FASTer :-: "Bonus" Issue #2

March 22, 2021

Spoiler Alert: There is no 23% Sale in this edition..

Outcomes

Creative ppl should NOT work Monday-Friday 9-to-5 (yet 99% do this) (Make it Mon- Saturday if you are in PK and have the pleasure of working for a saith) Why you ask? Because just working longer, harder does not change any ones outcomes. We have to decouple our thinking or even unlearn what work means or should mean. Especially for tech/creative types and those who are not tied to mundane and repetitive tasks.

Think like the King of the Jungle, better yet operate like him too.. Lions sit around waiting for prey, once spotted they sprint and enjoy the kill, they thrive in this mode and take breaks in between & rest and repeat. (Not to be confused with our local Lions that own that own factories and whose kids are billionaires in their teens).

Sadly, we; the ones who seek change the most, who resent the stereo types the most, what do we do? We work like COWS instead. Standing in the pastures all day, grazing grass slowly. Some times with blinders on, not even re calibrating to see how much grass do we really need, or is it time to move away from the pastures. Our outcomes are linked to our actions. We have to move from Grazing to Hunting. Else we will be the victims of our own slow "corporate" success.

Meaning the higher up you get in the chain of command the harder the fall, the less room there is to do any thing else; but worse of all, you've spent a life time chasing an ideal that was likely not yours and in addition to the company Merc(less than 1% of ppl) you now also have heart disease, frayed personal relationships, lack of common ground with your family, missed childhoods, delayed gratification & typically no major personal financial investments.(All this if you are in the top 10% of corporate wage earners) If you aren't, you are grazing + miserable with no end in sight + the above negative outcomes.

So what does one do? Is working for startups the best deal. Hell No! Be a realist too. It's not for every one. If you work in technology/creative/deep ops - joining a startup is a bad financial decision if you are mid-career or better.

The scales for the founders vs employees are very different and this aint San Francisco either bro. You will get 15x or 30x LESS equity a founder gets + takes a salary cut if u come from the established big co.

In basic roles, Big companies pay way more, and have less stress. Even in our local environment. But but but....

PKR wise - Start a startup or work at a big co DONT look to replace the shallowness of big-corp roles via fulfilment of startup jobs in PK they are tough to come by. If you have the courage then Hunt. 

So in the end do roles drive outcomes?

Lets re-wind. What am I really getting at? Am I contradicting my self? You can decide that. But read on.

In life the sooner you know, “what” you work on is far more important than "how hard" you work the more satisfied and better off you will be.

I’ll say it again. Hard work is massively overrated. 

Custodians work hard, Brick Layers work hard. Cooks work hard, factory workers work Hard. Hard work helps you win your game(I’m not marginalising doing your work diligently). Choose the right game. We are all playing some one else's game. To win, you must select your own.

One New Thing...thats not really new..

In 1962, PIA attempted to set a new record and succeeded. On the London-Karachi sector, finding the upper winds forecast favourable, PIA set out to break the record for the fastest flight between London and Karachi. With representatives of FAI (Federation Aeronautique International) on board to monitor the official timings, PIA completed the flight in 6 hours, 43 minutes and 51 seconds, the fastest speed, a record which to this day remains unbroken

https://fai.org/record/7679

Arrival of PIA's very first Boeing 720-040B jetliner (registration AP-AMG) at Karachi Airport on January 2, 1962 after a record setting flight from London. With representatives of FAI (Federation Aeronautique International) on board to monitor the official timings, AP-AMG on its delivery flight under the command of PIA's ace pilot Capt. Abdullah Baig (standing - 3rd from right in the photo) with Capt. Taimur Baig (standing - 5th from right in the photo) as his co-pilot completed London to Karachi flight in 6 hours 43 minutes and 55 seconds. Capt. Khusro Nawaz Khan (standing - 2nd from right) and Flight Engineer Hassan Mirza (first row - 1st from right) are also seen in this photo.

*Source Credit : https://historyofpia.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=16793

Boring stuff that scales & how to find it?

Get into the act/art of Social Listening

Instead of putting out useless rants, "Listen on social networks" to find out what people are looking for. So instead of just guessing and going off on hunches, perhaps better for you to calibrate.

Interesting "request for product" tweets on Twitter:

  1. http://Linktr.ee but for clubhouse to connect outside of clubhouse

  2. Teaching Kids about investing

  3.   Match the people stress baking with the people stress Eating

Rabbit Hole of "someone invent" tweets on Twitter:

More ideas around social listening (below) that will give you ideas on how to identify and relate to things people want solutions for. Just plug in these terms "intelligently, into twitter and Boom, you have a lead"

Is there a better,

Is there a product,

Is there a workaround,

How do I,

Is any one working on,

Where can I,

Has any one else run into this,

Can some one explain,

There has to be a simpler,

I don't know but it seems like, more on the link below

You heard it here first ...

