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Sunday, July 31, 2005 |
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A new Bizdrivenlife Compilation I have been blogging for almost a year now, and it has been a gratifying experience, and I have made many new friends. I will continue to blog, but blogging has one slight disadvantage — it is good to comment on everyday things, but I do find it difficult to separate some of the articles that I have written that I feel is not only relevant today, but of some enduring value. The blog’s design makes it hard for us to separate this, as every new entry you put in pushes the article downwards and after a few days, to oblivion, seldom read again. I have thus taken some of my articles which I feel is of great interest, and set up another site which contains the best selected posts I've done and redesigned to read more like an e-book. This is separated into four categories which you can also directly browse into — on business, on life, on technology, and on entrepreneurship. I will also soon a compilation of computer columns I write for the papers, plus a project management guide that I am working on soon. I hope you can browse on these articles and give me feedback. Some friends have wanted me to compile it into a download, and I will, but I feel I need to get more feedback from all of you.
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Monday, July 25, 2005 |
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Risky Businesses, Good Businesses, Bad Businesses (EntrepreViews) There was a time when young when I thought that management and attitude were the cure-alls. Maybe I read too many inspirational stories in which your determination beats the odds. Now, maybe I am wiser, or maybe just older. After so many years, I have formed the conclusion many now knew -- sometimes, success just depends on luck, and sometimes, your industry and the economic scenario. You can be a great manager who happened to be in an industry where the situation is really bad, and no amount of talent or determination can turn things around. And many times, there are just so many bad managers who were just in the right place at the right time, and succeeded. So, the first thing you need to know before embarking on a business, is to know the industry you are in. Is it a conservative industry, or is it a risky industry. Is it in the period of growth, or just plain bad? For instance, for the last few years, you could be the best manager around, but no way you can turn around an industry like telecommunications, or computer hardware. In the last few months, you could be in oil industry when the prices zoom up, and you could be wildly profitable even if you make a lot of mistakes and waste. I have made some simplistic charts in which you can use to evaluate the industry you plan to be in. Of course, a lot of these hinges on risk versus returns.
This is a good chart that shows an industry which is conservative. You perform average, and you would break even. You are slightly unlucky or turn in a bad performance, and you would lose a little money. You perform really above average, and you would earn a little bit more. In short, there is little more return for good performance but then there is little to lose if you don't perform.
This is a good chart about a typical risky business. You have a slightly above average performance level, and you would earn much more, but you perform below par, and you would end up losing also a lot. However, a lot of businesses also fall a lot in between. The following is a business you don't want to be into:
This risky business needs a substantially high performance in order for you to break even. So, you are more likely to lose a lot of money if you don't perform really well. A performance that only breaks even in this industry could already have made you a lot of money in a different business or industry. This is what I would call a worse business scenario.
This is what I would call the worst business to be in.... It not only entails a high level of performance in order to break even, but performance higher than required will also yield low returns while a slight mistake could make you lose a lot of money. Now knowing 2 businesses that you don't want to be in, the businesses you want to be in is the exact opposite.
This is one of the better businesses you want to be in. It doesn't require a high level of performance to break even. So even mediocre performance can turn a very good return.
This is the ideal business you want to be in - the best scenario. It doesn't need a very good performance to break even, and even mediocre performance lose only a little money, while above breakeven performance over mediocre will mean a very good return. The overview is simplistic, but it would be a good rule of thumb to evaluate the business you want to be in. Does it offer good prospects of return even if you don't excel, or do you need to have a very high level of performance before it even breaks even.
