tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36047510695486892042024-03-12T19:50:21.175-07:00Handshake Consultants BlogMichael Trigghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09976720452628864290noreply@blogger.comBlogger16125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3604751069548689204.post-15563288379605779312023-03-07T20:41:00.001-08:002023-03-09T12:02:45.949-08:00KEEPING TRACK OF EXPENSES<p><span style="font-family: arial;">There
are two very important aspects of a successful business. One is
revenue and two is keeping track of costs. Many business owners work
diligently on the first and neglect the second. In this day and age of
computerization, there is no excuse for not keeping track of expenses. </span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;"> </span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEicwakUCGOFVLUH0TKnIBKg_P_k8EsijcH2ZYeoae_N1qgx9OOCsmBLkGWemQ9TflZfbgflD-jCjGyTTTCAaVtasQHDP2KPTotLYfZ-G4v6ZPdhYgDUnWP1XwvT8BUsZkUY8hiqP5EDINJx_v82KwFL2IhH8IhaeIxUtjZa1rtFEuTaquk0qQfz2J2g2w/s1498/Accounting_Software_utah778_Getty.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="960" data-original-width="1498" height="256" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEicwakUCGOFVLUH0TKnIBKg_P_k8EsijcH2ZYeoae_N1qgx9OOCsmBLkGWemQ9TflZfbgflD-jCjGyTTTCAaVtasQHDP2KPTotLYfZ-G4v6ZPdhYgDUnWP1XwvT8BUsZkUY8hiqP5EDINJx_v82KwFL2IhH8IhaeIxUtjZa1rtFEuTaquk0qQfz2J2g2w/w400-h256/Accounting_Software_utah778_Getty.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><br /><p></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;">There are many good software programs that are cost-effective, even for the smallest business. </span></p><p><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
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</p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: arial;">The best overall is <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><b>QuickBooks Online</b>, the best for Micro-Business
Owners is <b>Xero</b>, the best for Service-Based Businesses is <b>FreshBooks</b>; the best
for part-time freelancers is <b>QuickBooks Self-Employed</b> and the best<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>free software is <b>Wave.</b></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: arial;">All these software programs are modestly priced and easy to use with some basic training and practice. </span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: arial;">Many
small business owners use personal credit cards to make both
personal purchases and business purchases. This can be a headache at the end of the business year and tax filing time. <br /></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: arial;">A
simple solution to cull business purchases from personal
items is to keep a box the size of a shoe box (or a shoe box) in
your office and after every purchase, drop the receipt in the box. </span><span style="font-family: arial;">For every purchase made for business purposes whether the purchase is made by credit card, debit card or cash, make sure you get a receipt. </span></p><p class="MsoNormal"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEic40nwNvaUznL75SQcS0iLdN92z4FZbLS7veCaAcuEAjyeoERdux2InS2lm7ezoZoOnZs7N5Nox-HH6hwy9yaupzXkO4eSnISClNh9CUaHupWPgi-ucmD8sKcsCKGvZR642o-oH2rg99TVUJQ_0hxMUMpPAuiuaWwAHNpmlEfnGOxiI4tJh27NjNVdKg/s517/Receipt%20Box.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="394" data-original-width="517" height="305" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEic40nwNvaUznL75SQcS0iLdN92z4FZbLS7veCaAcuEAjyeoERdux2InS2lm7ezoZoOnZs7N5Nox-HH6hwy9yaupzXkO4eSnISClNh9CUaHupWPgi-ucmD8sKcsCKGvZR642o-oH2rg99TVUJQ_0hxMUMpPAuiuaWwAHNpmlEfnGOxiI4tJh27NjNVdKg/w400-h305/Receipt%20Box.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span><p></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: arial;">These receipts bundled, totaled, and stapled together and placed in a file folder at the end of each month provide definitive proof of purchase in the event of an audit or if an item purchased has to be returned for any reason.</span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhGaQg5XGIKti_-qgn40iN51m8SOeAmMx0esx5H9W2Ll2evzOpcFrnVtwAvnBVTuI-UB1raSSJ9CxufYxRNmu9Uz4WhM8b4ooRMq7W01CQgV2CmYoxdoi9WS55JPt06U2t4ospBhmnQ6y7lkitBSTUChBp6sJyOV6YaDa1IruXtEi5jyBbTJ4k_hS9L/s4160/Receipts%20Stapled.jpg" style="font-family: arial; margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1872" data-original-width="4160" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhGaQg5XGIKti_-qgn40iN51m8SOeAmMx0esx5H9W2Ll2evzOpcFrnVtwAvnBVTuI-UB1raSSJ9CxufYxRNmu9Uz4WhM8b4ooRMq7W01CQgV2CmYoxdoi9WS55JPt06U2t4ospBhmnQ6y7lkitBSTUChBp6sJyOV6YaDa1IruXtEi5jyBbTJ4k_hS9L/w443-h200/Receipts%20Stapled.jpg" width="443" /></a></div><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: arial;">At
the end of the month, separate them into categories (IE Gas, coffee,
meals, parking, gasoline, etc), circle each one on the credit card statement, make
