Keeping your mind sharp is one of the best investments you can make of your time. Having a sharp mind will let you enjoy the fruits of labor, and will also allow you to share those fruits with others more effectively.
Here are 10 tips for keeping you mentally fit.
http://www.livescience.com/12915-10-ways-mind-sharp.html
1. Exercise regularly
2. Eat regularly
3. Diet carefully
4. Take care of your body
5. Get plenty of rest
6. Enjoy your caffeine (This was news to me)
7. Eat fish (knew that!)
8. "chill out" (meditate, do yoga, live a balanced lifestyle)
9. Don't take supplements
10. do puzzles (like crossword puzzles, sudoku, etc..)
And here's 5 tips from howstuff works:
5
http://people.howstuffworks.com/5-ways-get-smarter1.htm
1. Meditate
2. Exercise your brain
3. Ingest bacteria (of a certain kind)
4. Get some sleep
5. Take care of your body.
Tuesday, March 13, 2012
Wednesday, March 7, 2012
Always learn new things
"Data" is becoming a new measure of wealth in this new "knowledge" economy. One skill that entrepreneurs need in this new economy is the ability to learn new ways of doing things, and adapt QUICKLY to change. Never be satisfied with the status quo.
Tuesday, March 6, 2012
Virtual Wealth
Almost everything I have done since the early 1990s to earn a living has involved computers or programming in some fashion. Thus I have created a fair amount of wealth for myself (and my customers) by manipulating bits in computer memory in various ways, and tricking this amazing piece of technology to make lives and businesses run smoother (at least that is the hope -- it hasn't always worked out that way).
And I am not alone there are many entrepreneurs and consultants who are making a very good living selling/packaging/building this intangible thing called software that yet creates real value for a lot of people (often very substantially).
I get so busy just coding or thinking about how to make our service (webchalet.com) better, how to make my consulting practice better, that I forget how truly unique this situation is.
We have a larger and larger segment of our population that is generating real wealth by producing (virtual) intangible goods (as opposed to tangible goods like real cars, radios, etc..). And many of those tangible goods are being produced by robots.
This is why even though manufacturing jobs are declining, more cars and other items are actually getting produced (because more and more of the work can be automated).
Eventually we will reach a point in time when most of our daily needs could in theory be provided through robots and automation.
And I am not alone there are many entrepreneurs and consultants who are making a very good living selling/packaging/building this intangible thing called software that yet creates real value for a lot of people (often very substantially).
I get so busy just coding or thinking about how to make our service (webchalet.com) better, how to make my consulting practice better, that I forget how truly unique this situation is.
We have a larger and larger segment of our population that is generating real wealth by producing (virtual) intangible goods (as opposed to tangible goods like real cars, radios, etc..). And many of those tangible goods are being produced by robots.
This is why even though manufacturing jobs are declining, more cars and other items are actually getting produced (because more and more of the work can be automated).
Eventually we will reach a point in time when most of our daily needs could in theory be provided through robots and automation.
Monday, March 5, 2012
Virtual Currencies & Ven
Virtual Currency is used to purchase virtual goods or services in online setting like a social network or an an on-line game. Often, these virtual currencies can only be used to buy or sell goods in a virtual world or social gaming context, like Zynga.
Ven is different. It is a virtual currency "backed" by a basket of real-world currencies and can be traded like any real currency. You can (theoretically) trade dollars (or gold) for Ven, and vise versa. Ven is one of the first virtual currencies to be traded like a traditional currency in the real world.
Ven is different. It is a virtual currency "backed" by a basket of real-world currencies and can be traded like any real currency. You can (theoretically) trade dollars (or gold) for Ven, and vise versa. Ven is one of the first virtual currencies to be traded like a traditional currency in the real world.
Saturday, March 3, 2012
Startups are everywhere
I just got back from an event linking dog lovers and those running startups -- http://www.meetup.com/Bay-Area-Startup-Dog-Enthusiasts/. It seems I am meeting people everyone who are starting a new business or service. For example, in addition to the startup I am involved with these days (www.webchalet.com), my partners are also running a site that sells pickles (http://pickapeckpickles.com/), and at the event today I met two more startup founders --a husband and wife team, Chris and Kim Wake, who run a startup for linking people w/ pets who need to run errands w/ those who can help, (spotwag.com) and Peter Olfe, who runs a site (near2there.com) that can bookmark locations with your mobile phone.
All of these new businesses and services are great because they have the potential to add tremendous value to our economy by experimenting with new ways to deliver products and services, making it easier for people to do things or to shop on-line.
The mindset to innovate and to think of new ways of providing products and services is what made America the largest economy in the world, and it can turn reverse our deficit and turn our sluggish economy around.
