• Palm Springs entrepreneur and business consultant Ben Walderman is inviting people everywhere to spend one week observing their communities with fresh eyes and discovering simple ways to improve customer experiences, local businesses, and everyday problem-solving.

California, USA, Jul 14, 2026, ZEX PR WIRE — Entrepreneur and business consultant Ben Walderman has launched the 7-Day Local Observation Challenge, a free personal challenge designed to help people strengthen one of the most overlooked business skills: paying attention.

Rather than focusing on complex business strategies or expensive tools, the challenge encourages participants to spend just a few minutes each day observing the businesses and places they already visit. The goal is to develop the habit of noticing how customer experiences, operations, and communities work in everyday life.

“I’ve learned that the best ideas usually don’t start in a conference room,” says Walderman. “They start by paying attention. Before I recommend changes to a business, I spend time watching how people move through a space and where small frustrations happen.”

Walderman believes this habit isn’t only valuable for business owners. Anyone can become a better problem solver by becoming a better observer.

“You don’t have to own a company to think like someone who improves one,” he says. “The more you notice, the more opportunities you begin to see.”

Why Observation Matters

Research continues to show that paying attention to customer experience and everyday environments leads to better outcomes:

• According to PwC, 73% of consumers say customer experience is an important factor in purchasing decisions.

• Qualtrics research found that 63% of consumers are more likely to recommend a company based on a positive experience.

• The U.S. Small Business Administration reports that small businesses account for 99.9% of all U.S. businesses, making everyday operational improvements meaningful across millions of organizations.

• Research published in the Harvard Business Review has consistently shown that observing customer behavior often reveals unmet needs that customers themselves may not describe directly.

Walderman says these lessons apply far beyond business.

“Observation teaches patience,” he says. “It helps you ask better questions before you jump to solutions.”

The 7-Day Local Observation Challenge

Participants only need a notebook or the notes app on their phone.

Day 1 – Slow Down
Visit a local business. Spend five minutes simply observing before looking at your phone. Write down three things you notice.

Day 2 – Walk the Customer Journey
Imagine you’re visiting for the first time. What feels easy? What feels confusing?

Day 3 – Notice Great Service
Think about one employee who made an experience better. Write down exactly what they did.

Day 4 – Find One Small Friction Point
Identify one small inconvenience that most people probably ignore. Consider how it could be improved.

Day 5 – Explore Somewhere New
Visit a local restaurant, gallery, coffee shop, or store you’ve never been to before. Observe what makes it memorable.

Day 6 – Have One Conversation
Talk with a local business owner, employee, or customer. Ask what they enjoy most about the community.

Day 7 – Reflect
Review your notes. Identify one observation you can apply to your own work, volunteer role, or daily life.

“The goal isn’t to criticize businesses,” says Walderman. “It’s to train yourself to notice what creates great experiences and where thoughtful improvements can make a difference.”

Share Your Progress

Participants who enjoy sharing publicly are encouraged to post updates throughout the week.

Suggested prompts include:

• “Today I noticed…”

• “One business did this really well…”

• “One small change that would improve the customer experience is…”

• “Here’s one lesson I learned from simply paying attention.”

For those who prefer to keep the challenge private, Walderman recommends keeping a personal journal or creating a private notes document throughout the week.

“The important part isn’t posting online,” he says. “It’s building the habit. That’s where the value is.”

Join the Challenge

The 7-Day Local Observation Challenge is open to everyone, regardless of profession or experience. Whether you’re an entrepreneur, employee, student, or simply someone who enjoys learning, the challenge is designed to help participants become more aware of the people, places, and experiences around them.

As Walderman puts it, “Small observations often lead to the biggest improvements.”

About Ben Walderman

Ben Walderman is a Palm Springs, California-based entrepreneur, business consultant, and community advocate with more than 15 years of experience in real estate development, hospitality strategy, and small business growth. He works with property owners, hospitality businesses, and entrepreneurs to improve operations, customer experience, and long-term business performance while supporting thoughtful growth throughout the Coachella Valley.

Integration expands the diversity of liquidity available to banks, brokerages, and fintechs powered by zerohash

Singapore, 13th July, 2026, ZEX PR WIRE, Caladan has joined zerohash’s network of institutional liquidity providers, further strengthening execution quality, pricing depth, and market resiliency. Through the integration, Caladan is now live with continuous two-sided pricing on the zerohash central limit order book (CLOB). As financial institutions increasingly embed digital assets into core financial products, high-quality liquidity becomes a critical component of the customer experience. 

Through the integration, Caladan makes its aggregated liquidity available to the broker-dealers, banks, and fintech platforms powered by zerohash’s regulated infrastructure. Caladan extends the same depth, consistency, and pricing quality trusted across more than 65 platforms and financial institutions building digital asset products on zerohash. 

For zerohash customers, this means deeper institutional liquidity, tighter execution, and greater market resiliency. For Caladan, the integration expands the reach of its liquidity through one of the industry’s leading regulated digital asset infrastructure platforms, providing efficient access to a broad network of institutional market participants through the infrastructure they already rely on.

“Wherever institutional orders land, our pricing should be there. zerohash’s CLOB connects Caladan’s liquidity to a network of platforms. Quoting there is a natural extension of the Caladan API model we’ve built,” said Julia Zhou, President, Caladan.

“Caladan is one of the most active digital asset liquidity providers, and adding their pricing to our book continues to strengthen, deepen and tighten the quality of execution, which is a key differentiator of ours,” added Edward Woodford, Founder and CEO, zerohash.

About Caladan

Caladan is Asia’s largest digital asset market maker, with teams across seven global offices. Since 2017, Caladan has facilitated over $170 billion in annual trading volume, operating across 65+ exchanges worldwide. The firm provides on-exchange market-making, OTC trading, Caladan API, and investments to institutional participants globally.

About zerohash

zerohash is the leading infrastructure provider for crypto, stablecoin, and tokenized assets. Its API and embeddable dev-kit enable innovators to easily launch solutions across cross-border payments, commerce, trading, remittance, payroll, tokenization, and on/off-ramps. The company has a global regulatory footprint across the EU, Latin America, Australia, New Zealand, Bermuda, and the U.S., and operates regulated entities in 51 U.S. jurisdictions. For more information, visit zerohash.com.

zerohash Disclosures 

zerohash services and product offerings may not be available in all jurisdictions. zerohash accounts are not subject to FDIC or SIPC protections, or any such equivalent protections that may exist outside of the US. zerohash’s technical support and enablement of any asset is not an endorsement of such asset and is not a recommendation to buy, sell, or hold any crypto asset. zerohash is not registered with the SEC or FINRA.