brand – Page 4

There’s no failure in sports!

Posted on April 28, 2023April 28, 2023 by Nirmal Thapa

Indeed.

There’s no failure in sports. Definitely not in life!

Giannis Antetokounmpo, player for The Milwaukee Bucks eloquently explained why there’s no failure in sports after his team exited the NBA playoffs. You’re always working towards a goal. Sometimes your team will succeed and other times, your team will come up short on those goals.

There are many key insights one can derive after watching the whole video.

Some insights that stood out to me were:
–To not reach your goals when you have put in the efforts/time/energy is disappointing but should not be looked at total “failure” or a “waste.”

–To be successful, you will experience some sort of setbacks but the focus should be on getting better to achieve that goal next time.

-Ownership is key. If you are leading a team or a group, you have to take responsibility for the outcomes – good or bad.

After watching the video, what were your takeaway(s)?

When does the sale happen?

Posted on April 16, 2023April 16, 2023 by Nirmal Thapa

For high ticket items, the sale almost always does not happen in one customer touchpoint/interaction.

(If it does, I would love to learn from you and know what worked for you.)

It happens over a period of multiple touchpoints and interactions between the buyer and seller.

Each customer touchpoint is a step closer to the final sale.

What I have seen most useful for high ticket items are that the buyer needs useful information to address questions and concerns, be clear on the value of buying from the specific seller, and a sense of urgency.

Delivering exceptional value to clients

Posted on April 4, 2023April 4, 2023 by Nirmal Thapa

In service focused businesses, meeting and exceeding clients’ expectations is everything.

Providing excellent client service is both an art and a science.

You can learn a lot from others’ experiences, read book(s) and blogs and watch relevant content to understand what client servicing is.

Then there’s the exciting part of actually managing clients yourselves. That’s where the fun, excitement, and value comes in.

I believe if you deeply care about helping clients become successful in whatever they do, they will sincerely feel it. You can’t fake caring!

The beauty of providing exceptional value to clients is to putting your clients’ needs above yours, being empathetic, and making sure they’re successful.

The rest will take care of themselves.

The best time to do a startup is…

Posted on March 7, 2023March 7, 2023 by Nirmal Thapa

NOW.

Literally now.

If you are thinking about doing a startup, want to be an entrepreneur or create something of your own, there is no better time than RIGHT NOW.

There is no uniform age, timeline, state, region, phase, moment or any other factor that guarantees the best time to do a startup.

I like to watch this Ted talk by Bill Gross from time to time to remind myself why start-ups succeed.

I used to have an illusion/perception that I need to have a decent amount of money to start a business. Yet when I did start a business, it was more than just money that I needed. I learned about the importance of having a solid business and technical team members, balancing product development and marketing, public relations and network and countless other valuable lessons that I learned only because I started the business.

I believe that if you are thinking of doing a startup or want to go into entrepreneurship, the earlier the better.

For example, let’s say you are 25 now, have an idea and want to build your own company. If you wait 5 years (at 30 years old) to start implementing that idea, the market might have changed, other companies might implement similar idea(s) and you are late to the market, you have other priorities now (family, job etc) among others. On the flip side, if you wait you might be gaining experience in a particular domain that can help build your company or have more financial resources to venture on your own.

I strongly believe that if you have an idea and want to build a company, the best move you can make is to start it. The immediate benefit of starting now will give a lot of momentum to your idea/venture, you will learn tremendously by experimenting and getting feedback from the market/customers/non customers etc. The learnings from starting a business will be exponential. If you start as early as you can, you will gain experience that will be very valuable to the success of your idea/business and also as an entrepreneur.

Doing entrepreneurship is both an art and a science.

I can’t wait to see what you create in the world. Now.

What’s on your calendar?

Posted on March 1, 2023March 1, 2023 by Nirmal Thapa

One way to identify what’s a priority for someone is to look at their calendars.

What’s there and what’s not there?

If your calendar does not have the activities/people/experiences that you value or are important to you, pretty soon it will start filling up with other people’s priorities.