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Monday, July 18, 2005 |
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The Not to Do and Not to Know List (On Life ) I was talking to a good friend who was interested in many of the things I do. He asked me how much I bought my shoes for. I said I honestly don't know. My wife bought it for me. He asked me how much was the tuition of my children in that particular school. I told him I also don't know. He also asked me how much was the plane fare I paid for the last trip I took. I said the office got that, but also I didn't really know. He was looking at me curiously, and I knew I had to come up with an explanation. I told him I trust my wife to make these judgments, and if it is something I don't need to know, I told her she did not have to tell me. I said I had to remember too many things in the office that I did not want to cram to my head too much information ( see also Offloading your brain article ). Anyway, I know where to look for the information should I need to know. This attitude was probably inculcated from me from some of the books I read, particularly Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's Sherlock Holmes series. I like detective and mysteries, and read a lot of them since I was small. Sherlock Holmes, of course, is a classic detective well known for his observation powers, great memory, and clear logic. I remember there was a passage where they were talking about the planets of the solar system, and the stars, and after making the inquiries, Sherlock Holmes announced that now he knew, he would take effort to forget what he has been told. When asked by Dr. Watson why, he said that while knowing the planets were interesting, he failed to see what good it would do in his crime detection work, and therefore did not want to put his head to remembering these 'useless' facts. Not having to remember useless facts means his head could also remember the useful facts better, he said. The reason why these make a particular impression was that while I take particular care on choosing what to know and what not to know, I was not very good in the other thing that is important in the success of business and life -- which is what we need to focus and do. Our success is not only in what we know, but in what we do, and for the last 20 years, I have lead a labyrinth of the most busy life, more often putting in 70 hour weeks. I have always taken pride in my ability to do things, and do indeed get myself involved in a lot of things. I have had always much more things to do than I had time to do it, and thus, for the longest time, have been a great fan of pocket and electronic organizers in how to prioritize, and organize the list. But whether electronic or paper, no tool was ever good enough, and it seems that the mountain of tasks just keep getting more and more. Then just other week, I read an article that hit me. This was a Business 2.0 article on The CEO Handbook, which details some compilations Raytheon CEO Bill Swanson advice on business management. This particular advice stuck me like a bolt of lightning, and although it was something I had thought of before, it was simplicity itself in the way it was presented that jolted. Basically the advice is that if you are already upto your neck in work, the first thing you do is to come up with a list ( fair enough, I know that one). But it was a different kind of list. Instead of coming up with a to-do list, you come up with a Not-to-do list! The first thing therefore you should think about is not what you want to do, but what you can delegate others to do, or not to do at all!
This is quite obvious, but I hope I can get a vote from my readers that the simplicity itself of the advice really struck home! I am sure many of the readers here are entrepreneurs like, and as entrepreneurs, we take pride in our ability to do things better than the others. But as we grow the company, we have to let go, and let others take the job -- and the credit. I have seen many entrepreneurs who do not have time to grow, becase they don't let go. They want to do everything themselves ( because they think they can do it better), and thus perpetually is not able to find time to grow the company. So, the tools of business and personal success -- the not to do and not to know list. What do you think?
2:52:18 PM comment [] trackback []
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Sunday, July 10, 2005 |
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What is important to me (On Life )
I saw this in an Ecademy post, and thought it mirrors more or less what I myself yearn for in developing proper attitude towards:
Fame - I like a bit of Fame, but not of the celebrity sort - more to do with being known and talked about in good terms.
Money - yes but only because I have to earn it - 'the game is the thing - the money is just a way of keeping score'
Power - only in terms of being in control of my own destiny rather than anything to do with power over others.
Influence - Yes very important - I get as much satisfaction from influencing and developing my staff as I do from influencing my customers.
But what is really important to me is ACHEIVEMENT - I use my business to fulfill that personal need more than anything.
That's me too!
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Saturday, July 09, 2005 |
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Business Failure highest in the First two Years (EntrepreViews) According to Small Business Trends, a survey noted that, across sectors, 66 percent of new establishments were still in existence 2 years after their birth, and 44 percent were still in existence 4 years after. It noted that most of the businesses do indeed have a higher rate of failure in the first 2 years. The sector with the lowest rate of failure was in education and health services, while the highest rate of failure was in information technology.
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Tuesday, July 05, 2005 |
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How an entrepreneur Operates (entrepreviews) I saw this on a post at Multiply, which is a new ( one more!) business networking site, and thought it interesting that I would post it here. Incidentally, Multiply is a nice site, and I am trying to test blog there as well. ------
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Sunday, July 03, 2005 |
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A Great Time to Start a Business (EntrepreViews) The other day, I posted a link that quoted Joe Krauss as saying this is the best time to be an entrepreneur. Here is another article from well known blogger and venture capitalist, Paul Allen of Infobase Ventures ( Provo Utah) who says in his Connect magazine article, this is probably one of the best time to start a company. Other than what was cited in the previous article, Paul also stressed the advantages of lower costs of communication, the ease of getting customers worldwide, as well as the ability to network and recruit as major factors on why it is easier than ever to start a business. Honestly, I was originally drawn to Paul Allen's blog thinking that he was THE Paul Allen, the co-founder of Microsoft together with Bill Gates. He names himself Paul Allen, the lesser , although he has accomplished a lot. I also salute him for his numerous efforts to teach in the university, his insight into business, as well as his outreach effort for his church. Its a great time to be an entrepeneur...
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Friday, July 01, 2005 |
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A Great Time to be an Entrepreneur (EntrepreViews) Joe Krauss, who has a great blog on entrepreneurship, and also founder of Excite, thinks it He says hardware is cheaper, software is more powerful yet cheaper if not free, there is a lot of outsourcing to global countries at lower cost, and it is a faster and cheaper way to advertise through blogs, Search Engine Optimization, and the like instead of expensive tv and print advertising. 5:18:45 PM comment [] trackback []
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Last update: 7/31/2005; 9:42:12 PM .