A great deal of the narrative around #Digital transformation and economic growth across #Pakistan still revolves around how #Technology can drive change. Technology has been there for years, with dozens of able entrepreneurs providing equally reliable service and scaling every day.

What is missing is the understanding in key areas/service groups from regulators and large stake holders(read traditional businesses with Boomers in tow). What is becoming increasingly clear is the need to juxtapose technology to #regulatory environments & #clarityofthought at incumbents, in every sphere of business to unlock bottlenecks (of which there are plenty).

New partnerships with heavy weights can play a role but only if the 55+ Club pauses, takes a moment to reflect & accept that a McKinsey study they read on their way to a mutual admiration club meeting does not make them an expert at any thing, let alone a digital expert. First rule of Digital is that what you say, finds its way online and stays online, so navigate carefully. Be authentic vs not.

What you should be reading & why

The more things change the same they remain. The Diaries of Field Marshal Ayub Khan, 1966–1972 are an interesting look back into the present. You read that right. Not much has changed. From being involved in other peoples Foreign Affairs to treating the population like fodder.

Monetise your time

No, not a newsletter. You are a no-body, but do read on.

Spend your time to do the right things. Research is your friend. Asking questions others are not asking should be your starting position. For every hour you spend on social media, spend an hour enriching your knowledge about about trade, government, politics, what ever else that can have a potential economic impact on your personal life, if you decided to spend more time on it. Could you make money from it?

Simple truth, people who have made significant money wont be and arent interesting in selling you advice or coaching for a 20/50/100$ a question. Most of the people who are operating in the space are akin to ticket scalpers. So why do you want to be a digital version of a shyster your self. Instead of thinking of get rich quick schemes, blogs, ad $s etc do some thing worth while, like finding out more about niches and areas that others are missing and profit from information vs wanting to profit from regurgitating other peoples content from the web into yet an other dumb newsletter.

So what would you rather do. Heres one idea. Pick a country. Let's say Nigeria. See what they import from Pakistan. Then also try to figure out how much of that product they(Nigeria) import from other places(I selected Soups & Broths) We exported 280k USD worth of it. Try to see if there is enough demand where a few percentage points of increase in exporting the product from Pakistan could lead to a profitable businesses either for your self or other who may not be exploring that market today.

This is fascinating. Nigeria is Importing 15 Million$s worth of Soups & Broths from Senegal and 14m$s worth from UK. 3m$s from South Africa, also on the list are Thailand, Singapore, South Korea and India(17.7k USD). So this is how you monetise your time you either build a system that uses these publicly available data sets to create streams of relevant/actionable insights or you try to use this access to information to building a side hustle, a pilot or some thing that allows you to experiment.

Made in Pakistan

Did you know we exported $386M worth of Alcohol in 2019.

One Last thing

The mysterious case of Kale and why we should have more of it. Kale comes from the same family as cabbage, broccoli, cauliflower, collard greens and Brussels sprouts and is one of the most nutrient dense foods on the planet.

By eating more Kale, we dramatically increase the total nutrient quantity of your diet. Kale contains more iron per calorie than beef, and also has a high quantity of calcium. It’s also one of the foods with the highest percentage of Vitamin K, which protects the body against various forms of cancers and is necessary for good bone health and prevents blood clotting. This vegetable helps in lowering cholesterol levels in the body and is high in both Vitamin A (great for eyesight and skin) and Vitamin C (important for developing a healthy immune system).

Kale also contains Omega-3 fatty acids(called alpha linolenic-acid) which is essential for good skin and hair, prevents the body from developing arthritis, autoimmune disorders, etc. And finally, very much like other greens in its family (broccoli for one), it contains powerful antioxidants, which also help protect from various forms of cancer, and keeps the body healthy.

But because it's only being grown for artisanal consumption its about 800 PKR/KG as its grown hydroponically. Compared to Spinach at 50 PKR/KG. Starting with domestic production for domestic consumption, we need to again think about the export potential.

Grow Greener, Grow Healthier , Grow FASTer

BONUS....

Small data wins most days. So let's settle the Biryani vs Pulao debate once and for all. Instead of asking people best to ask Google. I did. Google trends show the popularity of search(es) as below.

The debate is open for you to explore, do check out the world wide search interest for the terms on the link below.