Monday, December 15, 2008

You Can See Your Future With A Vision

Study your present situation thoroughly. Go over in your imagination the various courses of action possible to you. Visualize the consequences which can follow from each course. Pick out the course which gives you the most promise and go ahead. Many successful people use this skill of mental visualization. They mentally run through important events before they happen. Picture yourself in your minds eye as already having achieved your goal. See yourself doing the things you'll be doing when you've reached your goal. You can put your subconscious to work toward making your mental pictures come true. Go over your day in your imagination before you begin it. You can begin acting successfully at any moment. See the things you want as already yours. Think of them as yours, as already in your possession. You can see your future with a vision and live your dreams.

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Friday, November 28, 2008

Exciting Free Online Advertising Service

My last article contained some exciting news. As I mentioned, 104inc recently launched an exciting Free Online Advertising service which gets your website submitted, listed and linked to Thousands of 104inc branded websites and hundreds of search engine optimization (SEO) web link directories.

For more information visit:http://www.104inc.com/

You may be asking yourself… WHY would I want to take advantage of this free new service? Well… here’s why, you get:
* Automatic submissions into thousand of 104inc websites.
* Permanent web links help you achieve better rankings in the search engines.
* A steady increase in your links will occur because the submission process is professionally done

over several months — just what the search engines love to see!
The end result is that this is free marketing that will drive traffic direct to your site in multiple ways … You get traffic from the web related websites AND over time you will get a nice boost in your search enginges ranking. This service will have a positive lasting effect on your website and business.

For more information or to get started click here now:http://www.104inc.com/The Free Online Advertising Service gets you PERMANENT LINKS - something that every website business needs to succeed! Just visit 104inc.com and register today to start driving more visitors to your business.

Friday, November 21, 2008

Four Key Tips To Mentoring!

The Key to mentoring is often the special effort, imagination, insight or awareness that the mentor gives - effort that goes above and beyond the expectations of the existing relationship.
Below are some factors which can influence whether an acquaintance, co-worker, friend or relative makes the transition to the role of a mentor.
* Mentoring requires a primary focus on the needs of the mentee and an effort to fulfill the most critical of these needs.
* Mentoring is often built on a just-in-time principle where the mentor offers the right help at the right time. A potential mentor must recognize when the mentee feels free to expose a deep-felt need, thereby enabling the mentor to provide the right help at the right time to the best of the mentor’s ability.
* Much of what the mentor offers is personal learning or insight, which has never been written down anywhere. The mentor may not be aware of what he or she can offer until a mentee expresses a need or desire and the mentor realizes there may be a match between something they know and what their mentee needs.
* Mentoring requires going the extra mile for someone else. Many people may think twice about adding such a commitment to their busy lives. However, if they choose to do so, the rewards of personal achievement, mentee appreciation, and sense of helping to build a better society can be enormous.

Information Monitoring: Identifies monitoring needs

Determines which systems, processes, or areas need to be monitored; identifies what information needs to be obtained. The first step to effectively monitoring information is to decide what areas of your job or organization need to be tracked. Once you've determined what those areas are, you then need to focus on gathering the information that best tracks them.
For example, an objective in your performance plan includes your area meeting certain sales goals. Naturally, you'll want to monitor the company's monthly sales reports, but you must decide exactly what data you will use from this sales report. In this instance you would focus specifically on the number of sales budgeted for your area versus the number of sales actually made.1. Determine what areas to monitor.Information monitoring can be a powerful tool to help you meet objectives, encourage appropriate actions, and keep surprises to a minimum.
"It is pardonable to be defeated, but never to be surprised." -- Frederick the Great
When you monitor systems, processes, areas, or goals for which you are responsible, you are

tracking:


People.
Outputs.
Resources.


People perform the tasks necessary to achieve department and organization goals. To guide their efforts, you might use information monitoring systems such as:


Personnel procedures or policies.
Performance management systems.
Reports on progress, productivity, or projects.


Outputs are the things you or your group produce. It's important that these things--whether they're shoe sales, rocket designs, network software programs, or candy bars--be monitored for quality, quantity, and timeliness. You can monitor output information by:


Defining production levels in terms of quantity, quality, and timeliness.
Regularly comparing actual performance against established standards.
Tracking waste, rework, defects, and non-value-added process steps.
Resources include money, materials, and equipment. You need to monitor information around:


Purchasing policies and procedures.
Financial and cost controls.
Expenditures.


