, and won’t use my position as a fearless bootstrapper to gain unfair advantage. My reputation will follow me wherever I go, and I will invest in it daily and protect it fiercely. I am the underdog. I realize that others are rooting for me to succeed, and I will gratefully accept their help when offered. I also understand the power of favors, and will offer them and grant them whenever I can. 

I have less to lose than most -- a fact I can turn into a significant competitive advantage. I am a salesperson. Sooner or later, my income will depend on sales, and those sales can be made only by me, not by an emissary, not by a rep. I will sell by helping others get what they want, by identifying needs and filling them. I am a guerrilla. I will be persistent, consistent, and willing to invest in the marketing of myself and my business. I will measure what I do, and won’t lie about it to myself or my spouse. I will set strict financial goals and honestly evaluate my performance. I’ll set limits on time and money and won’t exceed either. Most of all, I’ll remember that the journey is the reward. I will learn and grow and enjoy every single day.

This post is about Section one in the book. I picked it because it is very inspirational for people who would be entrepreneurs. 

I am a laser beam

Seth uses the concept of focus. He has talked about it before in his blog, “you get what you focus on.” You need to focus on your goal and on your niche. Seth also mentions that goals are meant to be changed as time goes by. And as your goals change so does your focus. 

I am here for the long haul

Seth’s point here is that we need to think long term. It’s like flossing and exercise: you benefit the from doing it long term. In the long term you create something bigger than yourself and you can help other people. When you execute a business from a longterm perspective you tend to make better choices.  

I will know more about my field than anyone else

Seth uses Yves Chouinard as an example to make his point. Yves created Patagonia. He was able to create products that helped climbers, because he was one. He did it so much and knew so much about it that he knew what was needed. He created that which was lacking.

I am a salesperson

Selling is hard. Because of that, those who can sell are needed for business. You either have to learn to sell or pay big money to someone else who does. 

My journey is my reward

This is huge. Entrepreneurship is an art. Like any art, one is constantly trying to improve, and not only have better quality art, but also have more innovate ideas, and make a difference in people’s lives. As a result, one does not wake up and feel artistically satisfied. There is a constant chasm between where you are and where you want to be, and it doesn’t feel good, but that’s okay. it's the life we chose! 

I can do things that big companies can’t

Seth’s point here is that because you are small you don’t have a bureaucracy to deal with. You can get things done in a heartbeat, and you don’t need permission to make things happen. In the words of Seth Godin, “you get presidential input,” because you are the president! 

*Also, I highlighted and marked the words initiative, insight, guts, and focus with an asterisk at the beginning, because these words come up again and again in Seth’s books. Initiative leads to work, which with focus leads to insight. With insight, guts can make your ideas become reality. 

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Tribes, leadership, and the status quo.

Innovation is a word that comes up over and over in the book Tribes, by Seth Godin. This is the definition of the verb innovate in my dictionary:

“Innovate: make changes in something established, especially by introducing new methods, ideas, or products.”

“The status quo” is another term that is also talked about a lot, and it makes sense. To innovate is to change the status quo. The way things are done are “the rules,” and “the rules” are the status quo. 

One example of the status quo is to go to college after going to high school. It is a script that is programmed into society, and we just do it. So  after evaluating the results from these actions there is a group of people, a tribe, that is trying to change that and tell people that they don’t have to go to college to make money or to do something remarkable. 

Another example of the status quo is the way academic careers are managed. You go to college, then to graduate school, then to a post-doctoral fellowship, then to a research track position, then to a tenure track position, then you get tenure, then you get full professorship. 

Seth argues that new is where it’s at. New is noticed, noticed is thought about, thought about can be paid if remarkable, and paid means you make a living doing what you do. 

A novelty gives people something to believe in, a change that they can work to see a reality. 

Here, you can see the graph of the benefits of innovation over time. At some point or another, the novelty is adopted and it becomes less and less novel. Then the novelty becomes the status quo. To keep leading one has to continue pushing the standard. 

