One of the on-line dictionaries defines complementary as "so related that each is the negation of the other" and "providing something that completes the whole".

An organization can have a great product and a great team, without any revenue however, they have very little. Revenue is the life blood of any enterprise; it fuels growth, motivation and success. Every organization strives to develop perfect products/services, most of the time however, they are developed with inadequate attention to revenue streams. What follows are shattered dreams and expectations, because a business without solid recurring revenue streams has nothing to stand on. Over the course of this week I have shared some basic facts with you regarding revenue streams, I have re-capped briefly below:

1. Revenue & Business Models: If you are writing a business plan or, are in a new startup venture, identify your revenue streams as clearly as possible, and understand what resources need to be put into place to realize their true potential. The future of your organizations rests upon these strategic initiatives. The business model must be based on sound revenue streams in order to succeed. To learn more about revenue and business models please click here.

2. Revenue & Market Segmentation: Once identification of a business model has been made, correct mapping of its target market is essential. Having a strategy to aim a product/service at ambiguous market segments results in spreading yourself too thin, especially when resources are tight. Market positioning of products is of paramount importance for successfully generating revenue at a quicker pace. To learn more about revenue and market segmentation please click here.

3. Revenue & Investment: Investing in correct revenue streams can be the difference between an organization that succeeds and one which does not. It is critical that metrics are put into place to ensure that all revenue streams are closely measured. This will lead to informed decisions on whether it makes financial sense to continue investing in a particular revenue or to focus energies on another stream to ensure that financial stability is maintained. To learn more about revenue and investment please click here.

4. Revenue & Change: Our world is in a constant state of flux. We are living through a time where we need to become adept at forecasting as also adapting to changes taking place. This principle applies to all aspects of our lives, in the business sense, it has far reaching implications. We have to avoid becoming rigid at all costs to maintain a competitive direction in the global market place. Failure to do so will result in an inevitable downslide of your organization. To learn more about revenue and change please click here.

5. Revenue & Metrics: Metrics are mandatory components of any successful business. Measuring your revenue streams is essential as you need to be aware of the growth rate of your streams, how quickly your pipeline is being converted, what sort of market share you hold and how the industry you operate in, is changing. Such metrics provide information that will allow you to make informed choices. To learn more about revenue and metrics please click here.

In todays day and age there are a plethora of startups which have no clear business model, some are purely developed attractive acquisitions while others wait to see how they develop. My advice is, go in with a plan on making money from day one if you want to build a strong and well founded organization. When developing your streams ensure that you cater to each level of your market segment and create opportunities for scalability and cross selling. Doing so will put you in a favorable position to succeed. 

Working at a startup, there are always a host of things which need to get done. It is a constant battle with time to stay on track and achieve goals and targets. In the midst of this daily commotion, we are inundated with information from all sides. To keep abreast of all these developments, it is essential to develop a system which provides dashboard views about current standings. This is where metrics come into play. They need to be incorporated into every major business function to provide real-time statistics and keep the focus in the right direction.

The metrics for revenue streams used at some of the organizations that I work with, range from being very simple to relatively complex depending on the nature of the business. I have experienced that there are a few metrics which need more focus than others where revenue is concerned. They are:

1. Revenue Stream Growth: This metric provides data regarding development of each stream of revenue by quarter. It involves data which includes percentage growth numbers, pipeline activity and deal closures. These figures provide detail analysis on streams that are growing at a faster pace than others, the stages of revenue facing plateaus and how projected business is forecast in the coming quarters for each stream. 

2. ROI on Revenue Streams: It is one thing to have an extremely high turnover and a completely different story when that is not being converted into bottom line results. This metric provides data regarding the profitability of each segment and a break-down of investment into the stream, as well as marketing costs and cost of goods/services. Constant vigilance helps regarding which streams need to be promoted and which need to be ceased. 

3. Market Share & Industry Analytics: This metric keeps track of current growth trends in the industry the organization operates in. It constantly updates data regarding major changes on competition, government policies, economics climate and company position. This requires constant study to stay current with the rapid changes taking place. 

