The Art of Failing

Photo by https://pixabay.com

The fear of failure is the biggest mental challenge you have to overcome.

You may not love failing like the rest of the world (including me) but you have to understand that it is a part of the process. If you are on the path of progress you will have to get comfortable with failing. As the famous saying goes the baby that learns to walk will start with a fall. That’s how it is done.

I know it is easier said than done. Only if we could see our failure as a learning step and been an observer to the sad event.

I had my first public failure in my school. There was a speaking activity (I don’t recollect the exact name) after morning prayer at school. Each day one student choose diffrent topic to speak in morning assembly in front of the whole school. On the last day of the week news was read.

Each division from A to E was picked from standard VII to X. There was a pattern our class teacher use to pick, it was only the bright top rank holders from the class were choosen. I was not comfortable because I never got a chance. I felt everyone should get a chance, atleast those who want it. I protested with my teacher. If I remeber correctly she was like it is the reputation of our class and we cannot make mistake by take chances with new students who have never done this before.

If you are thinking of becoming an entrepreneur or for that matter a business person. You will have to take chances.

I persuaded her to give a chance to rank holders 11 to 20. I suggested few names and had to influence few of them. They agree to be a part of this revolt. There wasn’t much support, however our teacher looked of the papers and text that we were suppose to speak the next week.

You guessed it right, it did not went well. When it was my day to speak on the stage. I had to tell the news of the week. In which I was suppose to mention about the recent novel written by Arundhati Roy named “The God of Small Things“.

After the week was over, my class teacher called me infront of the class. I was sure, I am going to get bashed. But she made the point clear of all the things that went wrong. She wan’t so harsh. The biggest mistake was I read the book’s name as “The God of Small Wonder“. It was a serial named “Small Wonder” that came during that time with a robotic girl name Vicky.

Photo by https://pixabay.com

That was humilating but I also felt a sense of pride (I didn’t show anyone). I was very poor in English lanague (I still am, but that’s not stopping me from sharing my story with the world). However I took this scare with pride. As of today, I am confident to speak in front of large audience (on topic I am expert in). I often write articles like this one. I have even co-author and self published an ebook.

The conclusion of this story (my point of view) is that it started with failing and I am still in the journey of learning to do some meaningful work. It may so happen that it will be a never ending process. However the best part is each article is better than last one. Each talk I give, I am more confident.

I have developed a super power “the ability to talk and introduce my self to anyone”. I guess by nature I am extrovert but I had to discover it slowly after my higher studies.

The reason I am writing this story is because I saw a recent movie in which the title of losers was celebrated. The journey of winning a general championship (GC) was thrilling. It was a story of underdog. The most celebrated stories are always of underdog. The part I loved in the movie was in the end they lose. I think the movie was truly made for everyone.

It gives a good example because they are more happier than before. That makes winning and losing insignificant. The effort they put in and the belief they carry to win is what matters.

They won desire to dream, happiness, friendship, memories & confidence.

This was taken 10 years ago. If you can read the print on my T-shirt, it will bring you a smile.

I am still learning to get over micro failures and transform it into learning. It’s an ongoing process and I will continue my journey.

Share this if you think failure is the part of the process.

Posted on by Vikram Shetty 0

Skills for a successful consulting career

In today’s economy because of internet and social media, solopreneurs, gig economy and remote work is becoming a viable career option. If you dig a little deeper, your role becomes that of a consultant. The key for you is to become a successful consultant.

You can find much information on becoming a successful consultant. Here is my take of providing business value to become a successful consultant.

Find your niche
Photo by Noah Näf on Unsplash

Find your niche When you start your career as a consultant it looks easy to serve everyone and anyone in your domain. Let’s pick sustainability as a career option. You will find there are many roles you can play like in Corporate Social Responsibility, Circular Economy, any of the Sustainable Development Goals, Life cycle Assessments, Materiality Expert, Sustainability Reporting Specialist.

I would recommend picking a niche and try to solve the micro niche problem. You have to walk into a client having a problem and should be able to assure them that you can solve it in x number of day and your charge will be y amount. You will require you to know the problem domain and how to provide the solution.