The question is, what status quo do you want to destroy? What frustrates you the most?

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Apology

The struggle of the artist: To anyone who wants to make a dent in the universe, to anyone who wants to leave the world a better place, I’m sorry. The world doesn’t care how big your goals are, or how much of an impact you want to make. The world doesn’t care if you can make crafts or of if you’re creative. It doesn’t matter if you have five, ten, or twenty years of experience, the world doesn’t care. The greater the impact you want to make the greater the chances that you are not going to make it. I’m sorry. So why should we bother?  We should bother because not making it is exactly what we need to make it.  We should bother because the worst reason to fail is because we didn’t try. We should bother because most people won’t.  We should bother because it’s easier than ever today. We should bother because the world needs us to. We should bother because the only thing that is actually stopping us from succeeding is our own fear.  This struggle between what we know we are capable of and our fear is what unites all artists, everywhere. Everyday we get to choose. What will you choose today?

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Do you lead a tribe?

Book #6 Tribes, by Seth Godin

In Purple Cow Seth argued that we are all marketers. In All Marketers Are Liars Tell Stories Seth argued we are all storytellers. In Tribes, we are all leaders. 

Point by point summary of Seth’s argument:

It is easier than ever to change things and to challenge the status quo

Those who change things and create remarkable stuff are rewarded by the market

Everyone is expected to lead

There is a group of people that are waiting for you to connect them

Leadership isn’t difficult

You already have everything you need to make a difference

Seth argues that what a leader actually does is make change, and leads a group of people that believe in that change. The common belief threads people together to accomplish difficult tasks. What it takes to turn a group of people into a tribe, according to the book, is a shared interest/goal/ ideology, and a way to communicate. 

Communication is the glue of a tribe. The tribe can communicate in the following ways: leader to tribe, tribe to leader, tribe member to tribe member, and tribe member to outsider. 

This makes the leaders job to transform interest into passion for changing things, provide tools for communication,  and leverage the tribe to allow it to grow

What do you stand for? Do you lead a tribe?

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The New Business Model for Music!

In the 1970’s musicians were hired by record labels. Musicians had a job: they got paid upfront to make music. If they sold, they could get hired again. Today the music industry is dead. With the music industry in shams, music entrepreneurs are taking the change as an opportunity to find a new way to earn money from their art. One such example is Keller Williams who used to give all his music away for free, but people paid good money to see him play live. Seth Godin, in this video, says that the Grateful Dead are the apple computers of this new model. 

The new model is about spreading, and being heard. It is about connecting with the people that like your work. About this, Jonathan Coulton says the following:

“I give away music because I want to make music, and I can’t make music unless I make money, and I won’t make any money unless I get heard, and I won’t get heard unless I give away music.”

Jonathan Coulton is an internet sensation. He makes great money being a musician, he does what he loves, and he helps people through his art. 

In 2005 he decided to quit his software job to be a full time musician. He created music in his house and recorded it on his mac. He created one new piece of music every week for a whole year and gave it away for free as a podcast in iTunes. On top of that, he created it under the Creative Commons License, where people are free to use and distribute. The end result? He found a way to get traffic on his site, and found a way to get fans. He makes a comfortable living. 

I also want to share the story of Eileen Quinn. Eileen is a sailor and a singer/songwriter. She sings songs about sailing. She was also one of the top selling artists in CD Baby back when Derek Sivers was running it.  This is what she says about her music on her website:

“Early on in her sailing adventures, Eileen discovered that there wasn't a lot of music describing the life she was experiencing.  Traditional sea shanties don't quite do it.  She began writing songs about the really important, but neglected aspects of cruising: how anchoring leads to marital breakdown; why weather forecasters shouldn't be trusted; what it is about comfortable harbors that seems to scuttle any plans to leave.” 

