Is Using Kleenex the Best Way to Blow Your Nose?
That is a question I would like to pose to you. Have you ever given this any thought, or did you just assume that because others are using Kleenex and that you are using it, that is the only and best way of doing it.
Well, not the only, I have a 5-year old and she tends to think that using her sleeve is an effective way of blowing her nose. I know, gross right?
Although myself, I haven't personally questioned the idea of how to blow my nose and what the most effective approach is. I do question a lot of things on a day to day basis and I also see the innovation taking place that is questioning some of the longest standing "accepted" products & services.
But somebody might in the near future and come up with a much better "concept" for blowing your nose. The Kleenex convention could be overturned and we as a human race may adopt a new way to deal with our runny noses.
Plain and simple, if you "question" how things are done, you may find out they are NOT being done the best way. This has been proven over and over again, and at the highest pace we have ever seen with the proliferation of technology and the Internet.
I am going to be discussing some examples in this thread, along with one HUGE example of disruption that is going to have a long term and postiive impact on you and your business.
Let's look at a recent real life example of disruption to conventional thinking that I experience. Something strange.
A Cross Walk. Disrupted.
As crazy as it sounds, most crosswalks are exactly the same in particular at lights. When it is green going a certain direction, the walk signal is initiated in that direction only, and you can cross the road. People waiting in the other directions, continue to wait until the light turns green in their direction, at which time the walk signal turns white and they can cross the street.
There are many cities in the world though that are now moving against this convention, as it is not the most efficient way. This has been the way for MANY years, but in busy areas, it is has been found to be much more efficient to allow everyone to cross in any direction all at once, and stop traffic in the other directions.
Then when traffic is going (green in either direction) pedestrians cannot walk, they have to wait until the "everyone walks" signal.
Here is an example below of Santa Monica, California (one of my favourite cities in the world), but there are many other cities implementing this pedestrian strategy like New York.
This not only allows people to bypass and additional wait by being able to cross diagonally, but it also allows the traffic to safely turn right/left at stoplights without having to worry about pedestrians.
The Principles of Math. Disrupted.
Many people are not questioning the result of math, as there is a right or wrong answer in every outcome. They are questioning the way in which we are calculating those results. There are often times many ways to reach the same endpoint or conclusion.
Math would be one thing where you think everything is "written in stone" and there are no new findings, but that is simply not the case and just in recent years the way children are educated on simply multiplication tables and fractions has shifted drastically. There is innovation in what would seem to be even the most archaic of industries, including math.
Everything From Taxi's to Hair Dryers. Disrupted.
Let's look at some other examples of "challenging" what we know and possibly think are the best solutions. There have been many massive industries turned on their heads in just the last 10 years that appeared to have a complete monopoly and where no level of innovation could take them out.
Well they have been disrupted, and have been in a big way. Let's look at 6 examples of this.
TaxiCabs, Uber/Lyft. The taxi industry has been turned on its head and a once held monopoly has been overrun by a more cost-efficient, all around better experience for customers. Much like when people grab a "Kleenex" when they are going to blow their nose, people grab an "uber" when they are going to get a ride somewhere.
The Electric Car, Tesla. The electric car is not new, but it has never had any level of penetration in the automobile market to really make a dent. Tesla has changed things with their progressive mentality and now think "Tesla" when we think electric cars, and likely in the near future we are going to be experience driverless cars. For 100+ years there has been very little change, but now we are seeing technological advances we could have only imagined in a sci-fi movie even 20 years ago.
Cable Television, Netflix. Netflix is now considered an activity. Did you see the latest series on Netflix? You hear this sort of thing all the time and it has shaken up the cable television industry. People are now spending $9/mth to get Netflix instead of spending $100's on a cable bill. How quickly things can change and there is no looking back on this technology with things like Apple TV moving the cable industry to an "a la cart" sort of environment where you just purchase channels that you like.
Hair Dryer, Dyson Supersonic. A hair dryer, how boring. No innovation can be done there. Well none other than Dyson has taken this on. They first made vacuums cool, then they made bladeless fans cool, now it is hair dryers. There is room to innovate in any industry, and we are starting to see companies disrupting pretty much every imaginable industry, including hair dryers!
Building a Website, SiteRubix. Building a website used to be a frustrating and complex process, and within many hosting environments it still is. There are many companies pushing this industry in a direction that is changing the way we do business, with Shopify in the ecom space, with Amazon in the hosting space, and with platforms like SiteRubix offering connectivity between many business environments (keywords, content, wordpress, site analysis, security, plugin management, hosting, and the underlying technologies).
