A fine point about modern life, tech companies and addiction to both....

A great point from someone much more clever than me.

So I pop it here for thinking about.

As the author, Jason Hreha, makes a great point - us techies and marketing types are great at making our customers want stuff... but...

Perhaps the industry needs to seriously consider the impact of its products. Are we helping our users lead better lives, or are we making them compulsive, impatient and distractible?

So here are his thoughts. On When did Addiction become a good thing?

I am a behavior designer. I take a deep understanding of human psychology and emerging research in the behavioral sciences to build products that change user behavior in planned and predictable ways. However, these days I’m somewhat dismayed by the persistent chatter about building “addictive” products. When did addiction become an admirable thing to cultivate?

As members of the tech industry, we need to ask serious questions about the behaviors that we are promoting. Are we really helping people live better lives? Or, are we promoting suboptimal habits and aptitudes? At best, many of the products we’re building are time wasters. At worst, they’re the addictive equivalents of cigarettes — irresistible cheap thrills that feel good in the moment, but are destructive in the long run. “Addictive” products are rampant in our lives — Facebook, Farmville (or any Zynga game), Twitter, Pinterest. The list goes on and on.

With Web products, the general assumption is that user attention can eventually be turned into money, so revenue models are often postponed. In this paradigm, success is measured in terms of user acquisition and retention. The more users you have, and the more time they spend on the site, the better. Designers of these products have learned to manufacture desire — and they’ve gotten really good at it. Services such as Facebook and Farmville constantly interrupt the lives of their users by sending out push notifications like there’s no tomorrow. But this shift towards compulsive and chronic usage might have some unintended consequences.

I worry that by promoting constant task switching and multitasking, the Internet is changing our attention. Just as muscles grow stronger with use, and persistent practice makes any skill better, some of our most subtle mental abilities grow or wither with our choices. It’s rare for a whole hour to go by without some interruption from our phones (or email, etc.), and computer and mobile interfaces have made multitasking easier than ever. While the jury is still out, it’s a real possibility that heavy multitasking is increasing compulsiveness and distractibility.

So what do we do? To me, the answer is simple. We should ask “why.” If we’re going to bring positive creations into the world, we need to seriously think about how our products are going to fit into, and enrich, people’s lives. What’s the reason we’re building these products in the first place? “To get acquired” or “to make a lot of money,” shouldn’t necessarily be our answers. Focusing on maximizing certain metrics, and creating numerically “successful” products, distracts us from bigger questions about the purpose of technology, and what role we as technologists should play in the larger community.

I believe that the purpose of technology is to take over the grating, tedious tasks that we have had to put up with for so long, so that we can live fuller, more interesting lives. In short, technology allows us to be even more human by becoming less mechanistic.

If none of us ever had to work, I think that our activities would cluster into three areas: art, interpersonal interaction and discovery (science, academic research, curiosity). While this is a much longer discussion, I worry that our community is aiming to make technology and content consumption our primary activity, instead of helping us engage in these creative and personal endeavors.

I’m not trying to be the crotchety, out-of-touch naysayer. Personally, I love LOLcats, Reddit, and many other services that could be classified as time wasters. The trick is moderation. The problem is that we, as a product design community, are purposely trying to create compulsions.

I don’t have the answers. I’m not saying that we should stop building. I’m just saying that we should take a hard look at ourselves and determine whether or not we’re bringing value to the world. We have the chance to do something spectacular with technology. We have the chance to make billions of lives easier and more enjoyable. We have the chance to free people from tedium. Let’s take this opportunity to build timesaving — and lifesaving — services, not quick hits.

This is a call to make more Amazons, eBays, and AirBnBs. A call to build fewer Zyngas. As I said before, I don’t have the answer. But with all the brainpower in Silicon Valley, I think we can figure this out.

------------

I think he has a fine point...