If you're unsure what information you need to monitor, review your or the company's performance plan. The objectives in it should help you identify where to focus your efforts. Make sure you're familiar with the organization's and your department's performance objectives, business plan, critical success factors, values, and vision. These are all excellent sources that can help you determine what information systems you need to monitor.
As an executive, Ryan monitors people, outputs, and resources by using a detailed operational plan. He often uses Pert or Gantt charts to control the various activities that need to be accomplished to finish a project. He also sets time limits and integrates these limits when planning work. This information monitoring system allows him to direct and track how much time, material, or human resources he needs to assign in order to meet organizational goals.
Angela, a team leader on an assembly line, monitors the weekly defect report. Monitoring this information helps her pinpoint significant trends and gives her ideas on how to lower her team's error rate.


Thomas' objective is to edit an average of 100 pages of text a week. To ensure he meets or exceeds his goal, he logs in the number of pages he edits each day. At the end of each week, he totals the figures to see if he is on track. Once a month, Thomas checks his average. If he is below average, he puts off reading unrelated memos and e-mail messages to raise his average. When he was above average, Thomas signed up for a class on marketing to expand his writing skills.
2. Determine what information is needed.Now that you've identified the areas you would like to monitor, you next need to determine the specific information you will monitor. This depends on your position, your performance goals, your department's objectives, and your company's business plan.


For example, a customer service manager is held accountable for customer satisfaction and therefore might want to monitor information on any or all of the following topics:
Customer satisfaction survey scores.
The number of times a telephone rings before it is answered.
The number of times a customer's call is transferred before he or she speaks with the right person.


The number of complaints per sale.
The number of successful service interactions versus number of complaints. Here are some additional examples of data that might be appropriate to monitor, depending on your job:
Scrap rates
Safety violations
Associate attendance
Job satisfaction
Turnover rates
Total sales
Error rates
Equipment downtime
Productivity


Production rates Measuring performance is an essential element of information monitoring. Some data, like error rates and equipment downtime, is easily measured. Other information, like changes in organizational climate or the results of advertising campaigns, is more difficult to measure.


Sean, vice president of the Facilities Planning and Maintenance department, needs to closely monitor machine breakdowns. This information is necessary for a number of reasons. First, he needs to predict and budget for when a machine will need to be replaced. In addition, he needs to be aware of when equipment downtime is most likely to occur so he can properly schedule repair people.

Susan, a customer service representative, was frustrated. Every time a customer complained to her, all she could do was apologize. It was costing her and the company sales, which hurt her paycheck. She talked with a coworker and they agreed to start tracking when customers threatened to do business elsewhere and their reasons why. After one month they discovered a trend and reported it to their manager. The manager was thankful and said their initiative would give him the information he needed to improve the product.

Monday, October 13, 2008

We Don’t Need Playoffs in College Football?

View of Cotton Bowl Stadium from the Missouri ...Image via WikipediaUSC was the top ranked team for the first 4 weeks of the college football, until they lost to Oregon State in Corvallis. Oregon State isn’t a bad team, but USC shouldn’t have lost to them. Their only excuse is that it was a road game. But, shouldn’t national championship teams be able to win on the road?

The University of Oklahoma took over as the top team for the next 2 weeks until they got beat at the Cotton Bowl by the University of Texas this past weekend. This is a big rivalry game, so ratings don’t matter when these teams play. Texas beating Oklahoma isn’t a big upset.

The teams that remain undefeated are Texas, Alabama, Penn State, Texas Tech, Oklahoma State, BYU, Utah, Tulsa, and Ball State. Texas, Texas Tech, and Oklahoma State all play each over the next 4 weekends. So, only one of those teams will be undefeated and odds are all of them will suffer a defeat.

BYU and Utah play each other on November 22nd, which means one of those teams will be knocked from the ranks of the unbeaten. The winner of that game will probably be undefeated. Ball State is ranked 25th and faces a hard time moving far enough up in the ratings to even get into a BCS game. They also face two-time defending MAC champion Central Michigan on the road. Neither Boise State nor Tulsa is even ranked, so they don’t count.

That leaves us with Penn State as the only other team that has a chance at an undefeated season. They have their two hardest games at home – Ohio State and Michigan State. Penn State has looked tough, but losing one of those games wouldn’t be surprising.
Put all those things together and either BYU or Utah has a good chance to be in the BCS championship game. Boise State was a nice story when it beat Oklahoma in the Fiesta two years ago, but that wasn’t the national championship game. BYU or Utah will definitely lose to the winner of the SEC title game and would even be trounced by loser of that game.

It is time for a playoff in college football. Something like an 8 team playoff that could still use the existing bowl games. We just want a little fairness in the world and that is what 104inc.com is about.
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Sunday, October 12, 2008

I don't Care About Health

Icon from Nuvola icon theme for KDE 3.x.Image via WikipediaThey say it is but why? Who pays these people to tell us that good health and exercise are important? The health industry is a $500 billion dollar industry and growing. Think about it. You exercise and you exercise and what do you have to show for your results sore back, bad knees, messed up elbow. Then you go to doctors you make billions of dollars prescribing you drugs to make you feel better. Wait all those drugs have side effects. They can kill you, or cause heart damage of liver disease, etc, etc, etc. So then you go back for more pills and surgery. This is all done in the name of good health.