If prospects come to your online profile or learn about you via a referral, they should be able to explain your work in a few sentences — a powerful and one of the most challenging things to do. Think of 5 famous consultants: Aren’t they expert only in one topic?

Share your journey
Photo by Taylor Nicole on Unsplash

Share your journey You can reach to practically anyone in the world. There are dozens of social media platform to share your work. LinkedIn works for professional network. I know you know that however you may not know is currently (May 2019) the organic reach of the platform is very high. Which means If I post a good article or share an article (you can share this article), I get 1000 to 5000 views on my post.

If you are hesitant to share or don’t know what to share, one thing you can do is share your daily work experience, your current challenges or any meetings you had that is worth sharing.

Your post should provide value to the community you serve. It can be in the same industry. For example, let take the case of 73bit.com. We are a benchmarking and assessment platform for company-wise benchmarks.

Our clients are Rating companies, Non-profits, Think tanks and Environmental consultancy. However, most of my post revolves around sustainability, climate change, diversity, gender and technology. Your post can be a medium to share your passion and the person you are.

Design your service
Photo by Kaleidico on Unsplash

Design your service: You have to be a systems thinker because the system produces results. Your service should yield specific outcomes and deliverables. Clients should be able to measure progress and throughput. The method of consultancy can attract the right clients and also retain them for life.

There are many examples of structuring the service. One of them I can remember is from the book Build to Sell. The story is about a struggling entrepreneur in small business and how his mentor helps him to become a successful company. The business they turn out to be is a Logo making agency.

One of the steps I would like to highlight from their 5 step process is creating the logo only with black colour. They explain one of the advantages of this step is to make the client focus on the structure, ratio and concept of the logo. This step avoids the conversation of detailing on the logo.

Create a community
Photo by Tim Marshall on Unsplash

Create a community Create a community Being a consultant can be a lonely journey at times; it is always good to have likeminded people to get inspiration. It never hurts to have a mentor in the same field too. To create a community you need to bring value to them. You may take time to understand; however, your best friend is experimenting.

If you choose LinkedIn as a platform for creating your community, you can create groups in it and build it. To begin with, you can always participate in groups where you can contribute and start developing relationships. These relationships can also help you bring clients.

I feel that if the community is in the space of your work, but they are not your direct clients. It becomes effortless to serve, and you can go all in. For example, I do Daily Introduction. Not everyone I introduce is my potential customer; thus there is no agenda with this service. Good Karma comes back, is what I think.

Keynote Speaker
Photo by Priscilla Du Preez on Unsplash

Keynote Speaker This could be a tough one. If you can speak about your work to a large audience it shows that you have the authority to talk about the topic and it increases your confidence. Both of these qualities are important for sales. The talks can be a great source of lead generation and client relationship.

You can start small by talking about your subject to a nearby school or college. It can be short talk like TED. If you think you are not comfortable talking to a larger audience start by talking with few people. You can start by talking to one person. You can do that by being a guest in a Podcast.

Your confidence can alone be powerful skills to have. It will come if you are great at your work and proud of what you are doing. You can also have a Free talk at your clients’ place on the topic that is currently a concern to them.

I hope this article was useful and I wish you a successful career. If you found this valuable the least you can do is share this as a post. Add two lines while you post mentioning why did you liked it or why don’t you liked it.

Posted on by Vikram Shetty 0

In the age of digital shared economy, You need to rewire your thought about the job.

Do you spend more time in Linkedin, Twitter, Facebook, Instagram or Snapchat and you are work in the tech world? If your answer is yes, you should continue reading.

You are developing, testing, configuring or maintaining software. You are in the knowledge business and you are in charge of creating systems.

Before software can be reusable it first has to be usable.
– Ralph Johnson

The story of a young developer

I will tell you the story about our newly joined team member Pooja. It’s her first job and was hired after interviewing around 100 talent. We started with Test Driven Development, we make it clear that it will take time to learn new skills in software development.

While I was pairing with her on one of the user stories, there was a point we were writing a failing test. I asked her to write the production code to fix it. She took the keyboard and tried to quickly type the fastest solution possible. While doing it she accidentally cut paste a wrong piece of code.

Me: Why are you in a rush?

She: I want to complete this task fast.

Me: Why?

