Monday, July 31, 2006
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Sunday, July 30, 2006
Saturday, July 29, 2006
Thinking Out Of The Box
from
Improve The Quality of Your Thinking
Human beings are mental organisms. Everything we are or ever will be, will be as the direct result of the way we think. If we improve the quality of our thinking, we must improve the quality of our lives.
And, there is no other way to do it.
Youth and Creativity
In one series of I.Q. tests given to children ages 2 - 4 years, 95% of the children were found to be highly creative with curious, questioning minds and an ability for abstract thinking.
When the same children were tested again at age 7, only 5% still demonstrated high levels of creativity. In the ensuing years, they had learned to conform; "If you want to get along, you had better go along," is what they had discovered.
The Dangers of Conformity
They had learned to color between the lines, to sit in neat little rows, to do and say what the other kids did and said, and to do as they were told. Over time, they lost the wonderful fearless spontaneity of youth and learned to suppress ideas and insights that were unusual or different.
Aggressively Seek New Ideas
Most of us have had similar experiences. The "Not invented-here" syndrome in many large companies is simply the adult version of "not rocking the boat." But fortunately, since creativity is your birthright, a fundamental part of your nature, you can tap into it at any time, no matter how long it has been since you really used it.
Action Exercises
Here are two things you can do to start thinking outside of your mental box.
First, imagine that there was a vastly better, cheaper, faster way to do your job — and somebody else had already discovered it and was going to put you out of business.
Second, imagine doing exactly the opposite of what you are doing today. Allow your mind to float freely and consider how current trends will change your business.
Bar Furniture For Your Home
Bartending Schools Articles - Bartending Schools Information: "Bar Furniture For Your Home"
How To Succeed in Business
from
Enhancing your Financial Success.
The high road to becoming a self-made millionaire in America is starting and building your own business. But this is not as easy as it sounds. Most businesses started by inexperienced people fail. Probably the primary reason why people don't start businesses is because they're afraid that they're going to lose their money and for good reason. 99 percent of businesses started by people lacking business experience fail within the first two or three years.
Why Businesses Fail
And why is that? It's because they don't know how. They haven't the slightest idea how to make a business successful. They may have an idea for a product or service, but they don't know all the things that they need to know to run a successful business.
Why Businesses Succeed
However, surprisingly enough, 80 percent of businesses started by experienced businesspeople succeed. Now why should this be so? The reason is because experienced businesspeople know what to do. They know how to purchase their products and their services. They know how to negotiate with their suppliers. They know how to raise money. They know how to negotiate leases. They know how to sell and to market. They know how to manage their finances. In other words, experience is the key. In order to start your own business and succeed, you have to learn how.
Competence Makes the Difference
Now according to Dunn and Bradstreet, 96 percent of businesses in America that fail, fail because of what is called managerial incompetence. Managerial incompetence means that the people running the businesses don't know what they're doing. And here are the two critical areas of managerial incompetence that cause business failure. First is sales and marketing. 48 percent of businesses that fail in America fail because the business cannot sell enough of its products or services. Very few businesses fail when they have high levels of sales and revenues coming in.
Control Your Costs
The second reason that businesses fail, 46 percent, is because of poor cost control. They may be selling enough on the front end, but they're losing so much on the back end that they go broke anyway. Sales and marketing, financing and cost control, both require experience. And if you're serious about becoming financially independent, you have to learn how to do both of these.
Put Luck On Your Side
You must learn the skills you need to be successful. Business success is not a matter of luck. Business success is a matter of application. It's a matter of ability. It's a matter of experience and skill and intelligence, and wonderfully enough, you can learn what you need to know to be successful. And you can start by learning through on-the-job training, which is called OJT. Most successful businesspeople become successful because they get all their training by working for someone else.
Action Exercises
Here are two things you can do immediately to make sure that your business succeeds greatly:
First, take the time to get the knowledge and experience you need in business by working for someone else where you can learn a lot in a short period of time. Go to work in an area in which you are interested and learn everything you possibly can.
Second, read and study in business, especially entrepreneurial business, all the time. Read one or two business books per week and read every business magazine that is published on your subject. Never stop learning and growing.
How To Trigger Great Ideas
from
Enhance your Personal Success.
Questions Stimulate Creative Thinking
Some of the best questions I've found for business problem solving are the following:
Clarify Your Desired Result
Question #1 "What are we trying to do?" Whenever you become frustrated with slow progress for any reason, step back and ask this again and again, "What are we trying to do?"
Analyze Your Current Methods
Question #2 "How are we trying to do it?" If you are experiencing resistance, perhaps your method is wrong. Be willing to objectively analyze your approach by asking, "How are we trying to do it?" Is this the right way? Could there be a better way? What if our method was completely wrong? How else could we approach it?
Could You Be Wrong?
It requires courage to face the possibility that you may be wrong but it also leads to your seeing new possibilities. The rule is: Always decide what's right before worrying about who's right.
Question Your Assumptions
Another good question is, "What are our assumptions? About the person, the product, the market, the business? What are our assumptions? Could we be assuming something that is incorrect?" Someone once said that "Errant assumptions lie at the root of every failure".
What if your unspoken or implied assumptions were wrong? What would you have to do differently?
Put Past Decisions On Trial
Another form of focused questioning is what I call "Zero based thinking." This method requires that you put every past decision on trial for its life regularly by asking, "If I had not made this decision, knowing what I now know, would I make it?" If I had not hired this person or gotten involved in this project, knowing what I now know, would I do it over again?
If the answer is "NO" to one of these questions, then your aim should be to get out of the decision as fast as possible. Be willing to "cut your losses," and try something else.
Action Exercises
Here are two things you can do to trigger more and better ideas.
First, be very clear about exactly what it is that you are trying to do. Write it down and describe it as if it were already achieved.
Second, question your assumptions continually. What if there were a better way? Be willing to try something completely different.
Two Principles for Financial Success
from
The Two Great Principles For Success
There are two great principles for achieving financial success. The first Principle is what we call the law of attraction. The law of attraction says that you are a living magnet. It says that your thoughts create a force field of energy that radiates out from you and attracts back into your life people and circumstances in harmony with them. Any thought you have, combined with an emotion, positive or negative, radiates out from you and attracts back into your life the people, circumstances, ideas and opportunities consistent with it.
How To Attract The Success You Desire
Many people feel that this is perhaps the most important of all mental laws. It says that if you have a very clear idea in your mind of your desired goal, to become wealthy, and you can hold that idea in your mind on a continuing basis, you will inevitably draw into your life the resources that you need in order to achieve it. Every person who has become wealthy or successful has become wealthy and successful as a result of holding the idea of wealth and success in their mind long enough and hard enough, until they drew into their lives the resources they needed to accomplish it.
Your World Reflects Your Thoughts
The second principle is called the law of correspondence. This mental law is very powerful. It says, "as within, so without." It says that your outer world is like a mirror that reflects back to you what is going on in your inner world. And this law of correspondence says that everything that happens outside of you corresponds to something that's going on inside of you. When we say that your outer world is a reflection of your inner world, we mean both at a conscious and at a subconscious level.
