Marcus Higgs

Wordless Wednesday: Bangkok Being Wash Away

mhiggs — Wed, 09 Nov 2011 12:27:45 +0000

Continuing with the November rain theme, this week we have shots from the now water washed Bangkok, Thailand.

For the full pictures, head to the Big Picture from Boston.com

Thankful Thursdays

mhiggs — Thu, 03 Nov 2011 18:07:24 +0000

Thankful Thursdays is a weekly brief reflection on 3 things I currently need to be thankful for.
It’s an exercise for mental health.

No matter how small, remember to count your blessings one by one.

A lot of free time

One thing I’ve always valued is the flexibility of my time, and one of my life’s main objectives is to have liberty if my time and space. Currently I have a bit more free time (but not time is ever really free). I’m managing it wisely, but as one person said, ‘There are no real time management issues, the issue is priorities.’

Mixergy Membership

I’m a premium member over at ‘Mixergy, home of the ambitious upstart‘. If you’re a tech entrepreneur or someone starting a company this site is worth joining. It’s interviews and corses by proven entrepreneurs who have walked the journey.

Web Development Skills

During this free time while I’m working on different entrepreneurial ventures, I’ve opened up dreamweaver and photoshop again, and started hacking away at some comes. I’ve also become working with the Genesis Framework for WordPress. It’s a slope on the learning curve, but I think I’m coming along okay. In a day I popped up a shell of a site over here.

What is one thing you have to be thankful for today? Tell me in the comments below.

Wordless Wednesday: Under My Umbrella…Ella…Ella, eh

mhiggs — Wed, 02 Nov 2011 13:51:25 +0000

November in South Florida means rainy season. And you can’t take two steps without your umbrella.

For the full pictures, head to the flickr album Under my Umbrella

Thankful Thursdays

mhiggs — Thu, 27 Oct 2011 14:06:36 +0000

Thankful Thursdays is a weekly brief reflection on 3 things I currently need to be thankful for.

I’m on the road but there’s still time to be thankful.

No matter how small, remember to count your blessings one by one.

Good Southern Family

I’m currently in Atlanta working on another project. My initial accommodations fell through so I called Anthony my cousin last minute. He asked when I was coming even before I asked.

I should have come here first; big house, big heart, big ups to fam (especially from the South).

A Warm Soft Bed

Came to my cousins house at 2 in the morning. I couldn’t call in, and didn’t want to wake the family by knocking on the door so I ‘knocked out’ in the car.

When I woke, my back was killing me, but it was a good feeling to see a familiar face and smile saying, “Com’mon in. We have your bed right here.”

Some quite time

In Fort Lauderdale I’m staying with Tafari, my oldest brother, until Levar’s wedding, my other brother.

Tafari and his wife Tanya have three kids, and twins ‘brewing in the belly’. Quite time is a minimal. Don’t get me wrong, I love being with my niece and nephews, you just have to understand kids will be sweet, but they will also shout.

I love’em, but for now while I’m gone, I’ll appreciate this moment of clarity.

What is one thing you have to be thankful for today? Tell me in the comments below.

What the Hell Was Reed Hastings Thinking? Part 1 of 2

mhiggs — Wed, 26 Oct 2011 13:55:07 +0000

These days I’m gathering a crap load of information and speaking to a crap load of landscapersNice lovely, helpful and informative landscapers, I might add.. This is just the beginning and it’s going to take a crap load of thinking.

Some friends say I think too much. And you know what…I think they’re right.

But I also think ’thinking‘specifically productive thinking, unfortunately is a dying art form. Reed Hastings, founder of Netflix did productive thinking right. That’s how he starting shipping 1.5 million DVD titles a day to over 6.5 million subscribers in 2007. But more on that a bit later.

Let’s talk about productive thinking, to do that we need to also talk about reproductive thinking.

Here’s the difference between the two.

Reproductive thinking is refining what you know. People do it to be more efficient.
Productive thinking is generating new and divergent thoughts. People do it to gain insight.

Reproductive thinking has three ‘levels’.

Left Right

1st “Mindless Following“; because that’s how things are done.

For example, when your family sits in the living room, you usually sit in the same place. Why, ’cause that’s just how it’s always been. It just make life easier.

2nd “Consciously reproducing actions and thoughts you learned so you can reach a predictable results“.

This is what accountants or marketers do. There is a set checklist that they go through efficiently to get an outcome. Doctors also do this when making a diagnosis. Pilots do this when taking off or landing. At lease I hope they do. They should…for you safety.

3rd “Kaizen thinking”

It’s a Japanese business philosophy meaning continuous improvement (It literally means ‘improvement’ or ‘good change’ in Japanese.) Examples of this can be seen on Toyota factory floors or in a fastfood kitchen (is it even called a kitchen?) It’s repetition to make it better, faster, harder, stronger (♥ Daft Punk).