While keeping all the metrics in mind make sure that you take time out to compare them with related metrics to customers, vendors, suppliers and distributors. This will ensure a complete picture of the current situation. At an early stage startup, complicated metrics are not necessary, what is required however, is the ability to put these metrics into practice at basic levels. This will ensure that the position and development of the company is dealt with more effectively.

Our world is in a constant state of flux. We are living through a time where we need to become adept at forecasting as also adapting to changes taking place. This principle applies to all aspects of our lives, in the business sense, it has far reaching implications. This story has been heard time and time again, companies become complacent and rigid about rapid changes taking place and soon find themselves compromised. A story, very much in the news these days is, Yahoo!. This company once dominated web search. Today, it finds itself in a messy situation involving corporate raiders and hostile takeovers. What went wrong?

Yahoo! pioneers and leaders of web search throughout the 90's became complacent about changes taking place in their domain space. A new entry startup called google started to develop traction. Before you knew it, they became a formidable player in the search market. Yahoo! failed to adapt to this change and continued diversifying their business model into new markets. They failed to defend their primary revenue stream, including a missed opportunity to buy-out google for $3b. This is an example of how the pace of change can turn positions in a matter of years, even for such a large firm. However, this is not the first story of its kind, nor the last, these mistakes take place on a daily basis.

If your organization has developed revenue streams which have potential of exponentially increasing over the years, it is your foremost responsibility to protect fiercely. This is done by continuous improvement of the processes, as well as developing complementary assets as barriers around that stream. If done diligently, you will be able to protect yourself from inevitable complacency, which could lead to an unfortunate outcome. On the flip side if you are struggling with your current revenue streams and not being able to develop them further, pay close attention to changes occurring around you. If you are promoting a product/service which has no place in the current market, you need to rethink strategy, and, as soon as possible.

Incorporating systems to account for changes in domain, industry, economics climate and external factors is critical to success. Make sure you have them in place to avoid trouble !

This is not just a modern invention, either. It echoes Aristotle's understanding of virtue as being a creative balance between extremes. Courage, for example, is neither cowardice nor recklessness, but a measured response to a dangerous challenge. Aristotle's conception was a rather static one - a balance, rather than a dance - but it still stands in contrast to the sort of linear thinking that makes good an evil opposite poles or extremes.

One of my favored metaphors for the relationship between complements is that of breathing, We breathe in and then breathe out, in a perpetual cycle. Both are necessary, and in fact each creates the other and is created by it. They must trade off, alternate. It's not a matter of finding a middle ground or compromise between the two (which would mean not breathing at all), but rather engaging each fully, in its proper time.

An artist creates images from using both light and dark colors, not blended to create a uniform gray, but each applied in its own place.

In using both sides of a pair of complementary energies, we open the way to create something new, something alive with the motion and energy that is implicit in any contrast.

This thinking helps me look differently at life's struggles and disappointments. Beginnings and endings complement each other, as do joys and sorrows. We can take them all, experience each fully in its proper place, and create something new - a life that is like a work of art. A good story has both defeats and victories; a good symphony has heavy and light movements; a good life both deepens us and elevates us.

Kazuya Akimoto Art Museum

Art Blog1

now RE-categorized at Art blog1

"Red Permeation"

acrylic 29 "x 20 "

listed in New Works 2006

Keywords

(within kazuya-akimoto.com)

abstract expressionism

stains

oozing

color symbolism

red

tachisme

complemenatry colors

colorful

lyrical abstraction

beautiful

gorgeous

latest new 10 paintings

Today's Keyword

within Museum paintings

complementary colors

( excerpted)

#6347 "Blue Venus, the goddess of love"

2007

#6304 "Three Wise Men "

2007

#6247 "Ten Blue Eyes"

2007

#6088 "Too Many Curves "

2007

#5467 "Red Permeation "

2006

#5409 "Tacit Conversation "

2006

#5338 "Stealth Fireworks "

2006

#5307 "Orange and Red, Teardrop Abstract Flowers "

2006

#5208 "Chapel Entrance"

2006

#5006 "Jumping Green and Red "

2006

#4230 "Green and Red Flow Pattern"

2005

kin2005 "Counterpoint"

2005

#1824 "Two pairs of Right Triangles "

2004

pas014 "The Comparison "