a copy of the statement and place that and the receipts in a folder for each month. </span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: arial;">I use the following simple form.to add up and total the different categories.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh6fJ9la_LIlX3GwiN8MXNzUikgXrKQjrx51Mkh54aKFqhrmbtZgC7i1im9fz71al6FWM8SK9f93KIWvQPApQvthB4M2aTHm7s8LPqZcmS_nENTdczziC_MWSHrKNLuMceKhgdmuKK2l68BTRzwpzR4_SfJz7CkC54VZK9fnCNBZpvNSBoqmmvxK6Oz/s1321/Monthly%20Reciept%20Sheet%20Business%20Personal%20copy.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1321" data-original-width="1146" height="581" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh6fJ9la_LIlX3GwiN8MXNzUikgXrKQjrx51Mkh54aKFqhrmbtZgC7i1im9fz71al6FWM8SK9f93KIWvQPApQvthB4M2aTHm7s8LPqZcmS_nENTdczziC_MWSHrKNLuMceKhgdmuKK2l68BTRzwpzR4_SfJz7CkC54VZK9fnCNBZpvNSBoqmmvxK6Oz/w505-h581/Monthly%20Reciept%20Sheet%20Business%20Personal%20copy.jpg" width="505" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><span style="font-family: arial;">When you carry out your bookkeeping, enter each one as an expense, and bingo, no
problem with your accountant or the tax man.</span><p></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: arial;"><b>Using this very simple method of bookkeeping and receipt filing saves a great deal of time at year's end. </b></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: arial;"><b><br /><br /></b></span></p><p> </p>Michael Trigghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09976720452628864290noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3604751069548689204.post-86211911547368191662023-01-11T17:27:00.000-08:002023-03-09T11:58:02.165-08:00ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE AND CHILDREN OF THE 21ST CENTURY AND BEYOND<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">When I was a youngster in the latter part of the 1940s, my siblings and I would spend holiday time at a relative's farm. The only communication with the outside world was a telephone with the mouthpiece attached to the body of the phone and the receiver at the end of a cord. As the farm was miles from nowhere, the telephone was on a party line, a circuit shared by two or more subscribers.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">As I remember, there were approximately a dozen subscribers in the party, each distinguished by a particular phone ring. When a phone call had to be made, the caller would crank a handle on the side of the phone a couple of times to reach an operator. The caller would then ask the operator to put the call through to a particular number. There was little privacy as any party member could listen in on any other party member's call.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Seventy years have gone by and the world is now connected with digital communication devices called smartphones. These phones incorporate artificial intelligence in many ways; voice recognition, facial and fingerprint recognition, camera object recognition and digital assistants with two examples being Siri and Alexa.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">The words artificial intelligence or AI </span><gwmw class="ginger-module-highlighter-mistake-type-3" id="gwmw-15675558963946878259385" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><gwmw class="ginger-module-highlighter-mistake-type-3" id="gwmw-15675701673372993286442">were first used</gwmw></gwmw><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"> by John McCarthy one of the "founding fathers" of artificial intelligence. He together with Alan Turing, Marvin Minsky, Allen Newell, and Herbert A. Simon supported the first academic conference and organized the famous Dartmouth conference in the summer of 1956 on the subject matter.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"> However, the journey towards understanding whether machines could actually think for themselves began sometime before that date with the invention of the programmable computer in the 1940s. The workings of this new machine were based on mathematical reasoning and the deliberations and research behind it inspired some scientists into discussing the possibility of establishing an electronic genius, thus, an artificial intelligence.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Children born in the 1950s are now in their sixties. AI has been around for approximately fifty percent of its lifetime. Over the years, this generation and subsequent generations have adjusted to AI being commonplace in their lives; particularly those who live in the more advanced technological societies. Children born in the 21st century are born into a world where AI is integral to their daily work and personal lives. Voice-activated smartphones, AI in toys, GPS devices for family vehicles, smart homes, banking, and the internet are of the few of the applications most commonplace in the lives of children today.</span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhhVDlToroxg9RqxY3L7iQjiqeWR5mNyaFeEaeFEJ33THcuJJys_fDG8hLW373gy04K_6XILC7U6H62TB8ePgpeCr0mGW466fe8fA9YhUcPno6swf-p3VYfhn6WbnSQ4UZKzu8KEpHUC4Q/s1600/Robots.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><img border="0" data-original-height="699" data-original-width="1600" height="173" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhhVDlToroxg9RqxY3L7iQjiqeWR5mNyaFeEaeFEJ33THcuJJys_fDG8hLW373gy04K_6XILC7U6H62TB8ePgpeCr0mGW466fe8fA9YhUcPno6swf-p3VYfhn6WbnSQ4UZKzu8KEpHUC4Q/s400/Robots.jpg" width="400" /></span></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Babies born in the 21st century no more think of AI as a wonder as they grow into childhood than children born in the '30s, '40s and '50s thought about radio. From the time they are old enough to grasp objects, they are subject to a broad variety of AI applications. AI is as much a part of <gwmw class="ginger-module-highlighter-mistake-type-3" id="gwmw-15675555741108560738948"><gwmw class="ginger-module-highlighter-mistake-type-3" id="gwmw-15675701762115622810120">kids</gwmw></gwmw> lives today as radio was in the lives of children in the 1940's and 50's and television in the '70s and '80s.