You are right

Not sure if everyone in the team is reading Seth Godin's blog regularly as I mentioned in one of my earlier posts. Here is a very insightful and relevant post about how to deal with customers' complaints. Thought it would be useful in an effort to make RunWalkIndia a customer focused and friendly company.

RunWalkIndia has around 250 customers now, and yes they are paying customers. They deserve immense satisfaction from their interaction with anyone associated with RunWalkIndia.

Our target to have the entire 1.3 billion people in India as customers can succeed only if we treat our existing customers - however small in number and however insignificant their contribution to our coffers is - with the highest level of service orientation and make them customers for life!

More people benefiting from running

Dr. Rajat Chauhan - Head of sports medicine department of Manipal hospital, Bangalore, and a strong supporter of our efforts- has an inspiring post on his running blog about one Mr. Mohan who battled to lose 16 Kilograms in 15 months, and brought his diabetes under control by jogging 3 KM a day, and a proper diet on a regular basis. Amazing!

Last year, Little India magazine had an article which looked in depth at the high incidence of heart related diseases among people of Indian origin. The article was titled appropriately as Killer Belly. In the context of many in my family and friends back home do have a 'killer belly', I am much more convinced about the need for making running as a sport popular in India, and leading the majority of Indian population on the way to a healthy life style.

Dr. Rajat's blog has quite a few other inspiring nuggets for non-runners and runners alike. I was inspired and amazed by reading on his blog about the marathon run on a treadmill, the Half-marathon before participating in the Delhi Half-Marathon and of the Rajasthan Desert run this year (at least one marathon per day for five consecutive days!).

Also check out the blog of Madhu Avasarala - one of Dr. Rajat's companion on the Rajasthan Desert run.

Yet another pearl of wisdom from Seth Godin

Henceforth, I will stop pointing out valuable insights on Seth Godin's blog to the audience of RunWalkIndia blog (and the upcoming RunWalkIndia.com web-site). The blog posts I want to share with everyone in the team are simply too many and too frequent in number, I run the risk of sounding like a broken record if I keep talking about yet another newer and greater and most applicable and remarkable blog post with great insight!

From now on, please make it a point to read Seth's blog everyday. I am discovering what a blog reader is, and how to subscribe to feeds from my favorite blogs. I will demo the usage of Blog reader (among other things) to RunWalkIndia team when I am in Bangalore in April.

Please note : I have included a link to Seth Godin's blog in the list of external web-site links in this blog. Previously I had intended it to have only running and fitness related links. Seth's Blog will be an exception.

Today's blog post about Managing urgencies is relevant for our team as it emphasizes the importance of having long term goals aligned with the vision, and work with short term goals to support and achieve the long term goals. To quote from the blog:

I guess the trick is to make the long term items even more urgent than today's emergencies. Break them into steps and give them deadlines. Measure your people on what they did today in support of where you need to be next month.

I would say we are doing very well on the long term goal aspect; we need to align our short term activities - specifically around the April 13th 5K event in JP Park - in line with our long term goals. The daily conference call we are having since yesterday will go a long way in ensuring this alignment between long term vision and short term planning and activities.

Lies about Fitness optimal health and weight loss

Hat tip to Rahul Verghese of Running and Living for pointing me to a very useful article about fitness lies. Do read all three parts of this article - takes away quite a few false barriers against exercising, running, maintaining fitness, ...

Pot of Gold indeed

I have named one of the blog labels as Pot of Gold inspired by the expression pot of gold at the end of the rainbow. Google informs me that the original expression is Crock of Gold at the end of the rainbow, and it is from Irish folk lore. Interesting!

I am using this category to identify all posts with details on the long term goals of RunWalkIndia initiative. The posts under this category will provide the details of the possible future RunWalkIndia will create and make happen and live into. These posts are meant to guide & inspire everyone involved with this effort over a long time to come.

Apart from the symbolic meaning, there is also a couple of physical pot-of-gold I hope to convey through this term.

The first real pot-of-gold is the prosperity it will bring to everyone involved in the effort. Whether the effort will turn into a non-profit or a for-profit business model, the firm should be able to sustain and provide for the livelihood of the employees of the firm. There are going to be quite a few people working full time with this company all over the country, and ensuring their happiness would be a very critical goal for the organization.

Happy Employees, Productive Company, Successful Business.

The second real pot-of-gold is the improvement of India's position in the Global Sports Community. To increase the number and frequency of Indian nationals showing up on the Podiums of Olympics and other world sports events.

I am one of the many Indians who are ashamed of the virtual absence - and sometimes slim presence - of Indians on a list of winners in a Global Sports Event. Sure India has a few sporting Golds to be proud of - in Cricket, in Chess, and I can't think of any more examples. However, they are indeed very meager.