In the same video I mentioned earlier Seth also says this that an artist needs to find a way to connect emotionally with people, and that, for a musician, marketing is “finding the best way to touch people and to touch them in a way that resonates enough so that they tell their friends.” 

Jonathan and Eileen did this brilliantly. They used music as a tool to be themselves and share their stories with others. 

Here is a summary of this advice:

Creative Commons License: Allow people to share your work.

Create a story around the music describing the life you are experiencing: For Jonathan Coulton it was being a geek and for Eileen Quinn it was sailing. 

Delineate between free and paid: One way is to make digital free and physical paid.  

Lead a tribe and connect them: Throw a party where your fans can come to hang out with other fans. 

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More free prizes and how to create a free prize!

In the last post we learned that we can create great businesses by improving our existing products, and we can do that by creating a “free prize.” But how do we create a free prize? 

Seth offers a method for developing a free prize called Edgecraft. The idea is to find an edge shown to make a product remarkable, then go all the way to that edge, “as far from the center as the consumers you are trying to reach dare you to go.”

He uses Frank Muller watches as an example. People who buy Frank Muller watches aren’t buying the time. They are buying really complicated machinery, beautiful design, and luxury. He doesn’t create semi-luxurious watches. He creates really cool stuff. 

Seth says, “the goal of edgecraft is to find the free prize worth paying for.” So what are some edges that we can think about? Here is a list from the book:

Connect users of your product with others

Make an invisible thing visible

Make a visible thing invisible

Use a lot of the users time

Save the user an enormous amount of time

Great Design

Ultra cheesy design

Create a new format

Save an old format

Very safe 

Very dangerous

Leave something out

Help a controversial cause

Hurt a controversial cause

Treat different customers differently

Treat different customers the same

disrupt industry by finding a new way of doing things

Sell to a new market

Sell a new product to your market

Find a different retail channel

More convenient

Less convenient

Enhance packaging

Minimize packaging

Sell by subscription

Unbundle it

Bundle it

Really complicated

Really simple

Live your life in public

Really casual

Really formal

Remember to go all the way; don’t be ambiguous. Also, I have noticed that many of the successful business have several innovations. 

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Free Prize Inside

Book # 5 Free Prize Inside by Seth Godin

We are on book #5 already! This week I read Free Prize Inside. This book builds on the ideas of Purple Cow. 

Here is a quick refresher. Purple cow was based on the idea that we have more than we need, so we no longer buy things because they exist; we buy things because we want them. As a result, for people to buy your product, your idea, your religion, your music, it has to be remarkable, worth making a remark about. Stuff that is remarkable spreads. 

In Free Prize Inside, Seth shares a method for thinking about and creating innovation. This post focuses on how to think about innovation and the next post will focus on how to innovate. 

The method is called, “The Free Prize.” The idea is that when you were a kid your favorite cereal was the one with a free toy inside. That was certainly true for me. I liked any product with a free anything in it. Seth points out that you can create a secondary benefit to your product to make it remarkable, and that any product or service and be made remarkable.

He explains that there is another choice to The Free Prize, and it is to create something new. Seth calls it “hard innovation.” New products take time and money, however. If you have neither, and who does, then creativity and insight can be used to make something remarkable from the product you already have. He refers to this use of creativity as "soft innovation." 

An example used in the book is purple ketchup. Kids and their moms went crazy for purple ketchup. Here is a quote about Heinz colored ketchup in an article in Fast Company that talks about their rapid growth after their introduction of the colored ketchup:

“Each new color resulted in incremental sales volume. In fact, more than 25 million bottles of colored ketchup were sold, helping Heinz capture an all-time high of 60% of the U.S. ketchup market...”

Seth says that a free prize has two characteristics, but he mentions an extra thing that I think is worth putting as part of the list, and so I put three things. 

The Free Prize is the thing about your service/product/organization that is worth remarking on/seeking out/buying.

The Free Prize satisfies our wants, e.g. fashionable, fun, delightful, sad. 

