Business Growth Strategies
External
- Understanding Customers: Customer acquisition and demand forecasting
- Reaching Customers: Marketing and PR
Internal
- Survival: Cost Structures, Pricing, and Metrics
- Organizational: People and Culture
External
Internal
Internally
Externally
Beancounters traditionally use command-line tools or self-host servers with private networks, where they have to operate through a computer or a general-purpose text editor on mobile. Beancount.io reduces hassles by bringing open-sourced Android and iOS mobile apps and a secured cloud so that your ledger is now a few taps away from your fingerprint.
Beancount is a computer language that enables double-entry bookkeeping in text files. Once you define financial transactions in the file, it will generate various reports. Martin Blais, the designer of this language, argues that command-line bookkeeping has many advantages - It is fast, portable, open, and customized.
We strongly agree with the argument and share the feeling of empowerment brought by beancount language. And we wanted to do more - introducing the technology to more people. It means that we have to improve the usability and make it more accessible to a broader audience.
Not everyone is a command-line enthusiast, and this is why we build Beancount.io - the personal finance manager for everyone. Here is how it works:
For heavy-duty work, beancounters could still use their computers to edit or view the ledger with their browsers visiting https://beancount.io or syncing with Dropbox. This keeps the flexibility of the command-line tools, while not losing the cross-device access of the cloud-based solution.
For daily light-weight operations, such as instantly adding an entry, beancounters could use the mobile app to connect to the secured cloud.
Mike Thrift, a backend engineering working on this product, says
I used to set up a reminder every day for myself to open my laptop and input records to my bean files. Now, with beancount.io, it is way easier for me to modify my ledger whenever I need it, even when I am outdoors purchasing something in the store.
Zhi Li, a software engineer from Facebook, tells us
I have migrated all my beancount files to beancount.io, and now it works perfectly for my day-to-day usage. I have paid for Pro features like automatic data backup, but I feel there are more things you guys could do to improve the service.
You could sign up now at https://beancount.io/sign-up/ or download iOS or Android App. We streamlined the registration to collect as minimal information as we can from you to bootstrap the service. Then you will get a preset empty ledger that is ready for you to add an entry right away.
The great bottleneck period refers to a professional state where maintaining the status quo consumes all your time and energy, preventing you from breaking through to the next level of life.
Here are some suggestions to help you move forward.
What factors are motivating or demotivating you? Do these factors serve your goals rather than conflict with them? Are these goals aligned with each other rather than contradictory?
When analyzing and setting goals, be realistic and refer to baseline ratios. For example, Jeff Bezos shared a story about the experience of learning to do a handstand—most people think they can learn it in two weeks; however, it usually takes six months. When you encounter the unknown and feel stuck, the answers are more likely to come from others and reality rather than from yourself.
Do not aim for a moving target. Your current situation may be exactly what you hoped for four or five years ago. Don’t be too greedy :)
Can we eliminate those cost-heavy or low-value activities? While this may temporarily hinder growth, it could lead to a hockey-stick growth trajectory later on.
Take out a sheet to list your daily activities and indicate whether they are burdensome. If they are, how can you remove them?
To shake yourself out of a local optimum, you need to set aside time for new experiences. This process may seem unproductive at first and can take a lot of time.
You must be patient. Just like Steve Jobs did when he returned to Apple after his exile, cutting down on low-margin product lines and waiting for the next wave.
Business is an infinite game, and you can always accumulate comparative advantages over time. If you have some extra time and are temporarily uncertain about future goals, you can always invest in yourself—improving your mental and physical health to help you fight in future battles. Keep learning and gaining knowledge to increase your chances of success. Optimize your business to work more efficiently and survive longer in the market.
Finally, do not underestimate your growth. Even prominent technologies like artificial intelligence or 3D printing go through a deceptive phase; they may seem stagnant for a long time and then suddenly explode at an exponential rate.
The great plateau is the career state that the maintenance of the status quo consumes all your time and energy so that you cannot break through and reach the next level of your life.
Here is some advice to help you move forward.
What are the factors that are pumping or dumping you? Are those factors serving your goals instead of contradicting your goals? Are those goals aligning with each other instead of violating each other?
Be realistic and refer to the base rate ratio when analyzing and setting the goal. For example, Jeff Bezos told a story about a handstand coach’s experience - most people believe that they can learn handstand in two weeks; however, it usually takes six months. When you get stuck, the answers are more likely to be from others, from reality, not from yourself.
Stop aiming at a moving target. Your current situation is possibly what you desired four or five years ago. Don’t be too greedy :)
More specific to those dumping you and wasting your time and energy, could we remove those costs? Maybe that will hurt the upside temporarily; however, could that be the hockey stick growth afterward?
Take a sheet to list your daily operations and mark them as burdens or not. If yes, how to remove them?
To shake yourself to leave the local optima, you need to set aside some time specifically for something new. The process seems useless at the beginning and may take long time.
You have to be patient. Like what Steve Jobs did when he returned to Apple after the exile, he cut less profitable product lines and waited for the next big wave.
