jastram.de Blog - Business

Where the money goes you pay for music

micky@alum.mit.edu (Michael Jastram) — Wed, 25 Aug 2010 21:50:26 -0400

This image is scary. To be honest, it is not clear where the numbers come from, so take it with a grain of salt.

This was reblogged multiple times, check out this explanation.

How to make a living online - Gerald Roush

micky@alum.mit.edu (Michael Jastram) — Wed, 25 Aug 2010 18:39:56 -0400

Another example on how you can make a decent living online: Gerald Roush had 5000 newsletter subscribers which each paying $130 annually. Impressive. Reminds me of Chris Guillebeau. There is an infinite number of niches like that.

Validating a buisiness plan - Sramana Mitra meets Seth Godin

micky@alum.mit.edu (Michael Jastram) — Mon, 12 Jul 2010 18:35:48 -0400

One of the key tasks for starting a business is validating the idea - a task that is, unfortunately, often neglected. Therefore, Validation is a key ingredient of Sramana Mitra's EJ Methodology. Sramana even provides support for validation in the form of a list of "Clarify your story" questions. I was still struggling on how to engage potential customers in validation.

I found support in this Seth Godin post regarding business plans. It didn't look like much, but when I tried to restate my ideas in terms of Truths and Assertions, I realized that the Assertions were a great starting point for validation.

Xing deletes my profile

micky@alum.mit.edu (Michael Jastram) — Wed, 30 Jun 2010 15:30:36 -0400

I have always been suspicious towards social networks. Still, I have a profile on most networks. It usually points people towards a place that I control myself (my web presence and my email).

Yesterday, I got a notification by Xing that they deactivated my account. After some probing, they finally tell me why (because I have two accounts there). Fine, delete the older one. Except... that they delete the wrong one. Answer from Xing: "Sorry, can't be undone!"

Whatever. Just another warning to everybody to be careful on how deeply you are willing to invest into a platform that you don't control.

This is not the first unpleasant encounter I had with Xing, I will probably keep the (barely connected) profile there, until they decide to delete that one too.

Paradigm Shift in Education?

micky@alum.mit.edu (Michael Jastram) — Thu, 29 Apr 2010 22:52:23 -0400

Very interesting post on the positioning of universities in the marketplace by Seth Godin.It's interesting how just 50 years ago, universities were serving a passionate elite that was interested in learning, while today it is a production line for crunching out obedient white-collar workers.

Guess how much Software there is in a Car

micky@alum.mit.edu (Michael Jastram) — Tue, 02 Mar 2010 21:42:33 -0500

Did you know that a third of the cost of a plane goes towards the fuselage, a third towards the engines, and a third towards software? It's getting there for cars, too. Here is a great article that is full of interesting trivia.

The 1M/1M Program - 10 Million new Jobs, $1 Trillion in GDP

micky@alum.mit.edu (Michael Jastram) — Wed, 24 Feb 2010 09:53:08 -0500

Sramana Mitra certainly things big when she resolved to help one Million entrepreneurs to reach annual revenues of at least one Million US Dollars.

"I have come to conclude that the most vulnerable phase in an
entrepreneur's life is the pre-$1 million revenue stage. This is where
numerous ventures fail. Once the $1 million revenue milestone is
crossed, it's easier for entrepreneurs to find additional customers,
manage working capital and access funding, whether it is credit or
equity."

Way to go, Sramana! This is a great answer to the financial crisis of today. If we want our wealth to be sustainable, we have to create it.

What triiibes did for my Tribe

micky@alum.mit.edu (Michael Jastram) — Mon, 27 Jul 2009 18:35:17 -0400

Happy brithday, Triiibes! A year ago, Seth Godin started the Triiibes web site, to accompany his Tribes book. I haven't been too engaged in the site, but I got invaluable advice for nurturing and growing my own tribe, the rheinjug (Düsseldorf Java user Group).

The idea behind Tribes is not new, and I met quite a few people who said: "Yeah, I've been doing this intuitively". Well, of course, the concept of tribes is old. What's new is to be aware of the fact that you are dealing with tribes (rather than accidentally doing the right thing), and therefore consiously doing tribe-building.