Jason is the founder of Dopamine (ironic, we know), a behavior/UX design firm based in San Francisco. He named the company after his favorite neurotransmitter, which is involved in learning as well as addiction. It’s a reminder of design’s ability to be either helpful or, if misused, harmful. He is also a UX mentor for 500 Startups and a researcher in the Stanford Persuasive Technology Lab. He blogs at persuasive.ly

Once in a Blue Moon we can all be Altruistic

As a fan of a football team which gets much of its inspiration from the Song of the same name - Blue Moons mean a lot to me.

But I never really understood what it meant until a week ago. You see a Blue Moon - isn't actually blue (but you knew that, didn't you...)

It's all about how many times the moon becomes full in a month. Normally, its once but once in a blue moon - it happens twice - hence the saying.

The second full moon of the month in August will occur today on Friday, Aug. 31, a phenomenon which only happens seven times every 19 years or roughly once every two and a half years.

It takes the moon 27.3 days to complete its full orbit around the Earth. In order for two full moons to land during the same calendar month, one must be at the very beginning and the other at the very end.

Interesting huh? So Mashable (where the above explaination comes from) asks a good question - what are you going to do to celebrate this Blue Moon.

Well, myself, my answer came in a dream. I kid you not.

So I am going to do something for charity - I am going to create an application, a social application, maybe become a mobile application which will incentivise people to give more money to charity.

Not a light task - but one inspired by FreakEconomics - which I watched last night.

And one also inspired by a good friend of mine, who last week, asked in a way only a good and old friend can (over a heart to heart over a beer.)

"Dan what happened to you man....all this clever marketing stuff is all very well, but I met someone better than that, its very clever, but where's the heart?"

I paraphase but you get the idea. And you know what I couldnt answer him.

I tried with the fact that my trainings empower people especially young and new business owners and small business owners who want to make their lives better and with them the world.

I spluttered something about how my new idea with Massmob would help the app ecosystem and give part time mobile developers more money which helps our economy.

I challenged him with how I used to work for charities but they barely listened and didnt change quick enough and were annoying!

I did lots but in the end I knew he was right - "Where was the heart?"

So here's the heart - here's the idea. Here is me using some of my talents and time to do something to give something back - to do something purely for charity.

And so I need your help - as this idea might be genius, rubbish, illegal or just plain stupid. All I know is that it comes from the right place.

We can all be Altruistic - once in a blue moon.

Find out more and give me your thoughts here.

Hmmm. Interesting. Perhaps both is best. Having a job and making a business.

According to the survey results from the recent EVG Research Survey, nearly half of their members and subscribers own a business in one form or another.

Let’s take a closer look at the survey results...from 5000 of their members.

• 25% make under $30,000 per year (USD)
• 21% make between $30,000 - $50,000 per year
• 34% make between $50,000 - $100,000 per year
• 18% make between $100,000 - $250,000 per year
• 2% make MORE than $250,000 per year

BUT...when you break it down to those who identified themselves as “employees” only, or employees who also run a part-time business, and those who run full-time businesses, there are some interesting trends:


As having at least a part-time business helps you easily move up an income bracket ... If you just want to boost your chance at making over $100K per year, hanging on to your job AND starting a part-time business appears to be the best bet.

BUT ... if you want to have a chance at making at least $250k per year or more, owning your own business more than quadruples your chance.

So having your own business is a good idea. But having a part time business as well as a job is a better idea. Hmmm. Interesting.

But are there businesses out there you can do part time, from your laptop, after your job from 9-5? Are their businesses you could run and make money from, from your mobile phone. The mind boogles.

How much does the first hour of every day matter? As it turns out, a lot.

It can be the hour you see everything clearly, get one real thing done, and focus on the human side of work rather than your task list.

All of which will make us happier human beings... rather than human doings (or human goings...sic Bart Simpson)

Ask motivational speaker Tony Robbins, career writer (and Fast Company blogger) Brian Tracy, and others, and they’ll tell you it makes a big difference.

