Folks,
Here is an update on a deal between China and Germany:
http://english.people.com.cn/200606/09/eng20060609_272578.html
John
Saturday, June 10, 2006
Mag Lev and China
Wednesday, June 7, 2006
Importing Food Products
Re: [spiers] Importing Food Products
I spoke with an Indian engineer a few years back as to why my emphasis on
"competing on
design" did not play well with Indian start-ups. His explanation was if you can
pull together
the money to get something going, you want to sell a Corning Pyrex Measuring Cup
in India,
not a designer measuring cup. People moving from poverty to middle class want
their first
real live corning measuring cup, not a designer measuring cup, to replace their
coconut shell
of whatever they used before...
fast food is about time-savings, not nutrition. Shopping 3 times a day and
preparing a meal
from raw materials is very time consuming. When there is money to be made, then
a corn dog
and a strawberry shake will do, You can worry about heart disease when you are
60.
Every country is slightly different, and they are all changing. For this reason
I long ago
decided to not bother learning how to sell in other countries. Sell to an
importer at the
border of the other country, and let them worry about what happens inside their
country.
John
On Tue, 6 Jun 2006 20:02:39 -0700, "grp grp"
>
> Strange irony is in US and western countries, consumers are converting from
> inexpensive burgers and corporate food chains like Safeway markets, to
> expensive organic foods sold at markets like Whole food stores, that is
> grown by small organic farmers in California or other suppliers of food
> chain; whereas when I visited India last year where consumers are converting
> from local inexpensive organic food grown by small farmers in India (sold
> by street vendors), to consuming expensive foods from corporate food
> franchise food chains grown from Monsanto's seeds and fertilizers. It's
> strange how free market forces recycle itself. Dot com boom is hitting east
> and bust hitting west!
>
>
> On 5 Jun 2006 15:15:58 -0000, John Spiers
> >
> > the same as any other product or service...
> >
> > 1. starting with what you love...
> >
> > 2. solve a problem on the margin...
> > Here you are likely to be improving something already out htere...
> > for example, when USA
> > was exporting nectarines to asia, the asians asked for white-fleshed
> > nectarines instead of
> > orange-flesh nectarines... someone had to develop this new nectraine, and
> > it tends to be the
> > smaller farmers at first...
> >
> > All fruits and vegetables you see at safeway or whole foods were designed
> > for safeway or
> > whole foods... the fuji apple, the romaine lettuce, all of it solving a
> > problem. go back to
> > grego mendel 250 years ago crossing red peas and white peas to get pink
> > peas, and this has
> > been going on for a very long time...today they do 'genetic modification"
> > whatever that is.
> >
> > Barbq and chili are normally matched with beer, but I just saw an ad for
> > BevMo which
> > featured wines to be matched with barbq. I was once served champagne with
> > chili by a host
> > who discovered how it was a natural and delightful pairing. If someone
> > were to even better
> > redesign champagne to match chili, and then have it vinted, every
> > restaurant selling chili
> > would likely welcome the add on sale as well as making news, enhancing its
> > image and
> > growing the business.
> >
> > As news apples and pears are designed and put on the market, one might
> > redesign cheese to
> > match.
> >
> > The process is exactly the same as any other product or service.
> >
> > John
> >
> > On Thu, 01 Jun 2006 18:30:54 -0000, "mgranich"
> > :
> >
> > > How does John's business model fit the importation of food products.
> > > I've read messages from group members importing organic foods, and
> > > wines. But how does one "innovate" a food product? What change do
> > > you make in a wine or a cheese? Where is the importer's value in
> > > importing food products?
> > >
> > > Anthony
> > >
> > >
> > >
> > >
> > >
> > >
> > > Compete on Design!
> > >
> > > www.johnspiers.com
Tuesday, June 6, 2006
Importing Food Products
Re: [spiers] Importing Food Products
Strange irony is in US and western countries, consumers are converting from
inexpensive burgers and corporate food chains like Safeway markets, to
expensive organic foods sold at markets like Whole food stores, that is
grown by small organic farmers in California or other suppliers of food
chain; whereas when I visited India last year where consumers are converting
from local inexpensive organic food grown by small farmers in India (sold
by street vendors), to consuming expensive foods from corporate food
franchise food chains grown from Monsanto's seeds and fertilizers. It's
strange how free market forces recycle itself. Dot com boom is hitting east
and bust hitting west!
