塞翁失馬 (Sài Wēng Shī Mǎ)

The Old Man Who Lost His Horse.

1. An old man loses his horse, a neighbor laments the loss as bad luck, but the man says, “Who knows…?”

2. The next day, the horse returns, bringing wild horses, neighbors call it good fortune, but he again responds, “Maybe.”

3. His son rides one of the new horses, falls, and breaks his leg , neighbors express concern, and he replies, “Perhaps it’s not so bad.”

4. Soon after, able-bodied men are conscripted to war, but his injured son is spared , neighbors praise the outcome, and once more he calmly says, “We’ll see” .

   The moral? You can’t truly know at the moment whether events are ultimately good or bad. It teaches equanimity and openness to life’s uncertainty. In the hustle of launching startups, chasing funding, and building teams, it's easy to judge every event, every win, loss, or delay, as either good or bad. But what if those labels don’t mean what we think they mean?

   As entrepreneurs, we often live on a rollercoaster:

   • Your pitch deck gets ignored = disaster.

   • A VC pulls out = failure.

   • A product launch flops = catastrophe.
     But weeks later, that setback might make space for a better opportunity, a sharper pivot, or a more aligned investor.

   Likewise:

   • You get that big check = euphoria.

   • Your product goes viral = dream come true.
     But then your servers crash, your team burns out, or you scale before you're ready.

   Was it really good or bad?

   Maybe!

My three take-aways are fairly simple…

1. Don't Overreact.
Most things aren't as final as they feel. Win or lose, stay centered.

2. Zoom Out.
Every event is just a moment in a longer arc. Judge outcomes over quarters or years, not days.

3. Embrace Uncertainty.
The road is winding. Sometimes, the “wrong turn” takes you exactly where you need to be.

The beauty of this concept lies in its simplicity and relatability. By moving away from the jargon of “AI Agents” and toward a humanized, results-driven helper, entrepreneurs can embrace a tool that feels intuitive and practical. Soon every one and every thing will come at you with agents, the ones who will win are the ones who tell the right story around what agents do. Solve for the customers problems, not for the PR coverage you seek to validate your work.

In 1925, the Brooklyn-born entrepreneur Clarence Birdseye invented a machine for freezing packaged fish that would revolutionize the storage and preparation of food. Maxson Food Systems of Long Island used Birdseye’s technology, the double-belt freezer, to sell the first complete frozen dinners to airlines in 1945, but plans to offer those meals in supermarkets were canceled after the death of the company’s founder, William L. Maxson. Ultimately, it was the Swanson company that transformed how Americans ate dinner (and lunch), and it all came about, the story goes, because of Thanksgiving turkey.

According to the most widely accepted account, a Swanson salesman named Gerry Thomas conceived the company’s frozen dinners in late 1953 when he saw that the company had 260 tons of frozen turkey left over after Thanksgiving, sitting in ten refrigerated railroad cars. (The train’s refrigeration worked only when the cars were moving, so Swanson had the trains travel back and forth between its Nebraska headquarters and the East Coast “until panicked executives could figure out what to do,” according to Adweek.) Thomas had the idea to add other holiday staples such as cornbread stuffing and sweet potatoes, and to serve them alongside the bird in frozen, partitioned aluminum trays designed to be heated in the oven. Betty Cronin, Swanson’s bacteriologist, helped the meals succeed with her research into how to heat the meat and vegetables at the same time while killing food-borne germs.

The Swanson company has offered different accounts of this history. Cronin has said that Gilbert and Clarke Swanson, sons of company founder Carl Swanson, came up with the idea for the frozen-meal-on-a-tray, and Clarke Swanson’s heirs, in turn, have disputed Thomas’ claim that he invented it. Whoever provided the spark, this new American convenience was a commercial triumph. In 1954, the first full year of production, Swanson sold ten million trays. Banquet Foods and Morton Frozen Foods soon brought out their own offerings, winning over more and more middle-class households across the country.

