Close to 11 months ago, I was working on a new project that requires the use of a mailing platform. The first few requirements I expected out of a mailing platform was:

• Intuitive interface
• Provide in-depth analytics
• Scalable

The Initial Trial:

• iContact
• Aweber

Obviously there are a lot more mailing platforms out there but the 2 above were the ones that came to my mind first. I played around with them during the trial period and I wasn’t really entirely convinced of using the either service. The interface didn’t seem right for me.

The Stumble:

I continued sourcing the web for another mailing platform and while I cannot exactly remember how I chanced upon MailChimp, I was glad I did.

The WOW Factors:

The first that blew me off was the user interface of MailChimp. It was so simple and intuitive that I didn’t have to put much processing thoughts to use it.

Next up is the freemium model they offer and it really made it a no brainer to do a test with them. The best thing about MailChimp’s freemium model is that the service is forever free until you hit a certain number of subscribers. This is pure gold especially for someone who is starting a new project.

Zero upfront cost for a premium product that is easy to use, what more can one asks for?

As with any marketing campaigns, it’s imperative that I can run up the stats to do an in-depth analysis on the campaign performance and I really think that MailChimp has got an awesome analytics reporting system.

Other than the standard report for open rate and click-through rate, the platform also offers in-depth reporting on click performance (% of clicks for each link) and social stats. Imagine a doctor having an advance x-ray system to run diagnostics on his patients. You get to save time and cost by having a clear insights into the areas that needs tweaking.

Bonus Factor:

I would not have normally give much notion to customer support since I was on freemium mode but MailChimp’s support just rocked my world.  I never had to wait for more than 24 hours to get a respond and this is the sort of support you would have expected as a paying customer.

Summary:

Selecting a mailing platform is just like choosing a house because it’s not something you would want to change unnecessarily.

MailChimp is a progressive platform and you could almost see continuous updates with regards to mobile or social apps integrations. The best part about the platform is that it allows the user to scale according to their needs and it can be done without much hassle.

Will I pay to continue to use the platform if I exceed the freemium quota? Without a doubt.

MailChimp – Awesome Product is a post from: You Teck's Blog

I think most of us can personally relate to a situation where we were instantly sold on buying certain products because of a story.

Story delivers a very unique kind of informative experience in the way that a listener wouldn’t probably get turn off even if there is certain amount of hype hidden it.

As opposed to selling via the product itself, story brings a listener into an imaginary space where they are actively participating in the “selling” process as they can better relate to the characters/ideas/products within.

Take for the example of an antique, the higher value ones usually have a background story attached to it. For example:

This piece of antique was on its way to Europe where the merchant ship that was holding it got waylaid during the 16 century naval wars. It was found in a sunken ship somewhere in the south china sea.

Product features are kind of dead (Can still matter to the 5% of the crowd) but they transform into something real and alive when introduced through a story.

So, try using a story to introduce your product/service/idea and see if it makes a difference in getting your point across in the future.

Don’t Sell Us a Product, Tell Us a Story is a post from: You Teck's Blog

In the previous post, I spoke about the non-existent value of an idea if it is not follow up with an execution.

An idea is only as good as the execution.

You might probably have come across the above phrase many times and it really isn’t all too hard to understand the intention of the message.

A simple explanation would be an excellent idea is never enough if it is not followed by an excellent execution. An average idea can deliver excellent result if followed by excellent execution while an excellent idea can deliver mediocre result if followed by mediocre execution.

If you got a good idea or maybe just an idea you want to work on, do yourself a favor by picking the best teammates you could ever find. A team of 2 awesome individuals beats a team of 5 mediocre individuals anytime. Baggage are excessive burden and you don’t want them when you are moving uphill.

The Thing About Ideas… (Part 2) is a post from: You Teck's Blog

Say you were having a conversation with someone you just met and you popped the question “So what keeps you busy in your daily life?”

Developer A: I write codes for company xyz…

Developer B: I’m building a kick-ass application with company xyz…

Can you spot the difference in the class of mindset?

Taking into the consideration that both of these developers have the same level of skill, the selection as to which developer I will pick into my team couldn’ t have been more obvious. There is clearly no substitution for working with awesome individuals.

Who Will You Pick? is a post from: You Teck's Blog

Ideas are highly contagious and Victor Hugo once said that “Nothing is as powerful as an idea whose time has come“.  Ideas can be extremely viral and thus powerful but they depend on a single element call execution.

An idea will never become anything more than a thought if you don’t execute it. Having 100 ideas in your head and zero execution will never triumph someone who executed the very 1 idea he/she had. Execution creates an reaction which in turn creates a momentum to bring the idea to realization.

No one talks about the guy who thought of the idea (there could be 100 other people who thought of it as well) but the guy who executed and brought the idea to realization. I have come across many people who have some cool ideas but ultimately never brought them to life.

