Fat Lady Sings Day

This is the last blog. Unlike Randy Pausch’s [he has since died] Last Lecture, I don’t have great thoughts to share. I do believe this:

Live on the edge; go without fear and do some fun and crazy stuff in and with your life. If you ever find yourself bored, have the balls to run, not walk away, and change. That’s what Corpus Christi and sailing is all about.  Make your own luck. And don’t forget to think different.  Every day, smile and laugh; don’t take yourself too seriously. As a start, enjoy the BMW ad below. Hank

Stay Hungry; Stay Foolish

Steve Jobs, though never graduated college, was invited to give the Stanford commencement address in 2005.  Below are a few excerpts of great advice for both young and old.   The video has the address in its entirety and it is well worth watching.  Here is what Steve had to say:

“I was lucky — I found what I loved to do early in life”.

“Of course it was impossible to connect the dots looking forward when I was in college, but it was very, very clear looking backwards 10 years later. Again, you can’t connect the dots looking forward. You can only connect them looking backwards, so you have to trust that the dots will somehow connect in your future. You have to trust in something–your gut, destiny, life, karma, whatever–because believing that the dots will connect down the road will give you the confidence to follow your heart, even when it leads you off the well-worn path, and that will make all the difference.”

“Sometimes life’s going to hit you in the head with a brick. Don’t lose faith. I’m convinced that the only thing that kept me going was that I loved what I did. You’ve got to find what you love, and that is as true for work as it is for your lovers. Your work is going to fill a large part of your life, and the only way to be truly satisfied is to do what you believe is great work, and the only way to do great work is to love what you do. If you haven’t found it yet, keep looking, and don’t settle. As with all matters of the heart, you’ll know when you find it, and like any great relationship it just gets better and better as the years roll on. So keep looking. Don’t settle.”

“Remembering that you are going to die is the best way I know to avoid the trap of thinking you have something to lose. You are already naked. There is no reason not to follow your heart.”

“Your time is limited, so don’t waste it living someone else’s life. Don’t be trapped by dogma — which is living with the results of other people’s thinking. Don’t let the noise of others’ opinions drown out your own inner voice. And most important, have the courage to follow your heart and intuition. They somehow already know what you truly want to become. Everything else is secondary.” Beth Carroll

Full text here:  http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/chat/1422863/posts

Recycling and you

I read a recent article in the WSJ that PepsiCo is going to place thousands of recycling kiosks at concerts, grocery stores and along city sidewalks to encourage more recycling. Seems that on the order of 130 billion bottles and cans are thrown away yearly in the US, according to the cited article. That’s about 130×10^9/300×10^6, or 433 per person per year. And that, boys and girls, is lots of bottles and cans. But only a fraction are recycled.

Back in another life I worked with a company charged with convincing homeowners to use less electricity. You could beat them over the head with higher costs, environmental concerns, you name it, and usage remained the same. It was only when they were confronted with what neighbors were doing to cut back that their behavior changed for the better. Should be the same deal here. Seems there is an opportunity here someplace for entrepreneurs. Browse the article and get your two cents in. My wife and I recycle BTW – everything- as we have NO trash pickup in the country. Hank

Traveling with the iPad SUCKS!

In place of any computer, I took my new iPad on my recent “flying trip” to inspect a potential condo purchase in Corpus Christi, TX. More about that at a later date. So how did the iPad perform? It sucked big time.

First of all, the Indianapolis airport has free wifi access. I have been on it without any difficulty using several brands of computers and versions of operating systems. The iPad, while “saying” that it was hooked up to a network, would not download/access web pages etc. Meanwhile, the Droid, sucked up the connection and performed without flaw. OK, on to Corpus Christi. Where we stayed for two nights had not one but two open wifi networks. The first night the iPad locked on to one of them and I posted the blog for Friday Thursday evening late. Come Friday, and also Saturday morning, the iPad would not lock on to the open networks and once again my Droid did so no problem. On to the Houston airport. Hit the repeat button. So my Droid saved the day and the iPad sucked. Until/IF Apple gets this fixed, I WOULD NOT recommend purchasing an iPad. BTW, without wifi, what is the iPad?