She: ………………………………………..silence…

I have observed this repeatedly. Be it Leadership, Creatives, Fresher or others. Most of us are in a hurry to complete the task.

Good software is never measured ONLY ON how quickly it was delivered. It is measured on many other factors too, like

  • Solving Real Problems
  • User Experience
  • Clean Design
  • Ease of Use
  • Runs Faster

When you rush, you add bugs and it slows you down. A software with bugs makes it more difficult to deliver on time. When the software is very brittle, team and customers STOP having confidence in the software

 One man’s crappy software is another man’s full time job.
– Jessica Gaston

You end up doing the same work again and again. You are in firefighting mode and you won’t learn new software skills.

Build your personal brand

The reason that learning new skills and doing new work or a new way of work is important because you can build your brand using any of the popular social media platforms.

You share why you do what you do, you share your new learning with the world and help you build your career.

Your personal brand can be a valuable asset for you to find your next job.

You can have a story to tell, WHY YOU DON’T HATE MONDAYS

The superpower of a good professional

Till now you read about a problem and an opportunity that will help you build a great career.

If you study all the successful people, you will learn that they do their best work with complete ease. It’s an effortless activity and they love to do it.

Here are my two advice that can be your superpower to get more time at work and do some meaningful work that you love and enjoy doing.

1) Discard 50% of your task

Are you shocked? With my experience, I have seen that any task can be broken down. You can get rid of many of them. Ask these questions

  • Can we get the outcome without doing this task?
  • What does the user really wants from this feature?
  • Can we ask the customer and remove this feature?
  • Is there a way to get the result using other features?
  • Will the customer use this at all?

You can discard all the waste that is not required.

Another story

It’s about a feature we recently added to our platform. It is based on the first question above Ajeet and me asked.

We had to create a progress bar that showed the status for a background process to the scorecard. It was processing data between half million to 4 million data points for all the entities. Each data point may have a complex function that can have multiple steps.

So the initial natural design/plan was to put the counter at each data point for each entity. It was a crude solution but an initial thought. The bigger pain to us was to put the counter in the database and read it periodically and damage the performance further.

We asked, “Can we get the outcome without doing this task?“

We came up with a solution to calculate the number of entities processed irrespective of the data points in each entity. We also counted the progress only at 5% increment. Thus measuring it only 20 times per cycle.

It took us a few lines of code at the iteration point of entities. The solution was implemented in an afternoon and the client verified it the next day.

Estimated 4 days of work completed in 4 hours

It gives me an idea of where the background proccess currenlty is and when it may expect it to complete – Our Client

2) Automate

You should make the computer work for you. You can’t imagine how much you can automate. I will only list a few and you can figure it out.

  • Automated Testing
  • Continuous Integration
  • Logging your time tracker
  • Regular Maintenance Work
  • Ad-hoc reports
  • Auto Start require tools on Startup
  • Refactoring
  • Script any operational activity
  • many more…

The main thing with a superpower is you have to use them daily, rather hourly to make a real impact.

I hope you enjoyed this article If you plan to only share 1 article per day consider this one.

Posted on by Vikram Shetty 0

Open Letter for your first tech job

gq_hero_new-series-season-1Before telling good bye to 2017. I want to put this request for your first Tech Job. Thirteen years back I was looking for my first job. My name is Vikram Shetty and I have a Masters of Science (Information technology) degree with me. In 2004 I was looking for my job to become a Microsoft Dot Net programmer. I was an average programmer but I found my interest in programming. The epiphany hit me when I discovered C# Web service can talk to a web page using XML. It was as simple as creating it in 5 minutes. The Information Technology was recovering back after 2001 slow down. There wasn’t much job in the market and one of the option was campus placement, which I never came across. The other option was a job as a Tech Support (its like a Call Center). Every job has its own merits but I did not got selected in any one of those, I consider it as blessing in disguise. Information Technology industry has changed over a decade now, but young girls and boys are searching job as if it is 2005, even the format of the resume has not changed 🙂

In today’s market you if you are not getting job from normal channel. You should hack your way into the office, if you are passionate about programming or find it interesting.