Someone can tell you how much they want to be an entrepreneur and live the lifestyle they have always dreamed of. Yet when you see how that person spends their time, you will notice if they really mean it or are not focused on their personal/professional goals. If it’s not booked on your calendar (or time blocked off for it), then usually it will not happen for many reasons.

Usually the calendar is a good indicator of what’s a priority to someone.

Coffee Convoz

Posted on February 14, 2023February 14, 2023 by Nirmal Thapa

There are many amazing coffeeshops located throughout Nepal. From the Himalayan Java outlets (15+) and Redmud Coffee (6+) that have opened up around the Kathmandu valley, there is a growing number of new coffeeshops that have now blossomed in Nepal.

Coffee Convoz, an Instagram page is visiting coffeeshops in Nepal and US and creating posts from their cafe visits.

Although tea culture is still omnipresent in Nepal, coffee culture has picked up a lot of steam in the last several years. These new coffeeshops offer very good coffee, food, and a lot of care has been given to its overall ambience as well. Coffeeshops won’t replace tea shops anytime soon nor completely. However, we will see a few more coffee franchises such as Himalayan Java and Redmud Coffee opening up outlets throughout Nepal and abroad. In fact, Himalayan Java already has opened outlets abroad in Toronto (Canada), Nebraska (US), Minnesota (US), and Seattle (US).

The future of Nepali coffee looks promising domestically and internationally.

Working those muscles

Posted on January 19, 2023January 19, 2023 by Nirmal Thapa

Being more creative, more inquisitive, more evolved requires working with intention on those creative/curious/reflection muscles.

If you want to be more creative, keep challenging yourself to think outside the box, look for different ways to solve the same problem or spend time around “creative people.”

If you want to be more inquisitive, keep asking questions, look for follow up questions and learn from others who have the knack for asking good questions.

If you want to be more evolved as a person, invest in yourself and reflect on your emotions, feelings, and behaviors.

When you keeping working on the “muscle/craft” you want to become better at, you will be skilled in it overtime!

Beyond the Comfort Zone

Posted on November 13, 2022November 13, 2022 by Nirmal Thapa

In our comfort zones, we tend to feel at ease, almost no anxiety, stress free, and safe.

In the boundaries of our comfort zones, we tend to feel some or a lot of anxiety, stress, and get defensive.

Do we all have comfort zones? If so, do we stay in those zones or go beyond them?

Of course, we all have our comfort zones in different areas of our lives and activities that we do. As humans, we operate from a place where we make decisions from what we know, feel comfortable doing, and go about our personal and professional lives.

However, if those same comfort zones are limiting our own growth or from allowing us to reach our full potential, wouldn’t we want to go beyond them?

Imagine you have been selected as a member of your varsity basketball team. Your basketball coach sees a lot of potential in you and provides regular feedback. There are parts of your game that are already good and you capitalize on them. Then there are other parts of your game that you are not mostly aware of but your coach sees where and how you can improve on them. After each varsity practice, the coach comes up to you and gives you constructive feedback on your improvement areas. You listen to the coach but you are not REALLY LISTENING to your coach. You have a feeling that you are already good in certain areas and that’s the part the coach should praise you on. Yet here you are listening to the coach just talking about where you can be in the future and keeps going on and on the improvement areas, not so much your strength areas. After a few of these feedback sessions, you finally get the urge to just tell the coach that you are doing everything you can and get defensive because you don’t feel appreciated or valued by the coach. You have excuses and don’t take any responsibility or ownership.

Now what can happen next?

As a player, you can reframe the conversation with the coach as a way to see that the feedback is for your own growth and if you have want to reach the next level, you should do the activities the coach recommends you to do. Or you can stay defensive and feel entitled to think that you have already reached your potential and the coach doesn’t see that? Or just quit the varsity basketball team?

Comfort zones are there and will continue to be an integral part of each of us. Yet, if you want to live out your AUTHENTIC GREATNESS, how often will you push yourself out of your comfort?