Here are the first items on their daily to-do list.

Don’t Check Your Email for the First Hour. Seriously. Stop That.

Tumblr founder David Karp will “try hard” not to check his email until 9:30 or 10 a.m., according to an Inc. profile of him. “Reading e-mails at home never feels good or productive,” Karp said. “If something urgently needs my attention, someone will call or text me.”

Not all of us can roll into the office whenever our Vespa happens to get us there, but most of us with jobs that don’t require constant on-call awareness can trade e-mail for organization and single-focus work. It’s an idea that serves as the title of Julie Morgenstern’s work management book Never Check Email In The Morning, and it’s a fine strategy for leaving the office with the feeling that, even on the most over-booked days, you got at least one real thing done.

If you need to make sure the most important messages from select people come through instantly, AwayFind can monitor your inbox and get your attention when something notable arrives. Otherwise, it’s a gradual but rewarding process of training interruptors and coworkers not to expect instantaneous morning response to anything they send in your off-hours.

Gain Awareness, Be Grateful


One smart, simple question on curated Q & A site Quora asked “How do the most successful people start their day?”. The most popular response came from a devotee of Tony Robbins, the self-help guru who pitched the power of mindful first-hour rituals long before we all had little computers next to our beds.

Robbins suggests setting up an “Hour of Power,” “30 Minutes to Thrive,” or at least “Fifteen Minutes to Fulfillment.” Part of it involves light exercise, part of it involves motivational incantations, but the most accessible piece involves 10 minutes of thinking of everything you’re grateful for: in yourself, among your family and friends, in your career, and the like. After that, visualize “everything you want in your life as if you had it today.”

Which is odd as this is what I do - but at the end of the day - perhaps I will change that.

Do the Big, Shoulder-Sagging Stuff First


Brian Tracy’s classic time-management book Eat That Frog gets its title from a Mark Twain saying that, if you eat a live frog first thing in the morning, you’ve got it behind you for the rest of the day, and nothing else looks so bad.

Combine that with the concept of getting one thing done before you wade into email, and you’ve got a day-to-day system in place.

Which is all very well - but how do you actually do it. I know my frog already. It's been sitting looking at me from my to do list for over 6 months now.

Here’s how to force yourself to stick to it: Choose Your Frog

"Choose your frog, and write it down on a piece of paper that you'll see when you arrive back at your desk in the morning, Tripani advises."If you can, gather together the material you'll need to get it done and have that out, too."

Ask Yourself If You’re Doing What You Want to Do


Feeling unfulfilled at work shouldn’t be something you realize months too late, or even years. Consider making an earnest attempt every morning at what the late Apple CEO Steve Jobs told a graduating class at Stanford to do:

When I was 17, I read a quote that went something like: "If you live each day as if it was your last, someday you'll most certainly be right." It made an impression on me, and since then, for the past 33 years, I have looked in the mirror every morning and asked myself: "If today were the last day of my life, would I want to do what I am about to do today?" And whenever the answer has been "No" for too many days in a row, I know I need to change something.

“Customer Service” (or Your Own Equivalent)


Your own version of customer service might be keeping in touch with contacts from year-ago projects, checking in with coworkers you don’t regularly interact with, asking questions of mentors, and just generally handling the human side of work that quickly gets lost between task list items.

I love all the above - so watch out world. Tomorrow morning I am going to call some people, get my book up on Amazon and finish off the websites ;) Now that is quite some FROG :)

Can the Lone Wolf become a pack leader.... should they even want to?

There is something unique about entrepreneurs and the way they work. Spontaneous, driven, constantly on the go, they focus all their time and energy on bringing their business ideas to life. And if their ideas fail, they go back to the drawing board and start again. So writes Alison in Entrepreneur Country.

They are the lone wolves of the business world, relying only on themselves for inspiration and successful at innovating in isolation; until a business idea takes off and then requires the input of skills, expertise and manpower. Very quickly, the lone wolf entrepreneur has to become a people manager, delegator, influencer; a leader of the pack.