#3 Crazy Hacks, you wouldn’t dare to do if you are not passionate 

  1. Find a startup you like and offer them to work for FREE. This is actually not risky if you are at home for last two months, what is stopping you from working and adding experience. If you are don’t have money for travel and lunch here is how you can earn for it. Watch this video, in India you can use OLX or Quikr
  2. Stop searching job the main job portals. Try other avenues like LinkedIn, Interview Fox, or AngleList with recent programming language like NodeJs, Ruby or Go
  3. Look for a remote job, It is 2018 and the world is your playground and you can work from anywhere with Laptop + internet. Remote Work

[Edited: 31/12/2017]

After this article was viewed by 45 people over 7 countries. Few of my friends suggested more hacks. Thank you Kritul, Piyush and Maunish. I am listing it down with my 0.2 cent to it.

#3 BONUS Hacks

  1. Meetup to collaborate with other developer and search for job. My 0.2 cent is find a meetup of Startup and Investor meet. Entrepreneur will go for funds there, if you can observe and find the one who are positive about getting funds ask them for job.
  2. https://github.com/ for participating in open source project to put it in your resume and https://stackoverflow.com/ to show your technical skills and gain points on your profile thus updating it in your resume. Your real work will be out in public. My 0.2 cent is find the people who have great work already and ask them for a job.
  3.  Product Hunt to find tech product (India), search a cool company and connect to the founder or contact us on there website. They often have few incoming emails so the possibility of reading your resume is high.

Hope this rant helps at least one person who reads this. Best of Luck!

Have an Epic 2018! 

Posted on by Vikram Shetty 0

75 constraints used in 2015 across the Globe for Global Day of Code Retreat

Tomorrow on 18th November 2017 is Global Day of Code Retreat 2017 #GDCR17 This will be my 3rd year in a row to attend and practice my craft. After 13 years of experience writing code it still feels like a ride in a theme park to attend Global Day of Code Retreat. In year 2015 I copied all the constraints from the website www.coderetreat.org

Image result for code retreat

Here are the 75 unique constraints that was used on that day

  1. Introduction to the problem
  2. Pair Programming
  3. Test Driven Development
  4. Small methods (<=5)
  5. No side-effect methods.
  6. No if-else
  7. No conditional statements
  8. No loop
  9. Ping Pong
  10. No constraints
  11. Babysteps
  12. Mute ping-pong
  13. Brutal refactoring game
  14. Zombies!
  15. Tell don’t ask
  16. Hexagonal board
  17. Simplicity
  18. No boolean flag
  19. No array
  20. Explore, Stabilize, Implement
  21. Pure Functions Only
  22. One Level of Indentation Per Method.
  23. No TDD, Honeymoon round
  24. TDD, keyboard only
  25. On paper
  26. TDD focus on behaviour
  27. TDD Like you mean it
  28. Code swapping
  29. No language primitives across method boundries.
  30. Make a test list No code in first 0 minutes, make a list of tests, then decide in which order to implement them
  31. No touchpad, no mouse.
  32. Intention, naming convention.
  33. Extreme OO
  34. First 0 minutes paper only, no arrays and no lists
  35. Acceptance tests only
  36. Use no matrix
  37. No Return statements!
  38. Pair programing, 0 min test paper only
  39. Fixed roles one writes tests, the other implements and swap 0 minutes before end all of the sudden 😉
  40. Maxlines per method
  41. No predefined datastructures
  42. Four Rules of Simple Design
  43. Closing Circle
  44. Commit every 5 minutes, delete the rest Reduce the time to 3 minutes Last round 1 minute
  45. Taking baby steps write exactly one test within 2 minutes and commit it if you are in time, if not revert the changes
  46. Clean code
  47. Everything is represented by an immutable object, objects cannot change state.
  48. Primitive Revulsion.
  49. Three Laws Compliant.
  50. Total Ego Annihilation.
  51. So Fresh, So Clean.
  52. Cells talking to cells De-emphasis on the GoL world / board.
  53. Pairs can only communicate via tests
  54. Round Robin dojo
  55. Legacy code! This is a longer  where devs unknowingly write untested legacy code with no restraints and halfway through they need to switch partners and maintain and refactor that code
  56. Driver gets keyboard
  57. Shortcuts are not allowed (e.g. ALT-TAB)
  58. Muted pair!
  59. Switch to 3 dimensions
  60. Object Calisthenics
  61. TDD + Simplicity + Immutable + Hive Board
  62. Noun Avoidance / Verb It Up, Verby Mc. Verberson
  63. Procedural (no tests) OR immutable objects
  64. Mob programming (basic Game of Life, no other constraints)
  65. Hive board (cell only has 6 neighbors instead of 8, a grid can be represented as a beehive) + mute mode (nobody can talk)
  66. 4 Verbs Only
  67. With graph constraints
  68. Extreme OO
  69. Evil Coder!
  70. Tell, don’t ask Only void methods
  71. Extract ’til you drop
  72. Exploratory testing
  73. Healing grid
  74. Let’s see how many alive cells you have on a 100X100 matrix after 1000 iterations ?
  75. No exceptions