A recommended read related to this topic “How to Leave Your Comfort Zone and Enter Your ‘Growth Zone“

Getting through the data noise

Posted on November 9, 2022November 9, 2022 by Nirmal Thapa

An authentic brand story will help your company get through the data noise.

How much data noise is really out there?

Domo’s Data Never Sleeps 10.0 presents some numbers.

Some notes from Domo:

Over the last ten years, digital engagement through social media, streaming content, online purchasing, peer-to-peer payments and other activities has increased hundreds and even thousands of percentage points.

As of April 2022, the internet reaches 63% of the world’s population, representing roughly 5 billion.

According to Statista, the total amount of data predicted to be created, captured, copied and consumed globally in 2022 is 97 zettabytes, a number projected to grow to 181 zettabytes by 2025.

There will be more data generated in the coming days, months, and years. How will your startup or corporation get through the data noise? Will your company keep spending more money on ads, social media marketing , PR and others? Or will you invest in a long term strategy such as identifying your authentic brand story and leveraging it?

Transitioning from an employee to an employer

Posted on October 10, 2022October 10, 2022 by Nirmal Thapa

Entrepreneurship can be a beautiful journey.

Many individuals enter the workforce and work for several years before striking out on their own. Some individuals go straight into entrepreneurship before working for anyone else. There are several questions/scenarios that an aspiring entrepreneur(s) considers when deciding to stay in the current job (if working) to going completely in on their business opportunity/venture.

Few of the questions that can come up during this transition phase are:

Is this the right time to quit the job and focus completely on the business opportunity/venture?

Do I really need to quit my job to work on this business opportunity? Can I do both at the same time if I prioritized my time better?

What is the minimum monthly revenue I should be earning from my business before leaving my job to do the venture full-time?

How will I manage my daily/monthly/yearly expenses before the business really takes off?

When will I realistically get my first customer?

At what point will I actually make more money from doing entrepreneurship than when I was working for someone else?

There’s no exact science or art in when the best time is to launch a business. People launch businesses at all different times/seasons/economic cycles etc. Companies have started in recessions, economic growth cycles, pre-Covid era, during Covid era, post-Covid era. Here are some numbers around Small-Business Statistics. Note that 4.3 million new business applications were filed in 2020.

Is success really “self-made”?

Posted on September 18, 2022 by Nirmal Thapa

We often see the below headline in the media (blogs, magazines, articles etc.) to describe an individual or founders’ success.

They were self-made billionaires. They were self-made entrepreneurs.

Then the rest of the media coverage goes something like this…

Person A’s company is now worth a billion dollars. Having started in her garage four years ago, Person A has disrupted the industry and won every industry award.

Person B had a dream to change the industry and with another co-founder, they developed a MVP over a weekend. Now their work has become an industry standard and they are pioneers in helping to move the industry forward.

Using the word “self-made” to describe individuals running successful organizations does not provide the full picture. We have fallen so much in love with the narrative of a solo entrepreneur or visionary who did it all. From having nothing at all to now running one of the biggest so and so company in the world. However, it’s rarely one individual who does everything and becomes successful. There is always a team who is helping to run the company and making sure everything is operating as smoothly as possible. That team could be a handful of individuals or a few hundred or thousand. Yet the credit or the media coverage usually goes to the founder(s) who took the risk, “sacrificed” almost everything, and made an impact.

Maybe it’s about time we find a different word to describe this type of success than calling them “self-made.”

What’s a word that celebrates the individual’s work plus highlights the contribution of the team?

Who’s the most valuable member of the company?

Posted on May 24, 2022May 24, 2022 by Nirmal Thapa

Since it was the founder/co-founders’ idea that led to the company’s start, is she/he/them the Most Valuable Member (MVM)?

Sales team brings in clients and revenue. Are they more valuable then?

How about the technology team that made the software which the sales team sold?

And the human resource team who found and hired the talent with the right attitude, education, and skillsets?

Let’s acknowledge the Training team who help employees to keep their skills and knowledge up to date as per company’s needs.

Getting the software in front of potential customers at the right place and time, isn’t the Marketing team deserving of applause and attention?

