I don’t know whether it’s devotion to his dog, his health or some other higher purpose but watching him struggle up the hill you can only be impressed.

Note to people starting their own business…

It’s exciting, think hard, then go for it…

Thoroughly research and write a great business plan (there are plenty of good precedents online – government sites, and Harvard as well etc.).

Get as much advice as you feel you need.  Just remember that much of what they say will be wrong, may be too negative and may not fit what you’re trying to do…

You have an incredible brain, you are good at figuring things out, so I’d suggest work on your business plan, do your own research and go for it – keep adjusting as you need to, but don’t worry about trying to do the ‘right thing’ – there is no ‘right thing.

By the way – in my opinion, the best resource in the world for people starting a business – http://steveblank.com/ (see in particular his slideshare presentations on business model mapping, etc.)

I think rework and small giants are also brilliant resources – check them out too.

There’s more, but that’s a good start…

[image credit: Alex Osterwalder]

2 – half the list is often useless

3 – the other half deserves more attention – why don’t you do a proper post on each one?

4 – there aren’t 27 reasons and even if there were, I’m not going to bore you with them

5 – you get the picture

6 – …

Yes I’m sick of meaningless list posts.  On the other hand, I like everyone else love a useful list post. 

What are your thoughts?

[Image credit: armigeress]

By trying you’re just taking liberties – how about – seven things your network is reading voraciously at the moment?

I heard someone say that that’s a lot of effort to go to for someone who wants to jump.

And rightly so – a life is precious.

Reminds me of the frightened man huddling with a shotgun on a city street described so well by Mitch Albom in Have a Little Faith.  That particular man went to lead an amazing life, focused on others and caring for those forgotten by the system.

You just never can tell, can you?

Give me a break guys.

That’s like knocking on people’s doors, handing them a price list and walking away.

Hardly endearing, and just makes me want to shift delete.

Try adding value, try doing something useful.  You may be surprised…

[image credit: damo1977]

98,000 tweets

1500 blog posts

and so on (see the infographic below – thanks to business insider).

It’s pretty crowded out there – what are you doing to distinguish yourself?

________________________________

Dear xyz,

We all get gifts that just aren’t right, it could be the size, the colour, or the gift itself. This year, leave your gifts in the shrink wrap.

From 8 – 9 January 2011, you can list your Brand New unwanted gifts for FREE starting at 99c or less.

Use the money you make to buy yourself a Brand New gift that you really want.

Clever you!

________________________________

Wow – how cynical is that?

Then again, I hear that the cost of unwanted Christmas presents is estimated to be in the billions…Maybe there’s something better that could be done with these though?

- give them away to charity

- create an exchange for people to swap things

- create a way for people to find out and get something more meaningful from the start (seems obvious)

- combine them all together…

There’s a business that I think would take off…

What do you think?

Then listened to an interview with the CEO of one of the world’s biggest companies and wondered whether ‘Blah Blah’ is a pre-requisite for that kind of job…

[Image credit: Tony Kaarttinen]

Maybe better to just take it out of the room…