start me up!

How do you do "speed-friending?"

Here's my idea: you use a face-to-face LinkedIn gathering to do "speed-befriending." Just like in "speed-dating," you go from table to table and talk to someone for a few minutes and determine whether there is a match, based on stuff like location, interests, activities and all that. There would have to be a series of rules in place to help keep us from, you know, using the event for dating or recruiting new customers -- which in my mind would be equally bad at such an event. LOL

But after the event, it's up to the folks who make friends to decide what they're going to do next with that. This is, of course, not the same as "speed-networking," in which you are in a room with several numbered tables for four and a moderator rings a bell every 12 minutes. Each person talks about his/her business for 2-3 minutes until everyone has shared. Business cards are traded and when the bell rings you head for the next table.

Contributors: Kelly Karius, Kelli Bond, Bradley Benson, Lisa Van Allen, Linda Fredrick, Justin Trowbridge, Marcella Rousseau, Wilton Alston, and a couple nice anonymous people.

Strengths:

• You can quickly build up a support network; the more exposure you get, the better
• Strong personalities are controlled by the nature of quick meetings
• You can assess what people really want in a couple of tries
• This may attract people with the same types of personality qualities

Weaknesses:

• You could make snap judgments – making business contacts involves more complex forms
• of decision-making; never mind what it takes to make friends
• The results could "feel weird"
• People lie about themselves; they even lie TO themselves
• You have time to make a bad first impression, but not enough time to make a good one (LOL)
• This may attract people with the same types of personality qualities (LOL)

Opportunities:

• This may increase communication between neighbors; it’s "networking practice"
• This may open up unforeseen mentoring opportunities
• It can really be done anywhere – though would you want to?

Threats:

• Some may find a potential friend "creepy."
• Some may try to use the meeting to drum up business

Avoiding the threats:

• May involve a complicated setup like using a central person to hold on to the contact information
• You need carefully planned rules to prevent attendees from trying to sell something
• May require each round of meeting people to involve a central topic; you may need a next level to give people a chance to consider one another more carefully; you may also need a quick exit (LOL)
• Be prepared to follow up, make coffee dates, and get permission to add folks to your newsletter/ezine/blog

Labels: recommendations

posted by Ron @ 8:46 PM 0 comments

Teamwork v. Collaboration per Patricia Martin

The book is called "RenGen," by Patricia Martin. Her thesis is that we are in general, and the USA in particular, on the edge of a new Renaissance. That many of the social signs marking the onset of the first Renaissance are in place today. One of the highlights of a Renaissance is the emergence of droves of creative people.

Creative people demand collaboration rather than top-down management. Top-down management, known to some as "command and control," is an artifact of the Industrial Revolution, and was probably at the peak of its influence in the USA in the 1950s and 1960s. I have talked before about war-monger managers, who read works like Sun Tzu's "The Art of War" and draw management inferences from them. These guys are the ultimate top-down types. Please don't get me wrong, by the way: command and control management has its place, for instance in the military, where instructions tend to be simple and imperative, and many things must be learned through repetition until perfected. I'm just saying -- and I think Martin is saying it too -- that you can't run a whole business with that technique. At the very least, you won't draw creative people to work in that environment.

Creative people can lead as well as follow, which is different from the critical "team-player" concept seen in many contemporary job ads. The concept of the team-player suggests someone who can only follow. There's a limit to how much mileage you can get from a company full of followers. Some managers don't like leaders, however, because they want to avoid discussion and confrontation over all tasks in the company. LOL But many creative people, as said above, can do both -- and if they can recognize (or be taught) when leadership is needed, and whom it's needed from, then you'll find very valuable employees who can switch roles to fulfill specific needs. Martin gives an example of an orchestra that doesn't have a conductor. How would that work?

Sociability matters in this context. People who get along with people, and who are creative, are the most valuable players of all in this new context. Martin gives numerous examples of highly creative companies who find these people and succeed as a result.

Finally, talent attracts talent. The leader/followers tend to have specialties that complement one another. And these people love to work in companies where other such people work. Even if they must work harder and for less.