Hope this list helps you tomorrow…

Constraint: Share this post Now!!! 😉 

Posted on by Vikram Shetty 0

My flawless first experience with Fiverr

We created a introduction video for www.73bit.com explaining our product. We got a fabulous feedback from friends and colleagues. In this post I will share how did I posted the job at Fiverr and all the details shared to the video producer.

 

Getting Started

Copy of my job

Create An Awesome Explainer Video Up To 200 Words

Do you waste huge amount of time in your research process? Do you have manual repetition in your data analysis? How many of you have chaos in your research process?.

In today’s day and age technology should work for you not other way around. Don’t you think wasting time of your highly qualified research analysts and research officers is not a good idea. They are busy with manually collecting the data on spreadsheets and word documents. Or They are busy with communicating with teams only via emails or chat. We believe they deserve a online platform to automate most of their work. They should have a system that can automatically calculate the score card and generate the feedback report by a click of a button.

We at 73bit are working hard to achieve this by creating Probench a online reporting and bench marking platform. Probench is the outcome of our long running relationship with the organizations that currently use our system. It was designed from the beginning to place tools in the hands of the teams who run the surveys. So that the team can focus on what they do best research and getting insights from the data collected. It will be customized and configured for your in few weeks.

Do you want to know if Probench is for you? Book a FREE Candid Investigation Session Now! Lets discover that together.

NOTE: I would like to have a call of 15 minutes to explain the imagination I have for this intro video. Also I need feedback every 2 days on progress to clear any doubts (VERY important for me)

Voiceover – English UK. Attached is our Logo

73bit
I will be expecting something like this https://www.fiverr.com/chrisakanno12/create-an-awesome-explainer-video-up-to-200-words?funnel=a9280c8b-be01-43c2-bca3-08ef7fc917a6

Let me know if you need any other information.

Date: 12th August 2017

Dealing with Sellers

After you post your job there will be multiple seller who will bid for it, you can see them on the request page

Request.png

After you click on the review offer, You will see who sent the offer and there profile links

Request 2

This will be a time consuming but you will have to pick among them and start convention with them about quality and price. You will have to filter the good out and see what works with you. See if things are real and practical.

Conversation with Chris

His profile is https://www.fiverr.com/chrisakanno12

Me: Any updates?

Him: I am still on the job
I am doing my best to give you a perfect job. If I need anything I will let you know

Me: Thanks. If you have any doubts please let me know. I need the video on 1st 3 question should be attention seeking.

