Fifteen years ago I started a business from the second bedroom of my apartment. I had very limited funds and no experience in the sector that I intended to operate in. Before I started I shared my business plan with my friends and family. The majority of them advised me against proceeding. A good mate of mine, who is now an extremely successful businessman in his own right, told me bluntly – “forget about it mate; it’ll never work.” Other people were more diplomatic but their advice was the same – don’t do it.

Today that business is the market leader in its sector and it continues to grow every year. It has a great brand that is recognised widely by consumers across Australia and New Zealand. In short, it was (and is) a winner.

All the advice that people gave me early on was well-intentioned. Certainly none of it was mean-spirited. In their minds they were looking after my best interests. My good mate now tells me – “mate, don’t listen to me – what would I know!”

The point is I listened to their counsel but I made my own decisions. I had done the work (they hadn’t) and I knew that there was risk involved but that success was possible with hard work and some luck. I pushed the button, moved forward and never looked back.

The writer, GK Chesterton, once wrote “I owe my success to having listened respectfully to the very best advice, and then going away and doing the exact opposite.” He makes a good point and that is to listen to your own instincts and trust your gut when making key business and life decisions. Sometimes you’ll need to take calculated risks but that is quite different from being rash or making ill-informed decisions.

The worst business decisions that I have made were when I placed more faith in the advice of others (incl. so-called “experts”) than I did in my (gut) instincts. Basically when I trust my gut I mostly do well; when I ignore my gut I do badly. I don’t make snap decisions but neither do I delay unnecessarily. I get outside advice when I need to. I collect information from wherever I can. I need to know enough, but not everything, to allow me to make an educated choice. When I feel uncomfortable I don’t proceed. Admittedly, I’ve gotten better at this as the years go by.

The trick in trusting your gut is to block out all the extraneous noise and distractions around you. Focus closely on the essence of the matter at hand and pull it apart until you understand it at its core. This will simplify the decision making process. Most issues are a lot less complicated than they first appear.

Trusting your gut is an important business skill. You get better at it with experience. Kenny Rogers’ famous line “you got to know when to hold ‘em, know when to fold ‘em, know when to walk away, know when to run” sums it up nicely. Thankfully in 1995 I trusted my instincts and decided to hold ‘em, despite widespread advice to fold ‘em. I’m glad I listened to my gut…

Have a great week.

MOVE-ON is a suitcase collection that addresses some issues frequently faced by people who travel.

The concept of “traveler” is a bit outdated and the modern nomads are in fact “experience seekers” who need more than just tools for their journeys.
With MOVE-ON we want to show how suitcases can be as practical and beautiful as they have always been, but with a little plus.

• SURFN is fully functional as a regular suitcase, but with a twist. It is robust, aesthetically pleasant and high quality yet, with an extra: the fun factor. It converts into a scooter or you can also use it to carry more pieces of luggage on it.
• RIDN provides a sitting area while keeping a robust, cutting edge design. We know how tiring it is to be waiting in long check-in lines without having where to sit.
• STROLLN is the best way for you to carry your stuff and give a panoramic ride to your baby. Leave the stroller at home and just travel with this suitcase, which is also a stroller!

Visit here

The Environmental Protection Agency and the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration are cleaning up cars. Well the labels anyway.

All new cars and light-duty trucks sold in the U.S. are required to have a label that displays fuel economy information that is designed to help consumers make easy and well-informed comparisons between vehicles. Most people recognize the current label (or “window sticker”) by the gas tank graphic and city and highway Miles Per Gallon (MPG) information. EPA has provided fuel economy estimates in City and Highway MPG values for more than 30 years (see how fuel economy has changed).

EPA and the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) are updating this label to provide consumers with simple, straightforward energy and environmental comparisons across all vehicles types, including electric vehicles (EV), plug-in hybrid electric vehicles (PHEV), and conventional gasoline/diesel vehicles. The agencies are incorporating new information, such as ratings on fuel economy, greenhouse gas emissions, and other air pollutants, onto the label as required by the Energy Independence and Security Act (EISA) of 2007.

The agencies are proposing two different label designs (see right) and are eager to gather public input. Specifically, which design, or design features, would best help you compare the fuel economy, fuel costs, and environmental impacts of different vehicles.  Submit a comment on the proposed labels.

For more information on the proposed fuel economy label redesign, please see the Proposed Rule, the proposed labels, and related documents.

Heard this recently; “There’s always room for improvement”? What about “if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it”?

W. Edwards Deming was an American engineer and statistician who educated the Japanese about quality control for the best part of the last century. Imagine that.

He was worshipped in Japan for his ability to find continual improvements in the manufacturing process. He proved time and time again that there is always room for improvement. At the same time the Japanese evolved into a “quality” power-house, America continued to churn out variable rubbish, apparently (according to my lecturer who was actively involved) justifying their manufacturing process with the thinking “if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.”

So at the same time, in the same industries, Japan and America, lived by the contradictory cliches: ”There’s always room for improvement” (Japan) and ”if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it” (America).

Very opposite, yet both (commonly) exist and are still frequently used, without most of us ever questioning them directly.

Lets look at a few more of these contradictory cliches?

