Author: Herbert Lui
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“I don’t know…”
And I’m going to try something now, because that’s the only way to figure it out. I’ll need to share it with a couple of people, or even release it or publish it to the world, because that’s the easiest way to test the solution to see if it’ll work.
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Off timing
Every hit comes with a lot of misses. The problem is you and I only see people discussing the hits—and we don’t see them discussing the misses so often. Everybody is missing every day. Sometimes, we’re just too early; we build BlackBerry apps instead of iPhone apps, we discovered YouTube before the entertainment industry recognizes…
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Creative oscillations (the third)
Isabel writes in obligation vs compulsion: I also feel this distinct sense of compulsion to be doing this work. I’m intentionally calling it compulsion and not obligation. These are two distinctly different forces—like a push vs. a pull. Obligation requires you to push yourself to do the thing: get up from what you actually want…
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My butt’s in the seat. Now what?
I recently received a question from a reader: I was hoping if you could advise me on how to develop habits that I could incorporate into my day on how to actively do design work and just explore my creativity. I feel like a lot of the times I get in my own way. Rather…
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When a dollar is not a dollar
One property of money is fungibility: a dollar is a dollar. To the bank, whether you or I make $10,000 working for ourselves, or $10,000 working for the worst boss in the world, it’s the same $10,000. Still, the way you and I make this money is not interchangeable. We know this inherently; for example,…
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The Winners Effect
When I was a teenager, for reasons I will explore in a separate post, almost every week I went shopping at Canadian discount retailer, Winners. Shopping at Winners felt like playing a lottery, because the inventory changed with time, and also varied by location. Every time I walked into a store, I felt a thrill;…
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A business model example blending creativity and expertise
The Futur founder and CEO Chris Do recently published his company’s business model: People come for the creativity (the bottom of the pyramid), and stay for the expertise. The more you want direct access to Chris’s time, the more you’ll have to pay. I also really liked this post: In other words, the more processing…
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Contentions: On Non-Coercive Marketing
Rob Hardy wrote a really great manifesto entitled, “Non-Coercive Marketing: A Primer.” Here are the principles, which he breaks down in full at his post: Optimize for aligned, empowered customers Surrender control, and embrace emergence Cede authority Treat people as ends, not means Enough is enough Play long games…
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“Wonder is the beginning of wisdom.”
People in Hong Kong have incredible taste in graphic tees. I was just running errands and saw a guy wearing a shirt that said, “Wonder is the beginning of wisdom.” This was the most thought provoking moment I’ve experienced in a mall. I instantly whipped out my phone and wrote it down. It articulates an…