Him: Please listen to this female UK voiceover that I plan to use for your animation.
I spent days looking for the perfect voiceover and I believe I have found it.
See the attachment
21:43 August 16, 2017
Him: Please if you like the female UK voice over , please give me your reply immediately so that I can continue working. I personally believe that this voiceover is perfect for the job.
I await your immediate reply
21:46 August 16, 2017
Him: Please the logo you sent me is 73bit logo. Do you have a separate logo for probench or is the logo that you sent me the main probench logo. Please I need your response as soon as possible
03:36 August 17, 2017
Me: Sorry for the late reply, but I have not got any notification. The logo I have sent should be fine. only put that on top right. The voice over felt too formal like a speech
and computer voice. I would like it to be more conversational or story telling.
14:11 August 18, 2017
Him: I am almost done with the animation already and I think it’s perfect because I contracted the voiceover to a professional British female based In UK and she’s one of the top rated sellers on fiverr. I can assure you that the voiceover blends perfectly with the background music, sound effects and audio. Take my word on that.
14:14 August 18, 2017
Me: Ok, I will trust you on that.You are the professional.
Him: As for your animation, I am sure that you will be pleased with the final piece and if you need modification, don’t hesitate to contact me. I will keep working until you are satisfied.
Me: Alright. Thanks for the assurance.
Him: Thanks for ordering. Here is your delivery. I highly appreciate you for your patience, understanding and teamwork with me on this project. If you have any revisions, please let me know so that i can make the necessary corrections and deliver the best job service to you. If you are pleased and satisfied with my work, I will highly appreciate that you give me a 5 star rating and review. Also, I will gladly accept any tip you offer. I will also love to work with you on many more awesome projects. Thanks for ordering and have a blessed day.
05:13 August 19, 2017
Me: Thanks a lot. Overall great job. We have few correction/feedback based on
our product specification. Attached are the screen capture at the time in the video and
mentioned are the correction. File name are given in terms of the time
when it occurs in the video.
Please don’t hesitate in case you have any questions.Here are the attachments.11_sec38_seconds.png1_min_05_sec.png1_min_15_sec.png

1_min_27_sec.pngHim: Thanks for your wonderful feedback. I can and will implement the changes you requested. You dont need to worry about that. Please i will need some extra time to do these changes and deliver a perfect final job to you. Please accept this resolution request to extend the delivery by 3 days extra.

22:17 August 19, 2017

 

Me: One more request I had there is a line with says few weeks. Can be change to 2 weeks? Both text and voice.
22:29 August 19, 2017

Him: Its not possible to change it to 2weeks since we have finalized the voiceover already and besides it’s better as few weeks because few weeks can be 1 week or 2weeks as you desire. I think it’s okay the waY it is. Sometimes less is more
22:31 August 19, 2017

 

Me: One more request, Can you add the text on the last screen as shown in the image attached. you can choose best font and color which goes. So that if the video is shared people knows whom to contact. Does it make sense?

13:16 August 21, 2017

1_min_30_secHim: Yes I will add it no problem. 

Him: Please I am very sorry for delivering by this time. My Internet service has been very slow since today. Please don’t be offended, I am very sorry.

I did not do the virtual conversation you requested because it wont blend well with the animation because too much animation can make your targeted audience miss the message. Text is better because it will leave a perfect and long lasting impression in their minds. and it gives a wider scope compared to just virtual conference. The rest of the changes you requested i did them all. I believe you have a perfect job now and i bet that your message is conveyed properly with this final animation.Thanks for ordering my GIG, I really do appreciate and love working on your project.

I believe i can really help you do more projects that will definitely help you promote your product or service and make huge profit.

Thank you for giving me the opportunity to work on this project, I believe the job I have done for you will convince you that I am the best person for the job.

If you are convinced, which I believe you will, I look forward to you ordering more.

Thanks for ordering and thanks in advance when you order for more.

I will appreciate that you give me a 5 star rating and excellent review.

I will gladly accept any tip you offer.

Check attachment for your order.

Me: I agreed with your remark on the session. There are 2 typo revision rest looks fine.

10_sec.png

1_min_15_sec_rev_2.pngHim: Thanks for your reply. I will make the necessary revisions you need. But please i will send you a resolution request of 2 days so that i can take my time and do the changes so as to deliver a professional work. I will send you the resolution request now, please accept it immediately.
Thanks
chrisakanno12
16:03 August 23, 2017

Me: Done.

Him: Thanks for ordering my GIG, I really do appreciate and love working on your project.

I believe i can really help you do more projects that will definitely help you promote your product or service and make huge profit.Thank you for giving me the opportunity to work on this project, I believe the job I have done for you will convince you that I am the best person for the job.

If you are convinced, which I believe you will, I look forward to you ordering more.

Thanks for ordering and thanks in advance when you order for more.

I will appreciate that you give me a 5 star rating and excellent review.

I will gladly accept any tip you offer.

Check attachment for your order.

Final Video

Hope this was helpful to you.

Posted on by Vikram Shetty 0

5 simple starters to instant Infographics

In our mastermind group mentored by Arfeen Khan, we recently discussed about Infographics. It is such a unique way to sharing and educating other. Here are my 5 simple starters.

