1. its a saturdaynight, go to a bar go hit on a banging hot chick and get fucken laid! (I plan on going out with my friends to a few partys right after i get done writing this)

2. if you dont like partying or being at a bar, you could be researching shit to make yourself smarter instead of making yourself dumber by reading this.

3. boning your girlfriend.

4.reading a book, but personally I think books are retarded to read enless your reading a book to gain knowledge from like a business book or a new language or something, you get the point.

5. creating something, go create a peice of artwork or whatever

6. BETTERING yourself, go on a jog go work out go do something

but no, your waisting your time reading what goes on inside my stupid head.

today i had a family discussion  more than just my parents, my cousins and stuff came over and they were all basicly telling me being a entrepreneur is just a dream which is bullshit and i plan on proving it to them and then when they are in debt and im a millionaire, not giving them a penny... anyway, after it was all over and i was attacked verbally from everyone my dad said a good quote because i said "thank you for the support" he said, there are conventinal and unconventianal ways of doing everything, when you do it the unconventianal way you are always going to have resisistance, and its true... Us entrepreneurs make our own paths, fuck all the bullshit we have to put up with.

Being a Director of a niche SME, I am often asked what my main gripe is within the working environment.

Before I totally reveal my hand on this one, I feel compelled to let you know why I felt it necessary to blog on this topic.

Everyday millions of business decisions are made, millions of transactions take place and millions of interactions are created.  Out of these various business scenarios, I often wonder how much time and money is lost due to factors such as sickness, inefficiency or plain incompetence.

Several countries release data giving indicative figures on the millions of dollars lost out due to employee sickness.  However how can one seriously substantiate the cost of lost business when it comes down to inefficiency or incompetence?

This leads nicely to my next point.  Focusing on efficiency and inefficiency a little more.  What actually makes someone more efficient over someone else?  Can efficiency be taught/learned?  How does someone actually recognize that they are acting in an inefficient manner? How does one substantiate the true cost of inefficiency in the work place?

This blog by no means aims to offer answers or solutions to any of the above questions.  Instead I simply offer my personal viewpoint on the matter.  Whilst I’m not in a position to discuss the effects of inefficiency on business worldwide. I think I’m fairly qualified to discuss the cost of inefficiency to our company 3C Synergy Asia.

As you may have guessed, my main gripe in business is inefficiency.  Thank fully we run a fairly slick machine in our company, so try not to allow room for major errors.  Inefficiency (I’m sure) has different meanings to different people.  For me (without over complicating things) inefficiency simply means doing things the ‘long way round’ and missing key information.  As recruiters we are trained to ‘ask the right questions’.  It was only when I became a Director of 3C Synergy Asia, that I realized the true cost of ‘not asking the right questions’ in our industry.  For me, failing to ask the right questions, costs us time, which in turn costs us money. Simplistic view I know, but why flower things up.  This is fundamentally the base of inefficiency for me.

Put simply, not asking the right questions in recruitment can cost you dearly, and I’m fairly certain this is the case within all other industries.  For us, we could potentially lose a candidate if we don’t find out what their key motivators are, what their ambitions are, what sort of company they do/don’t want to work for, what their personal commitments are, so on and so forth.   Where our clients are concerned, we may loose out on sourcing for key job opportunities if we fail to find out why the position is vacant, what key attributes they are looking for in a person, what the structure, career progression opportunities, training and development structure is etc  If we miss any of these details, if can cost us a valuable opportunity in finding the right talent for the right job.  This is commercial suicide for a boutique consultancy such as ours.

Missed opportunities caused by the lack of asking the right questions is a huge problem for companies/industries world wide.  But I wonder to myself, how many companies actually realise this? Let alone do something about it?

For us it is simple.  Becoming more efficient and operating in a ‘slick’ manner can be learnt and is taught within our small yet punchy outfit.  Right from the outset we play a very fun, yet informative game with our potential recruits during their final stages of their interview. As employers, this light-hearted game (which I will reveal shortly) gives us an opportunity to ascertain training areas for our new recruits.  We also get a closer look into their questioning technique.  The tool helps us make a final decision on hiring the Consultant, but also indicates the training required to bring the candidate up to speed.

OK so what is this game?  Well it isn’t anything scientific (or is it) or anything overly technical or fancy, but aside from playing a full game of monopoly with our potential new recruits, we find this exercise is stimulating, fun and it gives us additional insights into how our Consultants ‘think’ and process information.

Just before I reveal our exercise, can I add that I read somewhere (perhaps someone can verify this) that we are no more than 7 questions away from getting the information we require. I don’t know if this is true, however I keep it in my mind as an ‘average’ when I go about my daily duties.

Armed with the above ‘un-confirmed’ knowledge, we set about to play the exercise which I call ’Who am I’?

‘Who am I’ is played by 2 players (can be played by a group, however in our interview scenario we play it one on one).  Player 1 (Employer) starts by writing down the name of someone famous, male/female, dead or alive, human/animated character etc on a piece of paper. This paper is then folded and put away (Player 2 should not be able to see it)  Player 2 then proceeds to ask a series of questions, to which Player 1 can only respond with a Yes or No.  The objective is for Player 2 to find out who  Player 1 is (or the name which Player 1 has written on the piece of paper)

Now, we are not ‘meanies’, so we don’t set a time limit, nor a question quota, on the questioning task. However in the real business world, It is often the case that you have a limited period of time to gather information correctly. This may be during a meeting with a client or customer, or during a phase of a project etc.  In business you most definitely do not have an endless period of time to complete a task, make a decision, or conduct research.  So time is key! Therefore utilising time correctly by asking the right questions in the first place is paramount to being efficient.