Whereas Maxson had called its frozen airline meals “Strato-Plates,” Swanson introduced America to its “TV dinner” (Thomas claims to have invented the name) at a time when the concept was guaranteed to be lucrative: As millions of white women entered the workforce in the early 1950s, Mom was no longer always at home to cook elaborate meals—but now the question of what to eat for dinner had a prepared answer. Some men wrote angry letters to the Swanson company complaining about the loss of home-cooked meals. For many families, though, TV dinners were just the ticket. Pop them in the oven, and 25 minutes later, you could have a full supper while enjoying the new national pastime: television.

In 1950, only 9 percent of U.S. households had television sets—but by 1955, the number had risen to more than 64 percent, and by 1960, to more than 87 percent. Swanson took full advantage of this trend, with TV advertisements that depicted elegant, modern women serving these novel meals to their families, or enjoying one themselves. “The best fried chicken I know comes with a TV dinner,” Barbra Streisand told the New Yorker in 1962.

By the 1970s, competition among the frozen food giants spurred some menu innovation, including such questionable options as Swanson’s take on a “Polynesian Style Dinner,” which doesn’t resemble any meal you will see in Polynesia. Tastemakers, of course, sniffed, like the New York Times food critic who observed in 1977 that TV dinner consumers had no taste. But perhaps that was never the main draw. “In what other way can I get...a single serving of turkey, a portion of dressing...and the potatoes, vegetable and dessert...[for] something like 69 cents?” a Shrewsbury, New Jersey, newspaper quoted one reader as saying. TV dinners had found another niche audience in dieters, who were glad for the built-in portion control.

The next big breakthrough came in 1986, with the Campbell Soup Company’s invention of microwave-safe trays, which cut meal preparation to mere minutes. Yet the ultimate convenience food was now too convenient for some diners, as one columnist lamented: “Progress is wonderful, but I will still miss those steaming, crinkly aluminum TV trays.”

Emotional Efficiency Is a Force Multiplier

One of the least talked about but most powerful upgrades you can make as a founder or operator is shrinking your emotional bandwidth.

It’s not about becoming emotionless, it’s about conserving energy for what matters. Validation, guilt, ego management, these are emotionally expensive habits that don’t scale. They create internal drag.

Elite execution requires mental clarity and emotional discipline. The most effective operators evaluate every thought for utility. Every reaction is tested for its downstream impact. Every decision is reduced to a simple filter: Does this move the goal forward? Yes or no?

This is the boring stuff that scales: emotional efficiency. Not glamorous, not tweetable but over time, it’s what separates momentum from noise.

We’ve normalized overconsumption to the point that silence feels unnatural. We listen to a podcast while walking, scroll reels on the toilet, blast music while cooking, binge shows while eating. Stillness is seen as a void we’re desperate to fill. But here’s the irony, while our minds are constantly stimulated, we complain of feeling foggy, burnt out, unmotivated.

Maybe the problem isn’t the workload, it’s the lack of mental breathing room.

And yet, zoom out for a second.

What a privilege it is to be tired from the work you once begged for.
What a privilege to feel stretched by growth you used to fantasize about.
What a privilege to outgrow the things you once settled for.

This isn’t about guilt-tripping yourself into gratitude. It’s about awareness.

You’re not just busy, you’re becoming. But becoming takes intention. Not everything has to be consumed. Some things, like quiet, like boredom, must be experienced. Do not trade the simple for the complex.

If you’ve built up valuable knowledge, whether in coaching, consulting, advising, or another specialized field, you’re sitting on an untapped asset. The question is: are you still trading time for money, or are you ready to scale what you know?

The answer might be simpler than you think: create a digital twin of yourself.

A digital twin is a virtual version of your expertise,one that works around the clock, answers client questions, and helps people without you being present. It’s not a gimmick. It’s a smarter way to scale your services, automate your advice, and free yourself from the limitations of one-off engagements. As someone who has successfully designed and sold such solutions multiple times, I’m here to share a practical, step-by-step roadmap. Whether you’re starting from scratch or looking to refine your approach, this guide will take you from mastering the basics to landing paying clients.

Let’s break it down:

Why Now?

Expertise is in high demand, but availability is limited. If people rely on your knowledge to solve recurring problems, there’s a strong case for turning that knowledge into an automated, always-on solution.

Imagine clients being able to "talk" to you at any time, receiving personalized guidance, insights, or step-by-step direction—without you having to be there. That’s the power of a digital twin.