Labels: history, recommendations

posted by Ron @ 2:16 PM 0 comments

How to ask a question!

Most people haven't thought about this, because we've asked questions all our lives. It's how we learn. But the fact is that we aren't very good at it, and because we're not very good at it, we don't usually get the answers we're really looking for. So now here we are in the age of blogging and social networking, and in these environments we ask questions the same way we ask our best friend when we're sitting at the bar.

Not me, man. If I'm going to go to the effort of typing up a question, I'm going to make sure I ask one that will get me some good answers and not make me look like a bloomin' idiot. This was a skill people had to master in the days when Usenet filled the role that social networking plays now, and I (at least) have not forgotten it. So here's how to ask a question properly:

• Don't leave hints as to what you believe is the "correct" answer. Be neutral, or someone who might've helped you will leave off.
• Don't leave terms undefined. This of course includes jargon and acronyms, but also includes any term with multiple meanings. Be explicit.
• Ask one question at a time. Don't throw in extras with "oh by the way" or "let me also ask." Don't confuse the issue.
• Don't use the question as an ad for your services. You ANSWER questions for THAT.
• Do thank people who take the trouble to answer you. And be polite about it. Some people will give answers that have already been said by someone else; some will give trivial answers or will say something that reflects no knowledge at all. If you act like you're put out by that, others will see you as using people instead of valuing their opinions.
• Do summarize what you hear for the benefit of all. That's what Rhetoric for Engineers is all about: a collection of summaries. This satisfies the dozens of people out there who have the same questions you do, but for whatever reason have not asked them. It's OK for them to depend on you.

It may not be your primary goal to keep your name out there, if you're using your blog or membership in a social networking site to get your questions answered, but it can be a good secondary goal. If you do a good job of asking and answering questions, your name will get out there. You'll find some people will even want to know you for it.

Labels: internet, recommendations

posted by Ron @ 10:52 PM 0 comments

The search for a personal brand

I'm out to get a personal brand. This is the result of my reading of Casnocha's My Start-Up Life -- see what happens? But I've got a gig coming up -- I wrote a paper for the Trenton Computer Festival and have to present it a week from today -- and I want to have a brand more-or-less in place by then. Turns out people have heard about this paper, a comparison of MySpace, Facebook and LinkedIn from the professional's point of view, and they think (for whatever reason) that it's pretty cool. I am getting some unexpected attention regionally. And after all these years of being used to being invisible. LOL

The brand thing has so far escaped me, at least as far as particular strategy is concerned. I will tell you a couple of general principles I have picked up and would like to apply:

1. I might need a nickname. I say this because in this country my name is not as unique as I might like. Even if you Google me two mathematicians come up ahead of me. Who cares about mathematicians? LOL
2. I need an online identity. This is kind of a shame because I have already been on the Internet longer than anyone else you know, young as you are. LOL It is easy enough to find my work on the Internet, but I have yet to identify myself with it, "advertise" it. As a result, I find I get discouraged about it sometimes and let it sit there.
3. I need an answer to the question "what do you do?" And it has to be something other than the stuff I do on the job during the work day. If it's the same, I am branding my employer. And I assure you, my employer doesn't need it.
4. I gotta have one defined, consuming passion. I have lots of areas I really like, but I have to pick one, get behind it, and use it to make a first impression that really IS an impression. You do not get a second chance to make a first impression.
5. THEN I must get all that out there. I will probably have to reinvent my Web site and get business cards and stuff like that.

I'm working on the business cards even now. But the consuming passion stuff, that's always been the source of my fears. If I pick the wrong passion, do I close doors behind me? Do I have to give up the other stuff I like?

Labels: recommendations

posted by Ron @ 4:00 PM 0 comments

Further notes on PowerPoint

I used LinkedIn to seek out further information about PowerPoint above and beyond what is in the Rhetoric for Engineers lecture notes.

