The importance of knowing where to stand!

Given the state of the world economy, famine in East Africa, the massacre of innocents in Norway, this hardly ranks as important in the scheme of things.  Nevertheless, you know when you get a bee in your bonnet about something and you just have to get it off your chest...  this is one of those things!

I've decided to start a campaign called "Where to stand". The goal is to create an information service for people in London who are infrequent tube and train users.  Unlike regular commuters, infrequent public transport users do not know where to stand. Let me explain.  It is important to know where to stand on the platform in order that when the train/tube stops you will be able to get into the carriage which will be closest to the exit you wish to use at your destination station.

Now for regular commuters this is not an issue because over time they have learned exactly where to stand.  Take my husband; he knows how to position himself down to the last millimetre. When the train/tube arrives, not only do the doors open in front of him (such that he is not in the way of the passengers who are getting off), when he arrives at his destination, the exit is also directly in front of him.  

The calculations involved in order to know where to stand have to be similar to the algorithms Google uses to keep us all guessing about who is going to be on page one for a particular search term.  However, if everyone participates for the good of all, we could share in this ancient wisdom. We, the poor relatives of the commuter world, would be emancipated. We would possess the knowledge. We would know where to stand! 

Is this likely to lead to overcrowding in particular carriages?  No, because not everyone is bothered about having to walk the entire length of the platform to get to the exit.  Some people value the opportunity for the extra exercise, others just don't care and I reckon they are in the majority.  However a sizable minority (that includes me), do care because we are busy and the extra forty seconds makes all the difference.

If you know where to stand, message me with the carriage number you get in; the platform reference point at the departure station and the corresponding destination like this:

Start	Carriage.	Platform position	Destination
Charing Cross	second from the front	five paces in front of the train time indicator	Tottenham Court Rd

Get the picture!  Together we can change the world.

On a more serious note, for the budding entrepreneur, it is often the things that we have these “bees in our bonnets” about which have the potential to become lucrative business ideas.  The reason being; usually when things bug us, it is because a need is not being met.  Unmet needs are gaps in the market and if you are able to plug them successfully, you will be bringing value to the market for which the market will exchange money.

So the next time you have a bee in your bonnet about something, ask yourself what need is not being met here, where is the PAIN? - Problems Aspirations Issues Needs.  Business opportunities are all around; use what niggles you as the hook to catch them.

Do you have a bee in your bonnet about something less important than world peace?  What campaign would you start – do tell?  Maybe I'll join.