7 ChatGPT Prompts To Apply Its Wisdom

Stoicism is an ancient Greek school of philosophy founded in Athens by Zeno of Citium in the early 3rd century BC. The philosophy has been popularized within entrepreneurship in the last ten years, and many prominent figures now use it as their personal operating system. Stoicism emphasizes personal virtue and wisdom, it teaches self-control and fortitude, it promotes rationality and restraint. These are not qualities ordinarily associated with entrepreneurs, who you probably know can be irrational, impulsive and hot-headed at times.

Channeling Stoicism could not only give an entrepreneur superpowers, it can help them navigate business challenges with grace and resilience, finding inner peace within external chaos. Use these prompts to apply Stoicism to your business. Copy, paste and edit the square brackets in ChatGPT, and keep the same chat window open so the context carries through.

Stoicism for entrepreneurs: 7 prompts for ChatGPT

View obstacles as opportunities

Notable stoic Marcus Aurelius once wrote, “The impediment to action advances action. What stands in the way becomes the way.” Challenges, therefore, are not setbacks, but opportunities for growth and learning. The obstacle is the way. What obstacles are crossing your path and how can you see them as favourable? What growth do they hold, what opportunities could overcoming them unlock? Use this prompt to get ChatGPT’s help in finding their secrets.

“Assume the role of a business coach with a deep understanding of stoic philosophy and its application to modern business. In my current entrepreneurial endeavors, I’m facing specific obstacles such as [describe the immediate challenges or situations you’re dealing with]. Can you help me reframe these current challenges as opportunities for growth and learning? How can I leverage these situations to benefit both my business and personal development?”

Hold less emotional attachment

On any given day you’ll be taken on a rollercoaster of emotions. Huge joy from a big client win or a great bit of press, followed by feeling like all is lost after some adverse news, then apathy, impatience and frustration when results don’t happen as fast as you want. Stoicism teaches emotional resilience, which every entrepreneur could use. Don’t be swayed by fleeting emotions. Maintain a calm demeanour throughout the most intense business volatility with this simple prompt.

“During my business activities, I often face situations such as [describe specific events or

… Read more

Silicon Valley is piling into the business of snooping

Listen to this story.
Enjoy more audio and podcasts on iOS or Android.

Your browser does not support the <audio> element.

In early September New Yorkers may have noticed an unwelcome guest hovering round their parties. In the lead-up to Labour Day weekend the New York Police Department (NYPD) said that it would use drones to look into complaints about festivities, including back-yard gatherings. Snooping police drones are an increasingly common sight in America. According to a recent survey by researchers at the Northwestern Pritzker School of Law, about a quarter of police forces now use them.

Even more surprising is where the technology is coming from. Among the NYPD’s suppliers is Skydio, a Silicon Valley firm that uses artificial intelligence (AI) to make drones easy to fly, allowing officers to control them with little training. Skydio is backed by Andreessen Horowitz, a venture-capital (VC) giant, and Accel, one of its peers. The NYPD is also buying from BRINC, another startup, which makes flying machines equipped with night-vision cameras that can smash through windows. Sam Altman of OpenAI, the startup behind ChatGPT, is among BRINC’s investors.

It may seem odd that Silicon Valley is helping American law enforcement snoop on troublemakers. Supporting state surveillance sits awkwardly with the libertarian values espoused by many American tech luminaries who came of age in the early days of the internet. Although Silicon Valley got its start supplying chips for America’s defence industry in the 1950s, its relations with the state withered as its attention shifted from self-guided missiles to e-commerce and iPhones.

Now, as the tech industry seeks out new frontiers of growth, selling to the state is coming back into vogue. Government is “the last remaining holdout from the software revolution”, wrote Katherine Boyle of Andreessen Horowitz in a blog post last year. Earlier this year the firm launched an “American Dynamism” fund to invest in government-related industries. Slowly but surely, the state is dragging itself into the digital age. At the end of 2022 the Pentagon awarded a $9bn cloud-computing contract to Alphabet, Amazon, Oracle and Microsoft, four tech giants. Last year 11% of the value of federal contracts awarded to businesses was for software and technology, up from 8% a decade ago, according to The Economist’s calculations.

Surveillance is one government activity that is being

… Read more

How Mike’s Hot Honey built a $40 million a year business

Mike Kurtz doesn’t like to travel without his briefcase. 

The crimson Franzen case is the same model as the iconic briefcase from Quentin Tarantino’s film “Pulp Fiction”. But unlike in the 1994 film, everyone knows exactly what’s inside. 

That’s because Kurtz is eager to show off how he had the suitcase wired to light up just like in the movie, with the built-in bulbs illuminating the amber hue of bottles of hot honey that bear his name. 

Indeed, the reason Kurtz brings the suitcase with him while he travels is so that he can spread the gospel of Mike’s Hot Honey, the spicy honey that has taken pizzerias by storm.