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">As self-driving vehicles become more commonplace, children will be driven to school in autonomous school buses. Children in small rural communities will be taught by robot teachers or over the internet by intelligent bots. They will grow up in smart homes where instead of physically turning on and off lights, rooms will light up for them as they enter and darken when they leave. When they arrive home from school, AI technology will recognize them and open the door to the family home and lock it behind them where they will be greeted by their friendly AI home care bot. Children are now interacting with smart toys, refrigerators, entertainment centers, heating, lighting systems; all a part of their everyday life. And, AI researchers are now realizing that by paying attention to how children learn and process information, they can gain valuable information about how best to develop machines that learn.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Young adults and children born surrounded by digital technology for the past five years are defined as of digital natives. This group is growing exponentially. By 2025, digital natives are expected to comprise as much as 75% of the global workforce. With their comfort and knowledge of AI and machine learning technology, digital natives are now having a tremendous impact on the worldwide business landscape.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">As well as the soaring number of digital natives there will be a predictable decrease in the price of digital technologies, an increase of their geographical extension and a drop in the age of users. In the most wired areas, it is now commonplace to see small children in different parts of the world watching the same cartoon or interactive children's program on their parents’ laptop, smartphone or tablet at a beach, a park or on a plane or bus, providing downtime for their parents. This is one aspect of using artificial intelligence and digital technology as a mobile child caregiver. And this is only the beginning.</span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhh29nd1OLIW25nvp_a_uFq0TNc7-x_9XixbHUht-YeL8EtNGQH9tDQ-39WRIltYxjjK_abjI34fU3SnuTWRE-a-wvSgB4kj3s9_u8g8nhOQavX-XpWmeCIAguGhofXOgf0n0gf6VPiHiI/s1600/AA+Robot+and+Child.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><img border="0" data-original-height="755" data-original-width="1188" height="253" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhh29nd1OLIW25nvp_a_uFq0TNc7-x_9XixbHUht-YeL8EtNGQH9tDQ-39WRIltYxjjK_abjI34fU3SnuTWRE-a-wvSgB4kj3s9_u8g8nhOQavX-XpWmeCIAguGhofXOgf0n0gf6VPiHiI/s400/AA+Robot+and+Child.jpg" width="400" /></span></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Imagine children, immersing themselves into virtual reality worlds while robot nannies supervise them. Having AI friends or artificial teachers will become commonplace. As digital technology passes over our technological doorsteps, current and future parents must familiarize themselves with the latest digital tech aimed at kids to try to prepare for the impact AI will have on their lives. It is somewhat difficult for Millennial parents for children growing up with AI technologies simply take them for granted. Pre-millennial parents or digital immigrants as they are sometimes known as, still remember the time when portable, WIFI-enabled technology was the stuff of science fiction.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">New parents of today and ongoing into the future need to teach their kids how to survive in the digital as well as the real world. The first generation to grow up in the 21st century will never remember a time before smartphones or smart assistants. They will likely be the first children to make riding in self-driving cars commonplace. As well, they will become the first human beings whose health care and education could be turned over to intelligent machines.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Futurists, demographers, and marketers are now beginning to agree on the specifics of what defines the next wave of humanity to follow Generation Z or Millennials. The term Generation Alpha now denotes children born into a fully-realized digital age. The term applies to children born since 2105. By 2025, Generation Alpha will account for 2 billion of the global population. These children are considered to be the most technologically savvy demographic to date.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Generation Alpha is born into the world of smartphones and tablets. They don't know or can't imagine life without them. A new generation of children's toys with personalities powered by artificial intelligence will give kids more than holiday playthings. Unlike electronic pets of the past, such as Furby and Tamagotchi that sparked holiday crazes in the late '90s, the new robotic drones and droids on store shelves are comprised of genuine AI technology. They include face recognition; they respond to voice commands with reasonable consistency and have very sophisticated AI processors. They are microprocessors and computer systems designed specifically as hardware acceleration for artificial intelligence applications in the areas of machine learning, neural networks and machine visualization.