So is exercise and good health important? Doctors say it is. How do doctors make money? They need to treat sick people. If people did not get sick we would not need doctors. If people did not get hurt we would not need doctors. That would mean that we would not need drug companies or insurance companies. We would save so much money by not having gym memberships, dealing with doctors, insurance companies. That would then reduce or level of stress and we would live longer.

That sounds like a better deal to me then exercising. Just eat better reduce your stress and you will live longer. Some people may say I am crazy but it sure makes sense to me. We are to busy complicating life. We need to step back and realize that we are just animals that were put on this earth to procreate and eat. Why do we have to have a higher purpose then that?

Let’s discuss this more at 104health.com.

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Al-qaida is Winning the War and we are to blame!

ARLINGTON, VA - MAY 26:  U.S. President George...Image by Getty Images via Daylife

You don’t think so? Your stock portfolio is shrinking, your 401k is not worth anything, you have you’re your home plummet in value, and your bank is out of business. So do you still think we are winning this war against them?

Let us examine the situation. How do you do the most damage all western powers? Is it by killing their people? Is it by overthrowing a government? The answer is none. You destroy them by disrupting what they love most; Money, Power and Greed. The world trade center gets attacked. The world trade center represented the financial strength of this nation and a sign of stability. Things are not very stable now.

The governments of the world that are supported by the US rally to fight a war on terror. Our government is more focused on this war on terror then anything else in our country or around the world. Enter the greed and money. The wealthiest people in the world convince the government to deregulate a number of industries which opens up a faucet of riches to these people. These greedy people then manipulate the system to their advantage rape the world and walk away.

Let us now fast forward to October of 2008. We are no longer facing a US economic meltdown. We are actually facing a worldwide financial crisis, a destruction of our financial markets as we know it today. This crisis is going to destroy wealth around the world. It is going to create fear, hatred and destruction among countries and people. Why do you think the holocaust started? Hitler said that it was the fault of the Jews that their economy was so bad. He said if the people of Germany put him in charge he would get rid of the Jews and the German people would prosper with jobs.

Looks like history is repeating itself, we are on the verge of a worldwide great depression. We will then blame someone and World War III will be in affect. So let me ask you this question again. Is Al-Qaida winning the war and achieving their goals. I think so. They wanted chaos in our society and we let it happen. Shame on us.

Does this mean it is too late? Hell No! What is the solution? Not sure yet. Maybe this can be discussed at 104inc.com.

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Wednesday, October 8, 2008

How to Stay Safe When Driving in Winter Rain, Snow, Ice and Fog

What you need to know when driving your car during the winter months, it’s important for you to know all the features on your car very well, especially during winter. Because when you are presented with rain, ice, fog and slippery roads, your car will react much differently then at other times. So what will you need to know when you are driving in hazardous condition? I’ll give you 5 tips below to help you .

#1 How driving at a lower speed will decrease your chances of an accident

This is one of the simplest things we can do. Unfortunately we all have busy lives and are always in a hurry. There are so many things like getting our kids to school or going to work, grocery store, repairs on the car and much more. Usually we are always running behind schedule and the first thing we do is speed up. This is a huge mistake especially when it first starts to rain and the oil from the surface of the ground comes up and that makes for a very slippery road and increases the chance of you getting into an accident.

#2 How leavening your headlights on gives you more visibility

This is another simple thing you can do to ensure the safety of you and everybody else. Studies have shown that driving with your lights on will increase the chance of another driver seeing you earlier and helping to avoid an accident.

#3 How applying your brakes slowly will prevent your car from sliding

Make sure to never slam your brakes while driving in the ice, rain or snow. If you do slam your breaks, then your car will be sliding all over the road because your tires will lose traction. If you live in the mountains where it snows a lot then it is best to get snow tires VS the all season tires and use chains for even better traction.

#4 How to be careful regardless of the type of vehicle you drive.

The reason I say that is because some people that have bigger cars or that have four wheel drive vehicles think “I will be ok if I drive fast and change lanes recklessly” but you have to realize that your car is also heavier and if something happens, it will cause a bigger accident. The bigger the car the harder it will be for you to handle and for you to break in time, especially in a wet environment.

#5 checking your tires

Make sure that you have a mechanic check your tires and see if they are ok and they are not bald on the side or in the middle. Tires are very important for you especially when it is raining, because when the tires are bald and you drive on them they do not hold to the ground and you are more likely to sliding all over the road and lose control or your car.


