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Bal's Friday Thought

Bal’s Friday Thought…

It’s about how you think…

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Children Technology

Carnivorous Garden

It’s truly amazing what is available these days for children.

For example, did you know that there’s an adult controlled and persmissioned based messenger app that’s designed for children?

That’s right- Monster Messenger is an app, that can be downloaded onto tablets and mobile phones, and be used by children – but don’t worry – it’s all permissioned based and they can only talk/call/video people that the parents have approved.

I personally think it’s great. I wouldn’t want them using Whatsapp or another messenger type where they have full control and could be talking to anyone, anywhere… at least this way, it’s controlled. Only those who the parents have granted permission to can they talk to.

And it’s not only in technology. I’m sure those with children would have noticed that there’s so much available to buy that’s orientated for children. Items that help them learn, grow and become more confident individuals.

We also came across small gardens. These days we spend a lot of time telling children to get out, go play in the garden or down the local park… and it’s always a bit difficult when there’s a large TV inside or there’s various gadgets including tablets or phones where they’re connected – I know, i’ve spent half this blog talking about how great a particular messenger is!

But getting them out, and in touch with nature is important.

Today, we came across small gardens. It’s basically a kit, that has everything inside it… like seeds, soil, etc… and what you do is grow your own mini garden!

That’s right! – you get you grow all sorts in your garden. It’s small. It’s for children. But the great thing is, it’s encompasses the same principles that you’d need if you had an actual garden of your own.

You need to water it. You need to attend to it. You need to do, everything you’d do, if you had an actual garden. Now… the good thing here is, that if the child does attend to it and does everything, the results are there. Something will grow.

And it’s these life principles that are important – because in life, you need to work at something and make it grow. Education is essential… they’re the seeds of information, of knowledge… that you plant.. and they will grow – which will help you later in life.

So having the best of both worlds in this blog.. something technology related for the children… and something outdoors related for the children.

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Bal's Friday Thought

Bal’s Friday Thought…

How quick are you?

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Uncategorized

Bal and Friends at NTU…

Last week was a crazy week! – Firstly, I was in Barcelona for meetings on Monday morning… (thanks to the lovely taxi driver who got me to the office on time!)

Oh… if you’d like to follow my personal journies including lots of travel & food photos, pop over to my instagram account – @mrbalbansal

So that was Monday. Then I came back, and was at the NTU… with a few friends.

That’s right – my friend Shane Matthews (inventor of the Nerf Gun) was over from Atlanta, GA. He was here to give a talk at the Nottingham Trent University… but first, we went to meet the Sheriff of Nottingham.

In the photo above, we have the Sheriff of Nottingham in the middle, Shane and myself, and the Sheriff’s security. We went to Nottingham Castle, had a little look around, posed for some photo’s, gave an interview to Notts TV and Shane signed a few nerf guns.

The main event was Shane talking at the NTU (Nottingham Trent University)… at their Ignite Innovation conference…

They also, kindly let me say a few words…

We also had my friend Leigh, who worked for CIMAGINE, a startup that was sold to SnapChat for $40m…. he shared his views and thoughts on AR…

And then Shane was up… he was brilliant. The audience in the lecture theatre absolutely loved it!

One thing I loved about his talk was the ‘happiness line’. I’ll have to share it with you in another blog post…

So all in all, great event at the NTU. This university is definitely doing the right things for the local community.

And thank you to the love that was shown by folks in the audience..

Then the remainder of the week I was in London, meetings… and a quick attendance for the London Tech Week.

Well, what a busy week… why am I sharing this, because if you have the opportunity to attend local meetings, conferences where they have some interesting people… do so! You can learn so much.

So many folk at the end, were coming up to Shane, asking all sorts of questions… it was great to see that they were motivated and more importantly, had learnt something that they could use in their business or organisation.

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Monday Motivation

Monday Motivation…

Anything is Possible.

Iceland’s Goalkeeper, in the 2018 FIFA World Cup… produced a video.

That’s his day job. To make videos. It just so happens that he’s good at goal keeping too…. and qualifies to play for his nation.

 

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Bal's Friday Thought

Bal’s Friday Thought…

Days…

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Uncategorized

Here’s an idea, cupcake…

I was talking to a colleague, and mentioned to him – need this sooner than you think, I feel we’re losing time and really need to move faster.