Music. Spotifty/Apple. Look at what Spotify and Apple Music did to the music industry. It has not only made the customer experience much better for buying music (and more cost-efficient), it has made music much more accessible. Artists have as a result had to change their business model from making money "selling CD's" to making money going on tour and doing concerts.
Every industry it feels is no longer holds a monopoly, even when it comes to banking and currency, you are seeing a push with all sorts of transactional processes and new digital currencies that are pushing the landscape forward and forcing archaic systems to innovate or get left behind.
Lastly, what I feel to be the biggest and ongoing disruptor is shopping in general. How we shop, where we shop, and how efficient we can buy anything is changing the landscape of the retail industry. It is also revealing an incredible amount of opportunity for ALL of us.
Retail Shopping, It's Disrupted.
Window shopping used to be a term for people that weren't serious buyers and had little to no intention of buying. They would literally "look in windows". That term has evolved with the proliferation of online spending and the comfort of making purchases online.
There is a new world of window shopping now. People literally shop for, trying things on, and get to the point of being ready to purchase in retail outlets, and then purchase online. Why? It is more cost-efficient to do so and there is much greater solution, more sizes, colours, and designs. Free shipping and returns are also common place now, creating a great deal of customer confidence in the online retail space.
As a result, the offline retail industry is getting CRUSHED.
Businesses are dying that haven't adopted the "online first" retail model. You are seeing some of the longest standing companies run into a lot of difficulties as a result of new "questioning convention". Sears was doing fine in the early 2,000's when online shopping was just started. But they didn't adapt, while Amazon, Walmart and other major corporations were investing in their online retail divisions, Sears wasn't'. They failed.
People buy everything online. Groceries. Jewelry. Clothing. Sinks & Bathtubs. Appliances. Even Cars.
Shopping offline, it appears, in most respects is not as good as shopping online. As technology improves, the customer experience online is only getting better.
This massive disruption has lead to opportunity, and an ever-increasing one for anyone operating within the online world. People are moving a great percentage of ALL of their shopping online, and it is only going to continue down this path.
Regardless of the niche that you are in, the disruption of the retail world and the fact that spending has moved online, is good news for affiliate marketers and if you work to establish a presence within the online world in the next 1-2 years, you are going to be setting yourself up for long term and sustainable business.
There you go, I have gone Kleenex to Retail Shopping.
I would love to hear your feedback and thoughts on the online shopping world and any other disruption that you are seeing to the "conventional" monopolies that companies once had. Please leave your two, or ten bits below!
Recent Comments
191
Love this post! Just giving me so much inspiration to continue on this online business - world is really going into this direction:)
Changes, changes. Me sitting here resistant to change. Crying into my Kleenex...
Great post Kyle.
It's keeping up with the changes that's tough. I had no idea about the crosswalks thing in Santa Monica, and other cities, and I'm a world traveler! What is better than keeping up with the changes? ANTICIPATING the changes to come... that's when you can be on the ground floor and make those all-important inroads into the next big thing. What changes to do you see coming in the future?
As you said this makes it an awesome position for us affiliate marketers to be in.There is opportunity all over.
Online business is a lot easier and cheaper to start. You don't want to consider the capital involved in brick & mortar shop. it's incomparable Kyle.
For somebody who's owned a retail store before, I can totally relate to what you have written, Kyle.
Not only is it getting more expensive to rent space in the malls or any other locations (which should actually be going DOWN to encourage people to open new businesses) but it is more difficult to get customers to buy!
Because once they see something, they want to go ONLINE first to see other options, like features, colors, and specially price!
But with the high rents, it's impossible to compete with the prices online because the items need to be priced right in order to cover expenses and turn a profit.
That's why, I closed my shop in March 2018 (with a loss of over $30K) and am investing in my website. There is much more potential with affiliate marketing than anything else right now.
Yes things have really changed over the last few years, hard to keep up with for me. I see your point, could be huge over the next few years, better be ready for it. Thanks for the info.
Wayne
Sometimes (often times) these changes we feel happen in an instant, but they take many years. Like home automation, it was available many years ago but the point in which home automation is ubiquitous with a new home being built, is a few years out still.
It will happen, as technology advances and as we adopt this. In terms of the online world and our online shopping habits, they continue to increase as MANY things happen. Shipping times improve, reliability and trust improve, refund policies improve, selection improves, and availability improves.
