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Some Random Sunday Thoughts

Sunday, 18 December 2011 19:02 | Written by Scott Balster |

I like to take a page from James Altucher and get my idea muscle working as often as I can. I like to share these ideas with anyone who may find them interesting. Some of the ideas may be good and some painfully bad.

Here they are:

Mancave Sharing Every guys wants a man cave. If you do not have one, you certainly want to watch the big game in a cool one. Conversely, if you have a nice man cave, there is nothing better than sharing it with the guys and drinking some cold ones. This service would connect both parties.

3D Models of Inventory I know many of the companies that I have worked for in the past have had a hard time discerning if product was actually available or ear marked for an existing order. Much time was wasted trying to determine that. How about a 3D model that could visually tell you where the product was and for what order?

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Breaking Up is Hard to Do

Wednesday, 13 July 2011 16:16 | Written by Scott Balster |

 

About a year ago my father approached me and asked if I had any interest in assisting with his marketing strategy. He has been in business for 28 years and has done virtually no marketing. He is in an industry that has been slow to get on the backwagon for social media and even having a website period. He has mostly maintained the same customers and gotten new ones through referrals.

So we met and discuss a plan of action. I was going to build a basic website for him with some specific calls to action. From the beginning we could not get on the same page. He wanted to emphasize doing something that the leading competitor was doing. I thought we were better off creating a different model. Add a comment

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Taking the Plunge: Learning to Code

Wednesday, 15 June 2011 21:29 | Written by Scott Balster |



My friends will tell you I am always bouncing ideas off of them. The problems I see in society, in my daily life, and the solutions that I imagine for them.

Of course, the challenging part is building and executing those plans. Regardless of whether the startup ideas can be a viable business, they certainly allow me to exercise my creativity and grow as a thinker.

Last week, I was perusing Hacker News and saw an interesting post from Will Miceli . In his post, he describes his struggles in implementing his idea and finding technical people to assist in building his products. He goes on to tell about his Do-It-Yourself Journey.

After spending some time he was able to learn Ruby/Rails to the point where he could build a protoype.

I was curious about his thoughts on the value of learning this programming language and the effort that it took to do it. I sent him a note on Twitter. He said he spent about 100 hours to learn and that he learned aven more once he began to build his product. I asked him how he broke up his workload. He said he spent about three weeks to get an introduction... and that the real learning is a lifetime.

Damn, I was inspired. I began thinking. Wow, if I put in an hour or two of study each night, I can pick this up! Do you know what it could do for me?

I have decided I am going to start to learn some programming. Do you think it is a good idea? What tips do you have for me? Have I completely lost my mind?


I will be sure to let you know how this journey goes. Also, big thanks to Will for inspiring all of us!

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What's Your Email Address?

Monday, 27 June 2011 21:27 | Written by Scott Balster |


About twenty times a day, when I am on the phone with customers and need to send them documents or information, I need to ask them for their email address.

The customer proceeds to say my email is...well...hold on let me try to remember...then they spew up some pattern of their name and initials and the company domain. All of the while not being sure that the address is right.

Then I spend time (and sounding like a moron) reading their email address back to them so that I understood that correctly. Now try this same song and dance with a customer who has an accent. Awful!

Does anyone else have this problem? I can not be the only one. Is there some software that can drop an email address from a customer on the phone right into your Gmail account or Salesforce database?


People, am I losing my mind or what?

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Musings on a Friday: Startup Ideas

Friday, 27 May 2011 14:13 | Written by Scott Balster |


I find myself more and more aware of problems in my everyday life and solutions that could make them easier. I wanted to share a few of the ideas that have popped up recently:

* An Application that Sends Recurring Groceries to Consumers
I hate going to the store to buy groceries. I consistly buy the same "base" groceries items every two weeks. Why can't I set my list on my smartphone, and have them delivered to my house every two weeks?

*A Product Designed for Friends and Famillies of Pet Owners to make it easy console someone who has lost a pet.
Recently, one of my family members had their beloved dog die. It tore all of us apart. I realized who much dogs and pets mean to families. My friend sent us an book and a personal letter that comfort my family. It was pure awesome. I began to think, it would be great to be able to send a "comfort" package and note all from one place.

* A Product that would allow Users to freely complain & "complain" in relation to certain topics or geographical locations.
It seems like we have a society that loves to complain. I figured why not let people blow off some steam and complain about a particular subject or about a geographical place. Then maybe the community or one person could curate it. I am sure there would be some funny stuff. Now, finding a valid business model is the next challenge.


I would love to hear everyone's thoughts on these ideas. Please feel free to be critical or provide any feedback. You can email me anytime at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it .

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