madhouse musings!

Last year, on World Diabetes Day I wrote a post on LifeMojo and their test site. You can read that post here.

One year down the lane, i have more than one reason to be compelled to write about LifeMojo!

I started to track my diet and activities on the LifeMojo platform and soon i realized that i had started to watch what i eat unconsciously!

I have also got onto the habit of checking for calorie content of the food i consume on LifeMojo and these guys have made it really easy to access that information – all that i need to do is ping the “Calories” buddy on my gtalk, input the food i am consuming and voila it gives me the calorie content of the same and more!

I set goals, mainly weight reduction goals and i have lost 8 kgs in all till date. All this, with no crash diets or rigorous exercises, but a well planned diet and some simple activity goals on LifeMojo.

I also tried their Diet Consultation and was on one of their diet plans for a while, but my travel schedule often made it difficult for me to follow the diet plan. But, what i do like about their diet plans are, they do not make you change your food habits, they work around things you like to consume and plan a diet for you!

I subscribe to their daily tip, it comes to me via SMS exactly @ 8 am each day! I kinda look forward to it right now, coz its a new insight each day. Tips that helps me in my daily life.

Something else i like about LifeMojo is their articles section on the website. It’s a melting pot of knowledge related to health and fitness – and not the run of the mill sorts, but features that add real value with tips that are very possible

The LifeMojo guys have constantly kept their product alive by introducing interesting features and kept the interest of users like me alive! Most recently they’ve added a bunch of diet consultation packages to their offering. The diet consultation is not online only, its a great mix of over the phone and online which makes the whole consultation and getting results out of it all the more real. There is someone following up with you!

Just a couple of days back they have launched their Forums – a new feature that brings in more interactivity and exchange of knowledge among the users of LifeMojo and people interested in health and fitness.

What’s more, a little bird also tells me that these guys are almost on the verge of hitting that break-even point and perhaps even go cash flow positive. Looking forward to that LifeMojo guys!

Meanwhile, now that i have a 8 month old at home, i am looking forward for LifeMojo to introduce something to track diet of infants and kids, say JuniorMojo or ChildMojo? What say guys?!

When i wrote to Himanshu of LifeMojo asking him for a few recent updates @ their end for this post, he offered this to all reader of my blog:

One time FREE Diet consultation for Diabetes Diet Plan on LifeMojo. Exclusive for the readers of madhouse musings!

Here is what you need to do:

Call +91 9008 999 189 and mention the coupon code NH14
and you can avail a one time free consultation for this

So, here’s to good health & a diabetes controlled world!

There was once, not so long ago from now, a breeze of freshness – a new perspective, fearless opinions & unbiased bitching!.. it was all this and more@ BombayBitch. Sooner than i had gotten hooked and addicted to the Bitch i got news of this wondrous startup shutting shop!

I mourned and sulked for a while about this loss. Rizwan and I even spoke about approaching Webchutney (BB is/was an incubatee) folks to let us volunteer for BB, failing which we had our PlanB of starting something like BB on our own. In all, I just loved the way these guys presented films related information, reviewed movies and all the jazz. You know with some brands its the connection that comes naturally and BB had that going right for them!

I currently have my dancing shoes on, party cap in place and am “Cha-cha-ing” away in celebration. Why? ‘Coz I just found out that the Bitch is Back!

Just as i was thinking if BB is back as part of WebChutney or not, I chanced upon this post by Nikhil Pahwa of Medianama:  Webchutney Launches Mobile Agency; Bombay Bitch Shuts Down where Sidharth Rao, CEO & Co-founder of Webchutney mentions that BombayBitch would be back in a different avataar.

Different avataar? ohmy! i hope its not a change in the writing style, writing to please the sponsors… i hope not. Guess time will tell or the bitch will, as she speaks some more over the next few days.

For now, i have my fingers crossed and i want to get back my daily doze of unadultrated bitching on BombayBitch!

I dabbled with Fast140 this morning. It’s a Twitter speed-typing game. It’s one of those games which makes you indulge and do better the next time around – an easy indulgence game for all ages and types.

Fast 140 is a typical “old time typing exam” format, where I look at the content in the box above and type the same in the box below. Simple!

As I started playing this game a few thoughts crossed my mind, about the potential this game can have for marketeers and anyone who wants to send messages out to users.

For a game that requires you to pay attention to what’s written and replicate it, you are performing the task carefully, but not paying “overt” attention to the meaning / content of what’s written. But at a sub-conscious level there is a huge impact it can make on the minds and retention of concepts.

After having played it for 30 mins, I remember the following terms out of the game: Nokia, Easter, Blackberry, Harry Kallas and the loss to NFL, Phil Spector and his murder case….