Visualize Your Goals Clearly
If you consciously believe that you have the ability to achieve your goals and you can hold a picture of those goals clearly in your mind long enough and hard enough, eventually your outer world will correspond with it.
Three Reflections of Success
There are three places where we see this law of correspondence. First of all, your outer world of people will correspond exactly with your own attitude. You will always see your attitude reflected back to you in the faces and the behaviors of the people around you. If you have a positive, optimistic attitude, people will respond to you almost immediately, even before you open your mouth, in a positive and cheerful way.
Relationships Show You Who You Are
The second area where we see the law of correspondence is in your relationships. Your relationships will always mirror back to you exactly the kind of a person you are. When you are happy and optimistic and at peace, your relationships will be happy and harmonious and loving. But when your thinking is disrupted or negative for any reason, consciously or unconsciously, this will be immediately reflected in your relationships.
Inner And Outer Wealth
The third place you see the law of correspondence is with regard to your wealth. Your external world of wealth and financial accomplishment will be a mirror image of your inner world of preparation. The only part of the equation that you can control is your conscious thoughts, and if you can keep your conscious thoughts on what you want, on your images of wealth and affluence, eventually your external world of reality and experiences will reflect it back to you.
Action Exercises
Here are two things you can do to apply these principles in your financial life:
First, guard your thoughts carefully. Whatever you think about, combined with the emotions of desire or fear, you will attract into your life. Be sure that you are attracting what you want by continuing to think only about what you want.
Second, keep feeding your mind with new information, ideas and pictures of the person you want to be and the life you want to live. By creating this inner attitude of mind, you change the outer aspects of your reality.
Thursday, July 27, 2006
Wednesday, July 26, 2006
From mai tais to mojitos, tropical cocktails tempt, relax, and refresh By Virginie Boone | StarNewsOnline.com | Star-News | Wilmington, NC
Tuesday, July 25, 2006
Monday, July 24, 2006
Flowering of cool new gins
By
I blame James
That sounded ultra-suave in the '60s, but the vodka m
People were bound to fill that hole with something, and just look at what they're doing. The sugary, imitation fruit-flavored vodka cocktails being poured these days make me feel I'm at some kind of naughty children's Kool-Aid p
To read the entire
http://www.latimes.com/features/food/la-fo-gin12jul12,1,4524286.story
Sunday, July 23, 2006
Real MPG: Putting the Truth in Your Tank
The U.S. would have imported about 20 percent less foreign oil in 2005 if automakers met federal fuel efficiency or miles per gallon (MPG) standards based on real world driving conditions. That reduction is equivalent to more than 1.3 times the amount of oil imported from Saudi Arabia in 2005, or about two million barrels of oil per day. For consumers this translates into 33 billion gallons of gasoline saved that year.
Instead, over the past 20 years, car company lobbyists and their friends in Congress have dramatically increased US dependence on foreign oil by prohibiting the EPA from requiring MPG tests that reflect how people actually drive.
To read the entire
http://www.ewg.org/reports/realMPG/part1.php
Saturday, July 22, 2006
Spicy red wines pair perfectly with the flavorful foods heating up menus nationwide
Foods with lots of flavor, p
Last year, after writing seven "…For Dummies" books, we co-authored our first single-title book, "Wine Style." Rather than categorizing wines in the usual ways, by country of origin or by grape variety, we grouped wines into various styles, that is, taste categories.
We believe that knowing the general parameters of a wine's taste is more meaningful to consumers than knowing where or from what grape varieties it is made. As we see it, white wines of the world and red wines each fall into four styles.
Red wines, for example, can have a "mild-mannered" taste profile, as inexpensive Bordeaux and Côtes du Rhône wines do; a "soft, fruity" style, typified by simple Beaujolais; a "spicy" style, found in wines such as Barbera or Malbec; or a "powerful" taste profile, as California Cabernet Sauvignons do.
Spicy red wines are the most eclectic of our four red categories and the most versatile with food. Spicy reds typically have fairly intense aromas and flavors.
These can include such spicy notes as black pepper or cinnamon and fresh-fruity notes like t
They are assertive but not aggressive wines — and it is that assertiveness, in flavor and texture that suits them to flavorful foods. Spicy reds often come from relatively cool climates, and that is one reason for their fresh, focused aromas and flavors.
Of the major red grape varieties, only Syrah and Cabernet Franc tend to make wines that fall into the spicy red category. Even then only the leaner, less powerful Syrahs from somewhat cooler climates are spicy. Similarly with Cabernet Franc: the cool
Rather than being associated with major, internationally grown grape varieties, spicy red wines come from a varied group of grape varieties, many of which grow in limited p
Besides Cabernet Franc,
Quite a few spicy
Although native to
Other grapes whose names indicate red wines made in the flavorful spicy style include Blaufrankisch, in
Some food pairings that we have found work p
# Barbera d'Asti or Barbera d'Alba with pizza, especially pizza with sausages and peppers, and also with pasta dishes with tomato based sauces. Young Barbera is the spiciest. When Barbera is mature — over six years old — it tends to swing toward the softer, fuller end of the spicy-red spectrum. California Barberas are fruitier than and not as spicy as those from
# Dolcetto, also from
# Lagrein from
#
# Tempranillo-based Spanish wines, such as Rioja, are wonderful with paella.
# Spicy Cabernet Franc wines from the
# Pinotage also pairs well with grilled fish or meat.
# Crozes-Hermitage, from the Syrah grape, freshens the flavors of small game, such as guinea hen or squab.
# Lots of spicy reds suit Tex-Mex entrées. Our personal favorites include French country reds such as Bandol, Corbières, or a Chilean Syrah.
The endless food pairings for spicy red wines make an easy point-of-entry for diners to enjoy these unusual wines.
Friday, July 21, 2006
Are we in the early stages the third world war?
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/13839698/
And now, joining us in Washington, Democratic senator Joe Biden, former Republican Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich. Welcome, both.
Mr. Speaker, what are we witnessing in the
MR. NEWT GINGRICH: Well, let me, let me offer three observations. First, this is not the fifth day of the war. This is the 58th year of the effort by those who want to destroy
So we should not see this event in isolation. There is an Iran/Iraq/Syria—I mean, an Iran/Syria—was an
Second, the Israelis withdrew from
You clearly have Iranian involvement; there are at least 400 Iranian guards in south
We are for
I mean, this is absolutely a question of the survival of
As I said a minute ago, the, the Iran/Syria/Hamas/Hezbollah alliance. A war in
Seven people in
And finally, in
I mean, we, we are in the early stages of what I would describe as the third world war, and frankly, our bureaucracies aren’t responding fast enough, we don’t have the right attitude about this, and this is the 58th year of the war to destroy Israel.
And frankly, the Israelis have every right to insist that every single missile leave south
MR. RUSSERT: This is World War III?
MR. GINGRICH: I, I believe if you take all the countries I just listed, that you’ve been covering, put them on a map, look at all the different connectivity, you’d have to say to yourself this is, in fact, World War III.