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">A very gifted little AI toy with a mind of his own is Cozmo. He is a real-life robot of a kind previously only seen in science fiction movies. This little toy has a one-of-a-kind personality that evolves the more a child plays with it. It will even nudge its owner to play and keeps kids constantly surprised. <gwmw class="ginger-module-highlighter-mistake-type-3" id="gwmw-15675560214357758547022">Cozmo</gwmw> and its more advanced cousin, Vector have been developed by Anki, a company founded by three graduates of Carnegie Mellon's robotics Ph.D program. These little tank-like robots are so full of personality that even AI experts have to take an educated guess at how intelligent their artificial intelligence is. As advances in AI progress, technology will progress from using pre-programmed responses to truly showing adaptive learning in its responses.</span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj3xEiNaPDyOwX7OWR_ahaCEx4Ro9QUzh-cDD7I1Y6uRkE9XKsTp1CUs_GmWvkaPIFg8q3z1juS6pkVQJV5Q2vtcZqvVEmVT_LvPdQ0DIMO4N8CwEanlXgZ-owNP2gniknAbwLPGapZH-0/s1600/Child+and+Robot.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><img border="0" data-original-height="375" data-original-width="720" height="207" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj3xEiNaPDyOwX7OWR_ahaCEx4Ro9QUzh-cDD7I1Y6uRkE9XKsTp1CUs_GmWvkaPIFg8q3z1juS6pkVQJV5Q2vtcZqvVEmVT_LvPdQ0DIMO4N8CwEanlXgZ-owNP2gniknAbwLPGapZH-0/s400/Child+and+Robot.jpg" width="400" /></span></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Parents will soon have to ask themselves the following question: Do we really want toys to grow with our children? The answer is yes; parents should. Not only will it be less drain on parents' wallets, but the new AI toys will incorporate optimal learning information because they can tailor their entertainment and messages <gwmw class="ginger-module-highlighter-mistake-type-3" id="gwmw-15675560431048287848968">to</gwmw> the level of skill a child exhibits.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Educators have long known that knowledge can be more lodged in a student’s brain when the student has to explain what they have learned to another student. In other words; peer learning. This was not anticipated in interactions with intelligent machines and is leading to a whole new field of development, not only in children but in machines that will learn for themselves.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Groundbreaking research in children's education is now indicating that a robot toy is more valuable to a child’s education, not as a teacher but as a student. In other words, by creating an intelligent robot that purposely makes mistakes and prompting the child to correct does more for the child’s education than lecturing them. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Educational AI researchers propose that AI educational toys always need to display slightly less intelligence than their child user so as the child “teaches” the robot, the robot steps up its game and continuously challenges the child.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Where AI and the education and entertainment of children go from here, nobody knows. The only certainty is AI is here to stay. </span><br />
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Michael Trigghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09976720452628864290noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3604751069548689204.post-49465625240553469732022-12-21T08:26:00.001-08:002023-03-09T17:41:19.320-08:00THE BAD BUSINESS PRACTISE OF NOT RESPONDING.<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><span face=""arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif"><br /></span></div><div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><span face=""arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif"><br /></span></div><div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi2c43dKOvCXA7SlIdV_-zUt3SmgEzWkNIobJKTQT72tjwvxikrHnxdS_4C4PoQyFwOwdCS3wWBe5GsCCATklB_Diwf6hZrySTTvrCiUPnRkkLmIwogD-CZRRPmLP6ENmtyAlK8rxf8n3nH8zHo9Il3vpzTSsq62Qsk_toHPdnF53AQLW9whuLKJ24c/s1305/Don'tsee,%20hear%20or%20speak.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="702" data-original-width="1305" height="275" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi2c43dKOvCXA7SlIdV_-zUt3SmgEzWkNIobJKTQT72tjwvxikrHnxdS_4C4PoQyFwOwdCS3wWBe5GsCCATklB_Diwf6hZrySTTvrCiUPnRkkLmIwogD-CZRRPmLP6ENmtyAlK8rxf8n3nH8zHo9Il3vpzTSsq62Qsk_toHPdnF53AQLW9whuLKJ24c/w512-h275/Don'tsee,%20hear%20or%20speak.jpg" width="512" /></a></div></div><div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><h3 style="text-align: left;"><span face=""arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif">The following can be added to the ending of the heading of this post: "to emails, letters, phone calls, job applications, charitable inquiries, sponsorship support and anything else you can think of."</span></h3>
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<span face=""arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif">As you can see from the above, the title to this post would have been way too long and meandering but I am sure you get the point.</span><br />
