An Attitude of Gratitude

One of the best habits to develop is an attitude of gratitude.  Anyone who can read this has much to be grateful for.  Some people journal daily about the things they are grateful for.  Great habit.

Today I am grateful for the little things like running water, electricity and heat.  I am reminded of this since my daughter and family have been living without any since the storm 3 days ago.  Fortunately they have a wood stove and food so even they have lots to be grateful for.

Picture of my daughters' home/driveway/yard:

Good Business Needs an Angle

 Some interesting stuff:

An article on Medium on the next big thing(s).

I enjoy Bob Sutton's blogs.

I am finding the Facebook entry into video ads interesting.

And Startup trends.

I love my new Fitbit.  I always tracked (using paper) the workouts I did.  What gets measured, gets done.  Despite being a tech guy, I often dislike gadgets but I love this one.

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I have the good fortune to be involved in a number of businesses so get to see what works.  Consistently I see businesses have success when they have an angle.  I have long been a proponent of niche which could be another way of saying having a unique angle. 

Selling identical product to a competitor means usually means it comes down to price.  But if your offering is unique or niche, it becomes more of a battle for value.

The ideal angle is something your business can uniquely do.  Something that you have competitive advantage in.  I repeatedly push businesses to have competitive advantage. 

My granddaughter, Victoria, listens well to business advice but I think she got confused and thought we needed an angel.

Wasp Productivty

Random thoughts:

I am just back from Calgary where it is cold (like -30 degrees C or -22 F).   A 6 or 8 block walk from the hotel to my meetings reminded me of early mornings of my youth.  It also remined me on how fortunate we are to have heat and clothes.

I was at a Hatsize board meeting (one of the companies Canrock has invested in).  Hatsize sells training and hands on labs for IT certification training.

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I have been amused by Diane Francis view that Canada should become the 51st state.  Good article on it here.  I know both countries well and simply to not see this working.  What I do see working is closer integration and less border.

Not sure I will read her book - Merger of the Century - Why Canada and the US should Become One Country.

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And an interesting blog post on 6 Lessons Every Small Business Owner should Know.    The only one have have not been good at is number 6 - sign the contract before beginning.  I try to do business with honorable people and have done millions of $ of business on a conversation. 

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And what do wasps do in the winter?  They watch TV and play on the internet of course. 

I took this picture on the house next to my parents where you can clearly see their internet connection coming it.