He loads the briefcase up with five 12-ounce bottles before every trip. Kurtz likes to give a bottle to the taxi driver who takes him to the airport, and then hands out a few to the check-in agents who handle his bags. By the time he gets to the security line, his briefcase is empty. 

Kurtz likes to give out bottles of honey from his “Pulp Fiction” inspired briefcase.

Raffi Paul, Mickey Todiwala | CNBC Make It

“I think there’s something about briefcases. You don’t see them around too often,” Kurtz says of his favorite marketing prop. “So whenever you do, there’s this subliminal message sent out to the people around you that whatever’s in the briefcase is of value. It’s gotta be important if you’re carrying it in a briefcase, right?”

Even now, nearly 20 years after he first started experimenting with making hot honey in his college apartment, Kurtz has an obvious passion for the product. And it’s his enthusiasm that inadvertently spawned a business that has captured a 2.5% share of the $1 billion U.S. honey market.

Here’s how Kurtz built up Mike’s Hot Honey from just a hobby into a company poised to bring in more than $40 million over the next year.

‘You know what? This might be the life for me’

A college-aged Kurtz in Brazil, where he found the inspiration for Mike’s Hot Honey.

Mike’s Hot Honey

From an early age, Kurtz had a desire to be a “condiment man.” He had a chance run-in with Larry Raymond, co-creator of the popular Sweet Baby Ray’s barbeque sauce, during his freshman year of college. The interaction, he says, left him feeling inspired. 

“I realized that condiments truly elevate food,” Kurtz tells CNBC

… Read more

Business leaders say halted trade talks harm India and Canada

MONTREAL — Business leaders continue to grapple with fallout from the rift between the Canadian and Indian governments, saying the suspension of free trade talks helps no one.

Thesouringrelationship marks a major hurdle to boosting bilateral trade beyond last year’s $20.9 billion in goods and services and deters Indian students from studying in Canada, commercial groups say.

“Stopping any trade discussion or trade negotiation doesn’t make sense. How will that help us as a country?” asked Satish Thakkar, chairman of the Canada India Foundation. Canada halted trade treaty talks on Sept. 1.

“This is the biggest fall in Canada-India relations since the 1970s.”

They rapidly deteriorated after Prime Minister Justin Trudeau told Parliament on Sept. 18 that New Delhi may have been involved in the killing of Canadian citizen Hardeep Singh Nijjar, a Sikh independence activist who was shot dead in June outside the gurdwara he led in Surrey, B.C.

In response, the Indian government suspended visa services for Canadian citizens — partially restored last month — and revoked diplomatic immunity from Canadian diplomats, prompting two-thirds of them to leave the country.

The trade potential between Canada and India — the world’s most populous nation and fastest growing large economy — remain largely unrealized, observers say. India remains Canada’s eighth-largest trading partner, well behind the U.S. and China.

Negotiations on the would-be Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement launched in 2010 before foundering in 2017. They resumed in 2022, with the goal of reaching a deal this year.

The Asia Pacific Foundation of Canada says the treaty could increase two-way trade by up to $8.8 billion by 2035 and result in a Canadian GDP gain of up to $5.9 billion. Canada’s mineral, agriculture, chemicals and wood product sectors could all see sizable export boosts.

“There is a lot of complementarity between what Canada has and India needs,” said Victor Thomas, CEO of the Canada-India Business Council. “IT services, for example — a huge growth in very specific talent that, again, complements our economy that India can provide.

Of the 32,115 international tech workers who migrated to Canada between April 2022 and March 2023, nearly half — 15,097 — came from India, a July report from the Technology Councils of North America and Canada’s Tech Network found.

“This relationship is extremely important,” Thomas said. “But businesses like predictability and stability.”

The frayed relations mean “uncertainty prevails,” sowing doubt among some Indian

… Read more

Today’s news: Trending business stories for November 6, 2023

The latest business news as it happens

Published Nov 06, 2023  •  Last updated 1 day ago  •  21 minute read

Canada’s corporate ethics czar says it’s launching a fact-finding investigation into allegations that Zara Canada Inc. is working with companies that use forced labour in China. People tour by a ZARA flagship store at a shopping mall in Beijing, Wednesday, June 21, 2023. THE CANADIAN PRESS/AP- Photo by Andy Wong/The Canadian Press/AP files

Today’s top headlines:

Article content

5:00 p.m.

Market close: Energy weakness weighs on TSX as U.S. stock markets rise

Advertisement 2

Article content

Weakness in energy stocks weighed on Canada’s main stock index today, while U.S. markets edged higher to start off the week.

The S&P/TSX composite index closed down 80.91 points at 19,743.94.

In New York, the Dow Jones industrial average was up 34.54 points at 34,095.86. The S&P 500 index was up 7.64 points at 4,365.98, while the Nasdaq composite

… Read more