Something a little different this time around. A few things that made me think a bit.
 
 
The other day I had a conversation with a friend about understanding or realizing how others perceive your actions. It could be considered empathy maybe. Understanding people. But further to that, how you react to how those people react to you. It reminded me of the things the business/marketing/social evangelizer Gary V speaks about self-awareness. I don’t always have the bandwidth to follow everything he puts out (he puts a ton of free content out, not expecting anything in return; Jab Jab Right Hook) although I keep tabs on things that pique my attention.
(link Gary Vee: My In-Depth Look At Emotional Intelligence)
 
 
There was an interesting episode of How I Built This this week. They interviewed Manoj Bhargava who started 5 Hour Energy. You really have to listen tot he whole thing to really get it, but a few ear/brain-worm tidbits were:
– In naming the product/brand 5 Hour Energy, he understands function – you only have less than 1/2 second for a consumer to either buy it or not buy it – in a half second you need to communicate, “what do you do” “what are you” “what are you about”
– “business is one of those things, you have to do everything right and then you have to get lucky” … “anyone who says luck isn’t part of it, is just arrogant.”
– on copycats and market share, they dropped from 93% down to 63%, then now back to 93% – “people forget, you have to have a great product”
(link to podcast – look for March 13th 2017 episode)
 
 
I know a few business owners in various fields or industries. I really admire the ones who can really put together a plan (I don’t like the term business plan as those have become synonymous with the pitch documents for funding, maybe I should call it putting together a roadmap) and follow it, making adjustments along the way as needed, but really having a vision and seeing it become reality. Anyway, I know 2 retail hospitality shops (a coffee shop and a bakery), who I actually knew separately before ever knowing they knew each other, and over the past year they got together and opened a 3rd location together as partners. Quite a great feat. Ton of hard work. Physically and mentally. Recently one of them posted about an article the other had shared about how entrepreneurs struggle silently, that there’s a sense that they can’t talk about depression and anxiety.
(link Inc: The Psychological Price of Entrepreneurship)
“Build a life centered on the belief that self-worth is not the same as net worth,” it’s important to feel successful in areas unrelated to work.
 
 
Those were just a couple of things that caught my attention recently, a little deeper this time. Till next time..