<span face=""arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif"><br /></span><span face=""arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif">The question is: why do so many businesses who spend thousands if not millions of dollars on advertising what great companies they are, <i>don't have corporate policies on responding to correspondence?</i> </span></div><div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><span face=""arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif"><br /></span></div><div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><span face=""arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif">Some companies take great pride in replying to all inquiries regardless of the reason for the inquiry (job application, business inquiry, sales call, etc) within 48 hours. A majority of businesses do not. Why don't they? Because they do not care! It's as simple as that. They either consider themselves to be too big to fail or feel they have little in the way of competition for their products or services so don't really care if they alienate some people or, they work on the principle; lose a client or customer today, find another one tomorrow. </span><br />
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<span face=""arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif">What these companies fail to recognize is that every email they fail to respond to, every letter they ignore, every phone message they never return is from a prospective customer or client. I personally make it a policy never to shop or buy from a company that does not respond to correspondence. Not because I feel that my boycott will make a difference to the company bottom line, but because I am refusing to support an arrogant company with no respect for the general public. </span><br />
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<span face=""arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif">If during a conversation at a party or a backyard barbeque and the name of a company comes up that I boycott, I make no bones about the reason I do not buy from them or use their services. I work on the principle that if one person tells five people then each of those five people will tell five people and so on and eventually it <b>will</b> make a difference.</span><br />
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<span face=""arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif">There is no reason for a business not to respond to correspondence. We live in the most connected age in the history of the world with AI becoming more of a factor in everyday business operations so really, there is no excuse. The worst culprits are big business. These companies can afford to have a department whose sole purpose is to respond to communications. I'm not talking about the retention department. This is an entirely different matter. I am talking about a department to communicate with correspondents be they a job seeker waiting hear on an application, an existing customer making an inquiry or a complaint or an organization seeking sponsorship to name just a few. The official term is Customer Communication Management or CCM. Let's call </span><span face="arial, helvetica, sans-serif">it the Correspondence Liaison Department. This department's job is to make sure all non-personalized communications are responded to and to liaison with the particular department to where the query is directed and come up with a satisfactory response </span><span face="arial, helvetica, sans-serif">for the person behind the communication.</span><br />
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<span face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif">Maintaining high standards in responding to incoming communications to your business is a sign of professionalism. Poorly structured and untimely responses or ignoring some communication altogether whether via email or postal mail makes customers feel underappreciated and undervalued and can result in lost business. </span><br />
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<span face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif">Consequently, having a correspondence etiquette policy for responding to mail and email is a key component of communications strategy for any business, small or large.</span><br />
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Michael Trigghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09976720452628864290noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3604751069548689204.post-2795932954496856692022-10-08T13:03:00.001-07:002023-03-09T18:00:31.807-08:0010 BUSINESS TIPS TO CONSIDER<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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will have a greater chance of success.</li></ol><ol style="text-align: left;"><li>Always be ready to pitch your business. State your
mission, service and goals in a clear and concise manner. Fit the pitch to the
person. Less is always more.</li></ol><ol style="text-align: left;"><li>Surround yourself with advisors and
mentors who will nurture you to become a better leader and businessman. </li></ol><ol style="text-align: left;"><li>Your wallet is your company's life-blood. Practice and
perfect the art of being frugal.</li></ol><ol style="text-align: left;"><li>Never
jump right into a new business without any thought or planning, but don't spend