2003

"Depression"

early work

Kazuya Akimoto Art Museum Art Keywords, Tag Cloud within museum paintings

abstract abstract expressionism abstract landscape animals archaeological architecture areas asian astronomical biblical biological black black and white blue blue and red botanical brown brush strokes bugs buildings calligraphy cells chiaroscuro circles cityscape color fields colorful comparison copies after mastes crack criminal cubism dark debris distortion earth elements evenly painted evocative expressionism exterior eyes faces figurative floating flowers forms fractions geographical geological geometric gold gothic graffiti green and red green hard lines hexagons human figures icons inner innerscape interior irregular forms juxtaposition landscape light lines living things man masses mathematics minimalism monochrome monsters mosaic movement music mythological natural elements natural scene night odd things oozing optical orange ornamental patterns piles purple random elements raw art rectangle red religious scientific scribble sea seasonal serenity shade silver sky soft lines splashes square stains stone streetscape structure suggestive elements surrealism symbolic symbolic signs tachism thick lines triangle undulation visionary warfare waving weather white woman yellow

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Alarmist condemnation of all alternative therapies ignores the crucial role some could play in the human healing process

Suckers: How Alternative Medicine Makes Fools of Us All; Snake Oil Science; and next month sees another, Trick or Treatment: what these new books have in common is varying degrees of frustration at the seemingly inexorable rise of complementary medicine. It seems the aim of some of these authors is to finish off a burgeoning health industry that they believe is based on charlatans and quacks preying on the gullible and desperate.

The books reflect the growing exasperation in some quarters that public opinion is not as amenable to persuasion and scientific evidence as they would hope. The language gets lurid; the mood music to pronouncements on complementary medicine is increasingly alarmist - we are living in dangerous times, an unEnlightenment looms as tides of irrationality threaten to overwhelm the palisades erected by science. "Reason is a precious but fragile thing," declared Richard Dawkins in his series, The Enemies of Reason, last autumn. "Reason has liberated us from superstition and given us centuries of progress. We abandon it at our peril."

What so troubles these science warriors is that it is estimated a third of people in the UK now use complementary medicine, at a cost of £1.5bn a year. In the US, the figures are substantially higher; it has been calculated that more visits are made to healing therapists than to doctors. There is an extraordinary paradox here: a half-century of astonishing conventional medical advances has not succeeded in eliminating complementary medicine. Quite the reverse: the breakthroughs in conventional medicine have been accompanied by the proliferation of other forms of healing - many of which have little or no evidence base to prove their efficacy. Indeed, it only takes a short surf on the web to discover that the wilder shores of this burgeoning industry are, well, pretty wild.

To the science warriors, this bizarre state of affairs can only be explained by irrationality. They bemoan the state of science education and lament how, contrary to expectation, literacy and access to information have failed to eradicate superstition. Meanwhile, in this increasingly sharply polarised debate, complementary medicine practitioners are equally exasperated by what they see as blinkered scientific reductionism.

So it takes a brave scientist to launch into this territory and risk getting attacked from both camps by daring to ask a simple question: is there anything science can learn from complementary medicine? That is precisely what Kathy Sykes is doing in her current television series, Alternative Therapies (the second programme is on BBC2 tonight). As Bristol University's professor of public engagement in science and the director of the Cheltenham Festival of Science, no one can challenge her credentials as a scientist, yet her scrutiny of particular therapies throws up serious challenges to conventional medicine.

Sykes is too good a scientist to give complementary medicine an easy run. Tonight she examines reflexology, and gives it pretty short shrift. There are 30,000 reflexologists working on a million British feet a year. They base their work on a theory that parts of the sole of the foot correlate to organs in the body. The only problem is that Sykes could find no one, reflexologist or scientist, who could explain how these correlations might work. Furthermore, it turned out that this "ancient" healing system seems to have originated with an imaginative American woman in the 1930s. But patients swear by it. One reflexologist points Sykes to her annual garden party full of babies and children as evidence of the success she has had with infertility problems. This is the point where most scientists snort with derision at the use of personal anecdote as evidence, but Sykes presses on and it takes her into two areas of scientific research. First, she digs up new research on the importance of touch, which can have a profound impact on the brain. Even the hand of a stranger reduces anxiety and that of someone with whom one has a close relationship is even more significant. In fact, Sykes finds some scientific underpinning which goes beyond placebo in many of the therapies she looks at. But it is placebo which emerges as a recurrent and crucially important thread in her quest, and it leads her to the work of several American scientists who are trying to identify what placebo is, who it works for, and why it works.