Thursday, July 20, 2006
Drive-ins' cool drinks and frozen treats as essential to summer as hot, lazy days
By Ron Ruggless
Warm June nights are upon us here in the expanses of the Southwest, and those sultry evenings provide the perfect weather for drive-ins and their treats.
Sonic Corp. of
I was raised in rural
Sonic, which was founded in 1953, is now a year-round phenomenon, of course, but with hours extended to
Quite a fan cult has grown around Sonic's cherry limeades. For those unfamiliar with these red treats, they feature freshly squeezed lime juice, cherry syrup and a maraschino cherry. They've been around since the chain began, and visitors to Sonic's markets oftentimes demand a drive-by to score one. The limeade line was recently expanded to include a strawberry version as well.
"Our customers just love Sonic limeades, especially on hot summer nights," said Todd Townsend, the chief marketing officer for parent company Sonic Industries Inc. He added that the company has had good success with its late-night program, dubbed "Sonic Nights." The late hours "allow customers to gather and enjoy a refreshing drink or satisfy a late-night craving," Townsend said.
Always keeping it fresh, Sonic this summer has introduced a line of flavored teas, providing a less sweet option for those of us who might be trying to lighten the load in our bucket seats.
"With more than 168,000 unique drink combinations, Sonic customers expect flavor variety from us, and we are delighted to bring new flavors with our freshly brewed iced tea," Townsend said. The teas come in red raspberry and peach.
The company also is offering, for a limited time, a smaller version of its banana split. Sonic's "Frozen Favorites" menu has been a popular draw for expanding the chain's dayp
The smaller size comes with a smaller price, too — a suggested retail tag of 99 cents. In a perfect world, those savings should go toward my purchase of a convertible. That, after all, remains the ideal way to enjoy a drive-in.
But even without the ragtop, I do love these sweet, lazy days of summer.
E-mail the author at: rruggles@nrn.com
Wednesday, July 19, 2006
Making Money Work for You!
In the book “Rich Dad, Poor Dad”,
I never had any courses like Money 101, or Elementary Investing 207, or Finance and Marriage 315. They aren’t offered in any schools I attended.
Anyone can achieve financial security with the proper effort and self-discipline. There are no magic formulas. Just old-fashioned values of desire and fortitude!
Look around you. Things have changed a lot in the last 50 years. The days of job security and automatic pensions are nearly extinct. If we plan to have a decent retirement experience, it is now pretty much up to ourselves to plan for, save for, and enjoy the benefits for our own labors.
After all, “retirement” is no longer a matter of age, but an income level. It is a matter of financial preparedness. Obviously, this is an extensive subject with volumes written on the details. I am only going to lay out a road map, a basic plan, to set you on the right path to planning for and implementing strategies for your financial futures.
Regardless of where you are today, financially, it is critically important that you review you own situation and st
In a nutshell, this is where you need to go in planning your own financial future:
(1) Assume control of your own financial future. It’s your future. No one cares more about your success here than you do. It’s your responsibility, so take it seriously and take the reins to st
(2) Take your cut off of the top. Always pay yourself something, first. I’m not talking “spending” money, here. I’m talking money to save for investment purposes, to save for your future. The resource material out there is very consistent on this one. The suggestion is to save at least 10% of your earnings in an investment vehicle with a good performance record. But whatever amount you decide on, make it regular and consistent!
(3) Be consistent over time. Here is a key secret to your success. Albert Einstein once commented that “compound interest” should be considered the eighth wonder of the world. Through the principle of “dollar cost averaging”, your consistent investments over time (in spite of the ups and downs of the market), coupled with compound interest, should produce phenomenal results.
(4) Pay down your debt. A simplistic statement, but vitally important. Check into simple interest mortgages with bi-weekly payments. Remember that the APR (annual percentage rate) is not so important as the actual interest paid! Also, a debt consolidation loan may be a good solution for you.
The income freed up as a result could be used to pay down your debt and invest in your future. The main caution, here, is to not allow the temptation of extra cash to drive you into more debt.
(5) Establish the right life insurance plan. Life insurance is not exactly considered a topic of social conversation. And yet how many people do not have any life insurance? Statistics indicate nearly 50%. Of those who do have life insurance, many are underinsured. I won’t discuss the need for life insurance
. It should be obvious. I will only recommend that you get adequate coverage using term insurance, leaving you money to invest in your future.
(6) Company p
(7) Be the primary collector of interest. Don’t be giving Uncle Sam an interest-free loan. Check your W-2 at work and only have enough taxes taken out to equal your own tax obligation, as closely as possible. Also, don’t put your own money in any “savings” accounts that don’t pay at least as much interest as the cost of inflation.
Learn the “Rule of 72”. This was discovered a long time ago by
For example, at 6% it will take 12 years to double your money. At 8% it will take 9 years. At 12% it will take 6 years.
(8) Professional Management makes sense. Most of us are not well versed or experienced in the areas of and opportunities for investment. The many investment funds hire professional money managers who are not paid according to “trades” that are made, but are paid according to the performance of the portfolio.
That is what they do. It only makes sense to invest with those who have a finger on the pulse of the market.
(9) Have faith in yourself. Consult with people whom you trust and formulate a financial plan for your future. Success will be yours as you accomplish your dreams and work your plan!
Perhaps you may be interested in becoming a p
Want to p
Here’s to your future!
| Bob Curtis has a bachelor's degree in Psychology, and has been writing about the elements of relationships for a number of years. He is the manager of the Essential Sunshine Association, a new website for positive relationship development at http://www.essun.blogspot.com Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Robert_Curtis |
Tuesday, July 18, 2006
Good bartending: a lot more than just mixing drinks - includes bartenders' business tips - Bar Management Nation's Restaurant News - Find Articles
B
There's a certain mystique about b
B
The personal service touch is earned by making customers comfortable and at home at the bar. B
A fictional bar called "Cheers' is the best example of an establishment where employees and clientele are in complete harmony. Sam Malone, Diane, Woody and Carla blend like friends at a reunion with Cliff the mailman, Frazier the psychiatrist, Norm the accountant and their other customers.
No need to place an order at Cheers--the b
In this issue of the Bar Management supplement, you will meet some real-life, flesh-and-blood b
B
At the wild-and-woolly Cadillac Bar in Manhattan, Tiffney Myers keeps a rein on the Wall Street yuppies who line up six deep at the bar for frozen margaritas and "shooters' --a shot glass filled with tequila, topped with ginger ale and slammed down on the bar or tabletop with a whoop and a holler.
To read the entire
http://www.findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m3190/is_v20/ai_4571003/pg_2
Monday, July 17, 2006
A Wealth Building System That Works
By Jack Reynolds
When Small Businessman Trevor Brunson came into my office it was a rainy day and he dripped puddles where he stood as we talked. As a mentor myself, it is not unusual for local business people to seek counsel about different issues they need help with. That rainy afternoon, I listened to the urgency in Trevors voice and what I told him became the basis for this
Trevor Brunson was a small developer who built speculative projects around the TriState area. Originally a builder, he recently graduated into development and made more money in 12 months than he has made in 5 years building projects for others.