Going back to our game, It becomes fairly evident early on if Player 2 is struggling to at least ‘narrow down’ the shortlisted names.  For example, using an over simplified version of ‘Who am I’, lets say Player 1 writes down George Bush on the piece of paper. The following transcript between Player 2 and Player 1 could narrow down the answer:

Player 2    “Are you a human” (this clearly rules out all animated characters, Micky Mouse, Daffy Duck etc could all be eliminated from the equation)

Player 1    Yes

Player 2    Are you Male? (kiss goodbye to the ladies)

Player 1    Yes

Player 2    Are you from Europe? (Clever question tries to pin the geographical location of the person, by eliminating entire continents)

Player 1    No

Player 2    So are you from America? (Trying to narrow down the location)

Player 1    Yes

Player 2    Are you an entertainer on the screen? (This question covers movie and tv stars perhaps)

Player 1    No

Player 2    So are you a sporting personality? (now trying to pin point the profession on this individual)

Player 1    No

Player 2    Do you work in Politics?

Player 1    Yes

Player 2    Are you George Bush?

Player 1    Yes

So the example above shows that 8 questions later, Player 2 gets the desired response.  Now apply this to business.  Are you/ your staff applying careful questioning techniques when you go about your daily tasks?  Are you using time efficiently by preparing intelligent questions which gather the information correctly.  This form of questioning is often referred to as the ‘Funnel’ technique.  I personally don’t care much for the text book titles, however the cost of not using the right questioning technique, I can only imagine runs into its millions.

For us, we think it is time well spent, understanding (as much as we possibly can) how our Consultants gather and disseminate information they are presented with.  We then proceed to offer training for those who need to focus on their questioning techniques.  We strongly believe that this is the foundation of working more efficiently.  So far, it has worked for us, identify the training issue, train the person, evaluate the response, and monitor the work, then re-train if you have to, until the service offering is sharpened.

I don’t by an means suggest that we have got it 100% right, but I can say with some integrity that we do make a conscious effort to recognise that our Consultants operate at different levels of efficiency, and to create a sharp yet flexible approach, we take a dedicated approach towards improving the efficiency levels of each individual Consultant, which begins with their ability to ‘ask the right questions’, and build rapport with individuals and organizations we come into contact with.

My business and recruitment mentor from old, trained me to ask the right questions. She had it drilled in me to ultimately find out ‘What my candidate & client had had for breakfast’. She may not have meant this literally, but what she was ingraining from an early point in my career was to extract quality information by asking questions and developing a rapport.  I do this till this day.

How well do you and your employees know your customers, suppliers and associates.  Would you say you know  ‘What they have had for breakfast’?  Or are you operating on a superficial shallow platform which has no foundations for growing relationships?

I would be interested to know everyone else’s thoughts on this?  Since questioning techniques is an age old adage, what other factors do clients consider make their employees more efficient/inefficient?

La « Reine du vert » , comme l'ont surnommée ses admirateurs, s'est certes fait connaître dans les années 80 et 90 pour avoir introduit dans l'industrie de la beauté des valeurs humanistes : le respect de l'environnement (à l'heure ou cela n'était pas encore à la mode), la promotion de l'estime de soi, le respect des femmes, le refus des tests sur les animaux, etc.

Mais en 1976, lorsqu'elle ouvre sa première boutique, Anita Roddick a des préoccupations plus triviales que défendre la planète : elle cherche avant tout à trouver une solution pour arrondir ses fins de mois, et nourrir ses deux filles en bas âge...

Elle repeint les murs de sa petite boutique en vert fo ncé pour cacher les traces de moisissure ? Cela deviendra la marque de reconnaissance de toutes les boutiques « The Body Shop ». Elle n'a que 5 compositions artisanales à proposer ? Elle les décline en 5 conditionnements, pour donner l'impression d'avoir 100 produits... C'est ainsi que, contrainte par des raisons économiques, bousculée par « une série d'accidents » qui se révèleront « brillants » Anita Roddick a lancé une marque mondiale. Rachetée quelques 940 millions d'euros par L'Oréal en 2006...

Poker is a game associated with luck and random chance by most people. The immense media attention has contributed to a large extent, to the explosion in the number of poker players during recent years. The rules of the game are fairly straightforward, any amateur can be taught the game in no time. Due to this low learning curve, this game has witnessed a massive influx of players who just want to "try" their luck at it , so to speak.  Admittedly, there is an element of luck to this game, as there is with most card games. However, this element of luck creates a deceptive illusion, and beginners finds themselves losing rapidly to the more seasoned players. The fact of the matter is,  understanding probability stakes and an innate skill for reading people's faces provides stronger players, with a huge advantage in this game. 

There are a few parallels that can be drawn from the game of poker to strategy and business. Some key elements I drew from the game are:

1. Aggression: Calculated aggression in the game of poker, forces other players at the table to react to your style of playing. Done correctly, this enables stronger players to manipulate many situations to their advantage. In business, and specially strategic development, the same theory applies. If one remains passive in outlook and allows external factors to disrupt the game plan, progress will be slow. One has to be an instigator to bring change, and one needs to pursue goals aggressively to reach them. Sitting back and expecting things to happen is a flawed strategy.

2. Controlling Emotions: The players at a poker table who allow their emotions to override logic and rationale, are the first to lose their chips. There are very few games I have played, in which controlling emotions plays such a vital role. It has taught me a great deal about patience and keeping a level head even when things become terribly long. Developing such patience can help greatly in all aspects of life, and provide a distinct advantage over those who lose their cool too quickly.

3. Attention to Detail: The game of poker is about gathering as much information about other players as possible. This could be their betting patterns, gestures or even the way they talk. Poker, does to a large extent boil down to how well you can read your opponents. Players who are able to identify patterns earlier in the game, can win, regardless of what others may be holding in their hands. In business and strategic development the same rules apply. The inability to understand your competition and identify trends leaves your organization at a great disadvantage. 

Developing keen insights about your opponents, and understanding your own personal threshold limits can be extremely valuable assets. By the same token, knowing when to accept defeat and when to keep your calm is equally important. This game punishes those with large egos, and rewards those who are able to keep their emotions and egos in check. Life works in very similar ways, the sooner we get adept at understanding these intricacies, the sooner we can reach our goals.

The first days of training were the best: I got doses of the most positive reinforcement I've ever recieved, something I didn't get much of as a child.  My original intent was to work only a few hours per week, but I soon found myself wanting to work as hard as possible.  My division manager Mike Dawid (awesome guy) even gave me access to several motivational audio seminars, as well as books written by past Cutco reps and Robert Kiyosaki.  Ready to take on the world, I ended up selling $1,000 worth of Cutco in my first two days. 