On 5 Jun 2006 15:15:58 -0000, John Spiers
>
> the same as any other product or service...
>
> 1. starting with what you love...
>
> 2. solve a problem on the margin...
> Here you are likely to be improving something already out htere...
> for example, when USA
> was exporting nectarines to asia, the asians asked for white-fleshed
> nectarines instead of
> orange-flesh nectarines... someone had to develop this new nectraine, and
> it tends to be the
> smaller farmers at first...
>
> All fruits and vegetables you see at safeway or whole foods were designed
> for safeway or
> whole foods... the fuji apple, the romaine lettuce, all of it solving a
> problem. go back to
> grego mendel 250 years ago crossing red peas and white peas to get pink
> peas, and this has
> been going on for a very long time...today they do 'genetic modification"
> whatever that is.
>
> Barbq and chili are normally matched with beer, but I just saw an ad for
> BevMo which
> featured wines to be matched with barbq. I was once served champagne with
> chili by a host
> who discovered how it was a natural and delightful pairing. If someone
> were to even better
> redesign champagne to match chili, and then have it vinted, every
> restaurant selling chili
> would likely welcome the add on sale as well as making news, enhancing its
> image and
> growing the business.
>
> As news apples and pears are designed and put on the market, one might
> redesign cheese to
> match.
>
> The process is exactly the same as any other product or service.
>
> John
>
> On Thu, 01 Jun 2006 18:30:54 -0000, "mgranich"
> :
>
> > How does John's business model fit the importation of food products.
> > I've read messages from group members importing organic foods, and
> > wines. But how does one "innovate" a food product? What change do
> > you make in a wine or a cheese? Where is the importer's value in
> > importing food products?
> >
> > Anthony
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> > Compete on Design!
> >
> > www.johnspiers.com
Over-prescription
Folks,
On the other side of the unnatural shortages of medicines in the USA is the
problem
of overprescription...
http://www.lewrockwell.com/sardi/sardi54.html
It seems just as we are overfed and undernourished as a nation, we are also
under
attended and overprescribed in medicine.
John
Monday, June 5, 2006
Importing Food Products
Re: [spiers] Importing Food Products
Over the weekend I saw on CSPAN this author who brought up the large
growers who supply Safeway and Whole Foods. This book might give some
you insight on the industry if you don't already know about it.
Thanks,
Victor
Organic Inc.: Natural Foods and How They Grew
from June 4, 2006
Samuel Fromartz, author of "Organic, Inc." discusses the rise of
organic food from an idealistic niche market into a billion dollar
industry. He also chronicles how and why the organic industry survived
the DOT.COM era and the more recent economic downturn. Organic food
sales have grown at a rate of 20 percent per year due to growing
concerns over hazards of chemically-treated conventional produce
according to Mr. Fromartz. This talk hosted by Politics and Prose in
Washington, DC, was held on Earth Day.
--- John Spiers
> the same as any other product or service...
>
> 1. starting with what you love...
>
> 2. solve a problem on the margin...
> Here you are likely to be improving something already out
> htere... for example, when USA
> was exporting nectarines to asia, the asians asked for white-fleshed
> nectarines instead of
> orange-flesh nectarines... someone had to develop this new nectraine,
> and it tends to be the
> smaller farmers at first...
>
> All fruits and vegetables you see at safeway or whole foods were
> designed for safeway or
> whole foods... the fuji apple, the romaine lettuce, all of it
> solving a problem. go back to
> grego mendel 250 years ago crossing red peas and white peas to get
> pink peas, and this has
> been going on for a very long time...today they do 'genetic
> modification" whatever that is.
>
> Barbq and chili are normally matched with beer, but I just saw an ad
> for BevMo which
> featured wines to be matched with barbq. I was once served champagne
> with chili by a host
> who discovered how it was a natural and delightful pairing. If
> someone were to even better
> redesign champagne to match chili, and then have it vinted, every
> restaurant selling chili
> would likely welcome the add on sale as well as making news,
> enhancing its image and
> growing the business.