Restaurant Business Infographic (1)

I) Download them from Canva. 

Free Infographics @ Click here. You can go ahead and edit those too.

Disclaimer: Few of them will have priced images, you can download the infographic first to make sure it is free and downloadable. Also there is Free tag on each template on your left had side panel. As shown below.

Canva.png 

II) Do it yourself using power point. Yes! (Under 1 hour and 15 template)

Steps given in details here (with a video tutorial) @ How to Make an Infographic in Under an Hour

Hub.png

You can download the templates here @ https://www.hubspot.com/infographic-templates 

III) Use a free online tool. 

One of them is https://www.easel.ly/ a little more work but you can customized it further. They have a free account.

Introduction Video 

IV) 19 Warning Signs Your Infographic Stinks

This team have mastered the skill of using infographics @ 19 Warning Signs Your Infographic Stinks

death-and-taxes-popularity

V) Get it done

If you are looking for professional to do it. It can be done via website like Fiverr @ https://www.fiverr.com/categories/graphics-design/infographics?source=category_tree or Upwork @ https://www.upwork.com/ab/profiles/search/?q=infographics

Hope this was helpful.

Posted on by Vikram Shetty 0

7 lessons learned by playing games

In Arfeen Khan‘s business mastermind workshop, we played few team games. The objective was to learn and keep the energy up.

7lessons

Here are my top 7 metaphor that you can apply to your business:

  1. Strategy Rocks!: Every game needs to be played by strategy. There is always of easy way to play it. The idea is to take leverage of the abundance resources. To name a few from game point of view it was Brain, Gravity, Hacks and Listening skills.    
  2. Artificial Scarcity: Time pressure was the default rule for all games. Since you are in a competition and there is also a timer you feel the pressure. In reality the team which did not take that pressure often win.
  3. Unstoppable Energy: There are times when the energy of the team helps the participants to win. So support for your team becomes a vital key. We have seen winning momentum of teams continuously winning consecutive games.
  4. Team Strength: The way the team understood each other’s strengths and weakness, the better the results were. Even if it means coup the team’s strategy in order to make the team win.
  5. Star Performance:  When the strategy and skills match, play like a star performer. You win the game before the game begins. Once you are winner in your mind you play it like a champ.
  6. Ultimate Leader: You got to have a leader with right credentials to empower the team. Each game needed a different mind-set to lead and control actions. The key here is to adapt to the situation and make dramatic changes.
  7. Killer Execution: Even if you have all of the above qualities in place. If you are unable to execute it with conviction. It will not bring any outcome. This becomes one of the last but important steps to see the result in your favor.

Have a awesome business year ahead!

Posted on by Vikram Shetty 0

You have a tech business idea, What do you do for next 3 months?

The short answer is Product Market Fit.

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The long answer, A young person recently contacted me. A working professional with a business idea. Aspiring to be an entrepreneur. I am not quite sure  why he asked me for guidance. However it was my privilege to share the knowledge I had.

Disclaimer: I did not guided him, I share what my mentors told and what I believed in.

I had a 40 minute Skype call. Discussing the idea and the questions. I gave my best possible answers and the suggestions that I thought was relevant.

Suggested Actions Plan

  1. Meet all potential client and share your idea.
  2. See if any one is interested in buying it from you.
  3. Don’t think of building the product first.
  4. Instead meet as many clients and sell your idea.
  5. Create a SaaS model and provide it on licensing fee.
  6. Discover if you have a business in your idea.
  7. Read Lean Startup book.
  8. Go to meetups and start building relationship with like minded people.

Question asked to me.

Should I build the complete product first?

No.

What is a business model?

One I know is Business Model Canvas

What technology stack to use?

Don’t worry about it now, use what you know

Don’t I need product to talk to clients?

You need MVP or Mockups to talk to clients. 

How do I compete with the big players in my space?

You don’t. You solve your clients problem. You find the niche area where you can add value.

Bonus

Asked him to go through How to Build a Startup by Udacity 

If you want to discuss any business challenges in details contact me LinkedIn. We can have a peer-to-peer talk.

 

 

Posted on by Vikram Shetty 0