After about a week and a half, I quit the Vector program.  I felt horrible for giving up on the team that was so inspiring to me.  It's not that the business plan didn't work, because I know it does.  If you want to make a few extra dollars selling Cutco, you definitely can if you're dedicated.  It requires spending a lot of time with your division manager and constantly improving your sales skills.  This is a great business if you don't have much money, and the promotions are there for those who want them. 

However, my original intent was to make a few extra dollars and focus more on my real estate business.  Vector was flexible with my schedule, but I was actually losing focus.  I knew that in order for me to be successful at Vector, it took a lot of dedication between office meetings and calling prospects. 

In addition, I learned that the real money wasn't in the knives, but in recruiting.  If you work hard selling Cutco you have the opportunity to become a division manager, which focuses more on recruiting sales reps.  As a division manager, I'm speculating that one makes a percentage of sales off of the reps, in addition to other types of bonuses.  I imagine this is where the true money is made.  YES, YOU REALLY CAN MAKE MONEY WORKING FOR VECTOR!  Too many people quit right away because they think it won't work! 

Vector requires that you invest a small amount of money for your demo kit and gas money, but this is true of any business. As for me, I didn't have any extra money.  My money was invested in my real estate, and I'm hardly rich as of right now.  Therefore, I didn't feel it appropriate to spend additional money trying to make it work. 

I also didn't wan't to build a business on a product that wasn't mine - that's the bottom line.  I had already experienced sales success when I worked in banking, and doing it all over again really didn't seem that appealing, despite the large dose of enthusiasm and encouragement I received.  Personally, I would rather work hard to be the one who creates the original idea.  If you really want to be rich, this is truly how it is done.  If you come up with just one good idea, you could hire all the sales reps you want.  Then YOU get to keep the larger portion of the pie, not your division manager or regional manager. 

Again, selling Cutco is great work if you have the time and energy to become a division manager and sell the system, instead of remaining a sales rep.  In my case, my real estate business was most important to me and I would end up losing my properties if I didn't stop spending money on gas and such.  Honestly, I didn't really spend that much selling Cutco, but it was more than I could afford at the time. 

Overall, if you're considering selling Cutco I would definitely recommend giving it a shot if you have time and a small amount of money.  It teaches you the reality of trying to promote a product without any help - you are responsible for your own success like any business!  That's the beauty of it. 

Does anyone out there have any experience with Vector????

Dekatkan diri Anda pada karyawan yang Anda pimpin. Pemikiran bahwa bergaul dengan bawahan itu buruk adalah salah besar. Jangan pernah memimpin dengan kekuatan dan kekuasaan yang Anda miliki, karena karyawan tidak akan ada yang bersimpati dengan Anda. Ketika waktunya Anda lengser, semua orang akan berbahagia. Bila menghadapi karyawan yang kinerjanya menurun maka selidiki dan bukan dimarahi. Cara yang paling murah dan efektif adalah tepuk punggungnya dan tanyakan ada permasalah apa. Dekati dengan pendekatan pribadi, layaknya seorang sahabat, seorang saudara yang ingin mencoba membantu. Bila hal ini Anda lakukan, karyawan akan menghargai Anda lebih dari seorang bos dan dijamin kinerja mereka akan meningkat kembali. Namun ada resiko bila hal ini dilakukan, yaitu setiap karyawan sedang memiliki masalah maka mereka akan menghampiri Anda untuk berkonsultasi. Mungkin Anda akan letih, namun ketika hal itu terjadi seharusnya Anda bersyukur, karena artinya karyawan Anda telah menghargai Anda dan menganggap Anda lebih dari sekedar seorang pimpinan.

Posisikan Anda sebagai pribadi yang menyenangkan dihadapan karyawan Anda. Bahkan sebisa mungkin saat Anda berada di dekat mereka, maka mereka akan mengajak Anda untuk bersenda gurau, berdiskusi, bahkan mengajak untuk makan bersama. Namun saat Anda tidak ada, mereka bekerja dengan giat karena berharap saat Anda datang pekerjaan mereka beres dan bisa bersenda gurau dengan Anda bahkan makan bersama dengan Anda. Selama ini yang sering terjadi di hampir semua perusahaan adalah ketika bos tidak ada, karyawan mengobrol, bercanda, dan hanya segelintir yang bekerja secara serius. Namun ketika bos datang, kantor menjadi sunyi senyap karena semua menjadi "sok" rajin bekerja karena takut dimarahi bosnya.

Banyak permasalahan timbul akibat kesalahan dalam komunikasi. Sebagai pimpinan, Anda harus belajar bagaimana mengkomunikasikan setiap instruksi kepada setiap karyawan. Bila karyawan Anda hanyalah tamatan SD, maka posisikan diri Anda sebagai seorang tamatan SD dan gunakan kata-kata yang dapat dipahaminya. Susi Pudjiastuti, wanita eksportir hasil laut dengan kualitas terbaik di negeri ini, pernah bercerita. Sebelum ia mengadakan pelatihan untuk nelayannya, seminggu sebelumnya ia berlatih dan mencari kata-kata yang tepat agar penjelasannya dapat dipahami seluruh nelayannya. Sehingga ia berani bilang, setiap ilmu yang diberikannya dapat diserap hingga 90% oleh para nelayannya.

Hal terpenting dalam komunikasi adalah komunikasikan kepada seluruh karyawan Anda bahwa pekerjaan yang mereka lakukan bukan untuk menyenangkan diri Anda, bukan untuk perusahaan, namun untuk kepentingan dan kemajuan bersama. Katakanlah "Ini bukan lahan saya, namun ini lahan kita. Mari kita garap bersama sehingga hasilnya dapat kita nikmati bersama!" Pastikan karyawan Anda memiliki satu visi dengan perusahaan dan bersama-sama bekerja untuk mewujudkannya.