There will come a day where we all feel confident buying EVERYTHING online, including groceries.
Where I live there are several major stores where you can by online and either have it delivered or pick it up at a drive through. Even Lyft is offering grocery delivery. The day has come.
Hi Kyle,
Great article to think of how our world is changing and what will come. This will help us to prepare for the future.
Concerning the Kleenex, I don't use that, any paper towel that does not feel like a piece of sandpaper will do the job. ;0)
Btw electric cars are not cleaner, maybe in energy use, but surely not if they need to be trashed, many of the components need to be light in weight and they use special materials to put those components on the car. These are special kind of carbon/plastic which cannot be recycled, fantastic isn't it?
Wealthy Affiliate University vs The World
There is no other or better place as Wealthy Affiliate University to learn and build affiliate businesses. Do I need to say more? ;0)
Crypto Currencies Disruption
I believe crypto currencies will cause a disruption and possible replace the normal way of paying in the world, paper money will disappear as some countries have already taken it down (Sweden, South Korea and some other), then it is only a question of time, you will pay with your digital ID, everything will go electronic, ha wait when the power goes off due to a natural disaster, that will be fun lol.... :0)
Flying Drones to transport people will replace Cars Disruption
The first flying drones to transport persons are already operative, this will revolutionize the world and in 5 - to 10 years many of those flying drones will be used as taxis, even personal flight vehicles, the traffic system needs to be invented for that so that will change as well. Oh and I will have my flying saucecab for sure and fly around in my red saucer and getting to my location and bring you the news. ;0)
Cleaning ladies vs Cleaning Robots Disruption
Yes, they are coming the AI Cleaning Robots taking off all that work of a cleaning lady, cheaper and more efficient. Will they be that intelligent to take over your home? Who knows... ;0)
Sex Robots vs Real People Disruption
In Germany the business with a newer generation of Sex Robots is booming, they look and feel like real, it is possible (let's hope not) one day they may replace real people.... oh oooh.... :O
Facebook Advertisement Disruption
I believe Facebook, the social platform, social interaction and placement of advertisement will shake up the world in the years to come and may take over the place of best way of advertising in front of a huge crowd socially interested in what you do. Advertisement prices for these services may skyrocket over time...
Me vs other advertisement methods Disruption
Time will tell if my way of offering advertisements for company services and products can bring change in the way of how products and services can be brought on a subconscious level to a huge crowd of people.
That is it for now, I surely might think of some more over time.
What do you think Kyle?
I like the "Me vs. other methods"! I think we all need that attitude and need to consistently question authority and also companies/products/services indicating they are the best, perhaps there is a better way.
As with WA, we KNOW there is always a better way and we work towards that, when we achieve the better way, there probably still is even a better way. This constant battle to achieve perfection leads to ongoing evolution and innovation (and is very fun and exciting).
I love your other examples, very good ones. They are disruptive indeed and yes, electric cars are still pollutants, but if they were powered and charged from solar energy or another sustainable source of energy, that would make quite the difference.
You can buy your electric car with digital currency, but you can't blow your nose with it. :)
Thank you Kyle,
I always think outside the box, whatever I do, every day, you get a much better view of how everything works and in this way discover how things can work better and also find new ideas to try out. And yes you are right that is evolution and drives humanity forward.
I saw, Jay's webinar is now at 5 p.m. my time, great, now I can follow it too, instead of napping on my chair just before start. :0) That is what I call evolution lol ;0)
There were cars running on solar energy, even on water, but those new inventions all the sudden disappeared.... Probably bought by the energy companies, otherwise that would put them out of business.... We will have to wait till the earth runs out of oil and gas I guess.....
Yes you can, wait........................................
.................................................... did you see it? :P
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The world is getting smaller because of these disruptions, I should say.
Families from far away connect easily because of iphones, smart phones, etc. Gone are those very slow communications, like telegrams, letters by post, etc.
We really need to adapt to these updates so we'll not be left behind.
But we need to watch out on their proper use because sometimes, instead of helping us, they pull us down. Instead of making our lives easier, they make them more complicated. The social media, for example, like Facebook , connects families from afar, but it will also infringe on our anonymity or our privacy.
Let us all use these disruptions properly.
Thanks Kyle for this exciting post.
Marita
The internet was never private nor had any anonymity, what you post on the internet stays on the internet.
What happens to your content you post in Facebook as example, years and years it was known your information got collected, processed and used for something....
Nothing changed, the information about you is just growing... ;0)