Christopher Huntley

I use PowerPoint all the time for documenting items like administrative tasks which require screen shots and some bullet points for step by step performance. I like it because it flows easily through many processes. When using it for a presentation, however, the rule of 6 applies:

• No more than 6 slides without a picture
• No more than 6 bullet points per slide
• No more than 6 words per bullet point

Bullet points are there to keep it simple. If everything the presenter can tell me can be [and maybe has been] put on a PowerPoint slide then why do I need the presenter?

When I give a presentation I expect to provide information that is not on the slides thus requiring thought and the audience paying attention.

Daniel Jatovsky

What a presenter should do is write and practice a speech without the use of PowerPoint at all. Such a speech should be interesting and compelling on its own. Then you add PowerPoint to illustrate key points and highlight important concepts.

Kevin Maloney

Your presentation and PowerPoint slides should be above all things persuasive. To be successful one should use PowerPoint as a visual aid: more graphs, pictures, visuals, etc.; fewer words and bullet points.

Christopher Lininger

Atkinson, C. Beyond Bullet Points: Using Microsoft Office PowerPoint 2007 to Create Presentations That Inform, Motivate, and Inspire

Tim Shea

I like the 10-20-30 rule: A power point presentation should have no more than 10 slides, not last longer than 20 minutes, and have no font size smaller than 30.

Robert de Loght

As for all presentations, the basis of it all should be a good plan, an overall structure that clearly points out which message has to be conveyed and how. This assumes planning and preparation - often a weak element.

Links supplied by various contributors:

• http://blog.guykawasaki.com/2007/05/worlds_best_pre.html
• http://www.robertgaskins.com/
• http://www.talkingcure.com/
• http://www.powerfulpresentationsalliance.com
• http://www.worldchampionsedge.com/edge/index.cfm?affiliateid=939
• http://profcs.com/app/?af=551965

I will throw in just one further comment myself here: one quick way to judge the readability of a slide is to place it on the floor and try to read it yourself standing up. If you can read your slide from that position, chances are your audience can see it from some distance from the projector.

Labels: recommendations

posted by Ron @ 11:13 PM 0 comments

How does a small company attract and retain top talent?

These are summarized from a discussion, kicked off by Yogesh Jain on LinkedIn two months ago. There were some outstanding answers, and I may have picked too many of them as is!

Jeff Goodell – there is a great opportunity for upward mobility within the company, that is, there is a great possibility for transitioning into roles of greater responsibility and at a greater pace.

Joy Jennings –
- Eliminate bureaucracy and/or layers of approval
- Give more vacation time than other companies in your industry
- Empower employees -- give them responsibility if they want it
- Encourage flex time -- let them come and go as they need

Andy Newman – consider educational opportunities and training development as retention tools. [And] regular communication is essential in small companies. If people don't know what is going on there they will bail for a large company.

Matthew Bowie – as long as the company doesn't have unsettling change, and shows employees just how much they mean, you will most-likely find the company with long-term employees just because they like staying in a family-type environment.

Janna Kay – bring your dog to work Fridays, bagel Tuesdays, yoga Wednesdays, team building exercises off site, flexible hours, believe and support work/life balance, supreme benefits package, great pay, mutual respect, positive company culture, bottom up input on company culture and policies, etc.

George F. Franks III – most people leave due to their boss. So it is very important that all managers and supervisors (anyone leading people) be trained, monitored, coached and that their employees have opportunities to provide feedback on THEM.

Joseph Campagna III – you can attract heavy hitters with the promise of future payout. Private stock option plans and profit sharing are two easy ways to do this. Multitudes will leave cushy Fortune 500 jobs if there is the opportunity [for more] than just a paycheck, even if it's [for] a long haul.

Larry Boyer – small companies are often able to go after and win some very interesting project work simply because large companies don't look at anything under a certain dollar amount and/or their overhead is so large as to make them uncompetitive with small companies.

Becky Fitzgerald – Knowledge workers care about being valued and adding value - make sure you acknowledge both sincerely, if you cannot, you won't keep them.

