Friends of Dave #189: it's that time again...
And now some random thoughts.....
What? It's officially August? Usually everyone is heading out for some R&R this month before school starts. But we all know Rona has a different plan for everyone this year.....
So here are some quick hits for you this week where ever you may be:
-- Revisiting the 2019 version of "summer rants" is like looking at your high school yearbook and reading the quotes that were written back at the time....oh so young and naive....
-- I've been seriously grappling with my feelings about receiving an email with a subject line imploring "Watch a Nic Cage movie this weekend!".....this is what we have come to?
-- Sorry to break it to you, but there will be no baseball season after Labor Day. There will be no football, pro or college, season after Halloween. You heard it here first.
-- Are you a default "video on" or default "video off" Zoomer? Call me old school, but in a one to one call, I am "anti video" unless the other person is the video initiator. I don't need to see what's on your shelf...
-- Please stop looking at networking as transactional or something you do when you need a job. It's a long game. Don't believe me? I'll remind you when I talk to you next.
-- As predicted, at this point I am like 95% done with Facebook. Same goes for network TV.
-- I have worn socks maybe 3 times since Memorial Day. And this was the last time I wore a tie.
-- From what I have read, Dr. Anthony Fauci does not have any sons. Hot off of having a record setting Topps baseball card, I was thinking that someone should ask him if he did by chance have a son, would he ever consider naming him "Chachi"....and that's the kind of year this has been, Friends....
-- People will forget names, dates and most details of an encounter. They never forget who and when someone disrespects them.
-- I heard the Social Distortion version of "Ring of Fire" on the radio the other day and was surprisingly overcome by a bit of PTSD from my near death mosh pit experience a few years back....
That's it. That's the preamble. Stay safe and enjoy the articles.
XOXO
Dave
Think on This...
Appearances vs Experiences: What Really Makes Us Happy
This is the standard mis-weighing of extrinsic and intrinsic values: we may tell each other that experiences are more important than things, but we constantly make choices as though we didn’t believe it.
In the search for happiness, we often confuse how something looks with how it’s likely to make us feel. If we want to maximize happiness, we need to prioritize experiences over appearances.
For Your Day Job...
How Costco Convinces Brands to Cannibalize Themselves
As a supplier, you jump on it, because the data is clear that it jacks your sales. Usually your product sits right next to theirs on the shelf. So the consumer has 2 choices. Yours, or yours (at slightly worse margin).
ALERT: I found this in depth look into the Kirkland brand to be one of the most interesting business articles of the year. Medium length read. Key lessons: leverage your distribution channels, consider partner incentives, and do not under estimate how long it takes to built a great brand.
How to Recruit a Marketing Team with Great Product Marketing and Demand Generation Abilities
While really geared toward startups, there are some good takeaways in this quick read from VC Tomasz Tunguz for larger organizations to consider as well.
What Interviewing 600+ Sales Reps Taught Me About Team Building
The true cost to a company of a bad sales hire making $50k annually can be $380k, meaning the stakes for each hire are almost 8x an individual’s salary. Hiring well or poorly will literally make or break your business.
An insightful look at some of the biggest mistakes to avoid if you're interviewing for a sales position. I don't care if you have hired a ton of reps, you will learn something from this one.
Your Weekly Dose of Randomness (there is a pattern)...
App Lets You Destress By Screaming Into Icelandic Wilderness
YAWN. Wake me up when there is an app for teleporting my annoying, over quarantined teenagers into the Icelandic wilderness....
YAWN. Wake me up when my annoying, over quarantined teenagers recognize Informer by Snow as the BEST Canadian reggae song ever. Period. (Actually this article is pretty interesting).
Women’s Roller Derby Has a Plan for Covid, and It Kicks Ass
YAWN. Wake me up when roller derby has a plan to kick the ass of my annoying, over quarantined teenagers.
This Startup Is Making A Food Container That Detects How Much Time is Left Before Your Food Spoils
YAWN. Wake me up when a startup makes a container for my annoying, over quarantined teenagers.
And The Last Word....
The “invention” of the flat iron steak — thehustle.co
“It took a while to convince processors to cut it. It took a while to get retailers and restaurants to understand what the steak was like,” Calkins says. “Then eventually, the whole industry said, ‘It looks like there is value in doing this.’”
The flat iron steak began as an experiment in a meat science laboratory in 2001. This article answers this year's most sizzling question: what exactly does it take to discover a new cut of meat? This article is a bit on the longer side, but cooked medium-rare.
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