I Am Lazy

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I am lazy. I’m the laziest person I know. But I’ve learned to take advantage of this trait. I think Bill Gates described it best:

I will always choose a lazy person to do a difficult job because he will find an easy way to do it.

I suppose my packed calendar, extensive CV, and numerous projects might contradict my statement. But it’s all a rouse.

I’m lazy, but I’m also extremely passionate. I want to build and create things, websites, companies, businesses. I want to tell people, “Oh, I’ve done x, y, and z.” I want income to roll into my bank account with doing any work myself. I want the freedom to follow each individual whim as it pops up.

College taught me the skills I need to be the laziest person ever. It taught me that it’s possible to graduate with an English degree, honors with distinction, without actually reading any books1. Any essay could be written with a little bit of listening in class, Sparknotes to find certain sections, and the novel to pull quotes that back up previously discussed themes.

I’m so lazy, I don’t want to even think. I’ve forced myself into habits and systems so I never have to remember anything. I created my own wiki to store any information I may need later. I use my calendar obsessively, so I never have to think about my plans for the day or week; I just go wherever my calendar tells me on any given day. I use Trello2 so I don’t have to think about individual to-dos, and Omnifocus to dump everything else that comes to mind.

I’m lazy, but I think a lot. I’ll think out and write down tons of ideas, but my laziness lead me to discovering the joys of outsourcing. Some people spend their money on beer, some on clothes, some on video games, art, or movies. I spend all my money on being lazy, hiring people to build things like iPhone apps or upload a large batch of pictures to my blogs.

Laziness is just something I was born with. I will work from sun up to sun down, seven days a week, to sustain my lazy lifestyle. Fortunately, I’m passionate too. I’m excited to see where that combination takes me.

  1. I’m not proud of this, but it happened. Damn, I was lazy. ↩
  2. My workflow is largely based off Ryan Carson. ↩

How the Rich Make their Money

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Jeff Haden reporting on how the rich get rich for INC:

In 2009 it took $77.4 million in adjusted gross income to make the top 400. That might sound like a lot, but it’s down from $109.7 million in 2008 and significantly down from a record high of $138.8 million in 2007.

Not only is the barrier for getting into the top 400 is going down, but the average too is dropping:

The average earnings were $202.4 million [in 2009], a lot of money but well down from the $334.8 million average in 2007.

It’s hard to draw any conclusions from these statistics, as tempting as it seems, since a significantly lower low-end can compensate for a higher high-end. It is, however, interesting to note this trend, since the common mantra is that the rich just keep getting richer. Some of them are and some of them aren’t, which is completely natural. We can’t fight the 80/20 rule.

What consistently catches my eye is how the rich make their money. In 2009, the top 400 people made 45.8% of their adjusted gross income from capital gains. This compares to 8.6% in wages/salaries and a mere 6.6% from interest.

I suppose this isn’t really news to anyone. You can’t get rich by getting a high paying job or properly investing money. Capital gains, oversimplified as the buying and selling of companies, produces the largest returns and is taxed less any other form of income. That’s how to make boatloads of money. So much for that promising career track.

Hacking away at AngelHack 2012

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I attended my first ever hackathon this past weekend and had a blast. It was fantastic being surrounded by so many talented people, all of which shared my interest in computers building cool stuff. I spent my time designing, wire framing, and front-end coding. I’ve never had time fly that fast.

Not only did I have a great experience at my first hackathon, but my partner (whom I met at the event) and I were one of 21 finalists1!

Looking forward to seeing what our trip to San Francisco brings.

  1. Edit: Now 25. ↩

Amazon’s Failure at Targeted Advertising

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Let’s talk about companies that squander targeted advertising opportunities.

Amazon has the perfect opportunity to serve amazingly targeted ads directly to me, on a device I use at least twice a day. I’ve owned every generation of the Kindle since the original launch, working my way to the $79 Kindle Wi-Fi with Special Offers, the absolute best Kindle device thus far1.

Not only do I use a Kindle every day and buy into Amazon’s ebook ecosystem, I’m also an enthusiastic Prime member. Despite a general mistrust of their business practices, the ease, availability, and convenience of Amazon’s free 2-day shipping makes me a regular consumer. I also take full advantage of their wishlist features, creating multiple lists with helpful names. I even use Prime Instant Video every once in a while.

With all of this personal information, which I have voluntarily given to Amazon, why do they continue to serve me ads that are completely irrelevant to my needs? If Target knows when people are pregnant before they know themselves, and adjust their snail-mail advertising accordingly, why can’t Amazon get it right?

This is especially egregious given that I specifically purchased a device that serves ads. I could have spent another $30 and received the exact same unit without screensaver adverts, but I volunteered to subsidize the cost of the device with advertising. I even saw (see?) value in receiving a daily reminder about items I may need. Amazon, however, chooses  to display an image baby bending over when I put my device to sleep.

The Kindle should be filled with targeted, relevant, impulse purchases. How about some big text asking if I’m low on toilet paper? Why not a Amazon’s top rated coffee sampler set, targeted towards the morning subway commuters (they know I live in New York City). What about that item I added to my wishlist last week? It’s Friday and I just got paid.

Instead, my current ad rotation includes a deal for framing (despite never purchasing an image, picture, or frame), a baseball related life-sized wall graphic, and a Pampers/Swiffer ad. Besides the Swiffer wipes2, every single item is completely irrelevant to me.

Amazon, what’s the deal?

  1. I’ll save my discussion about touchscreen e-readers for another time. ↩
  2. Those things are awesome. ↩

Facebook Phone Concept Design

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This is the type of innovation we need in the cell phone arena. Ever since the iPhone, every company has simply copied the design of the iPhone. From Google’s Android copying Apple’s iOS, to cell phone manufacturers copying the iPhone’s hardware design. Microsoft and Nokia broke slightly from the mold with the Lumia 900 running Windows Phone 7, but apart from the innovative OS, the hardware is still basically the same.

Tolga Tuncer created this concept design for a Facebook phone, and it’s absolutely gorgeous. Everything about this design screams innovation and fresh thinking. The trademark Facebook blue color, the “like” logo on the front button, and the wedge shape are all a breath of fresh air in the now-stale mobile phone arena.

This design makes me want to hold and play with this phone, and I am generally a light Facebook user. Job well done.

If this was Microsoft and Nokia’s brainchild, things might be looking a little better for Nokia at this point in time.

Photos courtesy of Yanko Design.