20 "Guided Subconsciously Or Consciously By Various Mediums" and "You Gotta Call Your Mom"
Guest1: [00:00:00] Right. So my job, my job is. Well, it's a lots of things. I have to visualize and conceptualize the way that human beings will be fed and moved subconsciously around a space, and then the very logical ways that people will, like, interact with spaces. Sometimes those things are not how you want them to interact with the space, so you want them to move around a space in a different way. So you have to then think, okay, so what is inevitably going to happen in this scenario? And what do I need to do to stop people from doing that or to guide them in another way, like subconsciously, without it being a really jarring experience for people?
We don't realize, like day to day, how many times we're like fed through spaces and through systems like everything that you do, like everywhere that you go on a road, inside a computer system, like on your mobile phone, like in a supermarket, at a festival, in your own house, like everywhere you go. Like you're literally you're kind of guided subconsciously or consciously, like by various, like, mediums around spaces. So I have to have like a fine balance between the sort of hard and fast legal requirements. And then I have to map in ways of are making reasonable adjustments for accessibility. And then also considering how real life human beings actually will interact with those systems, and then making changes based on who is is inside the space and how they're likely to behave. And obviously, when you're looking at like life saving systems, there's no room for error. It might save their life even if it's uncomfortable. We have to do it because it will save their life.
So it's it's can be quite complicated because obviously I want a space to be accessible for everyone. But it, you know, within the you within the legal framework of UK health and safety law, it's really difficult to do that because it doesn't really take that into account. I think I think a lot of the times in my job there's there's a lot of like lateral thinking and there's a lot of problem solving. That's my favorite thing to do. You know, I spend all day just solving problems and kind of working out okay, so what do we need to do to make this as painless as possible for the path of least resistance? Ultimately, in terms of like, how can like so I love systems and I love processes and I have to create systems and processes all the time. I watch people creating processes around me. I don't think about the bigger picture, like, what's the goal? What do we need to actually create here? What, what, what's the end solution? What are we trying to achieve and then build in the process, sort of work backwards from the end, and then you kind of go back through, walk it through, visualize it, conceptualize it, whatever you need to do.
Imagine the use of that process and give it to other people. See how they interact with it, how they use it, and then basically just get rid of anything that's not necessary or proves to be cumbersome or complicated within that system. People always use the path of least resistance. They will always choose the least complicated way to move through a system or process. So if you create a system or process that's got complicated frills around it, they will just ignore those anyway. There's a fire escape right at the bottom of the emergency stairwell, which is a protected, compartment. And so when the fire alarm goes off, people will evacuate down that stairwell. But instead of going out of the fire escape door, which is still contained within that stairwell, they'll go through another door and then leave through the main door, which is the door that they come in and out of every day. So instead of just like leaving out of the nearest exit, they will automatically go to the main door that they know as the door because they're just not looking, that just don't register things that aren't obvious or that they haven't used before. You can't force human beings to kind of do anything other than what they'll do. Really. [00:04:22][262.6]
Naty: [00:04:27] Hey, folks, it's Naty. We'll be back with more right after this break. What the hell is my job? [00:04:38][11.2]
Guest2: [00:04:38] At first it was literally, with my initial product, putting it in a backpack and going to their offices around the Greater Toronto Area. There's not many of them here, because a lot of them are based in either New York. And there's a lot actually, in the UK. But whichever ones I could find here, I have gone to and I would show up to their front reception desk with a suit on a backpack and my product. [00:05:01][22.8]
[00:05:06] It actually worked and got me some meetings. It wasn't as effective. And then I pivoted to like, more of what I'm good at, which is making what's called like an investment deck, which is essentially just a PowerPoint. And I had some fancy pretty ones, and I got the email list of all the executives at these companies, and it worked to a certain extent. We didn't think anything, but it got a foot in the door by sending a cold email with, a very pretty presentation. There's online databases. I'm sure you have to pay for them, and it'll usually give you a ballpark email structure for someone at the company, you know, John Doe, company x.com. And if that's the correct structure, then the email doesn't bounce back. If it gets a bounce back, then, you know, you got a change up change like remove a period or something like that.