Michael MacKenna – Attention Small Business Owners and Management: INCLUDE your people in the decision process, open the doors, invite them to meetings, and your talent retention will increase right along with your profits.

Vimal Menon – there are many small companies who have a good work culture, code of conduct and ethics, high values which ensure the employees give back something to the society and also help them grow in confidence.

Lee Cendana – I would... include that a small company offer the best employee fringe benefits package as possible: medical, dental, vision, life, and/or cafeteria. [Also] Ben Codi – the PEO (Professional Employer Organization)… helps small organizations attract and retain talent by providing the benefits and hr support highly qualified employees expect in this competitive business environment.

Labels: recommendations

posted by Ron @ 4:20 PM 0 comments

The Many Weaknesses of MySpace

I weighed in on LinkedIn not long ago, and I admit I was hasty in my assessment there. I'm gonna do up a new one. But now I want to address MySpace. It's absolutely terrible for most entrepreneurs. The biggest weakness you can see in this conversation I had with my daughter about it:

Ron: myspace question.
Ron: how can i search for keywords in a profile?
Ron: if i do a people search for a keyword, i only get a response if that keyword is in the member's "name." that thing over the photo.
Beth: i don't think its possible
Ron: i was afraid of that.
Ron: it's the biggest weakness in myspace.
Ron: i can't find the people i really wanna connect to without that ability.
Ron: even uncle roger, most of the friends we've gotten for him have come from other people's friends.
Ron: i just can't learn enough from a photo and a caption to tell who it is i want to network with.

But this is MOST people. I try to do a keyword search on MySpace, and I don't normally get keywords that appear in a member's profile. Most of the time, the keyword appears in the caption over the photo, as seen in the photos above, or in some sort of news article. So as a networking tool, I am left without search capability to assist me.

On the other hand, MySpace works pretty well for bands, and some authors and comedians. Because MySpace is designed for nearly random connecting between people, professions that depend on such randomness can flourish there. I can't. I can't even establish an identity.

Labels: recommendations

posted by Ron @ 11:33 PM 0 comments

The Sentinel at the Gate of Success

A guy wrote me frustrated about being unable to get giant companies to advertise on his Web site. The exchange went something like this:

It's apparent the big manufacturers shield their marketing divisions from the real world... well it at least appears that way. So, how does a new corporation pierce those shields and get in contact with the decision makers?

Take PepsiCola... I would love to talk to these people about advertising on ScubaBoard. With over a million visitors each and every month, I think I provide a worthwhile venue for them to promote Pepsi and Scuba. The same can be said for Toyota and Rolex and... take your pick. So far, it has not only been difficult, but downright impossible to make these connections. How would YOU accomplish this?

With my response,

I tried this once before -- encouraging a start-up to send samples of its flagship product to 12 influential potential customers. It didn't cost them much, but they received a response from exactly none of them. The lesson we learned is one of perception: if an advertiser perceives itself to be bigger than you are, it will not be for you to approach them. You will come off looking like you have your hat in your hand looking for a handout. It is for them to approach you.

I still believe that you can reach them via influential customers. If you have (for instance) a celebrity -- even one -- who depends on your site for scuba information, that celebrity's testimonial will be enough to draw more advertisers, which will lead to a stronger set of customers, and the cycle continues. This is the result of viral marketing.

In short, your efforts will not be best spent trying to lure heavyweights (and pulling your hair out when they don't respond). Spend your time trying to build a buzz among those who love you already, and see if you can't lure an influential customer or two to speak out.

I'm not real satisfied with my answer. He isn't either. But there's more ground to cover before he can reel in a big name advertiser.

Labels: recommendations

posted by Ron @ 11:06 PM 0 comments

Maybe the best impromptu comment on entrepreneurship EVER!

This snippet was published by Peter Nguyen of careerknowledge.net on LinkedIn. Clearly I am going to have to rethink my previous position on LinkedIn, which was made in needless haste.

"Entrepreneurship" is a big word that tends to scare many people.

But it's quite simple: It's about creating a product that you own.