The Free Prize rarely delivers more of what we were buying in the first place. it delivers something different.

Let’s take Little Miss Matched as an example. Their business became popular by selling socks with cool designs that you could only buy as a mismatched pair. Let’s analyze it using the previous numbered list:

The free prize is that you get socks with cool patterns that are mismatched.

It satisfies the need to be different.

They didn’t give you more socks. If the business premise was “buy our socks and we’ll give you two more,” it wouldn’t work. Instead they give you socks and something you and your friends can talk about. 

Go think about your product or service and add a free prize! 

P.S. Here is a free prize for you: an awesome interview of Seth Godin on the website, The Great Discontent.

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How to start a business a la Netflix

How Reed Hastings started Netflix. He actually used Richard Branson's technique that we mentioned here. 

Lets take netflix as an example:

Netflix is a great example. I particularly like the story of how Netflix got started because I had a similar frustration. Reed Hastings rented Apollo 13. He returned it 6 weeks late and owed Blockbuster $40. Guess how he felt? He was pissed and probably even embarrassed. In an interview he said that he felt irresponsible and did not want to tell his wife out of the shame he felt. I know that feeling! He could probably buy the movie 3x with the $40 he payed. He felt that pain and frustration. It hurt. 

1. What frustrates you the most?

Hastings found something that really frustrated him: huge late fee for keeping the movies too long.

2. Okay, so how did he make it better?

How can you not charge late fee's? Why not start another brick and mortar store where you can rent movies and simply keep them as long as you want? Mr. Hastings has been an entrepreneur for a while now. He has experience looking at these problems. I imagine that from the get-go he was not looking for the obvious solution, which in this case would be to start another brick and mortar store where you can rent movies and simply keep them as long as you want. He was looking for an innovation + no late fees. 

According to Wikipedia, the innovation came to him at the gym when he realized that the gym had a successful business model. People pay to rent the gym space and equipment. They pay one fee every month and they get to use the gym to their hearts content. Add movies to this and voila: NETFLIX. 

He didn't invent movies, he didn't invent mail delivery, or anything for that matter. He simply created a new CONNECTION.

A connection is a way to create something new. The possibilites are endless. Are you making new connections?

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What does Sir Richard Branson say about starting a business? Find out...HERE! ;-)

It is time to take everything we have read and done and start putting things together to create an entrepreneurship method. 

I was reading a section in Seth Godin's Linchpin where he mentions that he spent some time with Sir Richard Branson. On a side note, the more I hear about him the more I admire him too; these two gentlemen are living geniuses. The passage reminded me of a fabulous interview in Entrepreneur Magazine with Sir Branson that explains how to get business ideas. 

He mentions a few pieces of advice that are absolutely it. 

"What frustrates you the most?"

"How can you make it better?"

"There is no point in going into a business unless you can make a radical difference in other people's lives."

When talking about launching his airline he says:

If you're going to launch an airline in America, you need to make sure it's far and away the best airline, and make sure you do it with panache and style and fun and flair, and really shake up the industry." "Your brand needs to make its mark..."

Answer these questions, take this advice to heart, and you are on your way to create something remarkable. 

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Ideas are easy. Doing stuff is hard.

Book #4 The Big Moo: Stop Trying to Be Perfect and Start Being Remarkable

Summary

In continuing my quest to getting my own personal MBA, through the expertise of Seth Godin, here I am with book numero quatro. It is a collection of ~70 short pieces by over 30 successful creative professionals that together have sold millions of books, built entire industries, and raised millions of dollars. They put together their best advice to help us become remarkable, and create our own “Big Moo.”

From purple cow we  learned that we need to be worth remarking about. When you do something worth talking about, it gets talked about. Here, they give you their best advice for free, since all the proceeds go to charity. I’m sure Zizek would love that!