Hal yang tidak kalah pentingnya adalah minta dan percayakan kepada karyawan Anda bila menghadapi suatu permasalahan maka sebisa mungkin berikan beberapa solusi sendiri. Dengan sendirinya mereka akan merasa dihargai, dipercaya, dan setiap ada permasalahan ia pasti akan bertanya kepada Anda apakah solusi yang mereka buat Anda setujui atau tidak. Anda tinggal berkata ya, tidak, atau mencoba memberi masukan lain. Bayangkan bila hal itu tidak dilakukan, maka setiap ada permasalahan yang dihadapi, semua karyawan Anda akan menghadap Anda dan Anda harus berpikir keras untuk mencari sendiri semua solusinya.

Inilah pelajaran yang saya dapat dari Pak Amar hari ini. Semoga bermanfaat.

First, let me say that I'm not a fan of either Presidential candidate. I mean really - can't we get better candidates to run for the nation's top office? One of my biggest complaints with both candidates is their populist economic rhetoric and a seeming lack of understanding of basic finance and economic principles.

Having said that - one candidate has been consistently leading in the polls and has a tax plan that, if enacted, will likely leave you with far less money from the sale of your business. The current capital gains tax rate is 15%. Barack Obama has promised to increase capital gains tax rates to between 20% and 28% if he is elected. While he has mentioned that he may exempt start-up businesses from capital gains, no detailed information has been provided about what criteria will be used to determine whether a business will be considered a "start-up".  Does "start up" mean a business less than 2 years old? One that has less than $200k in revenue? Even if you consider your business to be a start-up, I wouldn't count on it meeting the definition of a start-up necessary to avoid capital gains under Obama's plan.

So what does this mean? If a business had a basis of $1 million and it was sold for $5 million today, and $4 million was recognized as a capital gain you would pay $600,000 in capital gains tax.

Using the same scenario if Barack Obama is elected and passes his capital gains tax plan you would pay between $800,000 and $1,120,000 in capital gains tax.

Of course, if Obama is elected it is unlikely that he will get the capital gains tax rate changed immediately - so there is still probably time to act, but considering that the average marketing time for a small business is 6-8 months if you've been thinking of selling, it may be a good time to contact a business broker and start the process.

Codiligent is a Portland, Oregon Business Broker representing sellers of businesses with $500k - $20 million in annual revenue.

What is the age level and what kind of knowledge does your audience have? A layman might linger around a general site on gardening, but a professional botanist might turn his nose at the very same site. Similarly, a regular person will leave a site filled with astronomy abstracts but a well educated university graduate will find that site interesting.

Take your audience's emotional state into consideration when building your site. If a very irritated visitor searches for a solution and comes across your site, you will want to make sure you offer the solution right up front and sell or promote your product to him second. In this way, the visitor will put his trust in you for offering the solution to his problems and is more likely to buy your product when you offer it to him after that.

When you design the layout for your site, you have to take into account the characteristics of your audience. Are they old or young people? Are they looking for trends or are they just looking for information served without any icing on the cake? For example, introducing a new, exciting game with a simple, straightforward black text against white background page will definitely turn prospects away. Make sure your design suits your site's general theme.

Try to sprinkle colloquial language in your sites sparingly where you see fit and you will create a sense that your audience is on common ground with you. This in turn builds a trusting relationship between you and your audience, which will come in useful should you want to market a product to your audience.

The first control factor that you need to be aware of is the quality of your list selection or segmentation of your list.

It is important to make sure your list is appropriate to the product or service you are trying to sell.  It doesn’t make sense to send your marketing out to people who are not interested in what you are trying to sell. 

Spend the time and money to develop a list that is specific to your niche market or product.  The more focused your list the better results you will achieve.

Make sure your message is relevant and appropriate to your list of for you product or service.  This control factor is extremely important to follow so you can maximize your return on investment.

For example if you have a business that has multiple services or products make sure in your marketing pieces that you use testimonials that are going to be relevant to the service or product you are trying to sell.

It wouldn’t make sense if you are a clothes retailer sending out a marketing piece geared to reach women to have a testimonial from a male customer about men’s clothes.

Be sure to check back her in a couple of days to get the next two control factors.  Be sure to continue to check back to get all eight control factors to closing more sales.

If you like this type of material and live in the greater Nashville area I have a monthly marketing meeting for business owners and entrepreneurs you are welcome to come to.  Go to www.thewealthpage.com for more information or log into http://smallbiz.meetup.com/811/ for more information.

Even though many are throwing around the dreaded "recession" word, and there is a lot of financial uncertainty right now, there are plenty of new businesses being formed.  For those who have an idea and are motivated to start a business, they should know they are not alone.  Many are choosing now to start companies and form businesses.

Most companies in the United States are considered small businesses.  This should be comforting to those who are thinking about starting their business since these new captains of industry will fall into this category as well.  The small business owner and entrepreneur are in the majority when it comes to business in the United States.  They are the backbone of the economy and are the ones who push innovation forward.  Google, Microsoft, Levi's, McDonald's and other companies that have become a part of our culture, and a large part of our economy, started out as small businesses. 

The reasons why businesses continue to be started during the hard economic times, and why now may be the time to start your business, are varied.  For some, it is because a reshuffling of the economy has left them looking for something new.  For others, they are tired of what they have been doing and are ready for a change.  There are still others who are just ready to be their own boss and not slave away for someone else.  These are just a few of the reasons why many are breaking out and starting a company.

A limiting factor for many wishing to start a business may be the daunting task of trying to finance their idea.  Don't make the mistake of letting this keep you from starting a business.  There are still many angel investors and venture capital firms that are investing in new start-ups.  The economy has impacted the amount of money that investors are willing to commit to start-ups, but they still believe in new companies and what they are trying to do.  The dot-com boom and bust taught many investors valuable lessons that make them smarter and savvier in how they invest.  It also taught them that investing in the ideas of others can be profitable and that this investment is the way to grow the economy. This translates into the ability for new businesses to get the capital they need to get their operation off the ground.  A jolt of capital can also help take an established business to the next level as they may be making the push toward eventually going public. 