It’s a huge transition and it raises the question; can brilliant entrepreneurs become great leaders?

On the face of it, the qualities associated with the two roles couldn’t be more different.

Entrepreneurs create something out of nothing. They channel all their energies into turning ideas into viable business innovations.

Leaders draw on and direct the energies of the people around them to achieve their business objectives.

Entrepreneurs work ridiculously long hours and don’t sleep. Well, not much, especially when they are on the verge of a big break.

Leaders have to set an example to their team by working comparatively sensible hours; occasionally long, but no all-nighters.

Entrepreneurs don’t like to delegate; that feels like a loss of control over their business and its direction.

Leaders recognise delegation as a key business strategy. Handing tasks and responsibilities over to those with more relevant skills leaves them free to focus on business development.

Does this mean that entrepreneurs can’t be leaders? Steve Jobs did both, brilliantly. He innovated and then created a workplace culture of innovation, because he knew he wasn’t going to succeed on his own. Young entrepreneurs are often described as the leaders of tomorrow, and if they are to make it from lone wolf to head of the business pack, these are some of the steps they’ll need to take.

Network – Once your business starts to grow you’ll need to think about bringing in outside skills and expertise. Networking is the key to finding the people who can provide them, who may eventually become key members of your business team.

Share – As an entrepreneur you have the vision and the drive to take your business concept to the next level. Share your vision with the people in your team, inspire and engage them, and you’ll take it much further.

Let Go – A lone wolf in business is also a Jack-of-all-trades; responsible for every aspect of the operation. Let others share the workload and take on the tasks they are best equipped to handle, and you’ll have more time to work on your next big business idea.

This one is going to take some doing. Letting go. So I am going to do something to help myself with this and ask other people about our new idea. Market research might will pivot massmob - A portal for pay as you go brand able mobile games. Into something else entirely.

Grow – Whether entrepreneurial talent is a product of nature or nurture is a matter for debate, but there is no question that leadership skills can be learned. Take advantage of formal training programmes or coaching and mentoring sessions to continue growing and developing them.

As starting a new business - I think - this might be useful...

We have brainstormed on our new business idea. A way of smaller brands getting in on the mobile games party.

In essence, a soft way brands can engage with their target market on mobile phones with minimal investment.

Or is it a platform for brand focused mobile competitions.

Or a portal for pay as you go brand able mobile games.

Or even more grandiose, an ecosystem to help part time freelance mobile game creators.

Who knows - what we do know is that it is just an idea. And now it's time to face reality and work out whether your idea is a viable option.

As Smarta advises, be thorough in your assessment: if the figures don't add up, chances are it's not going to work out.

Don't be disheartened, though - if you've already had one idea, there will be plenty more where that came from.

So what makes a good business idea

Once you've come up with your idea, you need to make sure there is a market for it. Do this by conducting extensive market research - find out how many people would buy into your idea, what the competition is like and what your customers will be like. Will they be able to afford your product or service?

We have done this by asking our target market with a series of surveys in survey monkey and on linkedin.

But...Do the figures add up?

Smarta advise "Look at figures from competitors to work out what sort of demand you will have. What will your production costs be like, and how much will you need to charge for your offering to make it viable? Will your target customers be able to afford it? What will your margins be like? How much repeat custom will you get?

A good idea gives the business room to grow. Don't just latch on to a trend - your business needs to be more than a one-trick pony if you want it to expand and flourish. Try to forecast how the market will look in one, two and five years - will there be as much demand for your product then?

Your business idea doesn't need to be new, but it does need to distinguish itself from the competition. Check it's unique by conducting an extensive competitor analysis, and even if you're not planning to lodge a patent, make sure it isn't violating copyright law by checking the Intellectual Property Office's patents database.