Also, its known that repetition helps retention of concepts / things in the mind better!

So, Fast140 text box can be used by news channels to give out timely news, large brands can do their brand building exercises here by sending out relevant messages, governments can send out signals of their desire to users using this platform, plain simple – any brand can use this text box to send out messages about their brands, businesses via this text box.

It can also be used as a teaching tool for kids, where schools can have their own version of Fast140, where kids can type text that pertains to their syllabus

For Fast140, it’s a way to monetize their application! Would be interesting to note what the Fast140 team does. Will update here as and when I find out their moves….

As entrepreneurs, businesses  -  we constantly stive to achieving user acceptance, customer acknowledgement. But, the reality is many happy customers spread the word of mouth, and many unhappy customers are vocal about their unhappiness.

But there are rare moments of reassurance & pride when customers, happy customers write back to you with good words or acknowledge your efforts to making thier lives better.

Here are two such instances (a proud moment for me) where customers of Deskaway & Commonfloor – MVPs portfolio companies have shared their experiences and candid feelings about their services.

I do not answer the call if its from 30333232 anymore. But its strange to see how these guys have been repeatedly calling me.

I bought a reliance netconnect connection three weeks back and a day later as promised my connection got activated. The same day i got a Welcome call from one of the agents who asked me a bunch of questions for verification. Thanks were said at both ends and i was a happy customer. Until…

The next day i got another call, Welcome Call Sir! (please, i hate it when people don’t bother to figure out if its a man or a woman they are talking to. My voice is not that masculine, nor do i have a Punjabi Sikh name to make things more confusing!) I answered patiently and told the caller that a welcome call has been done, this is a second call. Thanks were said.

From then on, i’ve got 30 calls in all, on a daily basis from Reliance, some i have answered, explained to them that i’ve got a welcome call already, please make note. Some i have simply not answered.

Meanwhile, i’ve already got my usage bill and i still continue to get welcome calls

Reliance Communications – I would’ve loved to see this dedication and efficiency in your data service and complaint resolution.

PS: I’ve got a welcome call, please make note and don’t call me anymmore!

Today, on Valentine’s day, when tradition talks of spreading love and expressing your love… Cafe Coffee Day has managed to pull off a FRAUD!

My classmate from University came by visiting me, she lives in another country and is visiting India briefly. She dropped by at office and we decided to go to the nearby Cafe Coffee Day or CCD as its commonly known as!

The Valentine flavor was seen all around and at CCD, with red balloons and young couples mostly in Red and Black, the women holding presents or flowers…. the spirit was in the air!

When we sat to order, i was a little disappointed as they were NOT serving the regular menu, so there was no usual Masala Chai Black for me. A little unhappy, i continued to choose what my friend had ordered for – ‘Go Nut Cappuccino’. As the guy was walking away with the order, we noticed that there was “no price attached to the menu”, we joked about CCD’s strategy to make extra bucks on V-Day and asked the guy how much the cappuccino costs, he did a mental calculation and said Rs. 51/-. We were pleased, thats not a rip off after all!

The order came and our expectations got crushed further, the Go Nut was all about one simple cappuccino and CCD’s own Masala Peanut, which they call ‘ Go Nut’. Bummer! Yet we were going with the spirit… catching up on matters of a few years that had grayed on us. After a couple of hits by the floor supervisor at CCD we decided we’ll make way for the young love birds who had flocked around waiting for their chance to taste the sweetness of caffeine…

When it was Bill Time, i was given a bill of Rs. 75 first, which in between conversation i handed a Rs. 500 note… so when change came back, i was charged an amount of Rs. 190/-

It happens such that Go Not, has nuts that’s separate and charged Rs. 36 for 2 (all the time we thought it was complementary and it sucked!) Cappuccino was Rs. 75 for one. (Omygod!) When asked for a clarification, i was told that the person who took my order was not aware of the costs. Even after random excuses and million illogical statements, my question was not answered – “I want a compensation.” Finally, after a serious argument and pointing out that CCD was doing a fraud with its customers, i got charged Rs. 51/-per cup of coffee.

The point is not about money here, it is about setting consumer expectations. It is about ensuring product knowledge and awareness to the last line in your business.

It is also about acknowledging the fact that consumer’s are intelligent, running a business, but in a fair manner. I have no qualms about CCD making a quick buck on V-day, but my problem is in the fact that they opted not to inform the customers about the prices up front, still worse, gave wrong information.

What’s your fraud experience? Let know. Also, i will be interested in knowing, if you guys can come up with intelligent fraud ways of making a quick buck… let the ideas roll!