The lesson to be learned is that even though many are shouting about the difficulties posed by the economy, there are still others who are quietly starting new companies and seeing success as they implement their ideas.  MyCorporation offers an affordable way to start a corporation or LLC so that you have a formalized organization to launch your business.  With other services like trademarks, DBAs, business licenses, and the compliance protection package called MyIncGuard, new businesses can be set-up for success.  Follow your entrepreneurial spirit and call us today.

Bridge is a game that was played regularly by my grandparents and parents. As a result, I learned this game at a very young age. I still have many fond memories of sitting beside my grandparents while they played their weekly bridge game at our home. It was fascinating to see the dynamics between the four individuals who were playing. Being a team based game, I remember being told how critical it was to carefully select partners and develop relationships. Like any team based game there were arguments and disagreements over how certain hands were played, which actually added an exciting dynamic to the game. 

On the surface, bridge appears to be a simple game with set rules of how to play the 13 cards each individual is dealt. However, that is only the beginning. There are many intricacies and conventions which arise when you begin to talk about bidding tactics, counting cards, table play and being able to read your partners as well as the opponents. Some parallels I can draw from bridge in comparision to strategic thinking are:

1. Teamwork: Without teamwork bridge cannot be played optimally. It requires both partners to have established understanding of each other's style of playing  as well as the  conventions they follow and play to. From a strategic point of view one can draw parallels to business teams, as it is easy to tell which teams work well together as compared to those who don't. When a team is not looking at ways to improve communication and productivity together, they are missing out on massive potential. Therefore establishing team building skills through games like bridge can be extremely beneficial.

2. Communication: Bridge is all about communicating with your partner the strengths and weaknesses of your hand , and then go on to play the hand optimally. However, the bidding process is complicated and requires a deep understanding of bidding styles and conventions as well as interpretation of your partners bids. The team which is able to communicate most effectively is usually the one with a substantial advantage in the game. Strategically, the same conclusions can be reached regarding communication. If teams do not communicate effectively they will suffer as  a result. On the other hand effective team communication can develop into defining competitive advantages over peers.

3. Instincts: Trusting your gut becomes easier with time and experience. Initially there is doubt about one's instincts even when it appears to be a logical sequence. In bridge one needs to accurately place  one's opponents cards relative to bidding and past rounds. There needs to be confident dependence on one's ability to trust one's counting & retentive skills as well as instinct in the placement of cards. This develops ones ability to rely on one's instinct with greater comfort. Trusting your instincts when developing and executing strategy is necessary. Without it, you lack the confidence and ability to communicate effectively with the rest of the team. 

Bridge is an enjoyable game which sharpens analytical and team building skills. Unfortunately it is not a mainstream game and therefore does not enjoy the popularity of other card games such as poker. Nonetheless, it is a game I recommend, so learn it and play it as recreational activity among your team.

I haven't looked at anything other than the table of contents yet, but this seems to be worth your time.  If nothing else, their inclusion of a section on articulating a social impact model sets this apart from other business plan tools available for free online and makes it a compelling read for the social entrepreneur.

The pitch from publisher/consultant/sector leader Root Cause below:

I am pleased to announce the release of our organization¹s new book,
Business Planning for Enduring Social Impact: A Social-Entrepreneurial
Approach to Solving Social Problems, co-written by Andrew Wolk and Kelley
Kreitz.

You can purchase the paperback version online at Amazon.com or download a
free PDF copy at www.rootcause.org/bizplanning.

While there are countless books about writing business plans for financial
return or a nonprofit business venture, we wrote this book because there
were none we could find on how to write a business plan to solve a social
problem.

Business Planning for Enduring Social Impact applies the strategic rigor and
financial savvy of traditional private-sector business planning to social
problem solving. The guide provides an introduction to business planning and
leads readers through a four step process for creating an actionable
business plan. The book also includes a sample business plan!

We believe the book is an essential tool for organizations seeking to:

€ Define organizational focus and strategy, and establish a clear roadmap to
guide future action;
€ Build a financially sustainable model by creating a plan to establish
reliable streams of philanthropic income, earned income, and/or in-kind
resources;
€ Establish rigorous methods of measuring social impact;
€ Make data-driven decisions;
€ Build partnerships with organizations in the public, private, and
nonprofit sectors dedicated to solving social problems.

Well, hello there blog world!!!  Our names are not important (yet), but over time you will get to know us .  Sigh...well to be honest, my CAT5 cable just came out of my laptop as I was explaining who we are and now I am too lazy hahaha.  Should I or should I?  Eeeh...Its the first posting why not...We, the people who are in this blog, and the upcoming blogs are young entrepreneurs working on the establishment of a long, high-school dream of a................clothing...line.  Well, take that back, it is a clothing adventure, an experience, and we are our very own experiment. 

As most could imagine, I am sure all of you guys that are reading are saying "are you serious...you guys are doing a clothing line too?"  Hahaha, well just like the others make the claims, we would like to say we are different, and we are.  Our clothing is a refreshing pursuit to define ourselves and highlight the gift that all of us as humans seek to find...creativity. 

Like stated earlier (I think), we will be updating this blog very frequently with pics, videos, sneaker collections and pro-style hair gel on a regular basis, especially in the beginning, because we have SO MUCH TO EXPLAIN!!!

But for the mean time...let us tell you what we go by...what we stand by...what we live by...welcome to gByG...follow our lead.

Regardless of what the politicians are telling us, and regardless whether you deliver your products to the client or not the price of fuel is affecting you. It’s affecting your business because it’s affecting the consumer – your consumers.

In a recent survey done by the National Retail Federation they state, “Whether gas prices pose a fiscal or psychological concern consumers are affected regardless of income.”

Some interesting stats show that from the number of adults nationwide16.4% delayed a major purchase such as cars, TV, or furniture. Dining out has been reduced by 25.2%, 31.2% decreased vacation travel plans, 17.3% are spending less on groceries, and 23.7% are spending less on clothing.