Client services team is communicating with the client and making sure they have an amazing experience. Don’t they receive credit on what they do to make the customers happy?

Rooting for Jonathan

Posted on May 20, 2022May 20, 2022 by Nirmal Thapa

Jonathan Livingston Seagull loved to fly, loved it so much that he went against its own flock to reach for the sky.

Yet we find fewer Jonathans soaring in the skies above because society wants conformity, has its beliefs and expectations. Many buddingJonathans face the harsh reality soon as they start going to school, around their neighborhood, and even at their homes. In lieu of protecting the ones whom we care about, we put our own insecurities and biases onto them and increase their self doubt and hold their independence. Rather than giving them freedom and choice to fly, we ground them onto the reality of the situation and make them have realistic expectations.

To groom the next Jonathan, realize first that each of us are unique and talented in our own ways. At times, its best to just let individuals to follow their intuition, learn from their experiences, and let them achieve their authentic greatness.

Your Authentic Greatness

Posted on April 20, 2022April 20, 2022 by Nirmal Thapa

Each individual has internal superpowers. These superpowers are unique and developed through our personal experiences, environment, and evolution. Storytelling is one of our authentic superpowers.

Each individual can define “success” in their own terms and go towards reaching their authentic greatness.

If each of us realize and tap into our internal superpowers, live our authentic greatness, then collectively we will create a better and evolved world.

Your company’s “Chief Question-Asker”

Posted on March 11, 2022March 11, 2022 by Nirmal Thapa

“The most important thing business leaders must do today is to be the “chief question-asker” for their organization” says Dev Patnaik of Jump Associates.

Patnaik says that “the first thing most leaders need to realize is, they’re really bad at asking questions. The business executives rose up through the corporate ranks because “they were good at giving answers. But it means they’ve had little experience at formulating questions.” Without the company leadership setting the tone and culture to the rest of the organization that asking questions are important and critical to the business growth, it’s no surprise that the employees are not asking any or enough questions. If the employees who understand the company’s products/services are not asking any or enough questions to the customers/end users for feedback, or asking questions to explore new products/services in the market, the company will become stagnant and the competition will take over.

Adam Bryant, The New York Times Corner Office Column writer says that “the best leaders understand that asking open, exploratory questions can help them figure out what’s coming and where new opportunities lie, so that they can lead their company in new directions.” Leaders have to show vulnerability and humility to ask questions which is more important than upholding the persona of the leader who must “be all-knowing, decisive, and in possession of infallible gut instincts, all of which leaves little room for questioning.”

Are you the company’s “Chief Question-Asker”?

Quotes are from “A More Beautiful Question” by Warren Berger

Here’s a piece of advice…

Posted on January 31, 2022January 31, 2022 by Nirmal Thapa

Giving advice to someone is a tough ask. When someone reaches out to you for advice, you are put in a position of authority or power. It could be that the person seeking your advice thinks you are the right person, have the relevant experience, have information that others don’t or for any other reason. In essence, if someone asks for advice, he or she is looking for some sort of an answer from you. It’s a tall order to give accurate and meaningful “advice” to another person.

In his book, WILL, Will Smith says this about advice “The thing I’ve learned over the years about advice is that no one can accurately predict the future, but we all think we can. So advice at its best is one person’s limited perspective of the infinite possibilities before you. People’s advice is based on their fears, their experiences, their prejudices, and at the end of the day, their advice is just that: it’s theirs, not yours. When people give you advice, they’re basing it on what they would do, what they can perceive, on what they think you can do. But the bottom line is, while yes, it is true that we are all subject to a series of universal laws, patterns, tides, and currents – all of which are somewhat predictable – you are the first time you’ve ever happened. YOU and NOW are a unique occurence, of which you are the most reliable measure of all the possibilities.”

A powerful and practical way to approach this situation when someone reaches out to you for advice is to say “I am happy to share with you what has worked for me.” An example of this in real life is to watch this video of Dwayne Johnson “The Rock” speaking to the Los Angeles Lakers as part of their GeniusTalks series, reflecting on his career as an athlete and actor, and sharing lessons he learned along the way.