Inspiration

There is a lot in this book that I can relate to. It really speaks to me. It is for people who have a dream, but that dream is very difficult. Because of that, there is a lot of frustration that goes a long with it, and this book has a way to let you know that you are capable. It has a way to let you know that you CAN do it, even if the price is high and the journey is long, but it doesn’t have to be. Here is a quote from the book that perfectly describes this feeling:

“The very lack of guarantee is what made the work so compelling. Eight years down the drain? Not really.”

Here is another one that directly changes your view on the relationship between hard work and success:

“Remarkable is not in the eyes of the marketer. It doesn’t matter one bit how hard you worked on something or how cool you think it is. It’s up to the consumer. If the consumer thinks it’s worth remarking about, then you’ve got a purple cow.”

I just need to make it happen. I need to create a collection of business ideas and ACT on them. Like Seth Godin says, “Ideas are easy, doing stuff is hard.”

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Business Idea #1: Stop overflowing you stupid water tank!

Successful entrepreneurs have seasoned eyes that can recognize and act on an opportunity faster than you can blink. If we want to become entrepreneurs we need to practice recognizing problems that could be turned into businesses. 

I will share with you my little ideas. Hopefully they will get better with time.

IDEA #1. 

"We almost turned the fish bowl into an actual fish bowl!" That's what a colleague of mine said. We are scientists at an Alzheimer's research facility. Our offices are enclosed in a clear window pane that separates the labs from the desks. We lovingly call it "The Fish Bowl."

As you can imagine, we need water for some of our experiments, but regular ol' water won't do. We have to purify it to a level where there is hardly anything else there. You actually can't even drink water this pure, as it'll sequester minerals and ions from your perfectly balanced body fluids.

We use like 5 gallon tanks that need to be filled with our nano-pure water. I actually don't even know how many gallons in stores, but it's about a foot in diameter and about 2 feet tall. 

Here's the problem, we use a lot of water and nobody wants to fill the tank. The flow rate from the purifier is really slow and so the unfortunate soul that gets stuck with the job has to sit there and wait, wait, and wait some more.

What ends up happening is that they let it pour for a little bit and they come back later. You check it once, not full yet. You check it twice, not full yet. So you let go. You lose consciousness for two minutes and BAM! Water is going everywhere. The tank is filled to the brim and there is water on the cart that holds the tank. There is water on the floor, and it is spilling from the little room that holds the purifier into the giant lab space. Slowly, but surely, it oozes its way to the fish tank. There goes the next hour of my life, mopping!

 Honestly, this happens to EVERYBODY. If it hasn't happened to you, you're not initiated yet and you're still waiting to join the scientist's club. But why would the Pure Labs company not put a little valve on the spigot that prevent it from overflowing? It should be like a gas pump. You have to want it to spill 5 dollar per gallon gas everywhere.  

This would make scientists lives all over the world better... I think.

[themeatballsundae]

Easy and simple are not the same thing!

Generally speaking, easy and simple are used synonymously. However, I feel that most often what people are trying to say gets lost due the fact that these words can be used interchangeably, even though they are not the same thing! We can use nuances within their definitions to understand two concepts that lie at the heart of these words:

Definition of “easy” (New Oxford American Dictionary): Achieved without great effort.

Definition of “simple” (New Oxford American Dictionary): easily understood or done.

Using the word “easy” to describe the word “simple” confounds what we are trying to do: make a distinction between these words! So we can define simple in a new way:

Definition of “simple”: Understood without great effort.

When people say something is “easy” they really mean that it can be DONE without great effort. When people say that something is “simple” they really mean that it can be UNDERSTOOD without great effort. 

Running a marathon is simple. You run until you reach your goal, the concept is understood without great effort. But it is not easy! You train for months, if not years, for marathons! The effort is substantial.  

Practicing is simple. You practice things that you are not confortable with, until you are! Again, the concept is understood without effort.  Practicing is hard! It takes effort! 

But dig this. The harder you practice the easier playing music becomes, until it flows effortlessly from you to your audience.