Step 1: Capture What You Know

Start by organizing your knowledge. Record video walkthroughs. Write how-to guides. Collect the FAQs you answer all the time. Focus on repeatable value, the insights that don’t change from one client to the next.

This becomes the training material for your twin. Think of it as cloning your brain for the parts of your work that are high-impact, but low variation. Also when you have creative bursts of disconnected idea, feed to your GPT.

Step 2: Build Your Twin

Using modern tools, it’s easier than ever to create a chatbot or digital persona trained on your content. You don’t need to be a coder, there are no-code platforms that can help you get started fast.

Your digital twin should do what you do: answer common questions, offer tailored advice, guide people through processes. The more natural it feels, the more valuable it becomes. Test it with a few real users to get feedback. Then refine it.

Step 3: Stop Trading Time for Money

This is where the real shift happens.

Instead of charging per session or per hour, offer access to your digital twin as a service monthly, quarterly, or annually. Whether it’s $50 or $500 a month, you’re no longer bound by your calendar. The twin does the heavy lifting. You collect the revenue.

Bonus: clients love having on-demand access to expertise. You’ll stand out by being available when others aren't. Also there is no risk of having a bad day or a scheduling conflict.

Step 4: Share It With the Right People

Start small. Reach out to people or businesses that face the same problems you solve. Show them a demo. Let them try it for free. Highlight how much time or effort your twin can save them.

Once the results are clear, scale up. Offer premium versions. Add more depth to your twin. Bundle it with other services. Grow from there.

You’re Closer Than You Think

There’s a lot of noise out there, but not a lot of follow-through. The truth is, you don’t need to be a tech expert to get started. You just need to be clear about what you know and who it helps. From there, it’s about taking the first step: documenting, building, testing.

Don’t overthink it. Start simple. Launch fast. Improve as you go.

If you’re already working on something like this, or decide to start now, I’d love to hear about it. I may feature your project in a future edition.

Until then, here’s to scaling your expertise and earning while you sleep.

Stop Trying to Replace Consultants. Start Powering Them.

Consultants aren’t going anywhere. They’re not just advisors, they’re decision insurance for the C-suite. When the stakes are high and heads are on the line, boards want to hear: "We brought in the experts."

If you're building a product or service for the enterprise, design it to support this reality. Don’t disrupt consultants, supercharge them. Make their work faster, sharper, and more defensible. Help them bill more, deliver more, and look brilliant in front of execs. There is a mad rush in twitter sphere fueled by AI Click baiters to sell you a magic pill to replace consultants.

You’ll win deals, gain trust, and grow faster if you know how to empower the guys that provide the insurance. Because when your tool helps make the case and saves someone's job, you’re not just useful, you’re essential. Don’t focus on the AI hype instead use it to create a wedge.

Bonus! Thought of the week

Used Cars → Certified Pre-Owned Vehicles

Just a fancy way of saying, “Yep, someone else already drove this into the ground.”

Second-Hand Clothes → Vintage Fashion

Your grandma’s closet is suddenly high fashion if you say “vintage.”

Mom Blogger → Digital Content Creator in the Parenting Niche

One’s in yoga pants with a toddler. The other’s monetizing tantrums on TikTok.

Adult Coloring Books → Mindful Art Therapy Tools

You're coloring. Like a 7-year-old. But now it's healing.

Boredom → Digital Detox or Mindful Unplugging

Lost your phone? Congrats, you’re spiritually enlightened now.

See a pattern?

It’s not just clever wordplay, it’s marketing, rebranding, and storytelling at its finest.

We didn’t invent new things; we simply gave old ones better names. Chick stock became bone broth, used cars became certified pre-owned, and now, coloring books for adults are mindful art therapy tools.

What changed? Not the product.
But the perception. The experience. The story.

This is the power of framing, of choosing better words, telling better stories, and helping people feel differently about something they already know.

It’s not deception. It’s positioning.
And it works.

So the next time you’re tempted to dismiss something as “just semantics,” remember: semantics sell. How are you positioning your self and our output for better outcomes?

Contrarian Take: 

People are strange: they are constantly angered by trivial things, But on a major matter like totally wasting their lives, they hardly seem to notice. The biggest debate we should have is with ourselves. What the heck are you doing in life? Stop majoring in minor things.