That equates to the fact that restaurants, travel agencies, motel/hotels, car dealers, furniture stores, and retail clothing stores are all going to be affected by gas prices.  If any one of those listed is the business you’re doing, then your bottom line of profits is definitely affected.  The interesting part of all that is that it didn’t matter if those polled were in the $50K+ income bracket or less than $50K, the results were the same.

The only distinction seemed to be that adults in the age bracket of 45-54 years of age had the highest percentages but with the same outcome.  For instance of the 25.2% of adults that reduced dining out, 28.6% of them were in that age bracket, and so on down the line. The survey also noted that 70% of the consumers of that age group were impacted by higher gas prices.

As you might have guessed, when these survey figures were broken down by region the West was higher in all categories than the NE, Mid-West, or Southern regions. Still only 5.7% of us have increased carpooling.

It’s a fact, whether we like it or not, that every penny spent on gasoline is a penny kept from retailers.  Looking beyond just the retail industry, what about the service business.  The cost of doing business for a repairman is going to increase as the expense for gasoline increases, and ultimately his prices will reflect that increase.  It doesn’t matter whether he’s doing electrical, roofing, renovating, plumbing, whatever service drives up to your home is going to cost more in the long run.

Ultimately, as the domino effect goes into play, those who can least afford price increases will be the hardest hit.  Seniors and retirees on fixed incomes just have to suck it up and bear the price increases.  As the survey pollsters have said income levels didn’t vary results of choices, it still varies the ability to handle the domino effects.  If income remains stationery but prices rise, there’s definitely an affect on those with fixed incomes.

For the entrepreneur to overcome the situation it requires some really extreme methods.  Following are some tips to keep your expenses down:

• Order supplies online, anticipating a price increase, and have them delivered to you.
• Research your competitors online and save the gas.
• Group doing an errand or two when they’re in the vicinity of a scheduled client meeting.
• Do more of your business by mail, email, or on the internet.  You can do just about anything from paying a vendor to transferring funds from one bank account to another on the internet, and you don’t use any gas.  The only time you have to go to the bank is to make a deposit.
• If you conduct business at Trade Shows and have to travel find ways to cut corners.  Carpool to the airport with a colleague or even a nearby competitor. (You’re both going to be doing business at the same show anyway.)  Perhaps, you can combine two trips with only one return home after the second trip.  Perhaps putting an ad in the Trade Show program can save you making a trip. (You could use that plan for the less important trade show.)
• Consider whether media advertising for your business would be cheaper than what you’ve been doing in person considering gas prices.

That’s just a few ideas to get those little gray cells working.  After all, as an entrepreneur you’ve done marketing on a shoestring before.  I’m sure you can come up with at least ten more ideas than I’ve given you. You might also want to check out the web site: http://autos.msn.com/everyday/gasstations.aspx?=(put in your zip code)

At that site you can find the cheapest gas prices in your area.  I’d venture to say that these rankings change daily, so check it out when you need gas.

Best Regards,

Matt LaClear

Yang ingin ceritakan sekarang ini adalah, pesan sekaligus persyaratan tak tertulis, bahkan tersirat dalam ucapannya, yaitu mewajibkan saya menguasai bidang yang akan saya geluti. Beliau sangat menyayangi gaya bisnis orang Indonesia. Banyak (tidak semua) para pengusaha (terutama dalam bidang F&B) yang tidak mengerti dengan apa yang mereka jual. Mereka hanya memiliki modal berupa uang dan ide, namun penguasaan terhadap materi-materi yang mereka jual sangat lemah. Padahal penguasaan tersebut berperan penting pada kualitas yang berdampak pada perkembangan usaha. Hal inilah yang menyebabkan kita seringkali kalah bersaing dengan asing. Bahkan banyak pengusaha yang sepertinya memiliki prinsip "Kalo gagal ya mungkin memang itu bukan bidang saya, atau bukan rezeki saya." Padahal membangun usaha dan jatuh itu adalah hal yang buruk dan sia-sia tapi di Indonesia banyak sekali hal ini terjadi dan tampaknya sudah menjadi hal yang lumrah ketika memulai usaha, sudah seperti dianggap hal yang pasti terjadi khususnya bagi pemula.

Contoh adalah dalam bisnis kopi. Menurut beliau kalau mau terjun ke bisnis kopi kita harus menguasai semua hal yang berhubungan dengan kopi. Dari jenisnya, kesegaran produk, cara pengolahannya, dan penguasaan karyawan sendiri terhadap kopi yang dijual. Bagi para pecinta kopi, mereka bisa membedakan mana kopi kualitas tinggi atau tidak. Kopi bukan sekedar minuman, namun adalah seni. Saya sendiri diajarkan beberapa ilmu tentang kopi dan bagaimana cara mengetahui rasa kopi yang sebenarnya dalam sebuah cangkir yang panas. Kakak saya yang sudah terlebih dahulu mengenalnya dan belajar darinya memberitahu saya, bahwa kalau mau tahu rasa salah satu kopi dengan kualitas terbaik, coba ke starbucks. Baru mencoba tempat-tempat kopi yang lain untuk membandingkan rasanya. Saya sampai pada kesimpulan bahwa benar, kopi itu adalah seni.

Kami sempat berkeliling ke tempat-tempat kopi di Bandung, dan saya memperhatikan bagaimana beliau mengajukan pertanyaan-pertanyaan kepada pelayannya untuk mengetahui sejauh mana penguasaan mereka terhadap kopi yang mereka jual. Beliaupun selalu kecewa. Beliau bercerita kepada saya bagaimana starbucks bisa besar seperti sekarang dan bagaimana penguasaan karyawan terutama baristanya terhadap kopi. Pelatihan bagi karyawan starbucks sangat baik, bahkan untuk barista tidak semua bisa lulus dari pelatihan. Penguasaan terhadap penyajian, rasa, dan kopi itu sendiri sangat baik. Artinya bahwa untuk menjadi pengusaha, kita tidak cukup bermodal ketrampilan manajemen keuangan, manajemen karyawan, dan ide-ide kreatif. Totalitas dan penguasaan pendiri, pengelola, dan karyawan terhadap produk yang dijual adalah syarat mutlak. Mengapa keryawan menjadi penting? Karena merekalah para eksekutor, ujung tombak dari usaha yang kita jalankan.