His reply… “Bal… you can’t have 9 women to produce a baby in 1 month. It’ll take 1 woman, 9 months… to have a baby”.

Wow! – love it.

It’s true, right? – sometimes we try to rush, do things quicker… all because many of us don’t have patience…. don’t we all want things quicker?

We do.. but there’ll be restrictions. There’ll be ways of doing it. Building a house… we could skip the foundations and start building, but will it be sustainable? – will it stay standing up? For how long?

Things do take time. We all need a little bit of patience.

However, if you can do something and then have iterations in place to improve… then that’s the best scenario.

The key thing is – understand the limitations. Learn the restrictions. And work with them. Plan with them. Cater for them.

This brings me nicely to the project we’re working on… when I was asking for something sooner than it could be built. So I learned and took those dependencies with me…. and developed the plan to incorporate them.

I explained this to a startup i’m working with – things take time, don’t rush them. Like baking a cake… bring it out of the oven too earlier, it’s undercooked and your customer won’t be happy. Leave it in too long… then customer won’t be happy but also… customer might have gone to someone else who’s got it out on time…

Yes. It can be tricky to know when to take the cake out of the oven.

Yes. It can be daunting, as you keep opening the oven door… lose the heat… and have to leave it in loner.

Yes. The competition will also be baking a cake, and may have a better idea of when to take it out.

Yes. The customer will be looking at all bakers. Looking for who’s going to bring out the cake first… and is edible.

Yes. You’ll have a lot of things going on whilst baking the cake….

This is why it’s important to know what to deliver… and when.

Maybe a cupcake might be a good idea… as the first offering. Before you starting working on that 3-tier, wedding cake.

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Bal's Friday Thought

Bal’s Friday Thought…

It’s not the mountain…

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Throwback Thursday

Throwback Thursday… to a time I was in Vegas!

This month’s Throwback Thursday is to a place.

A place that I thoroughly enjoyed – and I know, it’s not to everyone’s liking, but there’s so much on offer there… from the Statue of Liberty, to a variety of shows… to the brilliant food… oh the buffets, wow!

Yep you guess it… it’s Las Vegas!

I’ve been there a few times.

Now some people may say it’s a bit tacky, not nice, cheap, etc…

But you know what, it’s the mindset you go with. If you go with an open mind – you’ll also really enjoy it. There’s so much to do… so many places to visit, you really do need some time there.

Now, to clarify, this isn’t a sponsored post by the Las Vegas Tourism board, nor am I endorsing any of the places to visit within Las Vegas – however, there are a few places you must really visit there.

Such as the Lions in MGM…

Oh, there’s real ones there also!

Then there’s the great marketing that pulls you into the various places…

Bal, why are you sharing your trip to Vegas with us?

Well, a few reasons.

  1. There’s things, in business, we can learn from Vegas. Whilst out there, I could see how certain things were really important… one for example is, location. There’s the main boulevard… and the places on there were very busy. However, if you go a little north and further out, not as busy and a little cheaper – to attract the clientele. So where your business operates from, is important to ensure you attract the maximum number of customers possible.
  2. Offer – there’s all sorts of offers to attract you – like eat all you can buffet. Once again, businesses who highlighted these offers and were able to show, it’s a great deal – were busy. I’m sure they’re still making good money, so what offers have you got on, to attract customers?
  3. Size matters. It’s like, when they were designing it, someone said… ‘Go Large or Go Home!’. Everything is supersized. Everything is there. And what I noticed, the more attractions, the more visually appealing… the busier they were! Take the fountains… when the show starts… people were outside to see them. Take the lions in the MGM Hotel. There was something unique about every location that made people go there. And spend their money.

So, there’s a few takeaways you can apply to everyday business from my takeaways from Vegas.

Obviously, anything you do… is a gamble. But if you do it with some research, a bit of data to back your decision…. you could be onto a winner.

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Monday Motivation

Monday Motivation…

My Friday Thoughts this month will be dedicated to the Greatest Boxer… Muhammad Ali.

He had some great quotes – and shared his mind openly, and freely.

Here’s some Monday Motivation to get you going…