months or years waiting to execute.</li></ol><ol style="text-align: left;"><li>Find
ways to prove your business model on a shoestring budget.</li></ol><ol style="text-align: left;"><li>Entrepreneurship
is a lifestyle, not a 9-to-5 profession.</li></ol><ol style="text-align: left;"><li>Know
when it's time to walk away. If your idea doesn't pan out, reflect on what went
wrong and the mistakes that were made.</li></ol><ol style="text-align: left;"><li>Failure
is not inevitable. A true entrepreneur will prevail over adversity.</li></ol><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgSCLtZwFOTKuHYf1fFaGjCo9HjZOpY4pNMbmx5A9BYs181cZta763_HmlygVX7Ig8-Ixb-YYZbYbH_eUEumlZCZF4NJ3a0qe611XkTgiJOGhTI7QP68xCGOR96ierU6sB1Nd7Wz5neUds/s1600/Small+Towns+Small+Businesses.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="585" data-original-width="732" height="318" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgSCLtZwFOTKuHYf1fFaGjCo9HjZOpY4pNMbmx5A9BYs181cZta763_HmlygVX7Ig8-Ixb-YYZbYbH_eUEumlZCZF4NJ3a0qe611XkTgiJOGhTI7QP68xCGOR96ierU6sB1Nd7Wz5neUds/s400/Small+Towns+Small+Businesses.jpg" width="400" /></a><br /></h4>
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Michael Trigghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09976720452628864290noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3604751069548689204.post-1222128517146826352022-09-30T19:43:00.000-07:002023-03-09T12:02:01.334-08:00The Humorous Side of Artificial Intelligence<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><b>Humor</b> is what makes humans special. When people try to teach machines humor, the results are at times laughable but not in the intended way. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">What makes humans laugh? S</span><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">ome occasions may be caused by contrary emotional states. Embarrassment, apology or confusion can cause nervous or courtesy laughter. Humans will laugh at jokes or will laugh at a play on words for instance, even though they may be very subtle. Everyone has a different sense of humor. What is funny to one person will go over the head of another. </span><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Laughter in some ways, is like human language and what may be hilariously funny in Japan will go over like a lead balloon in France.</span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Laughter bonds humans through humor. However, despite its prominence in our daily lives, there is little research on how and why we laugh.The study of humor and laughter and its psychological and physiological effects on the human body is called <b>gelotology</b>. The question as it relates to artificial intelligence is; can a sense of humor be taught to machines?</span></span><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Humor is a hidden language that we all speak but it is not a learned group reaction. It is more an instinctive behavior programmed by our genes and the societies we live in. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Tristan Miller, a computer scientist and linguist at Darmstadt University of Technology in Germany says: </span>“Creative language — and humour in particular — is one of the hardest areas for computational intelligence to grasp." </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Miller has analyzed more than 10,000 puns and called the experience torture. “It’s because it relies so much on real-world knowledge — background knowledge and commonsense knowledge. A computer doesn’t have these real-world experiences to call on. Up until recently, a robot or a computer could only know what it was told and could only draw from that knowledge.”</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Great strides have been taken in trial and error learning in the science of artificial intelligence</span><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">, this being one of the fundamental learning strategies employed by humans and animals. It is increasingly being used to teach intelligent machines boosting the flow of ideas between biologists and computer scientists. More studies in the trial and error approach could solve mysteries in animal and human cognition and help develop powerful new algorithms and therefore moving closer to AI being created with an ability to learn humor.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">However, as humor is still somewhat of a mystery in itself, can the trial and error approach be applied to developing humor in AI? Some scientists seem to think so. The following is a headline from Wired.com. </span><a href="https://www.wired.com/story/comedian-machine-ai-learning-puns/?verso=true"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">https://www.wired.com/story/comedian-machine-ai-learning-puns/?verso=true</span></a><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">The Comedian Is in the Machine. AI Is Now Learning Puns!</span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">A researcher at Stanford University has created a pun generator that came up with the following groaner, all on it's own. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">"Why did the Greyhound stop? To get a hare cut". </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Her aim is to build AI that is natural and fun to talk to and that can crack jokes or compose a poem or even tell a compelling story. "But getting there," she says. "Runs up against the limits of how AI typically learns." </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Of course, a very common saying is a pun is the lowest form of humor but a machine has to start somewhere. Will AI eventually replace the Ricky Gervais's and Steven Colbert's of the world? Who is to say. