Talking about vaccinations will not result in vaccinations. We need to do our part, all the people you come in touch with around you from those who work for you, to those who bring you products and services. Help them get Vaccinated. Teach them to send their CNIC to 1166 and wait for a response that will provide hospital name and time, inform them as to what to do when that message comes through. From the delivery folks that bring your food to those who work around you in offices & other locations, it is your moral, public and civic duty to educate and empower those who are out side of this circle of information. Make it relevant for them. Get every one vaccinated. Share the info.

Outcomes

Check Your Assumptions For Better Outcomes. You heard that right. Every one wants to know how to have a better outcome with those horrible, toxic, difficult & un reasonable people in their lives. The first step is, to not operate like them. Tough but there is a method to this madness. When someone is doing something that you view as wrong or unconscionable, always assume the best intentions and give them the benefit of doubt. You will approach them differently and the outcome will be better even if they are wrong and you were right, your world view impacts your outcomes. Trust your self to act in your best interest but always expect that others are also acting in theirs, so best to step back and try to decouple your "Rage" from their "actions". Your end result will be better.

Do this simple exercise, think about a time where you were misunderstood as to why you were doing something and how maligned you felt when you were judged. Its not that difficult. Try it.

Heres a 3 point Guide.

1.Take a deep breath;

2.Give them the benefit of doubt

3.Engage with kindness and curiosity as to why they did what they did

They may be able to explain something you were not aware of or they may realize their mistake and feel safe enough to apologize. Outcomes get better if there is a safe space, make sure you create those to enhance your own outcomes. People generally head butt if there is no place for an amicable change in stance, if they expect retaliation, they will never back off. Let people make mistakes but give them the security to accept them. If you fight it, you negatively impact your own outcomes. Makes you your own worse enemy, don't do it.

One New Thing

This may be controversial, but I read a thread some where which had a link to a seemingly simple question. What is one thing that feels illegal but isnt. The context for this is fairly US Centric, but it gives you an insane amount of insights into things that you likely don't know today. Some time when i hear stories about all of the loopholes and ways that people reduce or avoid paying taxes for example legally, but I basically have no clue what they are or how to take advantage, I feel like being on the short end of that stick. So there is a TikTok duo where the person asks “What is 1 piece of information that you learnt that feels illegal to know?” lo and behold an army of loop-hole aficionados respond with some over the top loopholes, that cover many areas of life, finances, taxes, real estate and more.

Compilation Life Hack A Piece Of Information You Learned That feels Illegal to Know MashUps — www.youtube.com

#TikTok #LifeHacks #5MinuteCraftUSE

Really? Yes.

This about it. Someone should create a digital guide to loopholes/opportunities targeted at Millennials and GenZ where they categorize, tag, and describe how each works in layman’s terms and who should take advantage of it. Especially when inflation is hitting it out of the park. Dont do any thing illegal just give people opportunities to harvest legal opportunities, domestically focuses to gain an edge. Build a guide, keep it free, but premium perks or deal spotters, hunters get either paid or submission linked premium access. If you build some will come, then some more, then many more. But you must build first.

Boring stuff that scales (Inverted)

Today we will look at what you shouldn't be doing and why. We have spent the last 7 weeks sharing ideas and suggesting things people should get into. I have had crazy feedback from people who have asked me to identify things to stay away from and why? This is perhaps the first, user guided post. So here goes.

My list of things

• I don't compete with big companies

• I don't compete with big data

• I don't compete in areas that have hobbyist players

• I don't compete or build in areas that are hyper competitive

• I don't compete in areas where the barrier to entry is a computer & internet connection

• I don't compete with the government

• I don't do things that require training the user base to embrace the product/service

• I don't typically try to build rocket ships or over engineer solution (simpler is better)

• I don't bet against startups that have VC money in the first 2 years

• I don't get into me2 ideas without a market test

I am certainly no expert in this space, nor am I suggesting you can’t be successful in these areas. All Im saying, do some thing where the odds aren't stacked against you. You can win big, but more times than none, you will be the outlier if you do. Instead pick some thing thats easy, repeatable, where you can build a better mouse trap and where the Market Product Fit already exists. We continue to misaligning MPF(Market Product Fit) with PMF(Product Market Fit). It's similar but not the same. More on that here if you are curious enough.

You heard(saw) it here first ...

The simple basic CNIC, is neither basic, nor simple. It is perhaps one of Pakistans best kept secrets. The outfit responsible for giving us a digital identity, NADRA, it self, some times has an identity crisis. But more on that an other time. So the guys that enabled our identity conversion and passport issuance are also very good at doing what they do internationally.

Take a look, these are the countries and projects they have executed so far.

There really wasn't much to go off to learn more about NADRA or the work they have done, till I stumbled upon a fantastic article. Tariq Malik, the former chairman, National Database and Registration Authority, Pakistan, wrote a very detailed piece. For any one who is interested beyond the politics of the appointment of NADRA Chairmans, this article is a must read and the only in-depth structurally accurate representation of the great work under taken by NADRA and how little we know about what goes on behind the scenes. Have a detailed read here.

