We live in fast-paced world with plenty to keep you distracted. What's more, we evolved to crave the instant, the immediate response or sensation. It's an instinct to which society now caters nearly absolutely. The internet presents you with information at the click of a button, TV delivers on-demand content to your screen, and modern games are nothing but instant gratification. Financially speaking, credit cards deliver instant purchases with deferred...
The "Sharing Economy" is a term that's been in use for some time now, but it really came into its own during 2013. When people talked about the sharing economy, they were talking about companies like Zipcar, AirBnB, and Car2go. What these companies have in common is that they use modern digital technology to enable customers to efficiently share resources among a community. Now in 2019 we refer to the...
This is going to be a touchy subject for some. I will do my absolute best to be as sensitive on this subject as possible, but I am not a perfect human being (none of us are), so I may inadvertently word something in a way that some might consider offensive. For this, I apologize. I assure you, it is not my intention. I would also like to add that...
I've spoken a lot about various personality traits over the course of my time writing this blog. It takes a certain kind of person to cast off the shackles of the 9-5 world and strike out on their own on the path to PIE. You need to be motivated. Confident. Professional. Intelligent. Creative. But one specific personality trait I haven't really touched on, and will today, is patience. And in...
Power is the sort of word that everyone defines a little differently. The issue is complicated by the many different kinds of power available; people tend to think first about positional power (for example, the Presidency is a position with a lot of power). One commonality to each definition, however, is that power includes the ability to get things done. To be effective, you need to know what kind of power you have...
I want to try a little experiment with you all. If you own a smartphone (and you should), pick it up, and go to your phone's application store (Blackberry App World, Google Play, Apple's App Store, etc). Now take a look at the most downloaded apps. More specifically, take a look at the prices. Notice anything? Apps generally fall into three categories. Free, which is, well, pretty obvious. Premium, which...
Hopefully, you don’t know what it’s like to be in prison and have your options tightly constrained by an outside agency. But that doesn't mean you don’t have any constraints. Laws, other people, responsibilities… these all constrain your actions by reducing your options for activity. And that’s a good thing – the restraints you’re under also constrain other people, ensuring that you’re protected from the actions of other people. There...
The title really says it all, doesn't it? There have been numerous studies done over the years that people are more likely to listen to someone who exudes an air of confidence. This is actually proven scientific fact. So it should be a bit of a no-brainer that this is something you should be doing at all times, to go along with your consummate professionalism, leadership skills, sense of timing, organizational...
Who are your real teachers and what lessons did they teach you? You will need to read to the end to find who mine are. My philosophy is this: “Education is great, but don’t let it hold you back.” (Sure, you can quote me on that) That statement appears to be more of truism today than ever before, as 25% of post-secondary grads aren't employed in their vocation - and...
There are a lot of choices available to today's entrepreneur. In fact, in many situations, the available choices can be so numerous as to be overwhelming. It's not uncommon to be stressed about making the best choices and wind up making a terrible choice. So how do you avoid that? After all, you do still want to make the best choice possible. The answer, it turns out, is to recognize...