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">"People have had some success in defining what would constitute humor," says Abhijit Thatte </span><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">, Assistant Vice President of Technology and Practice Leader for Artificial Intelligence at Aricent, a global design and engineering firm. "But it has not been been codified yet."</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">As even full-time stand-up comics would admit, there is no magic formula to produce the perfect joke. Much of what makes us laugh depends on subtle factors such as context or body language. "Sometimes even we humans don't know why a joke is funny," says Thatte.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">When it comes to an individual's funny bone, there has to be a really deep understanding of the world in which a person lives, how things work, how their society works and mostly how people in their society work. Humor is indicative of something that is really human and is also intelligent but in it's truly human form, currently outside the abilities of artificial intelligence.</span><br />
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Michael Trigghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09976720452628864290noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3604751069548689204.post-52995862344532527572022-06-09T16:09:00.000-07:002023-03-09T12:04:55.106-08:00Is Artificial Intelligence The Next Step in Human Evolution?<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">What is Artificial Intelligence or AI? Very simply, AI is intelligent machines that work and react like humans. Artificial intelligence can be classified as three different types of systems; </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><b>Analytical: </b></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Analytical AI only has characteristics consistent with cognitive intelligence </span><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">such as thinking, reasoning or remembering</span><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"> using learning based on past experience to inform future decisions. </span></div>
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<b><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Human-inspired:</span></b></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Human-inspired AI has elements of cognitive and emotional intelligence and an understanding of human emotions and is used in conjunction with decision making.</span></div>
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<b><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Humanized artificial intelligence:</span></b></div>
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Humanized AI shows characteristics of all types of competencies (i.e., cognitive, emotional, and social intelligence) and is able to be self-conscious and is self-aware in interactions with others.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">There are many areas of business, government and human entertainment that </span><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">are well suited to the use of AI including but not limited to the following: </span><br />
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<li><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Agriculture</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Aviation</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Education</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Computer Science</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Finance</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Medical Care</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Government</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Heavy Industry</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Mining</span></li>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">This list will continue to expand as new generations of computers emerge and as the learning curve among the AI scientific community begins to flatten out. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">The science has not been around for that long. A handful of scientists back in the 19</span><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">50's from a variety of fields (mathematics, psychology, engineering, economics and political science) began to discuss the possibility of creating an artificial brain. In 1956, the field of artificial intelligence research was then founded as an academic discipline.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">There are a number of eminent scientists credited with founding of artificial</span><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"> intelligence science, foremost among them was Alan Turing, a young British mathematician who explored the mathematical possibility of artificial intelligence. Turing suggested that if humans could use available information as well as reason in order to solve problems and make decisions, why couldn't</span><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"> machines do the same thing? This was the logical framework of his 1950 paper, <b>Computing Machinery and Intelligence</b> in which he discussed how to build intelligent machines and how to test their intelligence.