The most important lesson is to just get started and to begin leading, and I hope you're all doing it.

<< Previous Entry | tribes Anniversary Blog Ring | Next Entry >>

Jabra Kundenservice - Chance Verpasst

micky@alum.mit.edu (Michael Jastram) — Fri, 24 Jul 2009 16:28:57 -0400

Ich habe mir vor kurzem ein BT3030 von Jabra zugelegt. Eigentlich bin ich sehr zufrieden damit, allerdings bin ich kein Fan von Ketten und ziehe den dezenten Clip vor. Der ist nur leider sehr labil, und ist nach kurzer Zeit zerbrochen. Kein Problem, denke ich, und kontaktiere Frau Stahlhut von Jabra. Diese verweist mich an die Hotline, die aber den Clip als Ersatzteil nicht hat. Wiederum Frau Stahlhut kontaktiert, die mir die Antwort gab: "nein leider kann ich Ihnen hier nicht weiterhelfen". Und damit war für Jabra die Sache erledigt.

Ich wäre sogar bereit gewesen, für den Clip Geld zu bezahlen. Es handelt sich hier um ein Teil, das wenige Cent in der Produktion kostet. Ein oder zwei Anrufe in die Produktion hätten Ihr wahrscheinlich eine ganze Kiste voll aus Taiwan (oder wo auch immer produziert wird) innerhalb von zwei Wochen ins Büro befördert. Oder besser, der Clip hätte als Ersatzteil eingeführt werden können, dafür muss es doch einen Prozess bei Jabra geben.

Positiv ist zu bewerten, dass Jabra schnell reagiert hat - aber das hilft auch nicht, wenn der Hersteller sich weigert, ein sehr einfach zu lösendes Problem zu lösen. Seth Godin würde wahrscheinlich nur den Kopf schütteln.

US-Border Authority turns conference speaker away

micky@alum.mit.edu (Michael Jastram) — Thu, 09 Apr 2009 18:01:09 -0400

A scary blog entry, and important information for anybody who is speaking at US conferences.

Ideas are dime a dozen

micky@alum.mit.edu (Michael Jastram) — Fri, 13 Feb 2009 08:41:00 -0500

Do you have entrepreneurial energy, but no good idea? There are no excuses left, just pick an idea from this list of 999.

Triiibes Q&A Book complete

micky@alum.mit.edu (Michael Jastram) — Fri, 21 Nov 2008 23:03:40 -0500

I've been lucky enough to be part of an exciting experiment. Several months back, Seth Godin set up an invitation-only website called Triiibes. This accompanied the preparation for his new book Tribes. To get a glimpse on what's going on there, check out The Daily Triiibunal.

This group is inspiring, and moreover, productive! Together with the book launch in October, the group released the first accompanying eBook, the Tribes Case Book. And they just released the second one, the Q&A Book. Especially the second one is amazing in quality and done just by volunteers who are passionate about Tribes. Check the books out, they are free and quite amazing.

EU refuses access to Microsoft contracts

micky@alum.mit.edu (Michael Jastram) — Fri, 14 Nov 2008 00:45:26 -0500

This is outrageous! Marco Cappato asked the European Council to see the contracts they have with Microsoft, and was refused on the grounds of protecting Microsoft's commercial interests. Hello? The Council is supposed to work for their citizens, not for US-american Corporations!

The finance crisis explained, visually

micky@alum.mit.edu (Michael Jastram) — Tue, 07 Oct 2008 14:12:27 -0400

Here is a great 6-minute presentation explaining what CDOs are and how they relate to the current financial crisis.

Here is another, less serious explanation (8.5 minutes)

Continue reading "The finance crisis explained, visually"

Cast your vote to donate money to charity (no catch involved!)

micky@alum.mit.edu (Michael Jastram) — Thu, 02 Oct 2008 15:14:23 -0400

Squidoo giving $80,000 to charity. But to which one? You can cast your vote, for each vote, Squidoo will donate $2 (so only the first 40,000 votes will count). And they ask you to get involved.

Strings attached? None

The winner? Everybody!