Once you've created it, you can sell it to thousands of people and make lots of money while creating a lot of happiness. Even better news: these customers will help you to constantly improve the product!

The alternative is to get a job, which you can never own and where you cannot create any new product. If you do create a product within a corporate setting, all rights and royalties will belong to the employer.

So young people have a very clear choice: either create a product they own, or find a job they do not and will never own.

Regarding the "long hours," here's my thought: if you have a "long reach," you will not need to work "long hours."

By "long reach," I mean an extensive network of qualified experts and contractors. Why do ALL the work when you can outsource to others who can do it MUCH BETTER than you?

An entrepreneur should focus with laser precision only on what he does BEST, and outsource the rest. In the entrepreneurial game, "excellence" is the key, not "control."

An entrepreneur should focus on maximizing his joy at creating, using his desire, creativity and talents, a product or business that will help him reach his financial (or other) goals. He can only help others (family, community) by the clarity of his personal example. He cannot help them by doing things FOR them because that would teach people that they cannot do it for themselves.

He can only be a crystal-clear example of strong, unstoppable desire and prolific imagination. He can only walk his own unique path.

As others see him, they will think: "Hey, if he can do it, I can do it too!"

"Why aspire to entrepreneurship?" To inspire the world!

Labels: recommendations

posted by Ron @ 11:27 PM 0 comments

Paralysis by Paralysis

I used to hear the old saw "paralysis by analysis," referring to engineers keeping product from shipping because of needing more analysis. Well, OK. But it turns out that we all have a similar phenomenon we have to deal with sometimes. This "paralysis by paralysis" is marked by an inability to decide what to do next. We're frozen in place while we figure it out. We're afraid of doing the wrong thing. We may have forgotten something important, and so we go on a desperate search for a lost memory. And in between, we hit this really annoying period of total confusion. Sound familiar?

You might ask yourself:

• Which is worse: to do the wrong thing, or to do nothing at all?
• If I were prepared for my next action, what difference would it make?
• Is it better to ask forgiveness than permission?

This paralysis will leave you with the shivers, because the boss might come along.

• What happens then, if you do a good thing, but it's the wrong good thing, and the boss asks what's going on with the right good thing?
• What happens if you're paralyzed, doing nothing, and the boss comes along?

Action leads to more action -- as long as good deeds go unpunished. LOL The same way, inaction leads to more inaction, though with short bursts of misplaced, unappreciated fanaticism.

You've got to overcome this!

There is no substitute for planning and prioritizing.

• Take maybe 15 minutes at the start of the day to figure out what tasks will give you the biggest payoff. Those are the tasks you concentrate on.
• And you've got to commit to following the payoff, and concentrating on those high-payoff tasks.
• Take maybe 15 minutes at the end of the day -- you're winding down by then anyway -- to examine yourself and the payoff on your tasks, and ask yourself whether you did the right thing. If the answer is no, then you can think about how you might have misjudged what makes a big payoff.
• Be willing to hold on to some discipline and see what happens. If nothing else, your patience will make you stronger.
• If you feel paralysis coming on, and you fear the coming of the boss, then take pre-emptive action: go see the boss, and get clarification on a couple of tasks. Let the boss prioritize for you. It'll not only get you off dead center, but it'll delay the boss's next visit.
• Don't forget: some actions have to be taken, and some jobs finished, before we can really see what's next. What you think may be an order of events may be masked by something that has to be done up front.

Labels: recommendations, rhetoric

posted by Ron @ 11:45 PM 0 comments

The laws of time estimates

I was once given a rule by folks much wiser than I: when you are estimating how long it will take you to finish a job, always take your original estimate, multiply it by two, add one, and raise to the next higher unit. What you THINK can be done in two days you tell others will be done in five weeks. This way you can at least be sure you will get the two days.

Labels: consulting, recommendations

posted by Ron @ 9:17 PM 0 comments

I never valued networking enough...