His new role meant that he was the creative force behind the projects he made. He needed vision to see what others do not see. His job was to put himself in the shoes of the future purchaser of his 3 bedroom home designs and make choices that will appeal to the largest possible cross-section of the typical buyer in his market. Looking at a bare block of land, he had to envision value on behalf of this prospective future purchaser. For this reason I considered what he did speculative. Some would translate speculation as simply "guessing" others would deem speculation as gambling.
I agree that there is an element of uncertainty and risk involved however the difference between gambling and speculation is the vital ingredient of "vision" Risk can be controlled and negated to a point where it is negligible. It is this aspect of wealth building that is the main generator of success or failure.
When we take on an endeavor without too much capital behind us, we are in an excellent position. The naysayers call you under-capitalized, I call you failure proofed. I don't like using platitudes lightly but necessity really is the mother of invention. It is the fountain head of vision. You have nothing to lose and the upside is big. A very good ratio.
As a wealth building system, having little money is no barrier to success. On that rainy afternoon 2 years ago, I gave Trevor Brunson a formula which he uses to this day. His business is real estate but this wealth building system can be applied to any endeavor you choose.
Here it is.
1. Create a reproduceable unit of value. (RUOV)
For any wealth building system, this is always the first port of call. Identify a market demand and the value it seeks. Offer this value to the demand.
2. Create a system for mass production
Plan for a systemized manufacturing of the single unit of value. The velocity of your returns will be a quantum leap faster with a systemized production plan.
3. Identify and foster close links with main channels of distribution.
Knowing how to reach the above market, the demand that was uncovered. Where does the demand live? If your product is a newspaper, your demand will live at bus stations and train stations and news agencies. You have to take your unit of value to the demand, the demand will rarely seek you out.
| Jack Reynolds is Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Jack_Reynolds |
Sunday, July 16, 2006
Create your own specialty drinks
Now that you've got your bar stocked, you could make the usual Manhattans, screwdrivers or rum and cokes. But wouldn't you rather serve your guests a (your-name-here) Special or a (your-name-here) on the rocks?
Creating your own signature drink isn't as hard as it may seem, and you don't need to be a master mixologist to do it.
Bartenders Steven Rogers from the Blue Martini in Newburgh and Assem Mahabir from Amici's in Poughkeepsie offer some of their drink-making tips.
Mahabir is a nine-year bartending veteran. He suggests starting with vodka, gin or rum, as they have the most neutral tastes and are the easiest liquors to mix with a wide variety of elements.
Both bartenders said flavored vodkas are a great place to start. Brands such as Stolichnaya and Absolut have created orange, lemon, vanilla, cranberry and and other flavor-infused liquors. If you favor whiskey or tequila, however, use it. Your signature drink should be filled with your favorites.
Rogers has been serving up drinks at the Blue Martini for five years, and said the fruit flavors sell well.
"We have a martini with peach vodka and we use fresh peaches with our garnish. The sugar rim makes it a little sweeter. Just try different combinations," he suggested.
Mahabir suggests taking one liquor, one fruit juice and one liqueur to make the drink.
For example, Amici's Happy Water, the restaurant's signature drink, has Stoli cranberry vodka, watermelon schnapps, pineapple juice and a dash of 7-Up.
Same goes for the Blue Martini's popular Very Berry Martini, which has raspberry vodka, Chambord (a raspberry liqueur), cranberry juice and a splash of sour mix, with a sugar rim and cherry garnish.
Many specialty drinks are rooted in known flavor combinations, such as bananas foster or key lime pie martinis.
"When I'm making a drink for someone, I ask if they want a sweet taste, a sour taste, or a bitter taste," Mahabir said. Bitters (obviously) add a bitter taste, and sour mix will make a drink tangy. Be careful if using grapefruit juice, he warned, as it only takes a little to make a very tart drink.
"I usually give it up for shots and ask the customers what needs to be added, what's missing," Rogers said.
Saturday, July 15, 2006
What's pushing oil prices higher?
By John W. Schoen
With oil prices rocketing higher,
Is there a black hole in analyzing high oil prices? Why do we never mention the three-year war in
--
To read the entire
http://msnbc.msn.com/id/13862677/
Friday, July 14, 2006
The Key To Charisma
from
Enhance your Personal Success.
The Law of Attraction
In essence, when we discuss charisma, we are talking about the law of attraction. This law has been stated in many different ways down through the centuries, but it basically says that you inevitably attract into your life the people and circumstances that harmonize with your dominant thoughts.
You Are A Living Magnet
In a sense, you are a living magnet, and you are constantly radiating thought waves, like a radio station radiates sound waves, that are picked up by other people. Your thoughts, intensified by your emotions, as radio waves are intensified by electric impulses, go out from you and are picked up by anyone who is tuned in to a similar wavelength.
You then attract into your life people, ideas, opportunities, resources, circumstances and anything else that is consistent with your dominant frame of mind.
The law of attraction also explains how you can build up your levels of charisma so that you can have a greater and more positive impact on the people whose cooperation, support and affection you desire.
Perception Is Everything
The critical thing to remember about charisma is that it is largely based on perception. It is based on what people think about you. It is not so much reality as it is what people perceive you to be. For example, one person can create charisma in another person by speaking in glowing terms about that person to a third party.
If you believe that you are about to meet an outstanding and important person, that person will tend to have charisma for you.
Mother Teresa of Calcutta
One of the most charismatic people in the world was Mother Teresa of Calcutta. In a physical sense, she was a quiet, elderly, frail woman in poor health, and she wore a modest nun’s habit. She might have been ignored by a person passing her on the street, were it not for the tremendous charisma she developed and for the fact that her appearance was so well-known to so many people as a result.
How Would You Feel?
If someone told you that he was going to introduce you to a brilliant, self-made millionaire who was very quiet and unassuming about his success, you would almost naturally imbue that person with charisma, and in his presence, you would not act the same as you would if you had been told nothing at all. Charisma begins largely in the mind of the beholder.
Lasting charisma depends more upon the person you really are than upon just the things you do.
Continually look for ways to improve other’s perceptions of you so that you can be more influential with them. Be a living magnet.
Action Exercises
Here are two things you can do immediately to put these ideas into action.
First, be clear about the messages you are sending and the perceptions you are creating in others. Are these perceptions consistent with the impressions you want to make?
Second, see yourself and imagine yourself every day as an important powerful and charming person. Treat others as you would if you were already strong, famous and influential.
Fake it until you make it!
Thursday, July 13, 2006
Mix it up; Drinks are on the house when you build your bar
by LORI PRICE
Perhaps you need a break from the typical nightlife scene and want to bring the soiree closer to home. Spend the day creating a home bar that goes beyond a case of beer and a bottle opener.