“Look before you leap” VS “He who hesitates is lost”

“You’re never too old to learn” VS “You can’t teach an old dog new tricks”

“Stick to your knitting” VS “Don’t keep all your eggs in one basket”

“Many hands make light work” VS “Too many cooks spoil the broth”

The scary thing about clichés is that we think they represent common wisdom, and so we hesitate to question them. I’ve seen a well timed cliché end an argument stone cold, such can be the power of this perceived ‘common wisdom’.

This article is in one part a reminder to question those clichés, and another part about reminiscing on some engineering learning (which I rarely get to do). But please don’t take my word for it… because common wisdom is often unwise.

image via Lexus

“these companies are taking something great, that belongs to all of us, repackaging it and selling it back to us. And we think we are getting something great in return”

We feel a little late on this one. Brought to you from the producers of Who Killed the Electric Car, Tappedspills the goods on all the bad in the bottled water industry. Think you already know everything there is to know about why we shouldn’t be buying bottled water? You might not. Maybe you acknowledge the environmental issues of using petroleum to make the plastic and not recycling the bottles after (leaving them to linger for hundreds of years), but do you think about the carbon emissions that come from transporting the water from the facility where it’s bottled to your local store? What about the fact that bottled water is less regulated than tap in many cases, and is, in fact, tap water just without the pesky government monitoring. And that’s just the tip of the ice berg (or, in this case, the first sip of the bottle). Click here to read more.

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We think you should visit: Hipster Hitler

@hipsterhitler

“The Empathic Civilization is emerging. A younger generation is fast extending its empathic embrace beyond religious affiliations and national identification to include the whole of humanity and the vast project of life that envelops the Earth.”
Jeremy Rifkin

In this talk from RSA Animate, bestselling author Jeremy Rifkin investigates the evolution of empathy and the profound ways it has shaped human development and society.

Jeremy Rifkin is president of the Foundation on Economic Trends and the author of 17 bestselling books on the impact of scientific and technological changes on the economy, the workforce, society and the environment. His books have been translated into more than thirty languages and are used in thousands of universities, corporations and government agencies around the world.

Rifkin has been an advisor to the European Union for the past decade. He has been a senior lecturer at the Wharton School’s Executive Education Program at the University of Pennsylvania, and his monthly column on global issues appears in many of the world’s leading newspapers and magazines, including The Los Angeles Times and The Guardian.

Profile Via TED

In mainstream culture the term “insomnia” is used frequently to describe the inability to fall asleep. If you stay up late at night, bleary-eyed because you can’t go to sleep you typically say you have insomnia. You might call it an “attack of insomnia” or “bout of insomnia,” for an isolated sleepless night, or you may describe yourself as an insomniac or that you suffer from insomnia if sleep is a regular rarity in your life.

Imagine bubbles floating before your eyes, filled with cool info about stuff you see on the street. Science fiction? Nope. It’s augmented reality. And one day it’ll be as routine as browsing the Web.

Early forms of AR have already arrived. After downloading software, owners of smart phones like the iPhone and Droid can use the built-in GPS, compass, and camera to find information about nearby ATMs and restaurants, the closest subway stop, and other points of interest in some cities. With AR you might aim a phone’s camera at a restaurant, and on the screen you’ll see not just the venue but also a review hovering above it.

Nat Geo have captured this idea brilliantly in the Big Idea. Click here.

via PSFK

It is intereresting to note that only three firms control 89% of US soft drink sales. This dominance is obscured from us by the appearance of numerous choices on retailer shelves. Steve Hannaford refers to this as “pseudovariety,” or the illusion of diversity, concealing a lack of real choice. To visualize the extent of pseudovariety in this industry, www.msu.edu developed a cluster diagram to represent the number of soft drink brands and varieties found in the refrigerator cases of 94 Michigan retailers, along with their ownership connections.

The illusion of diversity in the soft drink industry extends beyond obscuring ownership, as its products are primarily water and sweeteners. More research is needed on the links between pseudovariety and the consumption of energy-dense, nutrient-poor substances.

View Infograph here and full article from MSU

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To Live & Ride In L.A. OFFICIAL TRAILER from TRAFIK on Vimeo.

TRAFIK presents The Official Trailer for To Live & Ride In L.A. (toliveandrideinla.com)

Over a year in the making, To Live & Ride In L.A. is the first feature-length film about L.A.’s underground fixed-gear culture. Directed by David Rowe (Fast Friday), the documentary explores a side of Los Angeles few outsiders have ever seen.

To Live & Ride In L.A. features talented local riders tearing up the streets with first-time visitor Keo Curry (Fast Friday, Macaframa), one of the living legends of the sport. From races through rush-hour traffic to midnight loft parties, To Live & Ride In L.A. is a fast-paced trip through the busy streets and back-alleys of one of the world’s largest cities.

TRAFIK is a group of creatives who love biking the streets of L.A. and the world. From Japan to Australia, Europe to South Africa, urban fixed-gear cycling has become a symbol of a new generation that isn’t afraid to bomb hills, split lanes, and defy norms.

TRAFIK is Global Fixed Gear Culture.

Visit TRAFIK at trafikla.com for more info.
FACEBOOK - facebook.com/pages/TRAFIK/213746620124
TWITTER twitter.com/TRAFIK_LA

To purchase tickets for the BFF screening on Sept. 3rd….
brownpapertickets.com/event/124195