A second interesting “thing” I noticed involved the Keynote app I purchased as Apple’s answer to PowerPoint on the iPad. The icon that is supposed to give you access to entering text doesn’t seem to work per the Help section. An average person doing average things shouldn’t be confronted and/or frustrated by Apple’s quirks. For those of you who want to see more, here’s a link to details on Apple’s answer to Word, Excel and PPT.

Bottom line, the iPad is not ready for prime time!

One thing that did work as advertised is iBook. Hank

Alibaba and you the entrepreneur

In China there is an internet giant named Alibaba Group whose chairman is a dude named Jack Ma. If you are even remotely considering anything entrepreneurial, you SHOULD study this man. A good start is the Wikipedia entry here: and/or the previous link to his name.

From alibaba.com

One of his companies, alibabi.com provides a portal to global goods mainly from China that ANY entrepreneur worth their salt can tap into for potential import to the United States and sales at a profit – the essence of a new business startup. Let’s say for instance, that you wanted to start selling accessories for computers from your dorm room. You want small, relatively inexpensive, products that are differentiated from what’s available from Wal-Mart. See photo at left. Since students haven’t en mass embraced cloud concepts [that's a dig in case you missed it ], you decide on USB thumb drives. From alibaba.com you ascertain that in quantities of 30 with shipping thrown in, you can buy these at about $9.00 per for 8 gigers. You even see in amazement that these are available in up to 128 gig capacities. Now you’re thinking WOW. What a great linux booting device one of these big hummers would make [you were guided in this thinking by your CS roommate]. See embed below. But you say, wait! I’m not into computer stuff, I just want to sell Hats & Stuff. Just like Apple’s iTunes store, there’s an app for that here. Look around alibaba.com; you’ll be glad you did! Hank

Rheem Electric Heat Pump Water Heater

We will be in the market for an energy-efficient hot water heater in the near future. Our current model, while still working well, is over twenty years old having been installed in the early 1980s. It certainly is not as energy efficient as the new models. I noticed in a flier this past week from Home Depot an ad for “The most advanced energy-efficient electric heat pump water heater” @ $1498 – ouch! Ok, so heat pump caught my eye because in general anything involving a heat pump implies high energy efficiency. Rheem’s web site states:

Rheem’s most advanced energy efficient electric water heater you can own. Energy Star qualified. The Rheem Hybrid utilizes heat pump technology for superb energy efficiency. Easy to use LED touch pad. Installs as easily as a standard electric water heater. Ideal for new construction and drop-in replacement. Uses 55% less electricity than a standard electric water heater and produces a full tank of hot water 17% faster, with 6% more hot water available for use. 12 Year limited tank and parts warranty and 1 year limited in-home warranty.

• Energy efficient 2.0 EF
• Easy to use Touch Pad operation controls the water temperature range, 3 energy efficiency settings
• Premium resistored anode rod protection, extends tank life
• Factory installed temperature and pressure relief valve
• Brass drain valve
• 21 In. diameter, fits through access doors
• Stainless steel backup heating elements
• Heat Pump operating range 40 degree F to 120 degree F
• Qualifies for the 30% Federal tax credit up to $1500. Additional rebate and incentives may be available from local electric utilities
• Delivers more than twice the efficiency and more hot water faster than any standard 50 gallon electric water heater
• Can save you an average of $286 per year in electricity costs (based on DOE estimates)
• Built in freeze / overheat protection
• Easy access, top mounted washable air filter
• Eco Options : Eco Options
• MFG Brand Name : Rheem EcoSense
• MFG Model # : HP50ES
• MFG Part # : 593029

My question is, do any readers of this blog have any experience with heat pump-based water heater? or am I in line to be an early adopter for yet another device? Hank

From Corpus Christi-iPad:Have A Happy Friday: Tractor beat

This one’s from one of my nephews who is also a ME Purdue grad. Thanks Craig! Hank

Put on your high heel sneakers; Crocs that is

From here: http://www.google.com/finance?q=crocs

Way back in a time enjoyed by few readers of this blog, a R&B singer named Tommy Tucker made a recording [embedded at bottom] named “Hi Heel Sneakers” {1964}. Seems that Crocs has brought back an oldie but goodie  “hi-heel sneaker’ in their newest attempt to regain past glory. But first, some background.

