September is wrapping up with a bang! We're kicking off several new projects here at the office helping companies like eFarmer & Visiotalent with sales and People's Poncho with PR. With a few more in the queue, Q4 could shape up to be our best yet!
I like to believe getting things on track and keeping them there is no stroke of luck but a direction built on a series of repeatable steps. No silver bullets here but an operating system so to speak. It has been a while since I've given farnamstreetblog.com a shout here in the newsletter. Shane does a good job of recycling old posts and this is one, The Munger Operating System: How to Live a Life That Really Works popped up recently via their newsletter. Some gems worth sharing with you:
- To get what you want, deserve what you want. Trust, success, and admiration are earned.
- Learn to love and admire the right people, live or dead.
- Acquiring wisdom is a moral duty as well as a practical one.
- Learn to fluency the big multidisciplinary ideas of the world and use them regularly.
- Learn to think through problems backwards as well as forward.
- Be reliable. Unreliability can cancel out the other virtues.
- Avoid intense ideologies. Always consider the other side as carefully as your own.
- Get rid of self-serving bias, envy, resentment, and self-pity.
- At the same time, allow for the self-serving bias in others who haven’t removed it.
- Avoid being part of a system with perverse incentives.
- Work with and under people you admire, and avoid the inverse when at all possible.
- Learn to maintain your objectivity, especially when it’s hardest.
- You’ll be most successful where you’re most intensely interested.
- Learn the all-important concept of assiduity: Sit down and do it until it’s done.
- Use setbacks in life as an opportunity to become a bigger and better person. Don’t wallow.
- The highest reach of civilization is a seamless system of trust among all parties concerned.
Quite a few bullet points but all so spot on I couldn't bear to remove a few. Check out the article here.
As always, thank you for reading!
Cycling
Concours de Machines Part Three: From workshop to saddle to judges' table
Part Three of Handbuilt Bicycle News' Concours de Machines coverage is a first-hand account by one of the contestants, our client, Vincent Crétin of Gilles Berthoud SAS. Gilles Berthoud is a French company of artisans making high-end randonneuring bags, leather saddles, diverse accessories and bicycles.
Iceland Series; a Bikepacking tale from the land of Sagas, Wind and Wilderness
"Of course, I knew of Björk, and I had read in some music magazine that there is a vibrant creative scene in Reykjavik."
Awesome trip Fiola! Catch part one of the series here!
The City of Lights by bike: A Paris cycling guide
Art director & photographer Caroline Pauleau pedals with Levi's & Huck Mag on a personal tour of Paris. Nice work Caro! : )
Follow her on insta! instagram.com/caropaulette
Startups
'Merica buyers gorge on startups & Euros nibble
The study looked at about 6,000 acquisitions by European and U.S. companies since 2012 and found that U.S. acquirers completed 82 percent of the deals. U.S.-based companies also accounted for all of the 15 most active acquirers.
Amsterdam Tech Map
Amsterdam’s lifestyle is world famous. But how are the Dutch when it comes to building and scaling tech companies?
Adeline O'Moreau | designer + illustrator
Adeline is a friend of mine and recently reached out on linkedin: "I'm specialised in doing the thing between humans and systems. people call it user experience design or interaction design or just design. I make stuff that live in the digital world and you can't quite touch with your hands - like websites and apps; I make other stuff that live in the real world that you can touch and hold and ride - like bikes; and I make stuff that crosses over both worlds, like connected things."
Let her know if she could help you: adelineomoreau.com
Sales
Why do people open emails? - The Signal
great article. Highlight:
Includes ‘thanks’, ‘thank you’, ‘please’, ‘sorry’
- 1,478 campaigns
- 3,911,452 opens
- 17,022,299 sends
- 22.98% open rate (this newsletter is ~30% by the way!)
The Greatest Sales Deck I’ve Ever Seen
Don’t kick off a sales presentation by talking about your product, your headquarters locations, your investors, your clients, or anything about yourself.
Instead, name the undeniable shift in the world that creates both (a) big stakes and (b) huge urgency for your prospect.
Man this is a good one!
How to make firing people suck less for them and suck more for you
Maybe if you fire a hundred people, you’ll eventually get used to it. But I doubt it. Firing people is horrible.
Radness
The Bicycle Film Festival is coming to Amsterdam!
- Welcome Drinks at Meesterknecht: On Thursday the 6th, the opening of the festival, founder Brendt Barbur will be thereand will interview Bicycle Mayor Anna Luten. Drinks and bites are included, you have to register.
- Women on Wheels at Pakhuis de Zwijger, on Friday the 7th, evening with film and talk, exploring the role the bicycle can play in women's lives. First filmscreenings, then a panel discussion with five very interesting women (you can read more about them on the Pakhuis website). Notable attendees: Lucinda Brand, Ruth Oldenziel and framebuilder Caren Hartley!
RSVP here: dezwijger.nl/programma/women-on-wheels
- Premiere The Men of Steel + Party. On Saturday the 8th, The Men of Steel is a portrait of Master Frame Builder Wim van der Kaaij of RIH Sport Amsterdam and his love and passion for the hand made steel frame. We'll end the festival with a great party in FC Hyena. Our very own Guy aka Josh Dupree will DJ! Party is free! :) Before the screening and the party! Join the Windjammers on a ride!
All further info: www.cyclespace.org/bff
And on FB: .facebook.com/events/1425919440770811/