Saya sendiri pernah membaca buku yang menceritakan sejarah awal starbucks. Bagaimana sang pembesarnya dahulu hingga ke Itali untuk mempelajari seperti apa warung-warung kopi di Italia, bagaimana hubungan yang mereka bentuk dengan pelanggannya, bagaimana penyajiannya, dan Iapun belajar untuk mengetahui bagaimana memproduksi kopi kualitas terbaik. Masih banyak cerita-cerita lainnya yang patut dicontoh. Saya sangat bersyukur karena saya mendapat seorang investor yang juga seorang guru. Sebenarnya banyak pelajaran-pelajaran lainnya yang diberikan beliau yang sungguh sangat berharga, namun pelajaran inilah yang sangat penting. Maka tugas saya sekarang adalah belajar sungguh-sungguh tentang bisnis yang akan saya geluti. Wah, bakal pulang dan bertahan lama di rumah juga akhirnya.

Who's got time to develop a business plan?!? 

If you’re like most entrepreneurs, you can certainly support the idea…but, when push comes to shove, you’re focusing on the day-to-day activities more than planning where your business should be going.

When we tackle the need for Fine Tuning Your Business - show #58 we are sensitive to that reality. At the same time, we know there are so many conventional resources available for developing business plans that it is often very hard to get excited about pulling a plan together – one that you’ll want to update during critical stages of your business such as expansions, increased competitiveness and/or calamities.

Rather than suggesting you adopt a traditional business plan, we recommend you create a "Passion Plan” - a plan that tells the inspiring and unique story about your business - within a business plan structure.

Why? Because, only plans that effectively capture your energy and enthusiasm will really take root in the hearts and minds of those who have to live the plan each and everyday – i.e. your employees, your investors and of course…you!

Listen to Fine Tuning Your Business – show #58 and you’ll get other real-life practical suggestions that will help your business plan – and therefore your business – achieve new heights!

Remember: Subscribe to the BusinessCast Podcast at iTunes

Entrepreneur.com wrote “…A martial arts school can be an expensive new business venture to set in motion. However, the average cost now paid by a student per year for martial arts training is in excess of $600. Providing the business could train 200 students per year, this would result in revenues exceeding $120,000, based on an average of $600 per year per student. Needless to say, this type of specialized instruction can be very financially lucrative. In addition to group training, one-on-one martial arts training is also becoming popular for the serious student who is prepared to pay $40 per hour or more for an intensive training session..” see Business Idea Center: Martial Arts

Ethan Willis and Randy Garn knew firsthand the need of many young owners for personalized guidance in starting and growing a business. This is the spark that led them to found Prosper Learning (Prosper Inc.), whose motto is, “Your life is your business . . . Making it Prosper is ours.”(see CNET Networks, Inc ref Provo company works to make clients Prosper Deseret News (Salt Lake City),  Jun 26, 2005)"

“Business
Martial Arts”

For more :Ethan Willis and E-strengths assessment helps Martial Artists and Ethan Willis-Great Author and Warrior

For the small business owner, this continual addition of roles and responsibilities is a major reason why, though I am sure budgets are always the bottom line, working with a consultant on an hourly or per project basis, is a major stress release.  When you have to wear the hat of accountant, HR manager, sales manager, owner, marketer, strategist and much more, something always has to give.  There are some things you can not go thin on, such as payroll, taxes and regulated issues.  So where does the sand usually run out?  Sales and Marketing.

Most small businesses contract out their payroll, some contract out human resource areas such as health insurance, dental, retirement planning, etc, but many don't even think about trying to find someone to coach them, assist them or contract for them in the areas of sales, marketing and business development strategy.  For myself I would love to find someone to help me with my business development and sales follow up.  However, I am in the same boat as all business owners, especially those just starting up.  I don't have the income flowing as smoothly and as fast as one would like, so my cash-flow out, is stunted.

So what am I, and can you do?  Hunt for those free resources.  Utilize the SBA website, check out free webinars through your vendors, check out on-line news resources and most importantly scope out your competitors.  If you see what they are doing, especially those with large market shares, you can copy what they are doing, take their ideas and make them your own, go where they go, etc.  Why reinvent the wheel when you can follow the path that is already paved.  Once you have more time, more resources, branch out on your own, hire those resources you desperately need and blow the competition out of the water.

Hopefully tomorrow will be a new post on the value of target marketing, customer segmentation and how to do this all without paying anyone.

The scene: The weekly meeting where top employees pitched ideas to bolster the online DVD-rental company's website.

He zeroed in on the button that customers click to say they are not interested in films Netflix recommends to them. In earlier meetings, everyone agreed to ditch the button to make the site less cluttered.

Yet there it was.

"Less is more," Hastings reminded the eight employees assembled in a conference room last month.

Hastings' focus on such details is a major reason the company he founded in 1997 is reshaping how millions of Americans watch movies. He's also helping upend the film industry. Netflix makes it easy to watch DVDs at home, delivered by the millions in Netflix's ubiquitous red envelopes.

The Friday meeting was one of many at which Hastings, 45, cajoled, quizzed and pushed workers in his drive to keep Netflix No. 1. He led 150 staffers in a pep rally at the Silicon Valley headquarters. He asked about store closings at rival Blockbuster. And he fretted over post office delivery schedules.

No surprise, says Bob Pisano, president of the Motion Picture Association of America, and a former Netflix director. Hastings, an engineer, is analytical and "very charismatic," he says. "That's a rare combination."

Hastings has fended off Wal-Mart and Blockbuster, sending Netflix shares soaring. Wall Street is expecting more good news today when Netflix reports quarterly results after markets close.

But Hastings isn't out of the woods. He's trying to protect a customer base of more than 4 million as digital entertainment shifts rapidly. Broadband distribution of movies and TV shows is fast becoming reality: ABC will start testing free online delivery of Desperate Housewives and other top shows next Monday.