What you should be reading(or listening to)

The pandemic is really bad, it's worse for kids. It's at its worse for Pakistani Expats globally, with young kids, locked up at home and stay at home orders. In times like these when you miss home, for adults and kids alike, there is one way to make the most of it. Urdu Audio Books. If you have not yet discovered this GEM on audibles. You are missing out. This has every thing for every age group, the only thing you need to bring is your curiosity. If you are happy to buy your kids Netflix or Disney+ Subscriptions you truly can not deny them access to this. Either buy individual audiobooks or subscribe to audibles for access. The choice is yours. But this hidden gem is worth discovering and sharing with the Diaspora that is hurting for home. This Eid, buy some one the gift of audio-books vs one time consumables that will add nothing to their life besides un-needed pounds. This is not even a joke if you have friends in North America you need to make better gifting choices "a concerning study in which 42 percent of people self-reported gaining weight since the pandemic began. The average addition was 29 pounds; 10 percent reported gaining more than 50 pounds"

"Urdu Studio" — www.audible.com

Download Audiobooks published by Urdu Studio to your device. Audible provides the highest quality audio and narration. Your first book is Free with trial!

Monetise your time

You can monetise your time if you add value. Your value will make it difficult for people to ignore you. I read this some where and it stuck with me. If people want to be in your presence, listen to your ideas + drive value from what you have to say or offer, then you are in business. There is no A&B test for this, but you can devise your own. You must try and figure out if people actually care about meeting you besides you being funny, interesting, quirky or a producer of the gag hour for them aka being stupid. Even stupid people have entertainment value. But thats negative for you.

If people genuinely seek your mind-share and your time, you have some thing valuable to offer. If you don't know what it is, yet, don't worry about it. You will eventually realise what it is and likely if you are smart youll figure out a way for it to pay some bill or build favours. Favours are like reward points that you can cash on will, but it depends who your points are with, a tier one brand or the corner store.

Monetise your time so no one wastes it. Its a very simple thing, you have to value your own time before you lend it to others, or make it billable, but if it is free and abundant its value is tragically low. Especially in societies that do not value time, much less services, the only way to make this work is to add scarcity to the perceived value.

If you don't monetize your own time, an entrepreneur will buy your time so that you make money for them.

Too often, a conversation results in wasted time and nothing productive to show for it. Here are some things that can keep you on track.

• Don’t get too excited about your next thought.

• Ask good questions that show you’re engaged

• Do your homework without being creepy.

• Try to relate, be authentic vs being fake

• Let people own the conversation by selling them selves to you

• Ask how you can add value without sounding in-sincere

Sincerity = Monetization both need a framework. If you have clarity of purpose and process in your mind, you will do better than the next guy/gal.

Made in Pakistan(Not)

Today we look at all the things that are made in Pakistan but do not have any background info. What do I mean? We have 1000s of Mid-Sized to Large businesses with websites, more than half of them do not list their management teams or owners.

We have dozens of so called top tier CEO/Business executives, all missing on Twitter. No thought leadership, they just don their suits of egomaniacal behaviour but don't share any thing back with audiences or for that matter build audiences. We have a narrative problem around "Made in Pakistan"

We don't associate with it, we don't promote it, we don't list it, so much so most of our corporate published content does not list company directors, owners or management teams. Similarly for products that we make, the innovations we have done, there is a lack of a sharing community around Made in Pakistan. Not a day goes by that I am shocked in a good way to see some amazing product or service being made in Pakistan but its obscure and does not have the right representation.

If you work in an industry or a sector that has done well, then share. You will only learn and grow more. The more we own the narrative the more thought leaders we will produce. The more such people we have the more engagement and representation we will earn globally. We continue to worry about the wrong things, like foreign media managing the narrative. Well if you create a void some one else will tell your story, we need to enable the next generation of leaders and business owners to take the lead and tell their story first. How it was intended, vs some one manufacturing the story and feeding it back to us live via satellite. (Oh and forwarding nonsense on WhatsApp ≠ Thought leadership, it earns you an instant block)

One Last thing

So the world is going crazy on Plant Based Burgers + Meat Alternates. It got me thinking, Impossible and BeyondBurger have nothing on our very home grown and humble meat-alternative burgers. Not perhaps in the same category but surely in the same genre.

We have literally been doing this for decades. Between Lentils, Pulses, Potatoes, Veggies and Egg concoctions we have had healthier meat alternates not because we are health conscious but because we are pocket conscious. Also these faux-meat products like Beyond Burger aren't perfect They're highly-processed foods and typically are high in sodium, which could be a problem for people with high blood pressure etc.

Our traditional Bun Kabab Patties on the vegetarian side of the isle are nothing like the McDonalds vegetarian or bean burger options. We really need to capitalise on this heritage. Get the nutritional content of what we are already producing, industrialise its manufacturing and boom, we are front and center of a massive "awakening" in the West of "rightly sourced" "ethically produced" options. Add to your cover story that your bun-kabab(should u license it from the 100 yr old outfits in town) has say a century of history + the flavour profile and better health benefits compared to most of these soy based meat like products the US consumers are re-choking their arteries with. I think the time has come to elevate our humble bun-kabab inners for some face time in the West, as a healthier tastier burger alternate vs being a replacement for meat based patties or the vegetarian options alone. Introduce a tastier healthier product for the masses obsessed with making burgers.

Google search for Frozen BunKabab(North America) = One primary relevant search result(also that business local to the US is temporarily closed). Meaning its virgin territory for SEO and building a D2C brand.

All you need is a great tasting, palette neutral product, with the right branding and marketing and you could likely be the proud owner of BunKabab Sliders .. Seemingly this category is missing on the frozen food exporters websites too. Meaning this is a category to build, own and dominate.

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