This is one of the most common charges made against complementary medicine - that most of it is no better than placebo. But there is a way of turning that accusation around: perhaps complementary medicine is an effective way to harness placebo as one of the most powerful - and cheapest - of healing processes. Rather than being derogatory about the phenomenon as "just" placebo, perhaps we should see it as one of the most remarkable and little understood aspects of the human body.

That line of inquiry has taken Sykes to the US several times over the course of the two series she has made. There placebo has become a new frontier in medicine. In a range of studies with startling results - even sham knee surgery can be as effective as the real thing - many factors contribute to placebo: the confidence of the doctor; the social, cultural expectations around the procedure; the empathy and warmth of the patient-doctor relationship; the patient's degree of faith. Get all these right, and the outcome can be remarkable. Harvard professor Ted Kaptchuk is publishing a study this week which shows that placebo is as good as any conventional treatment available for irritable bowel syndrome. Given that the eight most industrialised nations spend $40bn a year on medication for this condition, that's revolutionary stuff.

This kind of research into placebo gives some insight into why complementary medicine has boomed and why there are so many people who cite their own experience to passionately defend it. The average consultation with a GP is 4.6 minutes, while the complementary therapist can devote an hour to taking detailed personal histories. That time and relationship provide a context and an opportunity for the ritual and recasting of personal experience which Kaptchuk believes are the crucial elements of placebo.

Complementary medicine is most popular where conventional medicine fails, such as with musculoskeletal conditions and mental health - stress, depression, anxiety (the recent revelations about the inefficacy of Prozac were another reminder of how shaky the science is in a large area of conventional medicine). Several complementary therapies are particularly effective at pain relief - you had to see Sykes's footage of hypnotism helping a woman to have teeth extracted without anaesthetic to believe it. Kaptchuk argues that pain is not a static given but can be experienced dramatically differently.

Conventional medicine prolongs life but is less successful in prolonging good health - we can expect to spend more years of our life in poor health, as a government report showed last week - and in producing wellbeing. So people are voting with their feet, trying to find other ways to fill the gaps left by conventional medicine. We need scientists to help to identify what they are looking for and why, rather than pouring scorn indiscriminately on the whole field and on the relations between belief, mind and body, of which science still has such a fragmentary understanding.

(c) Madeleine Bunting, The Guardian, March 2008

Each month I co-host this group with my colleague Ruth Hadikin. If you have an interest in transforming health care culture to one with a more holistic, integrative, approach to health, healing and well-being this group may interest you. Please feel free to join us…

Warmly, Ruth

This month’s meeting:

10:00 am ET (3pm UK), Friday, June20th on bridge 407-649-8983
(US bridge, UK callers dial 001 before this number)

This is a CoachU public Special Interest Group (SIG). All are welcome, you don’t need to be part of CoachU to participate. To join email Kathleenruth@ConsciousJourneyInstitute.com’ and put ‘medSIG invite’ in the subject header.

Our guest speaker Ellen Schuster-Nastir found it easier to access the corporate arena when she began offering a personality assessment tool as part of her coaching practice. She explains to us how this strategy works in the healthcare field.

Don’t miss this month:

“Increasing Communication Skills in Healthcare Offices”

Guest speaker Ellen Schuster-Nastir explains how the Peoplemap™ tool gives organisations a tangible focus, and rationale, for coaching. The benefits are multi-fold from improving interpersonal relationships among employees, more effective patient relationships, and increased employee job satisfaction, productivity and retention.

In addition to understanding healthcare office staffs, this tool helps us understand ourselves: how we relate with others, our natural strengths, and how to turn `weaknesses’ into `learned strengths’.

Ellen Schuster-Nastir M.Ed., CPCC is a Professional Certified Coach, Trainer, Speaker and Co-Author of “When Divorce Crosses Your Mind: What You Need To Know” She coaches professional service offices to work more cohesively together for greater job satisfaction, employee retention and increased productivity.

