Last night, I was invited to present about Webcamp KK & INit.my at SEEDNite. I talked about why and how Webcamp KK was founded and also what we are trying to do with INit.my.
It is also my first time using Prezi and it is pretty cool. I've embedded my presentation below and to those who were there, I hope you liked the presentation.
For our last Webcamp KK of the year, we decided to round up a bunch of local talents to showcase their work. We had a film-maker, an animator, 2 web developers, a sound engineer and even a prop-maker showing their work and made it the best Webcamp KK, bar none.
Once again, it shows how passion is contagious, inspiring and universal. Seeing others working hard on their passion inspires all of us to do the same. We plan to keep showcasing and featuring local talents from all over Sabah regardless of what industry they are in. There are always something we can learn from each other.
But we wanted something more. A way to inspire more people to take action and do great things. So we created INit.my, a platform to inspire others with passion of our local talents. We plan to do monthly webpisodes that features the awesome work of Sabahan. If all goes well, we will have our first episode by the end of January 2013.
Exciting times are ahead of us. There are a lot work left to be done but this is a start. And of course, as always, this is an effort from the community. We hope you can come check it out and support INit. Let us know if you know of anyone who is doing great things. We would love to feature and promote them.
Nothing inspires us more than seeing local Sabahan making it big. Of course, if you want to meet some of them, join us at our next Webcamp KK and be inspired!
Every month, we organize Webcamp KK where a group of web professionals, designers, developers, photographers, film-makers, animators, entrepreneurs and people who are passionate about web get together to share and learn from each other.
Over the past 15 months, we have a small but passionate core group of members who would meet up despite their busy schedules. We are very grateful to have people who share their knowledge and insights, who volunteer to help organize events and those who show up to give their support.
When asked what is Webcamp KK all about, some would say it's a gathering where people share and learn from one another. Some would see it as a networking platform where you get to meet passionate people from different industry. At times, it might look like a techie meetup or when the stars aligned, a session filled with creative passion and entrepreneurial spirit.
I would instead like to think that Webcamp KK is where people who have passion in their craft come together to share, learn and ultimately collaborate to create awesome work together. A place to nurture raw passion into effective action that impacts everyone.
This isn't a change in vision or direction for Webcamp KK but rather a confirmation that we are heading towards the right goal. In our last gathering, Team Sprocket and Asgardian School of Art showed us what is possible when your work is driven by passion.
So for the final Webcamp of the year, we will be getting action-takers to showcase their work to inspire us to also act on our passion and work on something great.
It is natural for everyone to want to be successful. Success can be about making a lot of money, climbing the corporate ladder, buying your dream house or marrying your high school sweetheart.
Even though our definition of success may vary, it seems like we are all learning from the same source. Others' success stories and traits of successful people are the usual suspects.
Since everyone's aspiration is different shouldn't we all seek our own way? There are definitely lessons to be learned from successful people but unless your life is absolutely identical to theirs, those can only serve as a guide for us. There's no silver bullet.
And what about happiness? Most people think that success equal happiness. Earning lots of money would make them happy. Getting that promotion would make them happy.
I personally think there's more to life than being successful. It's about living the life you truly want. Yes, money and career might be part of it but they can't be all of it.
If you have been chasing success all this while, maybe it's time to chase happiness instead. In fact, figuring what actually makes you happy is worth the effort.
In this age of constant connectivit, everyone is busy with something. It is probably the most common excuse you use when you forgot about an appointment or don't want to deal with something at the moment.
It is an excuse we all give and accept not just because most of us are really busy but also one that we can understand and grants at least some benefit of doubt.
When someone tell you that he/she can't make it because they are busy, we get it. Maybe something important came up or there's a deadline they got to meet.
But there are some of us (including myself) who like to keep ourselves busy in order to not do something else. We tell ourselves that we don't have the time for it now and we'll get to it later. The scary thing is sometimes we actually make up stuff to do to keep ourselves busy.
I'm not talking about people who look busy to get away with doing less. I'm talking about people who are genuinely busy but they are busy with the wrong things.
This happens when we mistakenly think that being busy means we are having progress. You tell yourself that, all these things I'm doing got to mean something right? Well yes and no.
If what you are doing is moving you toward your intended goal then that's great. But too often, a lot of stuff that we do are just distractions. We conjure up tasks to fit into our schedules. We hold meetings to decide if we should decide on something.
So the next time you tell yourself or someone else that you are busy, think about it for a moment. Are you really busy or you just needed an excuse? And if you are busy, are you busy with the right things?
Recently I read a post by Jason Fried on 37Signals blog explaining why we can only teach someone who are willing to learn.
He met up with the author of Innovator's Dilemma, Clayton Christensen who said (paraphrased by Jason), "Questions are places in your mind where answers fit. If you haven't ask the question, the answer has nowhere to go. It his your mind and bounces right off. You have to ask the question - you have to want to know - in order to open up the space for the answer to fit."
Clayton's latest book (How will you measure your life?) is also full of insights on how we should approach our career, family and life in general. He provides interesting and insightful examples from the business world.
his book does not offer answers but rather tells you how to think about decision you make in your career, family and life. It tells you the type of question you should be ask when deciding your career path, what kind of family you want to raise and ultimately what kind of person you want to be.
It's a book I recommend EVERYONE to read. Go get it NOW!
A very insightful talk on psychology, marketing, business and economics. It's rather long but worth your time.
You probably have heard this a million times. Follow your passion. You should find out what you are passionate about and do that. I myself blogged about passion quite often.
But Mark Cuban have a different view on all this fuss about passion. He believes instead of following your passion (which you can have many), you should follow your effort, things that you spend most of your time on because time is a resource that you don't own.
This makes sense because if you are putting in a lot of time and effort into something, you are definitely passionate about it and most likely you are quite good at it too.
I took a trip down memory lane and realized that besides sleeping, eating, being lazy and gaming, I've spent quite a significant amount of my life building stuff on the web.
Here's a short summary on some of the fun, failed, lame and stupid stuff that I've built.
I left out a few projects here and there but I think it is safe to say that I'm following my effort and it's definitely my passion too.
I'm not a rockstar web developer by any standards but knowing that this is what I love to do and I'm good enough to make a living out of it, is all that I need to keep going.
I really really love building stuff on the web. What about you? Is your effort inline with your passion?
Read it Later recently relaunch as Pocket and moved from a paid up-front pricing model (iOS apps) to freemium. Nate Weiner (developer of Read It Later/Pocket) posted an insightful article on why they decided to make the jump.
He categorized products into 3 simple categories.
He realized that Read It Later was charging up-front like a meal but its actual value increases over time. By using the freemium model, they can also madeit easier for new users to give Pocket a try without committing anything up-front.
Lesson learned here is to determine the type of value your product delivers over time then choose the matching pricing model.
Finally got to read Hugh Macleod second book, Evil Plans. It is about why you should be doing things that you really love and care about. Hugh's Evil Plan is similar to a Big Hairy Audacious Goal (BHAG). He also shares some interesting marketing strategies he used. Must read for anybody he wants more from their work.
"It has never been easier to make a great living doing what you love. But to make it happen, first you need an EVIL PLAN. Everybody needs to get away from lousy bosses, from boring, dead-end jobs that they hate, and ACTUALLY start doing something they love, something that matters. Life is short." -Hugh MacLeod
Coming up with an EVIL PLAN is definitely fun and exciting but remember it is still only a plan until you do something about it.