Reproductive thinking is needed, but unfortunately it’s often confused with innovation. You see, with reproductive thinking you can make a nice rotary phone betterIf you're born after 1990, ask your parents.; the dial glides smoother, it has an elastic spiral cord, it fits fingers better. But only productive thinking can ever give you an iPhone.

Productive thinking looks for divergent solutions. It says, “There’s more then one way to skin a cat.”Why would you ever want to skin a cat? That's a horrible thing to do. That kind of thinking leads to breakthroughs or new product ideas. It changes not only what we do, but also how we see the world. How to cope with change, while causing change.

Enter Reed Hasting. 1997 he founded a Netflix with the simple idea. People rent videos on the Netflix website, then the videos are delivered in the mail. Same retail model as the mom-and-pop shops, he just saved on the overhead of owning a physical store. Then in 1999…BAM! Productive thinking kicked in an Hastings did something radical. Rather then renting movies, he rented ‘the ability to watch movies’ (say whaaa…?).

You know how Netflix use to workSince then they've changed their business model again!. Subscribers would make a movie cue online. A new disk would ship out when the subscriber returned the last one. No late fees, No individual rental fees, no postage.

Notice, it wasn’t a big change, it was just a new way to look at Netflix’s customers relationship.

Because of Netflix’s success, many imitators popped up and the whole video rental industry shifted. All because of productive thinking.

Here’s your take away, productive thinking is a skill. Which means you can learn it and you can develop it. I’ll dive more into that in the second part of this series “Do you want more productive thinking?“You know you do, everybody does..

If you interested in this kind of stuff, I would recommend Tim Hurson’s book Think Better. I know it has helped me think better.

A quote from EinsteinBecause it gives you credibility when you quote from one hell of a smart guy, right? then I’m out. He said,

We cannot solve our problems

with the same thinking

we used when we created them.

Albert Einsteine One Hell of a Smart Guy

Now let’s get back to solving landscapers problems, and the problems of the world (mmuhahahahh…).

~m.

Photo Credit: CarbonNYC

Wordless Wednesday: Two Selves in One Portrait by Nazeeab Bassi

mhiggs — Wed, 26 Oct 2011 12:30:08 +0000

Do you come from two different worlds? What happens when they collide?

Meet American/Iranian photographer Natalie Nazanin Abbassi. When you come from two starkly different cultures every self portrait captures two expressions. These few pictures are from a self portrait project exploring who she is.

It’s worth checking out the complete project at her site:

All credit goes to this awesome woman here.

So Why the Landscaping Industry?

mhiggs — Mon, 24 Oct 2011 13:20:24 +0000

Yesterday Reggie (owner of a property maintenance company and landscape contractor) asked me,”So why the landscaping industry?” That’s a valid question.

I previously worked with Financial Advisors (too busy and too much information noise), and Dance Studios, Yoga Studios, Martial Art Studios (not as business minded), and my partners are interviewing realtors, photographers, and insurance agents and brokers. So why did I chose the landscaping industry?

And without missing a beat I gave him three sincere reasons. Here you go:

I’m a creative at heart. Living is about creating, and with my background in graphic design, web development, and studying visual arts for 7 years, I have a deep appreciation for other creatives. I wanted an industry where there was an element of creativity.

The earth is different medium, but the concepts are the same. At the risk of sounding like a hippie, also I love the earth and working with it.

With all the paper forms, contacts, and bids, I saw the need for efficiency in the industry. I worked with my uncle Bernard, a building contractor, in high school. During that time, he asked me to make him a set of template forms; estimates, proposals, invoices. Landscapers have the same needs.

With a CIS background I also know all these problems can be simplified, solved and even made sexy with technology/software. This can help make businesses more streamline, productive and profitable.

And that’s the next point. It’s a ‘for profit’ industry and contractors are usually business minded. Maintaining a landscape is a hard job, and nobody is ever in the business just because they like unloading a truck, lifting and carrying heavy loads, working with the earth in the sweltering heat. They want and need efficiency. They why I’m here.

Why did I chose this industry? Because there is a need.

I’ll do what I do best, helping people solve their problems, so landscapers can get back to doing what they do best, making the world a beautiful place.

~ m.

Photo Credit: Landscape Design Advisor

Bet’cha Never Knew Lugo, Spain Looked So Beautiful

mhiggs — Fri, 21 Oct 2011 20:31:51 +0000

Gloria, Sergio, and Angelita in One Fun Elevator Ride

mhiggs — Fri, 21 Oct 2011 20:31:12 +0000

Chus, Mari and Me in a Candid Pic

mhiggs — Fri, 21 Oct 2011 20:27:46 +0000