You'll need tools and libations to meet the tastes of friends who favor trendy martinis with funky flavors such a blue raspberry, revitalized mixed drinks such as the Lemon Drop, and resurging old- school favorites such as Smith and
"I'm not sure if Americans are drinking more, but they certainly are drinking better," said Rick Laev, owner of Ray's Liquor in
To get you started, here are tips from Laev; Larry VanDenEng, a bartender and instructor at the
-- Tools: "You can turn any table or any countertop into a nice bar instantaneously with $30 to $40" in bar tools,
He recommends people start with two bar mats, two large tins (also called shakers or tumblers), two small "cheater" tins and two strainers.
"From there, you can make any drink you've ever seen made on television or at your favorite bar."
Add a corkscrew/can-opener tool for wine and canned juices and you're set, VanDenEng said.
Beyond the tools, stocking a bar gets a bit more expensive. Here are suggestions for the essentials.
-- Basics: Most drinks include the standards: vodka, rum, gin, tequila and triple sec. Possible others liquors to have on hand might be bourbon, whiskey and scotch. "You'll be able to pour drinks for a buddy or your boss and anyone in between,"
-- Mixers: Equally important as the liquors are the non- alcoholic drinks blended with them to make cocktails, the experts said.
For juices, get lime, orange, cranberry, pineapple and grapefruit. Soft drinks to buy are Coke (regular and diet), tonic water, soda water, ginger ale, Sprite and 7UP.
To save time with other popular concoctions, pick up pre-made Bloody Mary, sour and margarita mixes.
Steer clear of subbing in non-brand colas and lemon-lime sodas, because that can change the taste of many drinks.
"A Rum and Pepsi is just not the same as a Rum and Coke,"
-- Beer and wine: For beers, have an ale, a hard cider, a lager and a stout,
A bar's wine collection should include Zinfandel, Chardonnay, Cabernet and Merlot.
To read the entire article, please click on:-
http://www.findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_qn4196/is_20060304/ai_n16174689/pg_2
Wednesday, July 12, 2006
Learn Passive Income Secrets That Can Change Your Future
by: Kris Koonar
The major difference between the wealthy and the poor is that wealthy people take action (since they are committed to their wealth), whereas the poor are people who tend to think about change, but rarely take the actions necessary to make it.
If you are serious about increasing your wealth, then you are going to want to read this article, because it’s the starting point – this is where it all gets very serious, and where change will follow. So you are committed, right?
Since you still reading, you must be. Okay, let’s get to the meat of the issue. Many people have heard of ‘passive income’ but very few fully understand what it means. Passive income is defined as income that you do not have to work for.
In other words, if you are on a sunny beach vacationing with your family, you can still be earning money. The key to generating ongoing and growing wealth is to work for passive income, instead of working income.
For example, if you are a Doctor, Lawyer, Waiter or Astronaut, once you stop working, you make no money. Your working income is gone. You may have plenty of money, but you don’t make more unless you put on your work clothes, get in the car, and go to work.
The rich tend to focus on earning passive income instead, so that their wealth grows each day, whether they go to work or go to the
Fair warning! Do no think that building passive income is easy – it’s not. It takes some work to establish your base, and it takes planning and commitment to build that base, and unless you build your base, that passive income will never come.
Let’s think of it another way – you could spend 40 hours this week working for an insurance company as an office clerk, and you’ll only make $10 or $12 an hour at the end of it. But spend 40 hours working on building your passive income and you can get that $10 or $12 an hour (or much, much more) rolling in all day, every day - even on weekends!
Imagine earning $400 before you even get up in the morning. Imagine earning $50 as you eat breakfast. Imagine going on holidays for a week and coming home to find a check for $2000 in the mail. That’s passive income.
So how can you make this happen? Well, step one is to not quit your day job, as it will take some work before you are able to live off of your passive income and quit the 9-to5. Building passive income is long term thinking – not short term, so in the meantime you need to keep your bills paid. But remember, the wealthy are those that take action. The poor are those that come home from work and ‘switch off’.
Real Estate is one of the best ways to achieve passive income. For example, if you buy a nice property or commercial building and lease it out, and your mortgage payments are less than the rent you bring in, then you have just generated a passive income.
The big problem is, of course, that most people do not have the massive amounts of capital required to buy real estate. So you may have to lower your sights a little to ways to make smaller amounts of passive income, with a much smaller investment, so you can work your way up to property investment later.
MLM, or Multi-level Marketing, has long been a source of passive income for people that do not have the big money to invest upfront, and while some people shy away from MLM systems, you must understand before going in that the way they work is not like it is in the infomercials.
You don’t just join an MLM system and instantly start making hundreds of thousands of dollars – you have to work at it. If you know anyone that has made it big in anytime of MLM business then chances are they put in long hard hours selling. This is a major downside since most people do not like selling.
The best way to generate passive income is to find a real business that requires no selling. But there are successful businesses out there that will generate a consistent and strong passive income without the hassle of selling; and without hundred of thousands of dollars needed to get in on the ground floor.
If you are committed to creating passive income for you and your family, and want to start small and build a strong base, then take the next step and .
Remember – the wealthy take action. If you are serious about increasing your wealth you will too.
Visit http://www.prosperityautomatedsystem.com/members/leematsuda/
to learn about the best passive income opportunities.
Tuesday, July 11, 2006
The road map for increasing your tips
Let's face it, one of the great things about bartending is getting tipped.
Tips are financial pats on the back. Tips make a good night that much better and a bad one much more tolerable. When bartenders reach the point where they no longer appreciate getting tipped, I think it's probably time for them to get out from behind the bar.
Tips are also something of a barometer of financial health for a bar and therefore a legitimate managerial concern. For one thing, when bartenders are earning sizeable amounts of gratuities, they presumably won't be as likely to put their jobs in jeopardy by ripping off the house. Although it is speculation and I appreciate that exceptions abound, incidents of internal theft can be expected to drop when bartenders are well compensated for their efforts.
Another reason to be aware of staff gratuities is that guests rarely reward blase service or lackluster cocktails. Going through the motions doesn't equal attentive service and inadequate drinks are an affront. So unless your establishment attracts an unusually generous crowd, a bartending staff that hauls in good tips is likely one that understands their primary missions.
To read the entire article, please click on:-
http://www.findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m0BQE/is_9_15/ai_n7581137Sunday, July 09, 2006
The Key to Riches
from
Enhancing your Financial Success.
Here is some great news. Wherever you are in your financial life, you can become wealthy over the course of your working lifetime. If you start early enough, work hard enough and do what other successful people do, you may even become a millionaire.
Looking Back
In 1900, there were less than 5000 millionaires in the United States. Today, there are more than five million millionaires and the number is growing rapidly. There are more than two hundred billionaires as well.
Everyone Starts From Nothing
Most of these wealthy people are self-made. That is, they started with nothing and they earned every penny by applying their talents and abilities to the opportunities that came along. The number of millionaires is growing at the rate of 15% or more per year. Someone, somewhere becomes a millionaire every 3-4 minutes. And what these other self-made millionaires have done, you can do as well.