Sports documentaries that are worth it (updated October 2022)

Posted on January 12, 2022June 9, 2024 by Nirmal Thapa

As a sports fanatic, I’ve devoured the sports documentaries available in various streaming platforms. Some of those documentaries I’ve gone back and watched it again because the stories are told in a riveting way and have had a huge cultural impact.

Here are the sports documentaries or documentaries based on sport figures that I really enjoyed watching (in no particular order).

Tiger (HBO) – Tiger is a two-part documentary offering a revealing look at the rise, fall, and epic comeback of global icon Tiger Woods.

38 At The Garden (HBO) recognizes a pivotal moment in time for Lin, and celebrates a phenomenon that was bigger than basketball for the world.

Being Serena (HBO) – Being Serena is a documentary series chronicling tennis icon Serena Williams at a pivotal moment in her personal and professional life.

Tony Parker: The Final Shot (Netflix) – This film examines the background and career of Tony Parker, whose determination led him to become arguably the greatest French basketball player.

The Redeem Team (Netflix) – After their shocking performance at the 2004 Olympics, the US men’s basketball team seeks redemption as they pursue Gold at the 2008 Beijing Games.

The Playbook A Coach’s Rules For Life (Netflix) – Coaches with championship résumés share their personal rules for success in sports and life in this reflective and inspiring documentary series.

Untold: Malice at the Palace (Netflix) – Key figures from an infamous 2004 incident between players and fans at an NBA game in Michigan discuss the fight, its fallout and its lasting legacy.

Take the Ball, Pass the Ball (Netflix) – Through firsthand accounts and analysis, this football documentary details the dominance of FC Barcelona from 2008-2012 under manager Pep Guardiola.

Noami Osaka (Netflix) – This intimate series follows Naomi Osaka as she explores her cultural roots and navigates her multifaceted identity as a tennis champ and rising leader.

A Kid from Coney Island (Netflix) – From gifted athlete to professional NBA hooper, Coney Island’s Stephon Marbury navigates the pressures, pitfalls and peaks of his basketball journey.

The Last Dance (Netflix) – This docuseries chronicles the rise of superstar Michael Jordan and the 1990s Chicago Bulls, with unaired footage from an unforgettable 1997-98 season.

I Am Bolt (Prime) – Competing in the 100m and 200m races, Usain Bolt attempts to make history by winning these events for a record third time.

What’s your energy focused on?

Posted on December 21, 2021December 21, 2021 by Nirmal Thapa

Your energy has immense power. What you put your energy into will create the results accordingly. Being aware of your energy, focusing the energy on your important goals and priorities, and taking utmost care of your energy is crucial to achieving success and getting the results you want.

The Law of Attraction is based on the belief that thoughts are a form of energy and that positive energy attracts success in all areas of life, including health, finances, and relationships. If your mindset is about positive energy and thoughts, it will lead towards positive results and vice versa.

As a salesperson, instead of focusing the energy on only your personal goals (earning high commission and getting a sale as quick as possible), if you focus your energy on actually helping the customers solve their problems and get what they want, the results can be phenomenal. As a manager, if your objective is only about achieving your personal goals above your team’s goals, then you will face continuous challenge. As a coach, if you want to achieve greater success as a team, you have to put the team’s goals ahead of your own. When the focus is on only your personal goals, your drive, motivation and energy will all follow accordingly and you might face more challenges along your path to success. When there is wholehearted focus on your customers’ goals and also your personal goals, the results can be remarkable.

When I approached the day with a single goal in mind and the right energy, I was able to achieve greater success. With a singular focus and making it a priority to helping my customers get what they want, I was amazed to see the overall results. What I focused my energy on completely changed the day and the results I got.

So what’s your energy focused on?

Books that inspire asking questions

Posted on December 12, 2021June 9, 2024 by Nirmal Thapa

Here are a few books that I found to inspire each of us to ask more questions. These books delve into the power of asking important questions, questions that can change the direction of a person, group, or company and provide insights into using questions as a helpful guide in our personal and professional lives.

Category: brand