They say nobody can predict the future. But people do it all the time. We just have to look at it differently. There are some simple questions we can ask ourselves like: What will my business look like ten years from now? Or what business is no one creating? Then try to make it happen today. I’ve shared from time to time the little “spin-offs” that I describe as instances where the mind wanders into a faraway thought. These are moments where the mind disconnects from the here and now explores all the possibilities within a thought at the speed of light. The initial thought returns transformed with more ideas in tow as my outward gaze dilates and my sight reverts inward. Sometimes the thought can move between concepts and patterns or between time itself. I sometimes find myself reliving a moment in time or speaking a line in my mental theater for an interview or meeting that never happened…yet. Sometimes my mind would automatically practice a role-play of how I would sell my product face-to-face and imagining what the consumer would want to know or ask. To the normal passerby I must look like a psychiatric patient responding to internal stimuli. And in reality that’s exactly what is happening. I think that this unusual type of imaginative play is quintessential for the developing entrepreneur. It’s to embrace my crazy mind and just be myself.
I wrote and recited a goal for myself of ten million dollars in ten years. I’ve been slowly moving toward this goal by starting a business three years ago while still keeping my full time job. Fast forward to today and I am now working two full-time jobs and my business has just past one-hundred thousand dollars in revenue! It’s the first year it’s making a profit. I feel like it’s finally happening. And now, I feel…stuck. Although I’ve made great strides toward building a profitable business that is cash flowing over five-thousand dollars a month, I still don’t feel secure. The reason is that in the grand scheme of things, I’ve only reached the starting line. I’m taking the baby steps necessary to develop an adequate business sense, understand the value of products and services, and how to be as efficient as possible. I’ve chosen a business that has a single potential source of failure, Amazon. They hold the keys to my proverbial kingdom and could shut me down for any reason or change in algorithm. It doesn’t feel as safe as I’d like so that’s why it’s important for me to use the money I’m making toward a much bigger investment. Something that fills a need in the future. I just need one home run.
The thought experiment is to simply go about your day twenty years from now. Think of every single detail from the time you wake up to the time you go to sleep. Keep in mind current trends and changes and imagine the world that will most likely be. This will be fun.
In twenty years I’d have made my ten millions dollars and waking up in my modest home. It will most likely be some type of smart home. I believe technology will eventually converge into a universal standard that will encompass multiple technologies within a new unified operating system. Think Apple and Windows combined with Google and Facebook and the Frankenstein software that emerges from there. My smart phone will undoubtedly control everything and my AR glasses sitting by the bed stand. I’d roll out of my phone-controlled auto-bed that functions like a hospital but way more comfortable. With climate control to ensure the perfect temperature when I sleep and reduce my sleep apnea episodes by automatically sensing my choking noises and adjusting height of bed as necessary. A gentle alarm wakes me as I go through my habits of making my bed first. I walk into my bathroom and the lights automatically turn on but on a dim setting that gradually increases in brightness allowing my eyes to adjust slowly to the morning light. I take my toothpaste tablets that produce all the refreshing mint flavors and sizzle sensation of a alka-seltzer tablet. It’s the product offering a new cleaner sensation that became a hit the decade before and now on shelves everywhere. Good bye tube toothpaste. I brush and use my electric flosser. The dental flossers are now electric and vibrate between teeth causing another pleasurable sensation of clean that a dentist revolutionized for public. Mouthwash still remains the same. Automatic sinks are now standard and I wash my mouth and face and dry it on the softest towel made from the latest synthetic fabrics. I walk to the kitchen with my AR glasses and still half-awake I look for some coffee. The QR codes spread around my kitchen have visual projections coming from my AR glasses letting me know where everything I need is. Plates, cups, utensils, coffee! It comes from the refrigerator now. Along with hot cocoa for the kids, chocolate milk, regular milk, and whatever interchangeable fluid box you want to add to the versatile smart fridges. The connections make it easy for consumers to simply drop the box cartridge in the four available slots and the fridge will do the rest! Today it’s a Starbucks barista box. The coffee flavor changes each day! I sip in my coffee and sit down at my work desk. I open my laptop and more QR codes flood my screen. My AR glasses renders the QR codes into my separate apps within my visual field. Emails, texts, bitcoin chart, bank account, balance sheet, calendar, to-do list, all the things I used to check on my phone back in the day. I think that’s enough experiment for now. Let’s summarize.
You see what I did? I really imagined my life twenty years from now and focused on all the changes I see happening today becoming the standard of living in the future. What ideas will stick? There are already many television series that demonstrate all the ideas I’ve described above. I think augmented reality glasses and QR code technology will harmonize as this technology becomes more robust. Project 3D objects instantaneously from a simple QR code. It will be the new decorations of the world without all the waste. I’ve talked about the changes in toothpaste and flossing as a simple thought experiment of how they first became successful in the first place. It’s the sensations that people look for and I believe people will continue to look for. Technology that will become universal is also something currently happening. I mean, look at the USB connection and you can see we’re narrowing it down. Now my USB-C is a data and power source. The world is changing and we need to start thinking about how we can position ourselves for the big money. I think there’s a huge opportunity in AR glasses and QR code technology. Specifically as it relates to marketing and advertising. Having access to fast connections and cutting edge AR scanning technology, you can set up QR code advertisements everywhere and have the AR glasses display them in 3D. This will open up a whole new world of stimulus and ways of reaching the customer. The all dispensing refrigerator is a dream of mine. A magic cold box that gives me all the sodas, coffee, drinks as if it was a convenient store soda machine. Things being sold in syrup boxes and the fridge just adding the necessary water or carbonation would be awesome. Fresh fountain drinks at home! Some things I thought about was a TV that had a playstation, xbox, nintendo hardware AND software built-in. What I’m suggesting is basically a top of the line computer built into a giant screen not unlike the iMac. I think have smart TV with a CPU and GPU is the future and the individual companies need to merge together to survive and offer platforms through these high-end screens and utilize a system of gaming on a subscription basis like Netflix. All you can game for x amount of dollars a month. Kids and adults all over the world will be united under a unified gaming system and everyone can play with each other. The game wouldn’t stop when the TV was off, but pickup from the phone and AR glasses at will. All technology will transfer to any medium available flawlessly. CPU and GPU power will no longer be an issue and size barriers will be overcome.
All in all, I had fun with this thought experiment. It gives me an idea of where I want to go once I’ve socked away enough cash from my small business and ready to make a big investment. I would probably want to get into something involving the QR codes and AR glasses as I think this will revolutionize the world. The money would probably be in the layer of the QR code technology that deals with processing power and connection speed to whatever link that QR code is going to. Basically, I want to own or create the highways that makes that connection possible. Then charge a toll. But I’ll cross that bridge when it comes. For now, I have to get my business income to a point where I can quit my full-time jobs and have some fun living this life. I can tell that this direction will feel like play to me so I know no one will be able to compete. Keep Hustlin.