Contact Ellen: 813-968-8597
Email: ellen@focusbydesign.com
Web: www.focusbydesign.com

Join us for an engaging and informative call! We look forward to being with you,

Warmly,

Anya Sophia Mann and Ruth Hadikin,
Medical and Healthcare SIG Co-Hosts

Help us grow:

This SIG is for everyone who is interested in, and passionate about, healthcare, and the health and well-being of professionals in the healthcare field.

Help us to achieve our group mission of supporting the transformation of health care culture through deeper awareness and emotional intelligence.

Please invite your friends, family,co-workers - everyone who would like to see healthcare culture transformed - into a happier, healthier environment which nurtures well-being for all.

Tell them they can join us by e-mailing Kathleenruth@ConsciousJourneyInstitute.com’
and putting ‘medSIG invite’ in the subject header.

About us:

Anya Sophia Mann and Ruth Hadikin
COACHES FOR PERSONAL AND
PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT

Anya 617-233-2581 (US)
Anya@ConsciousJourneyInstitute.com
Website: www.ConsciousJourneyInstitute.com

Ruth 01309 641058 (UK)
Kathleenruth@ConsciousJourneyInstitute.com’

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Kazuya Akimoto Art Museum

named and added to gallery #8,2008  at Kazuya Akimoto Art Museum

"Reptile Rebel Angel, Awakened"

acrylics 21"x18"

lisited in New Paintings  2008

Today's Keyword

within Museum paintings

animal symbolism

( excerpted)

related keywords : animals, bugst, besats

]]> http://linzworld.wordpress.com/?p=296 Thu, 15 May 2008 06:49:47 +0000 linzworld http://linzworld.wordpress.com/?p=296 WHAT DO A SMOOTHIE, A SEAWEED WRAP, AND SPIRULINA ALL HAVE IN COMMON?

They are all things sufferers of Fibromyalgia Syndrome can take away free from the Tried and Tested event, being held in Reigate on Thursday 5^th June in collaboration with the Surrey & Sussex Fibromyalgia Support Group.

Fibromyalgia Syndrome (Fibro) is a chronic condition whose main symptoms are widespread chronic pain, hypersensitivity to pain and chronic fatigue. Fibro likely affects between 1.2 and 2.7 million people in the UK alone, although this figure may be as high as 10 million as many cases go undiagnosed.

Fibro sufferers often struggle because there is no widely accepted treatment regime and many spend large amounts of money on complementary or alternative therapies, sometimes with little or no effect.

Caroline Hinkes, a Fibro sufferer herself, is now organising a project to try and help find out what complementary therapies work for Fibro sufferers. The Tried and Tested project aims to get volunteers with Fibro to try out complementary therapies for free so that a guide can be compiled with people’s experiences, enabling other sufferers to make targeted decisions about how they spend their money.

The Tried and Tested project is being launched with an event at 2pm on Thursday 5^th June in Reigate. Presentations will be made about the various therapies on offer with the project and ice cool healthy smoothies have kindly been sponsored by Urban kitchen for attendees to try. £5,000 worth of products for Fibromyalgia will be made available for volunteer Fibro sufferers to take home for free and test. Volunteers will then be able to keep many of the products.

Sponsors include Nutri, The Nutri Centre, and many more.

Tried and Tested project organiser, Caroline Hinkes says:

“I am not selling anything. I have fibromyalgia and have wasted ££££ on stuff that frankly makes NO difference.

So together lets test products, find out what works and TELL other sufferers so we can make targeted decisions on how we spend our healing pound....

So come on take part in this event. Lets make a difference! 

It can't happen without YOU!”

The Tried and Tested launch event is taking place at 2pm, on Thursday 5^th June at The Green Room, Woodhatch Centre (tucked behind some shops), Whitebeam Drive, Reigate RH2 7LS. Please RSVP to Carolinetraining@aol.com.

Kazuya Akimoto Art Museum

named and added to gallery #6,2008 at Kazuya Akimoto Art Museum

"Stabat Mater dolorosa, Blue"

acrylics 21"x18"

lisited in New Paintings 2008