Movie time means choices… your film selection, your seat selection, which cinema to go to… and last but by no means least, the food you’ll munch on for the next couple of hours or so.

There in lies the best pricing trick..The pricing decoy or asymmetric dominance .The asymmetric dominance effect refers to the phenomenon according to which the choice probability of a baseline alternative increases when an inferior alternative -the decoy- is included into the choice set.

A great skill and product hack. US consumers have been subjected to it for years.

Then there is the actual pricing for popcorn options, and the use of decoy items – you’ve probably noted popcorn most often comes in three sizes/prices. National Geographic’s Brain Games recently ran an experiment on this. Here’s what they did:

• The first group in the experiment was offered only small or large serves, priced at $3 or $7. The majority chose to buy the small popcorn. Their rationale? Either the $7 popcorn was too expensive or that the small was a better size for their appetite.

• A second group was then offered three sizes, small for $3, medium for $6.50, and large at $7. Faced with this broader choice, a much higher number went for large.

Their rationale? It only cost an extra 50c to get the large size. In effect they saw value in “more” popcorn for only $0.50.

This is a classic decoy item play – the perception of value is pegged to the middle price (which is the decoy), creating the illusion of a smaller upgrade to large. We all think we are smart, but ask your self how many times you've upsized your combos at different places for a seemingly small charge? We aren't as smart or logical as we think.

Outcomes

If someone is doing you a favor, make it as simple as possible for them. What does that even mean? Using your initiative...

Every day people ask me for small favors that I am happy to do, whilst they create a momentary burden of execution for me and I add it to my task list, I never hear from them.

All I ask is:

"Can you send me a forward-able email for that intro you want or pre write a recommendation that you want me to send?"

Wait for it....

Crickets..I never hear from them 9 times out of 10.

Every day of every week and every month of every year.

Your outcomes wont come to you, if you want some one to do something for you, do the basics right. Be invested in your own outcomes.

I saw this below and its incredible. Read it and embrace it.

One New Thing (that I learnt recently)

When they test DNA from hair, they actually analyze the root skin attached to the hair. The hair itself contains no DNA and is useless in the analysis. I know I know why a root cause analysis likely stems from and why it's important.

Boring Stuff that Scales

Taking pride in what you do. Aka Sales.

People are happy to pay you money because you're helping them achieve something they want to achieve.

The money is just a way for them to say "thank you" for helping them.

Believe in this and you will do great.You can't expect anyone else to advocate for you. Sales starts with the self. It is boring but the on-ramp to scaling you personal outcomes.

What it boils down to:

Most of us are too timid to sell our stuff.

Have some pride in what you do and how you can help.

How to do it better?

Ask your self, If it helps people, sell it to the moon and back.

Looked at differently:

If you believe in it enough to talk about it, believe in it enough to sell it.

If not, find something else to talk about

Taking pride in what you do. Aka Sales.

They're happy to pay you money because you're helping them achieve something they want to achieve.

The money is just a way for them to say "thank you" for helping them.

What you should be Reading & Watching

A company that had once been the golden child of the financial and tech world was exposed in 2020 for corrupt business practices and fraudulent financial reporting, and it went bust when this information was made public. Wirecard.

The man who first revealed this fraud was the Financial Times’ Dan McCrum (you can read some 96 of his stories on the case here) and now his book, Money Men: A Hot Startup, A Billion Dollar Fraud, A Fight for the Truth, has been made into a Netflix documentary, Skandal! Bringing Down Wirecard. Like Wirecard’s plummeting stock rating, here’s exactly what went down and why.

Monetize your time

By thinking about where to put it when you are starting some thing new. Or start some thing new, knowing you can rely on the battle tested formula below.

Is it possible to bootstrap/self-fund and build a $1-3-5M revenue business?

It is if done intelligently.

1. Build some thing digital only, no real hard goods, no in real life services

2. No code, drop dead simple low code execution.

3. SaaS, ideally subscription, some thing that relies on small data

4. Owned media/organic media, boosted with 20% revenue allocation to get fly wheel

5. Research the niche using Part time resources in less expensive cost destinations.

6. Small team over head, (the full time folks) and large part time workforce. How you can do this is if you build a scalable repeatable process and no other way.

7. Pass the vacation test, will the business work when you are on vacation and un-reachable ?

Made in Pakistan

PVC Bending machine. Reverse engineered seemingly, great progress, lessons FX burdens to import basic things. We need to 100x this thinking.

One Last Thing

Knowing your self by knowing one thing for 30 mins. 

What does this even mean. It's simple. What is the one thing, you could talk about without having done research or having built a deck for 30 mins?

Ask your self this question today and write down your answers. It will give you clarity.

My top 3.

1.Scaling businesses, I could go on for days

2.Digital Transformation for boring businesses

3.Finding new niches