You Can Do It, Too
The wealthy are not very different from you and me. They have simply used more of their God-given talents and done things in a different way from the majority. The wonderful thing is this. And I cannot repeat it often enough. If you do what other successful, wealthy people do, you will eventually get the same results. You can start right where you are, even deeply in debt, and achieve financial independence if you do the right things over and over again until you get the results you desire.
Save $100 Per Month
If you save $100 per month from the age of 21 to the age of 65 and it grows at a compound rate of 10% per year, you will have more than one million dollars when you retire.
If you earn $25,000 per year and save just 10% of your income, or $2500 per year, and invest it carefully so that you earn 10% compounded over the course of your working lifetime, you will be worth $1,794,762 through the miracle of compound interest.
The key to riches is simple. Save and invest 10% of your income throughout your working lifetime and you will become rich. It is as simple as that.
Action Exercises
First, make a decision today that you are going to save 10% of your income for the rest of your working lifetime. Set it as a goal, make a plan and then discipline yourself to save that amount for the rest of your career.
Second, go to the bank today and open a special account for financial independence. Deposit whatever amount you can in that account. From now on, think every day about how you can put more money into that account and then invest it wisely. This will change your financial life.
Saturday, July 08, 2006
Straight-up bartending wisdom from turn of the century still holds true today
by Gary Regan
The more things change, the more they stay the same, or so the saying goes. That certainly proved to be true recently when I came across a book printed in 1912 offering advice to bartenders and saloon owners of the era.
The book, "Hoffman House Bartender's Guide," was published by the same company that issued the "Police Gazette," a tabloid newspaper dating back to the late 1800s that tended to dwell on the darker side of life by detailing gruesome murders and the like. But the newspaper also had a column for bartenders and ran a cocktail recipe competition starting, as far as I can ascertain, in 1901.
To read the entire article, please click on:-
http://www.findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m3190/is_17_36/ai_85285506
Friday, July 07, 2006
The Rainwater Prophecyie
Richard Rainwater made billions by knowing how to PROFIT FROM A CRISIS. Now he foresees the biggest one yet.
(FORTUNE Magazine) – Richard Rainwater doesn't want to sound like a kook. But he's about as worried as a happily married guy with more than $2 billion and a home in Pebble Beach can get. Americans are "in the kind of trouble people shouldn't find themselves in," he says. He's just wary about being the one to sound the alarm.
Rainwater is something of a behind-the-scenes type--at least as far as alpha-male billionaires go. He counts President Bush as a personal friend but dislikes politics, and frankly, when he gets worked up, he says some pretty far-out things that could easily be taken out of context. Such as: An economic tsunami is about to hit the global economy as the world runs out of oil. Or a coalition of communist and Islamic states may decide to stop selling their precious crude to Americans any day now. Or food shortages may soon hit the U.S. Or he read on a blog last night that there's this one gargantuan chunk of ice sitting on a precipice in Antarctica that, if it falls off, will raise sea levels worldwide by two feet--and it's getting closer to the edge.... And then he'll interrupt himself: "Look, I'm not predicting anything," he'll say. "That's when you get a little kooky-sounding."
Rainwater is no crackpot. But you don't get to be a multibillionaire investor--one who's more than doubled his net worth in a decade--through incremental gains on little stock trades. You have to push way past conventional thinking, test the boundaries of chaos, see events in a bigger context. You have to look at all the scenarios, from "A to friggin' Z," as he says, and not be afraid to focus on Z. Only when you've vacuumed up as much information as possible and you know the world is at a major inflection point do you put a hell of a lot of money behind your conviction.
Such insights have allowed Rainwater to turn moments of cataclysm into gigantic paydays before. In the mid-1990s he saw panic selling in Houston real estate and bought some 15 million square feet; now the properties are selling for three times his purchase price. In the late '90s, when oil seemed plentiful and its price had fallen to the low teens, he bet hundreds of millions--by investing in oil stocks and futures--that it would rise. A billion dollars later, that move is still paying off. "Most people invest and then sit around worrying what the next blowup will be," he says. "I do the opposite. I wait for the blowup, then invest."
The next blowup, however, looms so large that it scares and confuses him. For the past few months he's been holed up in hard-core research mode--reading books, academic studies, and, yes, blogs. Every morning he rises before dawn at one of his houses in Texas or South Carolina or California (he actually owns a piece of Pebble Beach Resorts) and spends four or five hours reading sites like LifeAftertheOilCrash.net or DieOff.org, obsessively following links and sifting through data. How worried is he? He has some $500 million of his $2.5 billion fortune in cash, more than ever before. "I'm long oil and I'm liquid," he says. "I've put myself in a position that if the end of the world came tomorrow I'd kind of be prepared." He's also ready to move fast if he spots an opening.
His instincts tell him that another enormous moneymaking opportunity is about to present itself, what he calls a "slow pitch down the middle." But, at 61, wealthier and happier than ever before, Rainwater finds himself reacting differently this time. He's focused more on staying rich than on getting richer. But there's something else too: a sort of billionaire-style civic duty he feels to get a conversation started. Why couldn't energy prices skyrocket, with grave repercussions, not just economic but political? As industry analysts debate whether the world's oil production is destined to decline, the prospect makes him itchy.
"This is a nonrecurring event," he says. "The 100-year flood in Houston real estate was one, the ability to buy oil and gas really cheap was another, and now there's the opportunity to do something based on a shortage of natural resources. Can you make money? Well, yeah. One way is to just stay long domestic oil. But there may be something more important than making money. This is the first scenario I've seen where I question the survivability of mankind. I don't want the world to wake up one day and say, 'How come some doofus billionaire in Texas made all this money by being aware of this, and why didn't someone tell us?'"
***
It feels like the last place you'd go looking for a rich man. Lake City, S.C., is a town of 6,500 in the low country two hours northwest of Charleston. Once the bustling home to small, independent tobacco farmers, now it's mostly a collection of abandoned gas stations, roadside churches, and fading brick walls with TRUST JESUS painted on them in big black letters. Unemployment hovers around 10% and would be worse if the Taiwanese plastics manufacturer Nan Ya hadn't opened up a sprawling factory on the edge of town.
Rainwater spends a lot of time in Lake City because of his wife, Darla Moore. A former star in bankruptcy financing at Chemical Bank who was once dubbed the "toughest babe in business" by FORTUNE, Moore, 51, grew up here. Her grandfather was one of the small tobacco farmers. Nowadays she lives on her grandparents' old farm. (Moore and Rainwater also own a lavish home in Charleston.) Rainwater calls Lake City the "middle of bum-fuck nowhere." But the truth is he's got everything he needs here: cable TV, a telephone, an automatic coffeemaker, a decent golf course up the road, and a fast Internet connection.
Measured against the languid pace of the surroundings, Rainwater's usual surplus of physical energy seems even more pronounced in Lake City. Tall, tan, and sturdily built, he has a hard time sitting still. He's run four marathons and offers that, when he was 40, he unexpectedly set the record in his age group on something called a "modified Balke protocol" treadmill test, a measure of the body's efficiency in absorbing oxygen. Rainwater bounces around the farm in shorts, a polo shirt, and a baseball cap, maintaining a running dialogue with Moore (whom he calls "Precious"), his staff, and anyone else who happens to be within earshot or on his speed dial. "He's maternal," says Moore. "And I'm paternal."
