DARE - Because Entrepreneurs Do

'Sir, would you invest in the semiconductor industry in India? Do you see an opportunity?'

'I don't know. It sounds very complicated to me. I'd rather invest in something that sounds simpler like chewing gum and soft drinks," said legendary investor Warren Buffett.

The Sage of Omaha was present at a press conference at The Taj West End, Bangalore and answered various questions. It was held on the occasion of TaeguTec, a leading partner for tooling and solutions to the automotive, defense, aerospace verticals completing 10 years in India. It is also the only investment of  Warren E Buffett, Chairman and CEO, Berkshire Hathaway, in India.

He said that although 85-90% of his investments have occurred in the US, in the recent years he has seen more opportunities in India. "Better late than never," he quipped. As an advice to equity investors he says that they should invest in what they understand and remain in their circle of comfort. He says that he applies the same mantra to himself. "I want to invest in a business which I am familiar with so that I know it will stay stable for 10-20 years. I don't really want to be a part of a changing industry. In such a scenario there is more room for failures," he explains.

He humored the press with his witty one-liners saying 'Hey, I just landed in the airport two hours back, I can't really give you my perception of the entire Indian economy'

Regarding his philanthropic activities he says, he had always wanted to get into it from a very young age. He also says that since there is no system of feedback on such activities it becomes difficult to access the success or failure of such a 'business'. "It has to be done intelligently," he adds. 

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'Don't judge a book by it's cover'. Yes?
Okay.                                             

But, I just can't help it when it comes to chocolates. I was addicted to purchasing Toblerone in school because it would come in this unique prismatic shaped box and I absolutely disliked Cadbury's Dairy Milk because it always looked so boring with its  golden and violet cover. A pack of Reese' peanut butter chocolates in bright orange covers, a cylinder of Almond Roca layered with golden foil, or even Cadbury's large and glittery Diwali special box full of Dairy Milk inside! I'd buy anything that looked tasty.

Right packaging and design to the chocolates is what helps a brand promote itself successfully giving it the competitive edge. Here's a little bit of information on what the packaging material is made of:
HDPE: High-density polyethylene. The same is also used for making things like milk jugs, plastic bags, refillable bottles etc. Aluminum foil is also used for primary packing. Thin cardboard is used for secondary packing where information like brand logo, ingredients and other information is mentioned.
Tertiary packing, if any, includes corrugated thick cardboard. To read up more on the process of packaging: http://www.techno-preneur.net/information-desk/sciencetech-magazine/2009/may09/Opportunities-Galore.pdf

From Indonesia to the Ivory Coast, Bolivia to Brazil, here are 20 of the most beautiful chocolate packaging designs from around the world. : http://www.thecoolist.com/chocolate-gifts-20-of-the-worlds-most-beautiful-chocolate-package-designs/

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I was in a chatty mood last evening when I got online. I scrolled down the chat list to choose who I'd like to talk to.

'Not at my desk'

'Bak home till 26th...yaaaay!!'

'Connected through BlackBerry®'

'losing the pride'

'Youth is a circumstance you can't do anything about. The trick is to grow up without getting old.'

'don't ping until you're dead or dying'

I pick the one with status message ' losing the pride' and chat for the next half hour, a school friend of mine. I always do that. Pick a person if I like the status message, discuss it if it's thought provoking or if it's an update of some sort, ask more questions about it etc. ( I was addicted to changing my status every now and then on Orkut until a few months back ). It is now one of the most popular features used on the Internet. It's there on instant messaging and e-mail services and it's a rage on social networking sites like Facebook ,Orkut, LinkedIn etc. There are also a host of sites which do this:-

http://www.awaymessages.com/
“AwayMessages.com has a huge categorized collection of cool and funny away messages (a.k.a. status messages) for Aim, Yahoo, MSN, Facebook, MySpace, and other IM/Social Networks that will keep you entertained for hours!”
http://www.allbestmessages.com/
“If you are looking for Facebook Status then your search ends here. You will find all the Facebook Status, facebook status messages... cute love facebook status text and funny facebook status sms related messages here.”
http://www.debbieohi.com/files/misc/creative-facebook-status.html
“Creative Facebook and Twitter Status Messages by Debbie Ridpath Ohi”

I also came across this amusing/scary article on ET's website. Amusing because I didn't really think 'Inappropriate status messages may land you in jail' and scary because the article revealed scary examples to back itself. Apparently they contribute to robberies and broken hearts. Also, they can be used as proof in court cases or even by your employers to decide whether you will fit your job profile or not.

It is a plane where people can post inquiries and advertise or promote their product or organization. In this way, status messages help in sifting through the deluge of information and get in touch with the right people. A survey shows that nearly 75% of 34514 myYearbook users are influenced by status messages when purchasing any product or commodity, to interactions magazine.

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So you have a creative streak in you and you want to make a living out of it. You've always had family and friends complimenting you on how great you paint or how awesome your photography is. Your teachers in school always gave you an 'A' in the SUPW classes (socially useful productive work, they were basically 'art and craft' classes where embroidery, pottery, knitting and other forms of art were taught. It was a compulsory part of the course curriculum when I was in high school, don't know if it still is though.). And over the years you decide that you want to turn your avocation to your vocation.

But you don't really know where to start. 

Many obstacles stand in the way. Making art a full time career option means willing to invest a lot of money and time in advertising, developing prints, renting galleries to display your work etc. But now things have become a lot more easier for the modern day artist. Sites like deviantart.com, Flickr.com, gallerytoday.com, palleteartgallery.com among many others, allows one to showcase his or her work over the internet. These sites allows the viewers to order prints and review them as well. Rather than depending on an art dealer, the artist or rather the 'art entrepreneur' gets a good head start to his business. It gives him a platform where he can even discuss his work with people having the same interest.

Deviantart.com has over 11million members and receives some 100,000 submissions everyday. These include photography, paintings, digital art etc. The site also offers Creative Commons licenses to the artist so that he can decide how his work can be used. Flickr.com also plays host to a variety of photographers. There are also a few galleries like palleteartgallery.com and gallerytoday.com which caters to Indian art entrepreneurs only. 

To read up more on art galleries that made it big in 2009: http://www.theblogofinnocence.com/2009/08/best-online-art-stores-auctions-and.html

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