So it's it's trial and error. The system worked very well. So I was able to, to get through to, to get through to quite a bit of them. We actually launched the company just before the summer of 2023, and we went live and we called it Parlay Block. So we found a manufacturer that would integrate with us. What they do is they print package and ship everything. So our website aggregates all of this information, puts it into a document and sends it over to our manufacturer. They do everything and it turns your bet slip into a physical trophy. So the user puts in all of the stuff, you bet on the odds, the amount you wagered, and then at the end how much you won.
On Facebook and Instagram, they usually use, an algorithm to determine whether you fit within the regulations and parameters for marketing. And we were flagged as essentially a betting platform. We don't have the marketing budget to talk to an actual human at Facebook. So we promoted parlay and then it got shut down. And then our account pretty much got like almost deactivated. So January 1st and rolled out our second product. And in our first month we did over 50, 50 units that on like a very low marketing budget. It's just me behind all of our social media. You can work as hard as you want to. If you want it to be successful, then you know you can spend as many hours as you want, and it's sink or swim like you're pretty much if you don't do it, good on you, but it's going to bite you in the rear and come a couple of weeks from now when your business doesn't work or a couple months from then, you know, so everything falls onto you. Attention to detail is insanely critical, where you'll have, you know, a 30 page PowerPoint for a client. And if you're missing periods at the end of, like, a footer at the bottom like that, that stuff matters. If you can't do those little things, getting them right, clients won't trust you to get the math right. Essentially, you lose a lot of trust very quickly.
I kind of left my job in February of last year. I was working at JP Morgan and their corporate investment bank, so I did that for about a year and a half. The hours were, you know, quite extensive. You're usually starting around, you know, 830 and leaving somewhere, you know, well into the night sometimes, you know, past, past midnight, hour time. And while it was a good learning experience and a lot of takeaways, it's funny. Once you start doing what you like, it makes everything so much easier. It's like you're not working. I'm working the same hours as I used to. A little a little less honestly. But like if I'm working with my web developer who was in Australia. So we're in a different time zone for a while, you know, I was totally fine getting up late into the night to kind of like away at work and get stuff done because, you know, I really do enjoy it. So like if we're doing a call at 10 p.m. or 7 p.m. my time and going until 10 or 11 at night, like it's it's not a big deal at all. So at the start of every day, I pretty much have 8 million lists going. So I'll have one on my computer virtually, one on a piece of paper, whether I get to them or not.
Sometimes it doesn't happen, but, you know, pretty much working around the clock because, like, we're trying to ink deals with professional sports leagues. We were trying to ink deals with tier one sports books as well. So you're pretty much at the mercy of other people that are in a power dynamic situation. They have the power. And we're like a tiny company that's a startup. So you pretty much have to be on it at all times. You can easily fill an entire 12 to 15 hour workday seven days a week, because there's so many moving pieces and everything can't be perfect. When you do it, there's going to be things that happen. And you kind of have to deal with it. Which did happen in banking as well. You know, you'd be putting out fires every, every other day and sometimes every other hour or so. But there is a similarity in that sense. But the level of perfectionist like you just can't get it. Well, starting a startup and, it's been fun. You kind of just have to try stuff, and if it doesn't stick, then you just gotta, like, move on the next day and try something new. It's not for the faint of heart. It takes a lot of mental strain. So I, you know, you got to call your mom and have a chat and, you know, talk about stuff from time to time. [00:10:08][302.8]
Naty: [00:10:10] Hope you like the episode. Please help us out by rating us, sharing with your friends, or buying us a coffee at buy me a coffee.com slash. What the hell is my job? It costs us money and time to be here for you at the start of every single week. So please consider supporting us. See you next time. [00:10:10][0.0]
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