In the ongoing Richard and Darla show, Moore supplies the dry one-liners to his constant chatter. Lately she's been affectionately calling him "Dr. Doom." But she's not dismissing his concerns. Or harboring any illusions that she can talk him out of making a big investment once he settles on a theme. As president of Rainwater Inc. in the '90s, she was his partner in his last two big bets. And though she's at a stage in life where she might prefer to simplify her affairs rather than go off on another wild ride, she knows that soon he'll have to act. "We've been married for 15 years," she says. "This is the third time I've seen this. The massive intake of information has been complete. Now he's agonizing. We're in what I refer to as the raving mode--the latter stages of rave. This is the refinement stage. Then we're going to make decisions."
"It's not raving," he says. "I promise I am not a kook."
"You're kooking out a little. But I've seen the process before. I saw you go from zero to 100 miles per hour in real estate."
"And you saw me get into oil ten years ago," he says, then protests, "But I'm on the edge of being so old that it doesn't matter anymore. I've won the heavyweight championship before. Instead of taking one more swing, maybe I should just retire a winner." Moore's not buying it. "Buckwheat," she says, using her nickname for him, "There's not a chance in a million you won't swing. He can't not. It's the nature of the animal."
***
"Rainwater," the voice on the phone announces. "Now, type L-A-T-O-C into Yahoo, and scroll down to the seventh item." Rainwater doesn't use e-mail. Rather, he uses rapid-fire phone calls to spread the gospel he discovers every morning on the web. One day it might be the decline of arable land in Malaysia. The next it could be the Olduvai theory of per capita energy consumption. "L-A-T-O-C" stands for LifeAfterTheOilCrash.net, a blog edited by Matt Savinar, 27, of Santa Rosa, Calif. (which Rainwater calls "a hotbed for survivalist types"), who was on his way to being a lawyer when his side project began climbing up Google's rankings. The site is now the No. 2 result of a search on "oil." Savinar keeps a running diary of all manner of news and information relating to "peak oil," a once-wonkish geological debate that has recently crossed over not only to late-night talk shows but even onto the floor of the U.S. House of Representatives.
"Peak oil" theorists posit that global production is at or near its historic ceiling and will begin a long, inexorable decline. They worry that America is not ready for the downturn, for skyrocketing prices and even shortages. Savinar's site's opening line is, "Civilization as we know it is coming to an end." Rainwater has been checking it every morning since September, when his personal anxiety alert level moved to orange. "I can almost pinpoint the date," says Moore. "It was right after he read that book."
In August a friend gave Rainwater a copy of The Long Emergency, a dystopic view of the future written by ex-Rolling Stone writer James Kunstler, otherwise known for his passionate dislike of suburbia. Taking peak oil as a given, Kunstler argues that Americans have been "sleepwalking" through the end of a "100-year fossil fuel fiesta." The problem, he points out, is not that the world will run out of oil tomorrow, but rather that the lack of growth in oil production will wreak havoc on a global economic system predicated on perpetual expansion. Kunstler's "long emergency" is a decidedly unpleasant interval during which the world--and Americans in particular--must adapt to a post-oil regime of scarce energy and economic stagnation, a time of likely wars and the disappearance of all-American things like Wal-Mart and cul-de-sac homes 45 minutes by minivan from the office.
Rainwater doesn't completely buy into Kunstler's doom and gloom. "It's the Z scenario," he says. But at the same time, he worries that Kunstler isn't wrong enough, and he's been buying extra copies of the book and passing them around to the many titans of capitalism who are his protégés. It's not the first doomsday book in Rainwater's life: His big bet on oil in the late '90s was kicked off by a work called Beyond the Limits, the sequel to a '70s sensation called The Limits of Growth. Written by three professors armed with an MIT-bred computer called World3, the Limits books projected that, left unchecked, human population would, within 100 years, overshoot the capacity of the planet to serve up sufficient vitamins and minerals--let alone absorb all the waste and pollution--to keep everyone healthy. Rainwater took the book to heart. "Right after I read it, I said, 'They've figured it out, I'm going to follow this thing.' "
His ensuing oil bet was only the latest triumph for the grandson of a Lebanese immigrant (on his mother's side) who, according to family lore, picked up his last name from a Cherokee ancestor. His mother had worked at J.C. Penney to put him and his brother through the University of Texas. In 1970, after a short stint at Goldman Sachs, he joined Stanford Business School pal Sid Bass in managing the Bass family money in Fort Worth. Over the next decade and a half, he helped turn the family's modest $50 million fortune into one worth upwards of $5 billion.
In the process Rainwater's investing style emerged: analytically rigorous but opportunistic and Texas-sized in its audacity. He'd buy public companies or private. He'd use futures and leverage, sometimes 20 to 1. He even started companies. If he thought an idea was right, he put capital behind it. With the Basses, he resurrected the likes of Disney--recruiting Michael Eisner to be CEO--and bet early on cellphones. Later, when he went out on his own in 1986, his office drew a who's who of hard-charging capitalists to Fort Worth. In the heyday of Rainwater Inc., Eddie Lampert, the hedge fund tycoon turned head of Sears Holdings, had a desk, as did Daniel Stern, now of $3 billion Reservoir Capital. Ken Hersh, who has compounded money at 31% annually for 17 years at Natural Gas Partners, started there. With Rick Scott, Rainwater founded Columbia Healthcare, which merged with HCA and became the country's biggest for-profit hospital company (Scott was later forced out as CEO amid a federal fraud investigation). Even George W. Bush kept an office, when he and Rainwater were putting together the Texas Rangers stadium deal.
***
On a Tuesday afternoon in mid-November, Rainwater and Moore are holding court in the 14th-floor conference room of Reservoir Capital in Midtown Manhattan, where he camps out when he's in New York (he has money invested with the fund). He has gathered Reservoir's Stern, Goldman alum and Crestview Partners co-founder Barry Volpert, and a couple of guests, and he is expounding on the implications of the peak-oil theory: "I believe in Hubbert's Peak. I came out of Texas. I watched oil fields reach peak and go over, and I've watched how people would do all they could, put whatever amount of money into the field, and they couldn't do anything about it."
In the 1940s and 1950s, a Shell geologist named M. King Hubbert observed that the production from any given oil field follows a bell curve, with annual volumes increasing until half the oil in the field is depleted, and declining thereafter. Basically, the bottom oil is harder to extract. King reasoned that production from all U.S. fields would follow a similar curve and predicted in 1956 that total U.S. oil production would peak in the early 1970s. His analysis caused a furor and was widely disparaged, but proved correct. "Hubbert's Peak" entered the lexicon of oil analysis--one of the great geological I-told-you-so's. Forty-nine years later, a growing number of noted geologists and industry analysts suggest that the global oil supply may now be topping out, a claim that has been met by skepticism from yet other geologists and economists who say higher prices will spawn both more discovery and improved recovery from existing fields.