...but I'm learning to place the right value on it. At my age, and at this stage in my career, it's not only more critical than it ever was, it's more difficult to ignore. I've met so many people -- why should I allow bridges to be burned with them? But in the past, that's exactly what I've done! I can't use the excuse that "engineers don't know how to do it" any more, either. I've been away from engineering for too long. Consultant Debra Fine gives a list of strategies that are sometimes overlooked for networking, and I wanna add comments to it:

1. Make yourself look approachable.
2. Make other people feel comfortable.
3. Set a specific task or goal for events.
4. Ask open-ended questions.
5. Express your interest in follow-up.

What she doesn't discuss in the article is the need to take a strategic approach to networking:

• Know before you attend an event what your networking goal is, because fortune favors the well-prepared. Even though chance occurrences may lead to your best networking opportunities, you must prepare as though chance will play no role at all. You must be ready.
• And you must have a ready answer to those who give you an opening, whether the opening comes through chance or preparation. I always tell entrepreneurs to be ready to explain their business idea within seven seconds in case they meet a rich investor on an elevator. But if you are that ready, you can give more information easily when a longer opportunity comes along.
• Don't just talk, listen. And don't you think for a minute that you can't leave an impression by listening.
• If you make a contact, make sure you write down the context. Make a note not only who the contacts are, but the way you met them and what -- as specifically as you can remember, without actually writing in front of them -- was discussed. And keep the records in a file! And keep the file where you can find it!

OK, I think I can rest easy now. This stuff was what I wanted most to remember. LOL

Labels: recommendations

posted by Ron @ 11:58 PM 0 comments

More lessons from editing resumes

A good friend of mine asked me to look over her resume. I don't have permission to repost it here, but I had some comments and thought I'd better summarize them.

• She's after a job as an assistant office manager. The job description gives some characteristics of the person the company wants. She did a good job of pointing out in her resume, and emphasizing in a cover letter, the ways she exceeds the minimums in the position description. Give 'em more than they want.
• She says she's got experience with "the Internet and Windows XP." Both of those are broad, and she needs to tighten that up by giving specific examples of experience. I suggested that evidence of Internet experience could be provided in the resume if she shows either that she knows Web-creation codes (e.g. HTML, JavaScript, Java, etc.), or Web-creation programs (e.g. FrontPage, DreamWeaver, etc.), or applications other than Web searching (e.g. FTP, e-mail list management, etc.), and she took advantage of that. As for Windows XP, she should demonstrate the basics, like disk cleanup and defrag, changing default printers, etc.
• She hasn't graduated yet, and lists "some college coursework," and gives the major. She needs to say how much she has left. She's got a good major -- it matches the company's interests -- and they may want her to finish up. Use even a partial education for leverage.
• She has impressive work experience for a young person, but needs to show examples of accomplishments, not just assignments. Something like "trusted with the responsibility of a customer service supervisor." And "managed insurance card and policy package distribution, as well as training meetings for sales agents."
• Finally, if the editing she does makes her resume longer, she must try to cut it back to a single page by making the font a size smaller or fiddling with the margins.

All this stuff is simple but will enhance her attractiveness to the company. And it didn't hurt me to go through it. :-)

Labels: education, recommendations, rhetoric

posted by Ron @ 6:09 PM 0 comments

Summary of problems with "Grindhouse"

This is a summary of the problem(s) with Grindhouse gleaned from reviewers and blogs. Some of the statements here are direct quotes, but there is a link to each original review.

Before you read these, take note that IMDB already lists Grindhouse in its top 100 movies EVER. And based on a significant number of votes. That could be a sign (to me it certainly IS) that a bad first weekend at the box office is a poor way to judge a movie's quality. This is a lesson that should not be lost on entrepreneurial filmmakers. (Which is the best way, perhaps, to describe Robert Rodriguez, who submitted himself for scientific experiments to raise money to make El Mariachi.)


This picture is something I made myself from the Grindhouse official Web site -- a nice feature. The actors are Freddy Rodriguez and Marley Shelton, from the "Planet Terror" segment.