Online retailer Amazon has talked to Hollywood studios about adding movie and TV show downloads to its website. Apple Computer hit the gas pedal last fall when it launched $1.99 downloads of ABC shows and other videos at its iTunes online store.

"All these competing products via digital delivery and not mail order," says analyst Frank Gristina at investment banker Avondale Partners. The pace, he says, has "clearly accelerated."

Hastings, a Boston native, isn't sweating yet. He's aiming to build an even bigger customer base — 20 million as early as 2010 — to ready Netflix for an eventual shift to downloads. That switch depends on several factors, he says. Critical hardware and software haven't been perfected. There aren't enough movies available in downloadable form. Plus, studios must still work out licensing agreements with existing distributors.

Eureka moment: $40 late fee

Hastings looks a bit like a younger version of another movie industry pioneer: producer George Lucas, best known for his Star Wars blockbusters. Yet, it was another space-themed film that inspired Hastings — indirectly, anyway — to start Netflix.

First, the back story: After getting a math degree at Bowdoin College in 1983, Hastings sought adventure for more than two years as a Peace Corps math teacher in Swaziland. "Absolutely loved it," he recalled in an interview.

Next came Stanford in Silicon Valley's sunny Palo Alto, a dream compared to chilly New England. "You'll never see me again," he told his parents. "I've found nirvana."

He got a computer science degree in 1988, then jumped into the region's entrepreneurial hothouse. He launched a software maker, Pure Software. It was a trying time. His engineering background made him too much of a perfectionist. As CEO, he was too hard on himself. He told his board of directors to replace him with a "real" CEO.

"I tried to fire myself — twice," he says. "I was losing confidence."

No dice, the board said. Pure Software eventually was sold to Rational Software for more than $500 million. Hastings got a pile of loot. He moved to his other passion, public education reform, as head of the California Board of Education.

Then nine years ago, Netflix. The eureka moment arrived when he handed over $40 in late fees after returning a copy of Apollo 13 to a rental store. He wasn't especially a film buff; his tastes lean toward foreign and independent films. Still, he figured there had to be a better way, built on the fast-growing Internet. He dangled an irresistible carrot to customers: No late fees, which he knew consumers loathed.

Netflix is now the world's biggest online DVD rental service. It went public in 2002. It has 4.2 million subscribers across the USA. They tap a library of 55,000 titles and 42 million DVD copies shipped from 37 distribution centers.

Netflix's current stock sizzle is a switch from when Hastings was battling new entrants Wal-Mart and Blockbuster. Wal-Mart retreated last year. "Blockbuster was a much bigger threat," Hastings says. "It was a strategic area for them."

A price war drove Netflix shares below $10 before they rebounded. They closed Friday at $30.80, down 31 cents for the day but up from $12.15 a year ago.

Blockbuster is still struggling with its rent-by-mail service. Its shares closed Friday at $4.81, down 7 cents — and well off its year-ago $10.28. It's fighting back by aiming for 2 million online subscribers by year's end, up from 1.2 million in December, spokeswoman Karen Raskopf says.

An Oscar boost

At the meeting last month, Hastings wore jeans, a brown leather sport coat and a wall-to-wall smile.

He was in high spirits at the Netflix complex, where bathroom doors bear pictures of Fred Astaire and other stars. Hastings and other top executives briefed staffers in an auditorium. Blockbuster had just reported dismal quarterly results.

The meeting highlight was a traffic report from the previous Sunday's Oscars telecast. Customers swarmed the site throughout the show, adding a combined 33,449 movies to the wish lists they build in their online accounts.

Finally, Hastings asked employees for surveillance reports on nearby Blockbuster closings. An employee shouted the location of one with the enthusiasm of a hunter bringing home a trophy.

The meeting ended, and workers filed past a huge bottle of sparkling wine, festooned with the tag: "To be opened when we surpass five million subscribers."

Hastings hustled to an underground garage for a drive in an unusual hailstorm to a huge distribution center in nearby Sunnyvale, pausing just long enough to check his ever-present BlackBerry.

He's intensely private about his personal life. Asked for names of friends or contacts who know him outside work, he supplied a list of industry veterans. They included Pisano, the motion picture association president.

Pisano, who left the Netflix board when he joined the trade group, says it's "astonishing" that Hastings has scored two start-up home runs. It's all about engineering — Hastings' background. "Business is essentially assembling a whole bunch of moving parts," Pisano says.

To be sure, Netflix's much-praised customer service has had hiccups. Subscribers have complained about its so-called throttling policy, where it sometimes delays shipments to frequent renters to give priority to customers who hold DVDs longer. The company settled a class-action lawsuit over the practice.

To win more business, Hastings pushes to fine-tune Netflix's software and the website's appearance. That was the agenda for the meeting later that afternoon where Hastings groused about the "not interested" button.

Employees demonstrated software that would let customers access the site from cellphones, searching for DVD titles and adding them to wish lists. Hastings warmed to the idea, but asked how it would work on different cellphone screen sizes. The meeting ended on a high note. Hastings called the ideas presented "unbelievably cool."

More changes are afoot. Last week, Netflix announced a further expansion into buying and distributing independent films and TV shows with the hiring of two entertainment industry executives for Netflix's Beverly Hills office.

In Hastings' march to 20 million subscribers, he's aiming for customers such as Jon Murray in Lansing, Mich. Murray, 50, his wife and two teenage daughters rent about two movies a month from Blockbuster. They were Netflix customers two years ago. They quit because they don't like choosing and scheduling movies in advance.

Hastings doesn't give up on the Murrays of the world without a fight. He beats the customer-service drum. The never-ending goal, he says: "connect people to movies they'll love — easily."

Finally my brethren, the work has been done, and I'm ready to advertise!!

I have met and networked with some fabulous people this week in the VA industry as well; a few possible clients.

I especially look forward to speaking with Rob Neilly from Delphian VA. I had a call with him yesterday. I call Rob my "mentor" but Shhh...don't tell him that! I don't think he knew what he was signing up for when I contacted him a few months ago. But all jokes aside Rob has been an asset to my business. Thank you Rob for your help!

The sun is still shining! And if it doesn't I'll have my umbrella handy!