Rainwater sides with the imminent peak crowd, and can rattle off facts to back up his argument. "In 1988 there were 15 million barrels a day of shut-in production"--meaning surplus that could be tapped--"and the world was using about 55 million barrels of oil. Today the world is using over 80 million, and there's no shut-in production left. We've used it up, through the combination of depletion and growth." In other words, the spigot can't be opened any wider.
What concerns him most is the conflict that he thinks an oil shortage will precipitate. What happens when people get blindsided by prices rocketing past any level they have contemplated--especially when you factor in other challenges America faces? "We've got a lot of things going on simultaneously," he says. "The world as we know it is unwinding with respect to Social Security, pensions, Medicare. We're going to have dramatically increased taxes in the U.S. I believe we're going into a world where there's going to be more hostility. More people are going to be asking, 'Why did God do this to us?' Whatever God they worship. Alfred Sloan said it a long time ago at General Motors, that we're giving these things during good times. What happens in bad times? We're going to have to take them back, and then everybody will riot.' And he's right."
***
Part of Rainwater's routine when he's down on the farm is to go for gizzards at Allison's, a no-frills truck stop up the road. Driving in a red BMW SUV on the Tuesday before Thanksgiving, he points out who lives where: the local doctor, the Taiwanese Nan Ya workers. He chokes up momentarily passing the home of a woman who worked at the farm, whose son has just returned from serving in Iraq. The sheer incongruity of his wealth in Lake City is not lost on him. But at Allison's he seems right at home, lathering the deep-fried gizzards with hot sauce and self-serving a large coffee which he spices at the hot chocolate machine.
Back on the farm that night, he and Moore discuss future projects with their landscaper, Jenks Farmer, over a glass of wine. Farmer, who has a master's in horticulture and lives on the property, maintains Moore's extensive gardens, including vegetable beds that produce all year round. That morning Rainwater had been surfing the web, researching greenhouses in his quest to further ensure a steady flow of food through the winter. At his prodding, Moore has installed an emergency generator and 500-gallon storage tanks for diesel fuel and water. When Rainwater says that he's thinking about opening a for-profit survivability center, it's not entirely clear that he's joking.
Later in the night Rainwater returns to musing on how different his lot is from the residents of Lake City. And then, returning to the debate in his head, he gets a serious look on his face and says: "This is going to get a little religious. I ask why I was blessed with this insightfulness. Everyone who has achieved something, scientists, ballplayers, thinks they were given their talent for a reason. Why me? Was I given this insightfulness at this particular time? Or was I just given this insightfulness?" He pauses. "I just want people to look out. 'Cause it could be bad." FEEDBACK oryan@fortunemail.com
Protecting profits: by managing pour costs
by Robert Plotkin
KEEPING A FINGER on your bar's financial pulse is accomplished, to a degree, by analyzing your cost percentages, or what in bar jargon is referred to as "pour cost." Pour cost reflects the relationship between cost and gross sales. Perhaps the single constant in the restaurant and bar business is that every operator would like to achieve a lower pour cost.
"If management doesn't seriously scrutinize its bar costs, then the bar staff is free to do virtually anything they want to at the point of sale," says Mark Pollman, bartender at the Fox and Hounds Pub, St. Louis, MO. "Bartenders can alter portioning, give drinks away, pocket cash proceeds and any number of other equally insidious practices. Without analyzing pour costs, the odds of catching them is remote. What a waste of potential profit!"
Managing by pour cost alone has its downsides, however. "Operators intellectually understand that dollar profit is more important than pour cost, but they sometimes have difficulty putting that knowledge into practice," observes David Commer, consultant and former beverage guru for T.G.I.Friday's. "It seems easier to understand on the food side of the equation, where selling a steak dinner at a $6 profit is more desirable than selling a burger at a profit of $4, despite it having a lower cost percentage. Like the adage goes, you bank dollars, not percentage points."
Despite its shortcomings, pour cost is an essential financial gauge," emphasizes Ian Foster, regional vice president of Bevinco Liquor Control. "Beverage operators need to know how much money they are making in their bars and pour cost does exactly that. When pour cost goes up, profit goes down. What it won't do is pinpoint where the problems are. In fact, the reasons for a rising pour cost could be that your managers are doing their jobs well."
PREMIUM SALES CAN UP COSTS
Commer explains that while employee-related issues like over-pouring and theft are often at the root of the problem, a rising pour cost may also mean that management is doing a better job of promoting higher profit premium spirits and drinks.
To read the entire article, please click on:-
http://www.findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m0BQE/is_8_15/ai_n6277811/pg_2
Thursday, July 06, 2006
Wednesday, July 05, 2006
Tuesday, July 04, 2006
Sunday, July 02, 2006
Setting Your Goals
from
In my conversations with hundreds of top salespeople over the years, I have found that they all have one thing in common. They have taken the time to sit down and create a clear blueprint for themselves and their future lives. Even if they started the process of goal setting and personal strategic planning with a little skepticism, every one of them has become a true believer.
Becoming A True Believer
Every one of them has been amazed at the incredible power of goal setting and strategic planning. Every one of them has accomplished far more than they ever believed possible in selling and they ascribe their success to the deliberate process of thinking through every aspect of their work and their lives, and then developing a detailed, written road map to get them to where they wanted to go.
The Definition of Happiness
Happiness has been defined as, "The progressive achievement of a worthy ideal, or goal." When you are working progressively, step-by-step toward something that is important to you, you generate within yourself a continuous feeling of success and achievement. You feel more positive and motivated.
You feel more in control of your own life. You feel happier and more fulfilled. You feel like a winner, and you soon develop the psychological momentum that enables you to overcome obstacles and plough through adversity as you move toward achieving the goals that are most important to you.
Determine Your Values
Personal strategic planning begins with your determining what it is you believe in and stand for—your values. Your values lie at the very core of everything you are as a human being. Your values are the unifying principles and core beliefs of your personality and your character.
The virtues and qualities that you stand for are what constitute the person you have become from the beginning of your life to this moment. Your values, virtues and inner beliefs are the axle around which the wheel of your life turns. All improvement in your life begins with your clarifying your true values and then committing yourself to live consistent with them.
Fuzzy or Clear?
Successful people are successful because they are very clear about their values. Unsuccessful people are fuzzy or unsure. Complete failures have no real values at all.
Build Self-Confidence and Self-Esteem
Values clarification is the beginning exercise in building self-confidence, self-esteem and personal character. When you take the time to think through your fundamental values, and then commit yourself to living your life consistent with them, you feel a surge of mental strength and well-being.
You feel stronger and more capable. You feel more centered in the universe and more competent of accomplishing the goals you set for yourself.
Action Exercises
Here are two things you can do immediately to put these ideas into action.
First, decide for yourself what makes you truly happy and then organize your life around it. Write down your goals and make plans to achieve them.
Second, begin with your values by deciding what it is you stand for and believe in. Commit yourself to live consistent with your inner most convictions — and you’ll never make another mistake..
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