Norm Bain

05/08/2026

Who knew a simple online business card could quietly become your best networking tool?

I’ve been working on a project called myecard.net — a free digital business card that helps people create a clean online presence in 2 minutes.

But here’s the interesting part…

Once your card is live, I’ll walk you through improving it with a short email series covering how to make your page actually work.

Overlooked tips that make the difference between a dead page and one that generates a stream of leads.

Free to start. No app needed.
- myecard.net

04/27/2026

LOL

04/27/2026

Most people think making money in the stock market means:

👉 Buy low. Sell high.

Simple.

Except… it’s not.

I recently went down the rabbit hole and found there are at least 6 different ways to make money with stocks…

Some of them surprised me.

Like getting paid just to hold a stock.
Or even… renting out your shares. (yes, really)

Who knew?

I broke it down in plain English—no hype, no guru nonsense.

👉 Curious? Take a look: https://themanual.app/site/stock-market/

And tell me…

Which one would you actually try?

04/23/2026

Who Knew… Not Answering Your Phone Might Be Smart

My friends say they can’t reach me by phone.
They’re right.

If I don’t recognize the number… I don’t answer.

At first, I thought I was just being antisocial.

Turns out — I might be ahead of the curve.

Lately, it feels like every unknown call is:
“Potential spam”
“Likely fraud”
“Definitely not someone I know”

And here’s the weird part…

No one leaves a voicemail.
I actually tested mine just to make sure it still worked.

It’s not just me either.

My kids?

Text = instant reply.
Phone call = straight to voicemail.

Different generation = Different world.

Then I stumbled across a YouTube video explaining what’s really going on.

Turns out, these calls aren’t random.
They’re fishing.

Robocallers blast out thousands of calls just looking for one thing:

Someone who answers.
That’s it.

If you pick up… you’ve just raised your hand.

“Hi, I’m a real person. Worth calling again.”

Now your number goes on a list.

Then another list.

Then suddenly you’re getting “calls from your bank”…

or “government agencies”…

or someone who sounds just convincing enough.

It’s basically a sales funnel.

Call → identify a live number
List → sell the “live leads”
Target → run the scam
Profit → someone loses real money

Not so funny anymore.

And here’s the part that got my attention…

They want you to talk.

Even just a few words.

Because now they can record your voice.

Ever heard of the “grandparent scam”?

Yeah… that one hits different when you realize how they do it.

So what’s the move?

Simple.

I call it the Silent Shield.

If you do answer:
- Don’t say anything.
- Wait a few seconds.

A real person will speak.

A robocaller usually won’t.

Or better yet…
Don’t answer at all.

(I love it when I’m right.)

Who knew the smartest phone strategy
was… not using it?

Norm
PS: This was originally posted on my blog at https://themanual.app/site/just-dont-answer/

04/22/2026

Who Knew… You Could Spend 30 Minutes Watching a Street Corner
There’s something that happens when you’re not in a rush.

You start noticing things.

The other day I sat down with a coffee…
and instead of reaching for my phone, I just looked around.

Same street.
Same corner.
Nothing special.

Except…
A guy delivering bread, chatting like he had nowhere else to be.
A dog that clearly believed it owned the sidewalk.
A couple trying to decide where to eat for way longer than necessary.

A shop owner sweeping the same spot… slowly… like it mattered.
Thirty minutes went by.

No productivity.
No checklist.
No sense of “getting ahead.”
Just… watching life happen.

And oddly enough, it didn’t feel like wasted time.

It felt like I finally slowed down enough to actually see it.

Who knew the most interesting thing you can do some days…
…is absolutely nothing?

- Norm

PS If you enjoy simple ideas, real-life experiments, and figuring things out as we go… Follow along by clicking here: https://myecard.net/link/who-knew

04/20/2026

You’ve probably seen this story…

A teacher asks students to write something nice about each other.
Years later, one of those students dies in war—and they find the list in his wallet.

It gets shared a lot.
It hits hard.

But here’s the twist…

👉 It’s probably not a true story.

And somehow… that makes it even more powerful.

I dug into where it came from and what actually matters about it.

👇 Read the full post:
https://themanual.app/site/truestory/

04/19/2026

Oh Crap… My New Girlfriend Took Over My House 😳

This winter, we escaped Winnipeg and pretended to be snowbirds in Mexico.

At first, everyone said:
“Winnipeg? Brrr… cold there, eh?”

A few weeks later… something changed.

We had tans.
We blended in.
Even the street vendors stopped with the “massage… tequila?” routine.

We had officially arrived.

Fast forward to April.

We fly back home… straight into a snowstorm (of course).
Nice reminder of what we’d been missing while sipping margaritas in 30°C.

That night, I walk in, exhausted, and say:

“Alexa, turn on the light.”

She responds…

But something’s off.

My girlfriend has a different voice.

Younger.
Peppier.
A little… sassier.

Turns out Alexa got an upgrade.

Now she’s “more conversational.”

Great.

She’s now the fourth female voice in the house—
(my wife Tina, my daughter, my sister-in-law…)

The only males left are me and the dog.

We’ve accepted our position.

Now I’m wondering…

Do people actually talk to their AI assistants?

Because:
She listens.
She responds.
She remembers everything you said.

But then… so does Tina 😅

Be honest—are you having conversations with yours too?

Honestly… I think she might be cheating on me.

Who knew.

— Norm

👉 Follow along for more “well… didn’t expect that” moments from life, travel, and tech https://themanual.app/site/girlfriend/

04/16/2026

New site I'm working on - **Who Knew**

This site is about retirement, real life, curiosity, and the unexpected things that seem to show up once the regular work schedule disappears.

Check it out here: https://themanual.app/site/who-knew/

03/04/2026

10/28/2024

https://themanual.app/site/about-norm-on/