One key byproduct of the RunWalkIndia effort I would like to see happen in the next few decades is India moving up the Olympics Map - the world map depicting Average Olympic Medals won per Million inhabitants.

As an Indian, I am ashamed by the fact that India has a cumulative total of three medals in three Olympics between 1996 and 2004, but rather than not highlight this fact, I would do something about it - and that is what RunWalkIndia is all about.

Current Guiding Principle

The following statement from Seth Godin's The Bootstrapper's Bible has been the guiding principle for my entrepreneurial ventures so far, after coming across the statement a week ago:

You are going to be running this business a long time. Spend an extra month to figure out what your business model feels like and save yourself some headaches later on.

Accepting the wisdom of this statement, I have chosen to reduce my efforts and time investment in my main business venture - in the Trading & Risk Management Software Best Practices Space, most likely around Murex software - for now, till I can get a clear grasp of how I will make money in the business; not just survive, but thrive in the business once I start.

The same applies to the RunWalkIndia effort as well. If I am not convinced of the various aspects of the business model and its appreciation and acceptance among the folks involved in the effort, I am ready to pull the plug on the April 13th event.

I think it is better to have the first event when there is reasonable confidence and clarity about the business model.

Guy Kawasaki - in The Art of the Start video and book - provides very succinctly, if a bit crudely, the definition of the business model:

To [define a business model] you need to answer two questions:

1. Who has your money in their pockets?
2. How are you going to get it into your pocket?

The business model discussions for RunWalkIndia is still going on in the privacy of email communications. Hoping that the discussion will come to a commonly agreeable decision by Friday 21st March evening IST. That should allow for kicking off the efforts towards the organization of the first event in full earnest.

If the agreement on the business model does not happen by this Friday evening, then it would be most likely that the first event will be postponed from the current date of Sunday 13th April 2008.

Five reasons to keep the first event very small and simple

I have quashed quite a few suggestions related to the components of the first event of RunWalkIndia at JP Park, Bangalore on April 13th. This has been with the intention that the event be small and manageable.

Here are five reasons why the first event has to be very simple:

1. There is no RunWalkIndia team or company. So far it is still a bunch of friends who are working together and volunteering their time to make the event happen. Everyone has a day job to handle and no one is working on this full-time.
   
2. The people based in Bangalore working on the event organization don't have experience in organizing an event.
   
3. The people based in Bangalore working on the event organization don't have experience in running in an event.
4. The intended participants in the event also don't have any familiarity with this kind of event. It is something they will get to know and experience in person for the first time in the context of this race.
   
5. You really want the fifth reason?!!
   

Advice from Seth Godin on how to spread an idea

Check out the following links on Seth Godin's blog - which I unearthed by searching for the term 'how ideas spread' on his blog:

• Big ideas.
• What makes an idea viral?
• Elephant Math.
• You should write an ebook.

Also, check out the YouTube video titled Seth Godin: Ideas that spread win.

Guy Kawasaki's The Art of the Start

For the team working on organizing the Apr 13th event:

Check out the 40 minute video titled The Art of the Start on Guy Kawasaki's blog when you get some time.

Guy Kawasaki is one of the most inspirational figure I have come across in my efforts to learn about what it takes to be starting a business on my own. This video summarizes his thoughts and advices on starting anything - a business, a non-profit, a local social drive, etc. - to anyone who wants to make a difference in the world.

The AllTop webpage on Health will be a useful reference for us in making the RunWalkIndia initiative successful. AllTop is an aggregation site launched recently by Guy Kawasaki & his company.

How to get things done in a team

1. Delegate work to others
2. Trust in their ability to do a perfect job
3. Be accountable, and have everyone be accountable.
4. Spend as much time as possible together.
5. Be open to feedback from others, and act on the advice.
6. Know that all lists are incomplete and disposable, including this.

Find ways to make it fun. If it is not fun to do it, it is not worth doing it, and most likely will not get done.

Have fun!

Marathon is a bad word

For the folks working on the organization of the April 13th event:
Please make it a point to not mention Marathon in the context of this event. A marathon is 42 kilometres long.

A person could start a marathon in JP Park and most likely end up at the new airport in Devanahalli by the end of it!!

What we are aiming to organize here is a short distance race - as short as 5K or even shorter (depending on the length of the jogging path in JP Park, and how many rounds one can have the race setup for and still be able to manage the event properly). This is a reasonable distance for a total newbie to running.

All my Indian friends - even the well educated ones - have no knowledge of the various racing distances, and the effort, training plan and benefits of each of the race distances. They group together all races under the umbrella term 'MARATHON'!! Makes me want to bang my head against the wall!

This is not a Marathon event. This is a 5K!