Why some business ideas don't work

One of the major causes of business failures is bad market research. While you may be enthusiastic about getting started straight away, conducting exhaustive market research is absolutely essential. Without it, you won't have the information you need when you're marketing and pricing your offering.

When the majority of business ideas fail, it's not because it was a bad idea - it's because it was the victim of bad marketing. Make sure you know exactly who your customers are, what their habits are and how they react to various forms of marketing.

(We hope we have this covered a little as kinda great marketing is what we do...)

A business which doesn't distinguish itself from its competitors will find itself struggling. Define strong unique selling points (USPs) for your business to prevent this from happening. Look at your competitors' weaknesses and build on that: is there space for a premium version of their product? Could you add value by offering a wider range or better customer service?

If your costs are too high, you'll find it difficult to make any money, so start small and keep your overheads to a minimum. If it isn't absolutely necessary to take office space, start from home instead - and while having your product manufactured in the next town may be great for your carbon footprint, there's a good chance it could hit your bank account hard.

If your proposition is badly priced, your customers will be decidedly unenthusiastic about buying from you. Make sure you look at your potential customers' spending habits and earning power to determine how much - and how often - they will be willing to pay.

If your business is started purely to make money, there's a good chance it will fail. To start a successful business, you need to be absolutely passionate about your proposition so you are committed to steering it through the good times as well as the bad.

So our new idea massmob - which has been created to help mobile developers make money - giving Manchester developers the ecosytem they need to survive is kinda passionate :)

We want to put the fun back into games creation and let talented people make money from this, from their mobile phone!

It´s not the happy that are grateful - it´s the grateful that are happy!

A great article all about something which I am going to start practising more and more. Starting tonight.

Geoffrey James writes the "Sales Source" column on Inc.com, the world's most-visited sales-oriented blog. His newly published book is Business to Business Selling: Power Words and Strategies From the World's Top Sales. And you know I think I might buy it.

He begins: "I'm utterly convinced that the key to lifelong success is the regular exercise of a single emotional muscle: gratitude."

People who approach life with a sense of gratitude are constantly aware of what's wonderful in their life. Because they enjoy the fruits of their successes, they seek out more success. And when things don't go as planned, people who are grateful can put failure into perspective.

By contrast, people who lack gratitude are never truly happy. If they succeed at a task, they don't enjoy it. For them, a string of successes is like trying to fill a bucket with a huge leak in the bottom. And failure invariably makes them bitter, angry, and discouraged.

Therefore, if you want to be successful, you need to feel more gratitude. Fortunately, gratitude, like most emotions, is like a muscle: The more you use it, the stronger and more resilient it becomes.

Practice Nightly

The best time to exercise gratitude is just before bed. Take out your tablet (electronic or otherwise) and record the events of the day that created positive emotions, either in you or in those around you.

Did you help somebody solve a problem? Write it down. Did you connect with a colleague or friend? Write it down. Did you make somebody smile? Write it down.

What you're doing is "programming your brain" to view your day more positively. You're throwing mental focus on what worked well, and shrugging off what didn't. As a result, you'll sleep better, and you'll wake up more refreshed.

Reprogramming Your Brain

More important, you're also programming your brain to notice even more reasons to feel gratitude. You'll quickly discover that even a "bad day" is full of moments that are worthy of gratitude. Success becomes sweeter; failure, less sour.

The more regularly you practice this exercise, the stronger its effects.

Over time, your "gratitude muscle" will become so strong that you'll attract more success into your life, not to mention greater numbers of successful (i.e., grateful) people. You'll also find yourself thanking people more often. That's good for you and for them, too.

This method works. If you don't believe me, try it for at least a week. You'll be amazed at what a huge difference it makes.

I will do this - for at massmob - our new idea. We are going to make this a core value - saying thank you to our developers and customers.

As mobile marketing and mobile gaming might be on the increase - but without saying thank you once in a while - we are nothing more than monsters ;)