It’s definitely a great shame because instead of having the opportunity to reap the benefits of a potentially good idea they ended being the one on the sideway saying “Yeah, I thought of that idea way before”.

If you have an idea today which you think is great and it’s within your means to bring it to life, why not give it a go and see where it will lead you to at the end of the day?

The Thing About Ideas… (Part 1) is a post from: You Teck's Blog

Muffins are incredibly delicious pastries which can lighten up your day. I know of a particular pastry store (SG, Chinatown Smith street) that sells the kind of muffins that makes you smile after your first bite. It’s my favorite snack store and I will hardly give it a miss if I am feeling hungry or in need of some inspiration.

It was during this conversation I had with my colleague about marketing the muffins that lead me to rethink about building business in a different perspective. While I was deep in thoughts of thinking how to balance the loss of original baker’s muffin tasting against scaling growth through machinery, I was struck by an epiphany.

Having read Small Giants years before I shouldn’t really be fixated on the thought that business has to ultimately scale and grow big. At the end of the day it boils down to the business owner’s objective and the value they intend to deliver to their customers. Take for instance the case of the muffin store owner, there would never be much need to scale her muffin business through machinery if her objective was to design and create fresh made muffins by her own hands.

Certain business models are beyond growing big as that objective does not fit into that their value proposition. More often than not it is more important to figure out the business owner’s #1 objective through it’s proposed value proposition first than to think about scaling the business. If that objective has been met and it has brought joy to the owner, why complicate things by adding more complex equation to the business?

Muffins and Business is a post from: You Teck's Blog

Educated and Highly Schooled is a post from: You Teck's Blog

Magnifying Glass

Focus is a simple 5 letter word that has adverse effects. A focus objective could reap you big rewards while a lack of it will most likely cause your downfall. Many times I’ve being asked why project TradersCabin failed to take off and I could always offer a few underlying cause.

It wasn’t until recently when I really focus on the main issue that the reason became so crystal clear. The keyword was focus. We tried to do too many things with too little resources. Ideas were popping everyday and we always wanted to implement these new ideas into our project. Point in truth was that we should have looked at what was the core business we were into and focus 100% of our energy into it. Since our initial objective was to sell consumer electronics, we should have focus on building up the business before thinking about setting up another project.

Take the simple analogy of the picture of the magnifying glass above. Suppose you want to use use the magnifying glass to burn a hole through a paper. You would most probably focus the light spot on the exact spot of the piece of paper for as long as you could. Reason being the intensity of the light spot will generate enough heat to burn through the paper as fast as it could.

Imagine for a moment what would have happened if you moved the magnifying glass around constantly instead of focusing the light spot on a single spot. Do you think you will still achieve the burned hole?

The Magic of Focus is a post from: You Teck's Blog

The Concept

An idea headed by Prof. Dickson Despommierm, the concept is to build a high rise building which holds multiple storey of farm and power it using clean or renewable energy. Artificial light will be used as a replacement for natural sunlight.  The main advantage of the concept is that the farms that are housed within the building will be protected from destructive elements and thus ensure year round production.

Image source: Vertical Farming Main Site

Obstacles

Adoption of the concept is the central issue along with the many sub problems revolving around the central issue. The sub problems in my opinion consist of:

1. Overall profitability of the proposed system
2. Reception of the end users
3. Need of special knowledge workers to maintain operations

Point 1 could probably be the only concern for major developed countries but if we think under the global context, point 2 and 3 remains valid and critical. A solution no matter how beneficial would never will able to justify itself without a reasonable net gain. With regards to point 2 and 3, it will be a major obstacle for developing countries as the resource and knowledge to support the system could be far more costly than the conventional way of farming right now.

The problem of having insufficent farmland to support the growing global population in the future is there for all to see. The solution offered by the Vertical Farming concept is valid and it’s not so much of whether the idea is workable or not but rather when can the concept developed such that it is financially justifiable.

Source: Vertical Farming

Vertical Farming is a post from: You Teck's Blog

I love freedom and I think that running is the closest to having a pair of wings other than flying. For me it doesn’t have to be sprinting at top speed to feel that pair of wings. Running at optimal speed gives me the same equal feelings.

With the wind blowing across my face and the thought that nothing can stop me from this freedom exhilarates me. There are very little moments that make me feel as alive as I am when I am running. Whenever I start to feel box in by certain situation, going for a run seems to allow me to think of solutions which I haven’t thought before.

Another aspect of running is the determination to finish the run and I always relate it to my personal determination in overcoming obstacles.  It wasn’t until recently that I realize that nothing is impossible, it’s just a matter of how much desire or determination you have within you to accomplish the impossible.

Gravity does keep us check on the ground but it’s up to an individual mind to find their own wings. Through running, I’ve found mine.

Running Gives Me Wings is a post from: You Teck's Blog