Another pearl of wisdom from Seth Godin

Meaning of Persistence.

Seth is indeed God in this world for anyone thinking of starting anything!

Doing it well now versus doing it perfectly later

Came across an interesting blog post by Seth Godin titled Don't Shave That Yak! The example provided by Seth might not be easily transferable to Indian conditions, but the advice is very much relevant.

The last paragraph of Seth's post is what made me refer to it here.

The minute you start walking down a path toward a yak shaving party, it's worth making a compromise. Doing it well now is much better than doing it perfectly later.

I thought it is highly applicable for me, as I am frequently postponing doing something as I think there is a better way to do it if only I do something else first, and that way constantly end up going down to the shaving-the-yak party!

I think it is also very applicable to our group as different people might pull it in different directions, and one person's tendency to go shaving-the-yak might pull the entire group in the same direction.

I was discussing with BK earlier about whether it is a good idea to postpone the event to a later date, as one feedback I got was that it would be preferable for me to be in Bangalore a month before the event, rather than during the event - in the interest of helping in the organization. BK wisely thought it is better to go ahead with the April 13th date. I agree with him. Better to do it right now, rather than hope to do it perfectly later!

I would request everyone adopt the same philosophy with posting on the blog as well : Better to post something and get the discussion rolling, rather than wait for making a perfect post with earth-shattering insights and implications.

Walking and Running at JP Park

Great to hear about this - fantastic start

In your core group try and do the following:

• Everyone spread the word to their friends via e mail and SMS, encourage them to come to the location on Saturdays/ Sundays before the event so that they are familiar with the place and know a couple of people who are likely to be there for the event.
• Put up circulars at the apartment blocks etc around the area.
• See whatever way you can get low cost publicity - put out Fliers - even at cars parked around gardens and parks close to the area where walkers are then likely to see them.
• Hand out the same to walkers at each of these parks.
• Build up the enthusiasm and see if you can get a local school also involved in participating - that can build up enthusiasm significantly

Most importantly - never feel discouraged and keep at it

I am dead sure you folks will have a resounding participation

Best
Rahul

If you feel anyone may need some basic tips on running, shoes, walking to jogging etc - you could also point them to our Running and Living site.

When the going gets tough...

... the tough gets going

Things haven't been going well over the past few days, and this idea seems to have been taken a back seat for a while. Time to regroup and move forward on this project.....

Only two months left for April 13th - the day earmarked for the event at JP Park.

Things to do to make it a success:
a. Plan the work and work the plan.
b. Avoid distractions of a bigger goal / objective and stick to the basics of this event organization.
c. Get the required permissions from the various authorities to organize the event.
d. Plan the organization of the event with 100 people in mind - planning for T-Shirts & gift package for participants, volunteer registration & training, measuring and marking the course, organizing the pre- and post- race events, etc.

Boost your Energy

Gretchen Rubin says,
In her Tips for boosting your energy level.
Feeling energetic is a key to feeling happy. Studies show that when you feel energetic, you feel much better about yourself. On the other hand, when you feel exhausted, tasks that would ordinarily make you happy—like putting up holiday decorations—make you feel overwhelmed and blue.
So here are some tips for giving yourself an energy lift.

Exercise— Even a quick ten-minute walk will increase your energy and boost your mood. This really works! Try it!

The HUGE market for this "Product"

Read an article in McKinsey Quarterly recently about the Growth of India's Middle Class. The article estimates India's Middle Class to grow from 5% to 40 % over the next two decades. The burgeoning middle class - with significant disposable incomes - will be able to look beyond the basic necessities of life, and invest in recreation and luxury aspects of life. Health & Fitness will be on the fore-front of the list of the the needs and wants of this huge chunk of the population!

The other important aspect high-lighted by this article is the size of India's poorest! As per the article, 54 % of India's population had an Annual Income under INR 1000 in 2005, and the number of people living in poverty is expected to reduce to 22 % of the population by 2025. The improvement will be a result of the expected rapid growth of Indian Economy over the next few years. Run Walk India initiative should be able to accelerate this growth and ensure that the number reduces below the projected 22 %

This is an inspiration...

Well, it could happen then. It could happen now!!

A small idea - GIANT step

Wonderful idea by our pal N.P to bring in the importance and make people health conscious, It would be a great idea to be conceived in India. RUN, JOG, WALK, Lots of people (Indians) do all these regularly or at their ease without being noticed or rewarded, but they are truly rewarded with a good health. If the same people stand to call upon a friend , fellow-human and give him this reward which he may not have assumed to get for the silly RJW (run,jog,walk) then he is doubly rewarded with both health and satisfaction in helping. Lets all put our legs forward which may be a giant step towards the public health. Opportunity to give back to the society around us.