Business is an infinite game, and you can always accumulate comparative advantages over time. If you have some extra time and are not sure of a clear goal for now, you could always invest in yourself - better mental and physical health to help you fight through battles in the future. Keep learning and knowing more to increase the probability of success. Optimize the business to work more efficiently and live longer on the market.
Finally, do not underestimate your growth. There is a deception phase even with prominent technologies like AI or 3D printing; they seem not to progress for a long time and then suddenly improve at an exponential rate.
We, engineers, often boast about leadership without a clear definition of what we are saying. We boast with authority - X years of experience, intimidating titles from prestigious companies, and quotes from big names. We boast with emotions - close friends achieving financial freedom, leaders making a huge impact, and how exciting business is taking off. We boast with logic - the team should be united, we are a team, and then we should be united.
It is OK if boasting is a personal matter. However, unfortunately, flattery lives in the nature of hierarchical corporate life, especially for those from East Asia. Meanwhile, people in the United States tend to say good things to each other so that both parties can feel better. Praises are literally everywhere.
As a result, leadership is like teenage sex: everyone talks about it, nobody really knows how to do it, everyone thinks everyone else is doing it, so everyone claims they are doing it.
Here are the definitions to distill the clarity from those chaotic ramblings of the mass.
What is leadership?
Leadership is organizing people to solve challenging problems.
What does it really mean?
What is technology?
Technology is a scientific way of solving problems.
What does it really mean?
What is innovation?
Innovation is creating something new.
What does it really mean?
Well, what is technology leadership?
Technology leadership is organizing people to solve challenging problems with technologies, usually through innovations.
How to design an elegant UI? Answer: Focus on the details, distinguish between primary and secondary elements, maintain a clean layout, ensure text readability, use rich colors, create natural layers, keep images within bounds, add the finishing touch, and ensure continuity.
This is Part 2, see Part 1
From a designer's perspective, the HSL color wheel is more useful than RGB because its parameters are perceivable by the human eye:
You need far more colors than you think; five or six are far from enough.
Select from predefined colors.
When searching for dark colors, you can slightly adjust the hue within 30 degrees to compensate for the lack of color caused by changing the other two parameters.
Similarly, gray does not need to be pure gray; you can add other colors. Some grays are cool-toned, while others are warm-toned.
To address accessibility, you don't necessarily need to only adjust saturation and lightness to make elements clearer; you can also adjust hue as long as it remains relatively clear, allowing you to maintain aesthetics.
Don't rely solely on color to distinguish elements; there are many other methods that can achieve even better results.
How to design an elegant UI? Answer: Focus on the details, distinguish between primary and secondary elements, maintain a clean layout, ensure text is easy to read, use rich colors, create natural layers, avoid excessive imagery, and add the finishing touch.
This is Part 3; see Part 1 and Part 2.
Why do some elements appear to have depth? Because they have a natural shadow effect. But is it really worth spending hours tweaking this?
When elements are raised on the z-axis closer to the user, they attract more attention, which is also achieved through shadow.
Advanced shadow techniques may even involve two shadows: one created by ambient light and another by direct light.
Flat design can also convey depth; one way is through color—brighter colors appear closer, while darker colors seem farther away. Another method is using vertical offset with a solid color shadow without blur, such as box-shadow: 0 4px 0 hsl(220,8%, 80%);
Overlay elements to create depth.
margin-bottom: -72px;
to overlap two background elements, or even three elements with margin: -72px 0 -72px 0;
Elegant design pays attention to the use of every image; you should use high-quality images, and adhere to guidelines for their use.
When placing text over images, to enhance clarity, you can:
Images have their own suitable sizes; do not arbitrarily change their scale.
Be mindful of user-uploaded images.
backgroundSize: "cover", backgroundImage: url(...);
Design is everywhere in life; view the world through a designer's eyes, continually recording and analyzing.
The business world likes to subtly influence you, often with the intent of guiding you to purchase, align with its brand, or simply to capture your attention. This adds a layer of pervasive artificial noise to an already complex world. Ray Dalio's principle 2.4 states to remember that many people are only pretending to work for you while actually pursuing their own interests; his advice is to be aware of the associated interests and not to be too naive.
How can you determine if certain people or things are genuinely helpful to you? Cultivate your own "Nothing Matters Detector" and frequently ask yourself: You may be right, but is it really useful? These are the good things you talk about, but what do they have to do with me? This can lead to a series of ways to navigate the business world:
Of course, a large number of new signals will inevitably be mixed with a lot of new noise. To avoid stagnation, it is essential to listen more to what you should hear, and ultimately, it is up to you to decide what to accept.
What is the difference between this and a "bullshit detector"? The "bullshit detector" targets specific interpersonal communication, while the "Nothing Matters Detector" focuses on the relationship between individuals and the business world.
How to design an elegant UI? Answer: Focus on the details, distinguish between primary and secondary elements, maintain a clean layout, ensure text readability, use rich colors, create natural hierarchies, keep images appropriate, add finishing touches, and ensure sustainability.
align-items: baseline
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.