Make sure during the winter time that you try and go with some of the basic information that I have given you. This will help you and others on the road.

Friday, October 3, 2008

Use Communication Skills To Reach Your Career Goals

Communication skills involve both speaking and listening to the client and showing your sincerity and professionalism. Communication involves receiving information, processing information and responding. You do this in a sequence of actions that require you to be attentive.
As a Sales Associate, you will depend upon your communication skills from the Meet/Greet to Thank/Follow-up।

You probably spend more time using your listening skills than any other kind of skill. Like other skills, listening takes practice. What does it mean to really listen? Real listening is an active process that has three basic steps.
Hearing. Just means listening enough to catch what the speaker is saying. For example, say you were listening to a report on zebras, and the speaker mentioned that no two are alike. If you can repeat the fact, then you have heard what has been said.
Understanding. The next part of listening happens when you take what you have heard and understand it in your own way. Let's go back to that report on zebras. When you hear that no two are alike, think about what that might mean. You might think, "Maybe this means that the pattern of stripes is different for each zebra."
Judging. After you are sure you understand what the speaker has said, think about whether it makes sense. Do you believe what you have heard? You might think, "How could the stripes be different for every zebra? But then again, fingerprints are different for every person. I think this seems believable."

There are three forms of listening: passive, selective and active.
Passive listening is a non-verbal form of listening. The listener provides little to no verbal feedback to the client. Passive listening can lead your clients to assume that you are not really interested, or they may feel it necessary to repeat themselves to ensure that you understand.
Selective listening can be summed up as “hearing what you want to hear.” When selective listeners hear what they want to hear, they appear to be engaged and to understand. Conversely, when selective listeners do not hear what they want to hear, they tune out the client, or worse, become reactive.
Active listening is sometimes referred to as reflective listening. Active listeners receive clients’ messages with care and respect and then work to verify their understanding of the message. Active listeners capture both the facts and the feelings of clients. Some behaviors to use are:
· Show patience
· Give verbal feedback to summarize understanding
· Acknowledge emotions
· Speak up when something is unclear, or confusing
Fundamental to good communication is using “active listening.” Whenever you listen actively to another person’s comments, your reason for doing so is to understand the meaning of the message from the speaker’s point of view.
Your clients have choices. If you don’t make them feel welcomed and valued, you will likely lose them as a client.

Wednesday, October 1, 2008

You Should Vote None of the Above

Second inauguration of Mayor Michael Bloomberg...Image via Wikipedia

In 1985 a movie came out staring Richard Pryor and John Candy called “Brewster’s Millions.” The plot: A minor league baseball player has to waste $30m in 30 days in order to inherit $300m; however he's not allowed to tell anyone about the $300m deal. It sounds easy but it is not because he could not have any assets to show for his wasteful spending. They had limitations such as how much you could give to charity and lose gambling etc.

The movie illustrates how difficult it is to spend that amount of money and to not have anything to show for it. It is funny how our government can spend $700 Billion of our tax money and easily have nothing to show for it. The roads are not fixed. Traffic congestion is at an all time high. My health care costs are not paid for, the school districts waste our tax dollars on stuff that does not help educate my children, and the list goes on and on.

Getting back to the movie, one of the biggest ways to waste money is to run for public office. Richard Pryor’s character learned that and decided to run for Mayor of New York City. In that seen he made a very interesting observation. He pondered the question, “Why are the candidates spending millions of dollars to run for public office when the job itself pays about a fraction of what is being spent to run for office?”

Do any of you ever wonder that same question? I believe the President of the United States which is the highest paying job in our Federal Government which $400,000 per year as of 2000. The president also can get a pension that can pay him or her over $7M in paid benefits before they pass away. Also keep in mind that most of the people that run for office are already rich like George Bush and are Multi-Millionaires.

So why spend $500M - $1B for a presidential campaign for a job that only returns a fraction of that. The ROI there is not positive but negative. Not only that who are the people that are donating all this money and why is it so important that their candidate win? Because these are very rich people who want to get richer and stay rich. They are paying for their government. Your $5 donation to Barack Obama or John McCain is not going to get you good government. If these candidates want to be president so bad let them spend their own money.

They won’t because they are not stupid. The system was created to keep the powerful in power and the weak out of office. They do not want to do right by the American People. They only want to do right for their friends. Why aren’t more Americans standing up and asking these questions? Why aren’t more Americans upset about how things are going on Main Street and Wall Street? If you are so upset why do you only vote Republican or Democrat? How about None of the Above? Vote but make your vote count and show that you all have a lack of confidence in both candidates and you want and deserve more choices except for the same 2 people that they recycle every 4 years.

Join the revolution at 104inc.com and voice your opinion. VOTE NONE OF THE ABOVE this November.

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