All of these new businesses and services are great because they have the potential to add tremendous value to our economy by experimenting with new ways to deliver products and services, making it easier for people to do things or to shop on-line.
The mindset to innovate and to think of new ways of providing products and services is what made America the largest economy in the world, and it can turn reverse our deficit and turn our sluggish economy around.
Tuesday, February 28, 2012
User-generated Content
User generated content continues to grow rapidly on the internet. Every day, people upload photos, post comments or update their blogs (like I am doing here). Much of this information is "trivial" (i.e. not important to me), but it's important to someone, and this importance is often more in the "sharing" than in the actual "quality" of the information.
I have almost finished a book entitled "Cognitive Surplus", written by Clay Shirky about how so called "amateurs" or "volunteers" are actually creating valuable tools and services that are adding real wealth on the internet (and this translates to real wealth in the real world.)
My favorite example of volunteer labor that Mr. Shirky cites in the book is the Apache web server, which was used by about 65 % of all web sites in Sept. 2011 (it's probably about the same today)... (this graph was taken from the Sept 2011 Web Server Survey)
Many of these sites are e-commerce sites, generating real revenue for their owners, who are direct beneficiaries. Let's also not forget the indirect beneficiaries, including all who make a living consulting or working for companies that build web-based software for customers who sell a product or service on-line. This has been very true in my case. I have been (primarily) a consultant for most of my adult working life. Nearly all of the web development work I've done since 2001 has been using some version of Apache.
The most amazing thing about Apache is that it was built mostly by volunteers (who received no money for contributing), yet it blows away competing products that were built by paid programmers. It's a marvelous thing. Even though I've been immersed in the Open Source movement for many years, reading through this book reminded me of how valuable this piece of software really is.
I have almost finished a book entitled "Cognitive Surplus", written by Clay Shirky about how so called "amateurs" or "volunteers" are actually creating valuable tools and services that are adding real wealth on the internet (and this translates to real wealth in the real world.)
My favorite example of volunteer labor that Mr. Shirky cites in the book is the Apache web server, which was used by about 65 % of all web sites in Sept. 2011 (it's probably about the same today)... (this graph was taken from the Sept 2011 Web Server Survey)
Many of these sites are e-commerce sites, generating real revenue for their owners, who are direct beneficiaries. Let's also not forget the indirect beneficiaries, including all who make a living consulting or working for companies that build web-based software for customers who sell a product or service on-line. This has been very true in my case. I have been (primarily) a consultant for most of my adult working life. Nearly all of the web development work I've done since 2001 has been using some version of Apache.
The most amazing thing about Apache is that it was built mostly by volunteers (who received no money for contributing), yet it blows away competing products that were built by paid programmers. It's a marvelous thing. Even though I've been immersed in the Open Source movement for many years, reading through this book reminded me of how valuable this piece of software really is.
Sunday, February 26, 2012
Why art adds value
Why are the arts (music, literature, painting,sculptures) so important to us as humans. Every civilization has an artistic component to it, and throughout history, artists were paid in one form or another for their work.
Art does not directly contribute to our immediate well being (in the sense of providing food, shelter, clothing), yet it is very highly prized in one form or another (Hollywood is a billion-dollar a year industry, as is the music industry).
So why is it so important? I would say art connects us w/ each other, with our past, and with the deepest impulses of our nature... in fact I would say all great art in some way tells a story.
Story telling at it's core reminds us that we are not alone, that we are all part of something bigger than ourselves and I think that is part of the attraction of great art, whatever it's form.
Art does not directly contribute to our immediate well being (in the sense of providing food, shelter, clothing), yet it is very highly prized in one form or another (Hollywood is a billion-dollar a year industry, as is the music industry).
So why is it so important? I would say art connects us w/ each other, with our past, and with the deepest impulses of our nature... in fact I would say all great art in some way tells a story.
Story telling at it's core reminds us that we are not alone, that we are all part of something bigger than ourselves and I think that is part of the attraction of great art, whatever it's form.
Saturday, February 25, 2012
Startups
Many (probably most) startups fail, but they are a fantastic engine of wealth creation which is why many (tech primarily) startups get VC funding. If you have a great new concept for a web company, if it starts to become popular, it can grow VERY QUICKLY, and with it the potential to reap huge rewards for the original founders as well as the initial investors. So, if you have a good idea that you want to put out on the web, go for it!!
Friday, February 24, 2012
Adding Wealth By Helping Others
Essentially most of our work involves helping someone (your customer, your employer, your coworker) solve a problem of some sort. In essence when we solve problems we are creating value in this world. This is a very general statement, but really when you think about it, new products and services are always created as a direct or indirect result of simply helping someone solve a problem, or overcome an obstacle.