As you can easily ascertain from Crocs’ financial performance above, their stock price has receded from a 5-year high of $69.98 on Oct 26, 2007 to in the $8 range today. How the mighty have fallen. In an attempt to

From Crocs' website

reposition and re-purpose their brand, they are rolling out a new line of red high heels, a new “Feel the love” advertising campaign, and new clog-like mascots named

From Crocs' website

“Croslite” to articulate comfort. Remember, this is a company that was first to market with a line of quirky clogs that were embraced especially by the medical profession before being knockoff by numerous look-alikes. And by-the-way, their new line is predominately made of leather and the shoes at the right retail for $99.99+

So here we have a company moving completely out of their previous successful market niche, to what end? Your input? Hank

Kiva.org – BbB

Meet Alejandro: Entrepreneur

Alejandro is 55.  He lives in Peru. “He is an honest and hardworking man who is married to Alberta, 54. Together they have 3 children, of whom only one still lives with them in their own house: a house constructed of rustic materials. For more than 25 years, he has worked with citrus fruit, bananas and avocados. On top of that he has a business of supplying native fruit from the Peruvian jungle. In harvest times, he has the help of his dear wife and of his oldest son. This way he can give a comfortable life to his family.”

Alejandro, along with many other entrepreneurs from impoverished nations, is requesting a loan on Kiva.org.  He has requested $1075 to help him buy more hectares of land so that he may plant more crops and purchase fertilizer and insecticides “to avoid the infestations that eat his fruit.”

So far Alejandro has been able to raise $975 from lenders like Brandon [left] from Rhode Island who loans “because I can” and from the Shlottmans [right]who give because they “believe in sharing and helping to ensure that everyone has the opportunity to succeed as they work toward a sustainable livelihood”.  With the help of many generous souls who loan as little as $25 a piece, Alejandro has only $100 left to raise before he reaches his goal and is able to make his dreams come true.  For more stories like Alejandro’s check out Kiva.org; a social enterprise with a mission to alleviate poverty. See video [no audio] below. Beth Carroll

{Hank note: Earlier this month my 10:30 ENTR200 class Team 5 made their last 5-minute presentation on Kiva.org also. Good stuff!}

Infographics and the entrepreneur

Banner from here: http://www.coolinfographics.com/

According to the world’s most comprehensive data base , Wikipedia, Infographics is defined thus: “Information graphics or infographics are visual representations of information, data or knowledge. These graphics are used where complex information needs to be explained quickly and clearly, such as in signs, maps, journalism, technical writing, and education. They are also used extensively as tools by computer scientists, mathematicians, and statisticians to ease the process of developing and communicating conceptual information.”

I assert herein that as a tool, infographics is a requirement for every entrepreneur to have both a understand of, and a facility in creating for competitive advantage. As in Prezi, which we blogged about yesterday, entrepreneurs have to use “what they have access to better than their competitors, as do students competing in the classroom and in life after.” [BTW, there IS a life after ] Further, at least a basic infographics course should be a requirement for all Krannert management students, and an elective for everyone else including the Entrepreneurship Certificate Program. Why do you ask?

Often times entrepreneurs have to explain to potential investors, customers, employees or government regulators very complex data and/or concepts in a very short period of time in a compact manner. The viewer in a glance [remember short attention spans we are developing in coming generations!] has to drink all they desire of the essence of your communication. Infographics has the ability to accomplish this with a minimum of space and time. While it is way beyond the scope of this blog to turn readers into infographic engineers, as a minimum, take a gander at the following links and the infographic on entrepreneurs embedded below. Links: here, here, and here. There’s a considerable bonus in the final Charles River Ventures presentation for students in my ENTR200 classes who include a great infographic in their presentations/paper 4/29/10. Hank

From here: http://grasshopper.com/blog/founders/2010/04/12/results-are-in-the-entrepreneur-state-of-mind-2010/