Many conversations with other twenty something year olds out of college seem to gravitate inevitably towards what we’re doing with our lives — as in, what’s the point in what we’re doing and should we continue doing it? I often hear people ask what is “the narrative of my life?” as though their story will be told to posterity, which is an interesting way to examine what you’re doing and whether it is worthwhile.

After listening and participating in many of these dinner table conversations, I’ve settled on a framework for myself specifically and possibly more generally. I think it’s far easier to wonder “what does the world need” rather than “what do I want to do.” One is concrete and the other is fuzzy, if not whimsical. Before money and glory, I think people want more than anything is to feel like they have an impact on what they work on and that what they work on matters on some level. By pursuing “what the world needs” it’s far easier to avoid things that don’t feel like they don’t matter since you probably are already unsure whether it’s what you truly want, let alone whether it matters to anyone else.

I’ve decided for myself that the problems most interesting and worth spending my life solving break down as follows:

1. Access to Information (data, news, know how, etc.)
2. Access to Capital (funding, credit, etc.)
3. Access to Sustenance (food, air, water, etc.)

These basic inputs have massive “leverage” or multiplicative effects on output for people. Improving access to these inputs enables people to do a lot more in their respective fields and improves living conditions everywhere. On a high level, information helps people do anything better and make better decisions. Capital enables people to pursue opportunities otherwise impossible or risky. Sustenance simply makes life possible and enjoyable.

I will go into further detail in what I’m doing, what I want to do, and why I care about each problem in coming posts.

I’m sure there are other fields that have large impact that I may be missing. What are big problems that you are happy to work on for the rest of your life or that you know other people are dedicating their lives to solving?

How earlier puberty is affecting society and people. Interesting take on how teenagers need more real world experience and perhaps less schooling to make better decisions.

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There’s something noble and attractive about the little guy standing up against the giant. We feel special and better about ourselves when we go to the local mom-and-pop establishment and give them our business — I know I do. I also know I don’t feel that way after I leave Starbucks or some other huge chain. Apparently, there’s a new trend for people to even rebel against giant web retailers by shopping at smaller online stores.

Yet, we all still frequent these same giant retailers. Why? They price everyday and popular items at the lowest rates. They are ubiquitous and convenient.

So how can the small guys compete with the big guys? This problem is something I spend an enormous amount of time and thought on — why I work on making display advertising work for local businesses so they have the same reach and capabilities as their largest competitors.

Thinking about these small brick and mortar retailers, I’ve concluded that they need turn their weaknesses into strengths if they want people to go to them for more than the occasional “feel good” purchase. 

The rise of Amazon.com in particular has exposed several deficiencies of small local retailers:

• Poor Selection. Amazon has the largest product selection because it isn’t constrained by local physical inventory capacity.
• High Prices. Amazon can purchase items in bulk at such scale that it often gets the lowest prices for many products.
• Physical Storefront — Amazon doesn’t have the cost of maintaining storefronts
• Labor Costs. Amazon doesn’t have staff people to personalize experiences or address issues. Instead, Amazon can suggest purchases through data mining and clickstream data.

To change these disadvantages into advantages, local brick and mortar shops need to rethink how they design their retail experience:

• Focused Selection. Local retailers need to curate product offerings and offer fewer choices. Amazon.com has 1,000 different brands and products for any given need which make choosing something quite difficult. Local retailers can learn from Apple and stock a very limited selection of items so they only have “the best” solution for a particular problem.
• Special Products. Local retailers need to stock non-commoditized items. Any product that can be traced to a product number (ISBN or SKU) is always mass produced, mass marketed, and mass discounted. Local retailers need to focus on stocking more locally produced items or uniquely distributed ones so they aren’t competing on price directly. 
• Faster Delivery. Amazon.com can do 1-day shipping if needed but it cannot do same-day delivery yet since its fulfillment centers are too far from many consumers. Local retailers can offer same day pick up which needs to be emphasized more, but going further, they could make use of couriers to offer same-day delivery.
• Human Service. Amazon.com doesn’t make it easy to reach a human being when you have a return or a problem. Shopping locally should be a human experience where a person is always there to help. The labor costs are really marketing costs as Zappos looks at it — when else do you get the undivided attention of a customer and chance to convince the customer to spend money with you.

The little guys need to be scrappy and change the terms of the battle. They have a fighting chance and I hope they win.

Inc. Magazine - “What’s an Entrepreneur”

Interesting demonstration of how humans tend to make the wrong decision based on framing.