So if you want to create a lot of value in this world, find a problem, an obstacle, an inconvenience, a handicap, an annoyance that people want to overcome. If you can offer a solution that is more valuable to that person than their money (which ultimately represents their time), you will enrich yourself but also make the world that much richer.
So if you want to create a lot of value in this world, find a problem, an obstacle, an inconvenience, a handicap, an annoyance that people want to overcome. If you can offer a solution that is more valuable to that person than their money (which ultimately represents their time), you will enrich yourself but also make the world that much richer.
Thursday, February 23, 2012
Give and It Shall Be Given Unto You
"Give, and it will be given to you; good measure, pressed down, shaken together, and running over will be put into your bosom. For with the same measure that you use, it will measured back to you." - Luke 6:38 (New King James Version)
Wouldn't it be great to create something wonderful -- a product or invention that will benefit many people. When this product is marketed and bought by millions it will make you wealthy, because it has benefited others.
Wouldn't it be great to create something wonderful -- a product or invention that will benefit many people. When this product is marketed and bought by millions it will make you wealthy, because it has benefited others.
Hoarding Nickels
A US Jefferson Nickel is worth currently about 6 cents, according to this great link (from coinflation.com -- used for calculating the intrinsic value of us coins made from base metal). This does not include productions costs. Nickels are still very common so you would be making an automatic 20% gain if you decided to start hoarding them, assuming you could melt them, which you can't -- it's currently illegal. But it does underscore the deteriorating value of the US Dollar.
Wednesday, February 22, 2012
Data is the new measure of wealth
We are awash in massive amounts of data. Emails, IM chats, Videos, Digital videos and photos, twitter feeds, ads, mobile conversations, the list goes on and on. In 2004, world internet traffic reached 1 exabytes, This is 10^18 bytes of information, or 1 million million Megabytes. With the growth of very large data-intensive companies like Google, and Facebook (which didn't exist 10 years) we are seeing the increasing importance large amounts data will bring to the economy. Facebook will (probably) get an initial valuation of 100 Billion dollars once it goes public based purely on the notion of collecting and linking large amounts user-generated content. Data is becoming a new form of wealth.
The insanity of our tax system
My wife currently is studying for a her first exam in a class on the Federal Income Tax she is taking at City College (downtown SF). I had forgotten how enormously complicated and convoluted our tax code really is. You see, because I am self-employed I generally have filled out our (joint) tax return the same way every year, and do not have to deal with the many different permutations that the tax code covers.
Here is one example:
Persons not eligible for the standard deduction. Your standard deduction is zero and you should itemize any deductions you have if:
* Your filing status is married filing separately, and your spouse itemizes deductions on his or her return.
In other words if either spouse itemizes they both have to. In other words if either spouse uses the standard deduction, they both have to. In other words, both spouses need to use the same type of deduction, even if they are filling separately. My wife actually had to look elsewhere to clarify that is indeed the ruling.
The current (2011) complete tax code now stands at 72,536 pages. A great info-graphic can be found here: http://politicalcalculations.blogspot.com/2011/07/2011-number-of-pages-in-us-tax-code.html.
While my wife pulls her hair in frustration trying to understand my own country's tax code, I have to ask, when will this madness stop. It's sapping the energy and wealth, measured in the many hours spent trying to understand and fill out the information correctly -- either by doing it yourself OR hiring a professional to do the same thing. This time and energy (or money, which amounts to the same thing) is lost productivity that could be spent creating better businesses and more jobs.
Here is one example:
Persons not eligible for the standard deduction. Your standard deduction is zero and you should itemize any deductions you have if:
* Your filing status is married filing separately, and your spouse itemizes deductions on his or her return.
In other words if either spouse itemizes they both have to. In other words if either spouse uses the standard deduction, they both have to. In other words, both spouses need to use the same type of deduction, even if they are filling separately. My wife actually had to look elsewhere to clarify that is indeed the ruling.
The current (2011) complete tax code now stands at 72,536 pages. A great info-graphic can be found here: http://politicalcalculations.blogspot.com/2011/07/2011-number-of-pages-in-us-tax-code.html.
While my wife pulls her hair in frustration trying to understand my own country's tax code, I have to ask, when will this madness stop. It's sapping the energy and wealth, measured in the many hours spent trying to understand and fill out the information correctly -- either by doing it yourself OR hiring a professional to do the same thing. This time and energy (or money, which amounts to the same thing) is lost productivity that could be spent creating better businesses and more jobs.
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