1. [review] The directors treat their own product like an in-joke.
2. [review] At three hours and 11 minutes, it’s a bit of a slog — especially on a Tuesday morning.
3. [review] Your friends may not even know about it.
4. [review] There aren’t enough fans of obscure B-movies.
5. [review] The second half of Grindhouse ("Death Proof") slows down the whole experience, and Quentin Tarantino’s dialogue doesn't deliver enough interest to recover from the action lost.
   
   (This is the same complaint my son makes -- he hates Tarantino for it. But the same writer above also says Kurt Russell isn't so great. There I can't agree: Russell brings back memories of one of my favorite roles, Old Jack Burton.)
   
   
6. [review] Whatever Tarantino and Rodriguez’s intentions, the [films are] sadistic, filled with sex, nudity, profanity and [buckets] of blood.
   
   (Yeah, that's what they did in those exploitation flicks. I know it's a new generation, but could the writer really not have known this going in?)
   
   
7. [review] They should have opened in on fewer screens and let a buzz build, and over time release it on more screens.
8. [review] Recent films like Shaun of the Dead [...] and dozens of others have all done what Grindhouse sets out to do, which is pay respect to the past work that inspired them.

The solution is NOT

1. To split the movies apart. Especially for the DVD version -- that's where Grindhouse would make up a fair amount of its theater losses. Tarantino and most of the reviewers say (and correctly) that the movie experience is best enjoyed in the theater. But that doesn't take away the value of the movies themselves.
   
   Nevertheless, some writers say (and correctly) that Grindhouse is just too long, and the two features each could've been shortened. (Cut down the dialogue in "Death Proof" by 15 minutes and you're done with that one, with no loss of value.)
   
   
2. To give up on the genre and make cookie-cutter stuff like
   Blades of Glory or Are We Done Yet? just because it looks like that's what most of America wants. Even if most of America DOES want that, not ALL of us do.

Labels: diversions, recommendations, young entrepreneurs

posted by Ron @ 8:22 PM 0 comments

What would be the worst thing in the world to drive behind?

I'll give you a hint: it's not the guys who hit their brakes for no reason. Though they clearly suck. It's this:

It's not enough that there are ads on every surface that will stay stationary long enough for an ad to be posted. Now, we have to have them driving on the road right in front of us, as dangerous as if we were watching TV at the wheel. Possibly even worse: though the ability to impress ads on thin vinyl is impressive, it can't be read except at the right light -- but it CAN get our eyes off what we're supposed to be doing, even when we CAN'T read it.

The London buses have the right solution: get the moving ads on the side for pedestrians -- that's where the traffic tends to be in cities anyway -- and use the more traditional stationary ads on the back, so drivers won't have something else fighting for their concentration.

Labels: recommendations

posted by Ron @ 8:57 PM 0 comments

A great invention for an entrepreneur's car

What any entrepreneur needs if the business involves a lot of driving, especially in the so-called "Garden State": deer insurance. Deer are a menace! I've hit two in the last two years. They run out in the street with no warning, and you can't miss 'em when they do that. They are too stupid to avoid cars, and are a danger to the lives of drivers and passengers, not to mention to themselves.

This site tells us that

A deer insurance was suggested but discounted since "every dink in a car would be blamed on a deer hit."

I don't buy it. Not every "dink in a car" can be accompanied by the carcass of a stupid deer. Those are the words of someone who doesn't want to think the problem through.

And don't get me started on so-called "animal lovers" who oppose extending deer hunts. If you are like that, you need to get it through your head that you are doing deer no favors! They will ultimately die anyway, crossing roads stupidly as they do! AND they will endanger motorists, and possibly the children of motorists, on their way to their own destruction.

But I digress again.

Though reducing the population of an animal with no natural predators left (at least in this state) will help spare danger to drivers, there are many other methods that will help. One interesting idea from the above site is

Deer-movement activated signs are being studied.

But deer insurance must be examined closely, even if it costs more than standard auto insurance, just as flood insurance costs more than home insurance. Entrepreneurs who drive should go to bat for this.

Labels: recommendations

posted by Ron @ 9:42 PM