Archive for October, 2008
By Rajesh Setty on Sun 12 Oct 2008, 8:19 PM - 1 Comment
It’s been a while since I used a PC. Every other computer in my home is from Apple. However, I see that McAfee was automatically renewing my Antivirus subscription for a PC 
This time I did catch the email that said “Automatic Subscription Renewal Service” and found that there is a simple option to cancel the service by chatting with a customer service representative supposed to be available 24×7.
First, I was told that there is a wait time of 5-10 minutes to “find” a chat agent.
I thought it was still OK to wait for a chat session rather than waiting for a rep on the phone. Once I filled in all the details (about why I want to chat with McAfee) I was taken to a page that made me smile 
It said, please download a chat client to chat with an agent!
Imagine asking your customers to go through hoops to just reach you. Good luck to McAfee!
Posted under Business Models.
By Rajesh Setty on Fri 10 Oct 2008, 10:42 AM - 3 Comments
Sarcasm is rarely interesting. But “sometimes” it’s funny.
This one is all about bosses. Mostly created by someone who has the time to create it rather than focusing on his or her work. But the boss can’t blame him or her
Enjoy!
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HAPPY FRIDAY!
You are listening to jazz — Your first day at work is great. Your coworkers are wonderful, your cubicle is cute, and your boss is the best!
You are listening to pop music — After a while you are so busy that you are not sure if you’re coming or going anymore.
You are listening to heavy metal — This is what you feel like at month end.
You are listening to hip hop — You become bloated due to stress, feel sluggish and suffer from constipation. Your coworkers are too cheerful for your liking and the walls of your cubicle are closing in. You have started thinking ‘WHATEVER’ about your boss.
You are listening to GANGSTA RAP — After more time passes, your eyes start to twitch, you forget what a ‘good hair day’ feels like as you just fall out of bed and load up on caffeine.
You are listening to the voices in your head — You have build a makeshift door on your cubicle to keep people out, You have a dartboard with your bosses picture on it in your cube, You wonder why you are even here in the first place.
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Note: For other 41 posts in the same series, please visit my Squidoo Lens on the same topic. Here is the link:
Squidoo Lens: Smile Please
Posted under Smile Please.
By Rajesh Setty on Thu 09 Oct 2008, 11:22 PM - 2 Comments
Sometimes when I see these things I remember the old dot-com dot-bomb days. They were fun
The advertisement says that the domain “lisa” is for sale for $2,400,000 dollars.
All the best!
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Note: For other 40 posts in the same series, please visit my Squidoo Lens on the same topic. Here is the link:
Squidoo Lens: Smile Please
Posted under Smile Please.
By Rajesh Setty on Thu 09 Oct 2008, 5:30 AM - 2 Comments
Background:
Today is Sumukh’s birthday. He is 10 years old. I have always wanted him to learn the basics of building a company. Of course, it will be odd to try and teach a ten year old kid about balance sheets and income statements without a context. So, the last few weeks, Sumukh and I have been thinking about building a business just to learn the basics of building a business.
Finally, we came up with a simple idea and started executing on it. That project is called “Behind The Car“
What is Behind The Car?
Behind The Car is an ongoing community project where people from all over the world send in fun and interesting bumper stickers via email.
Starting today, you should be seeing bumper stickers posted (almost) everyday on the site. Some of these bumper stickers are funny, some are cool, some are interesting, some are boring and some are, well, we are still trying to figure them all out.
Why this project?
The goal of the project is for Sumukh to learn the basics of building a business. While we are passionate about the project, the goal is to share and learn more than anything else.
How can you participate?
If you find a fun, interesting or cool bumper sticker, please take a photo and send the same to “behindthecar at gmail dot com” and Sumukh will clean it up (remove the license plate information etc.) and post it with a link to your website.
Special Thanks
Lots of friends who are lending a helping hand to Sumukh and most importantly Cody McKibben at ThrillingDesign for patiently helping Sumukh with his project.
A Request
Please visit “Behind The Car” and help us spread the message.
If any of you are interested about the lessons learned throughout the project send me an email and I will add you to the list. I am asking Sumukh to document this journey and hope that it will be useful for others who might also be interested in such a journey.
We don’t know where this will go but would definitely welcome your support and good wishes.
Thank you.
Posted under Announcement, Main Page, Smile Please.
By Rajesh Setty on Thu 02 Oct 2008, 1:00 PM - 1 Comment
It requires a lot of maturity to be aware of your circle of awareness. This is one of the areas where “ignorance is definitely NOT bliss”.
What you want is typically within your circle of awareness.
If “what you need” to reach your goals is outside of this circle of awareness, you may not make an attempt to get it because you just don’t know that such a thing exists.
So what do you do to get in sync?
Here are a few quick options:
1. Read more to increase your awareness: This is probably the lowest cost no-brainer option. Expand your library and you expand your awareness.
2. Find a Mentor: A mentor can help you raise your awareness sometimes slowly but sometimes in just one meeting.
3. Use the right tools: How can you find something you need when you can only search with “what you want”? That’s where tools like Rawsugar will come in.
4. Attend Events that stretch your imagination: If you have never been to a museum, go and visit one. If you have never been to an art exhibition go to one. Be curious and go there with an open mind.
The above are ONLY examples of ways of expanding your circle of awareness. Go ahead and stretch your imagination and find ways to stretch the circle of awareness.
All the best!
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Note 1: For links to the other 195 entries in the “Distinguish yourself” series, please visit my Squidoo lens on the same topic:
Squidoo Lens: Distinguish yourself
Note 2: The first 25 entries in the series have been packaged in a ChangeThis manifesto that was published on September 07, 2005. You can download that manifesto here:
ChangeThis Manifesto: 25 Ways to Distinguish Yourself (PDF, Free)
Note 3: My latest manifesto on ChangeThis was published on August 6, 2008. This is a photographic manifesto featuring 15 of my mini sagas (stories in exactly 50 words). Here is the link:
ChangeThis Manifesto: Mini Sagas – Bite Sized Lessons for Life and Business (PDF, Free)
Posted under Distinguish yourself.
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