cesimpson

In my last post, I committed to writing more often. I also wrote I have been thinking lately about group dynamics - especially, how to convince individuals to move in a way that is best for the group, even while the first decision-maker takes a significant risk.

I teased, “The first guy to buy a fax machine was particularly risky, yes?”

JB responded, “re Fax: not if he bought two of them.” This is a particularly good point, and one I want to discuss today.

Have Patience

As it turns out, the first fax machine was not made in the 1970s or ’60s…not even in 1900s, but, instead, the first fax machine was made in 1843. The first several uses of the machine in business applications were total failures. In the 1860s, a fax-like service was set up between Paris and Lyon, France. It was to work similarly to the telegraph. Obviously, the guy who set up that service bought two of the machines (as JB mentioned) and tried to sell access to his machines.

That business collapsed in less than 5 years.

Some 70 years later, in the 1920s, AT&T set up a similar service for reporters following political candidates on the campaign trail to fax photos back to their papers’ and magazines’ headquarters. Again, AT&T invested in the infrastructure (several fax machines) and then sold access to that infrastructure. They did a little better in their marketing; that is, they aimed their service at a small niche and highly specialized group of people - specifically, newspapers with the money to have traveling journalists and photographers. This time, the fax machine was relatively successful.

Still, it took another 40-50 years after that success before fax machines began to become a ubiquitous form of office communication - gaining popularity in Japan before finally making it to my dad’s (and yours, likely) office sometime in the late 1970s.

So, the moral of the fax machine is, if you want to change the world with your product, service or message, aim first at a highly-specialized niche (who also have the money to support you), solve an immediate and specific problem, then patiently wait for the trickle to the masses.

Friday and Monday Workouts

I’m still on 5-3-1, or rather a variant 3-5-1-deload.

Mondays are Military Press and Deadlift with Press, Chin Ups and Deadlift volume/assistance work. Fridays are Bench Press and Squat with Weighted Dips, Chin Ups and Squat volume/assistance work. Wednesdays, while the weather is still beautiful, is still outside at the nearby middle school track.

Today I worked up to an 8x @ 135# Military Press and a 13x @ 350# Deadlift.

After that, it was 5×10 ea. Press @ 95#, Chin Ups @ BW and DL @ 245#.