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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Author: Bal Bansal
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Bal’s Friday Thought…
Days…
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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…
It’s not the mountain…
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.
- 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.
- 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?
- 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…
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…
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Bal’s Friday Thought…
I dare you…
At first, you may laugh at the title of this blog…. well, Bal… I have plenty of them now! – well, I say that… they’re non-human in the manner they don’t do much work! (Insert some laughter emoji).
We joke about our colleagues – often comparing how much work they do…. how much work we do… how much work is expected….
But let’s be honest – there’ll always be a level of either doubt or suspicion on how much work is actually being done.
You can’t treat humans as robots. And there’s various reasons why… from reasons such as, depends on the tasks – and humans provide a better degree of thinking when it comes to particular problems… to, the creativity and passion side of things.
But then, how can you replace your workforce with robots?
It’s those repetitive tasks… like the boxes that need stacking at the end of the production line, doors onto a car on an assembly line…. maybe, it’s those tasks that require a lot of movement, in the same manner, over and over and over again.
Maybe, the way we start is by job-sharing with a robot.
Alibaba… in China, is doing just that. We can’t just suddenly jump to robot’s taking over…. there needs to be levels of introductions. Maybe this is the first step…
That’s right – the Day begins with these robots receiving their instructions in the morning like the employees would.
They do all the hard lifting, moving around… carrying things, etc… whilst the employee stays more or less in the same position and ensuring a) the work being done is right, b) packed correctly or in a certain way, because it contains variability from pack to pack… and c) able to provide further or new instructions to the robots.
So, is this the future?
I think so. In fact, I reckon so. We’ll see more and more manual tasks being completed by robotos. Then as AI (Artifical Intelligence) is ever so evolving… we’ll see some of the tasks that require variation, not needing humans.
Enjoy the time with your current co-worker… not sure, if the robots will laugh at your jokes.
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Sharing my thoughts at NTU…
I used to talk at many conferences… but I’ll be totally honest, I don’t have much time now. Hence why I tend to share a lot of my thoughts on this blog.
However, I’ve been tempted to come and talk with some friends at the Nottingham Trent University on Wednesday 13th June.
That’s right – I did say friends… A good friend of mine, Shane Matthews will be flying in from the States.
For those wondering who Shane Matthews is… well, a) he’s a good friend of mine who resides in Atlanta, GA… b) invented the Nerf Gun and c) has a lab at Georgia Tech where he’s always working on something quite unreal!
Yep… point b), he co-founded/invented the nerf gun!! – It was many many moons ago… he had a few ideas… went through a few iterations… and if I carry on telling the story, I’ll spoil it for those coming to hear him.
Along with Shane, is another friend of mine, Leigh. Leigh Davidson didn’t invent anything… however, he’s one of the most knowledgeable guys around who knows everything there is about Augmented Reality.
So much so… he used to work for an AR startup, which got sold for $40m!!!
He’s a busy chap, but taking time out of this diary to come and talk to folk about AR and his experience.
There’ll also be Andrea, who works for Fujitsu… sharing her thoughts on Account based marketing – as she knows a thing or two about marketing!
So… looks like to be a fabulous event! – I believe there’s a few tickets & spaces remaining… interested in coming? – then register yourself and either drive up the M1… fly into East Midlands… catch the train to Nottingham… and immerse yourself into what will truly be… a wonderful afternoon.
Oh, here’s a link to the event – https://www.ntu.ac.uk/about-us/events/events/2018/06/ignite-your-innovation go on… ignite, your innovation!
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Bal, what TV should I buy?
I’m often asked… and rightly so, as I’m a bit of a tech person… what TV should I get Bal?
That’s a great question.
My answer used to be, how big is your room… now it’s more like, what is it you want to watch?
Our behaviours are changing… due to technology! – We’re watching less TV… you probably knew that, right? – we’re watching more YouTube on our tablets, catching up on episodes via our phones and the short video clips via social media channels such as Facebook.
So, what you’re saying is… I don’t need a new TV Bal?
Well… depends how old your current one is… but ignoring that fact, and based on you asking me… I’m going to say Yes. Yes you do. Yes you do need a new TV.
Why?
Well… whilst it’s great watching clips and short videos on your phone or tablet…. Isn’t it great to watch a film every now and again on a larger screen? What about some sports…. maybe a game of football in 4K? If you have sky sports… you could go multi-screen! Flick between matches and games on the same channel!
Now…. Back to your original question… which TV should I get.
Simple.
Smart. 4K. TV. That’s all you really need. Size of the TV depends on how big your room is.
Now, whilst I won’t go into specific makes and models… because you get what you pay for. If you want more than the standard 2 HDMI ports…. You’ll have to pay more. If you want something with good quality sound… then you’ll have to pay more.
You want it to be SMART – so it connects to your Internet, and you can watch films via your Netflix or other such account… and there’s so much more you can do (you can still watch those YouTube videos without straining your neck at a 45degree angle downwards.
4K – so the quality is there. There is truly a huge difference between HD and 4K.
Now, this is relevant for today.
I’ve seen 8K and was blown away.
But you don’t need anything like that for the moment.
You can pick up a half decent Smart 4K TV 49” for around the £350 mark.
Yes there’s deals and offers – and you can find them cheaper (you can also find them more expensive) – but that’s the approx. price you should be looking at to pay.
You can go fancy, and get a curved one. Is it worth it – the jury’s out on that one.
You could improve sound by getting a sound bar. I would recommend this. Most new TV’s have an optical port – for you to plug your soundbar into. Fast becoming a home cinema.
So… whilst I was unable to answer your original question of what TV… I hope I’ve provided some guidance… to what… and to how much….
I once bought one of my TV’s when I was shopping at Tesco…. no joke! – I went in to buy some Milk and cookies (essentials for bedtime)… and I saw a TV, at a great price. So, like any normal person, I put my basket down, opened Google… did a quick search on the internet for the best price for that TV… had a quick look at the reviews…. everything seemed fairly positive.. for the price.. and this in-store price was alot cheaper than any on-line price, so I ditched the basket and picked myself a trolley and a TV.
There’s various sites such as – trustedreviews.com and expertreviews.co.uk – that can show you pro’s and con’s of each latest TV and the Top 10 TV deals.
So, whilst we are watching less TV… it’s still a nice box in the corner… ok, not a box anymore… still a nice flat (or curved) display, in the corner (or on the wall) that will allow you and the family… friends… to come together and enjoy.
It’s not going anywhere fast…. Unlike computers…