>
> As news apples and pears are designed and put on the market, one
> might redesign cheese to
> match.
>
> The process is exactly the same as any other product or service.
>
> John
>
> On Thu, 01 Jun 2006 18:30:54 -0000, "mgranich"
> wrote :
>
> > How does John's business model fit the importation of food
> products.
> > I've read messages from group members importing organic foods, and
> > wines. But how does one "innovate" a food product? What change
> do
> > you make in a wine or a cheese? Where is the importer's value in
> > importing food products?
> >
> > Anthony
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> > Compete on Design!
> >
> > www.johnspiers.com
Importing Food Products
Re: [spiers] Importing Food Products
the same as any other product or service...
1. starting with what you love...
2. solve a problem on the margin...
Here you are likely to be improving something already out htere... for
example, when USA
was exporting nectarines to asia, the asians asked for white-fleshed nectarines
instead of
orange-flesh nectarines... someone had to develop this new nectraine, and it
tends to be the
smaller farmers at first...
All fruits and vegetables you see at safeway or whole foods were designed for
safeway or
whole foods... the fuji apple, the romaine lettuce, all of it solving a
problem. go back to
grego mendel 250 years ago crossing red peas and white peas to get pink peas,
and this has
been going on for a very long time...today they do 'genetic modification"
whatever that is.
Barbq and chili are normally matched with beer, but I just saw an ad for BevMo
which
featured wines to be matched with barbq. I was once served champagne with chili
by a host
who discovered how it was a natural and delightful pairing. If someone were to
even better
redesign champagne to match chili, and then have it vinted, every restaurant
selling chili
would likely welcome the add on sale as well as making news, enhancing its image
and
growing the business.
As news apples and pears are designed and put on the market, one might redesign
cheese to
match.
The process is exactly the same as any other product or service.
John
On Thu, 01 Jun 2006 18:30:54 -0000, "mgranich"
> How does John's business model fit the importation of food products.
> I've read messages from group members importing organic foods, and
> wines. But how does one "innovate" a food product? What change do
> you make in a wine or a cheese? Where is the importer's value in
> importing food products?
>
> Anthony
>
>
>
>
>
>
> Compete on Design!
>
> www.johnspiers.com
rich dad poor dad thread
Re: [spiers] Education
Richard,
In a free market, one can NOT get exceptionally wealthy. When the govt is out
of the biz of
market manipulation, competition keeps things changing and distributing with
little chance
of anyone ever getting the leverage necessary to amass mega-wealth. Mega wealth
is only
created when someone either works with or against government policy, and working
against
government policy is not necessarily illegal, as Geo. Soros has plainly stated
that he makes
his billions exploiting stupid government policies.
In a free market one merely supports ones lifestyle with ones work, works every
day at what
one loves, and finds they worry more about enough time than enough money.
Education is probably the #1 area of govt intervention, so the area one can get
the most
wealthy. The sort of community ed site you have here is an example of someone
cutting out
some biz from a city parks and rec department. The hooked on phonics people
made a
killing remediating the foolish "whole language" reading programs of the 80's
and 90's.
If you love education, the place to go is straight after the Ivy league
colleges. No one in
education is so vulnerable as them, nor is so much money concentrated in so few
hands.
On the other hand, if you desire a community ed program like the one you cited,
I would
study the University of Washington Experimental College, it is built on the
medieval model in
which the students pay the instructor directly for the class, and you operate as
a sort of
ticketmaster advertising the course thru a catalog and selling seats but
charging a 'service
fee.' And here again, sure, put the catalog online, but 96% of your
registrations will still come
from a paper catalog distributed in coffee shops, etc, so you must still have a
catalog of
courses.
While I am at it, you may want to join LERN, an org that has all the "how to" on
running an
independent non credit program.
John
On Fri, 2 Jun 2006 21:07:22 -0500, Richard Ingels
> I thought this was interesting and along the lines of what I was
> thinking, even if it's not a degree.
>
>
> http://www.studioeaustin.com/
>
> Richard
>
>
>
>
> Compete on Design!
>
> www.johnspiers.com
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