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">However, before Turing could move further in this new science, computers had to change dramatically. They were at that time, essentially very smart calculating machines and while they could execute commands, they had no means of storing them. Some years later computer scientist and cognitive psychologist Allen Newell, political scientist, economist and sociologist Herbert A. Simon and systems programmer John Clifford Shaw all working at the Rand Corporation in Santa Monica, California, developed the Logic Theorist Offsite Link, the first program deliberately engineered to mimic the problem solving skills of a human being. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">They decided to write a program that could prove theorems in the propositional calculus like those in <b>Principia Mathematica</b> by Alfred North Whitehead and Bertrand Russell, a three-volume work on the foundations of mathematics written in 1910, 1912, and 1913. The first application of AI used in a practical manner was created by Joseph Weizenbaum in 1965 who developed <b>ELIZA</b>, an interactive program that carried on a dialogue in the English language on any topic. Weizenbaum, who wanted to demonstrate the superficiality of communication between man and machine, was surprised by the number of people who attributed human-like feelings to the computer program.</span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgDDfpep8KYdR2ISB1eLpdhFjpV3x-9lVSjCn3YiU9ui5QeszbXirgNusztXooj5Gr7ERbyqWriy3hqCe3WgGSB5J9PizNJOILItjVwjHlorJ5kXuINg1utQmsO2yYB4EQ_hFWeCCv-dGI/s1600/ELIZA_conversation.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="233" data-original-width="330" height="280" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgDDfpep8KYdR2ISB1eLpdhFjpV3x-9lVSjCn3YiU9ui5QeszbXirgNusztXooj5Gr7ERbyqWriy3hqCe3WgGSB5J9PizNJOILItjVwjHlorJ5kXuINg1utQmsO2yYB4EQ_hFWeCCv-dGI/s400/ELIZA_conversation.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Artificial intelligence is becoming very good at many “human” jobs such as d</span><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">iagnosing disease, </span><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">translating languages and </span><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">providing customer service and as AI continues to evolve, there are </span><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">reasonable fears among many people that artificial intelligence will ultimately replace humans in many jobs and occupations in industry and in the economy at large. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Some AI scientists feel that is not an inevitable or even most likely outcome. While AI will radically alter how work gets done and who does it, the technology’s larger impact will be in complementing and augmenting human capabilities, not replacing them. Many developers of AI feel that with collaborative intelligence, humans and AI can actively enhance each other’s complementary strengths. What comes naturally to people such as humor is difficult for machines, and what is straightforward for machines such as analyzing terabytes of data very quickly is out of reach of the human brain. In our rapidly evolving world, regardless of whether it is business, education, industry, space exploration, quantum physics or medicine, all are going to require</span><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"> both kinds of capabilities.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">The unanswered question at this point is; at some point in the future, will there be a emergence of AI and the human intelligence, therefore the next evolving step of the homo sapiens species and it's unique brain? To some, the answer is an unequivocal yes. </span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjqVnIIJm2iE0As2HPl1B8jsCjbYnblsMZlvqOUg-Qqi1E1NVOMjCUqyEsm0VmfzS7XxMH88rMcESsSeolDf5TbKYYDkZd63VOLb3bLvJA4F19FWSugkEXRFOgvWRV18mQc5VO13w3ynD4/s1600/Most-Amazing-Technologies2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="362" data-original-width="500" height="287" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjqVnIIJm2iE0As2HPl1B8jsCjbYnblsMZlvqOUg-Qqi1E1NVOMjCUqyEsm0VmfzS7XxMH88rMcESsSeolDf5TbKYYDkZd63VOLb3bLvJA4F19FWSugkEXRFOgvWRV18mQc5VO13w3ynD4/s400/Most-Amazing-Technologies2.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">At this stage of human evolution, there will be no turning back and the human race will be entering either a brave new world of human / machine collaboration or a world where humans evolve into machines. </span></div>
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Michael Trigghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09976720452628864290noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3604751069548689204.post-89911068552132248312022-05-10T14:05:00.000-07:002023-03-09T12:07:25.496-08:00SUCCEEDING IN BUSINESS IN THE 21ST CENTURY<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Executives, entrepreneurs and luminaries committed to advancing a transformation of the working world are redefining what it means to be a successful company in the 21st century.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Convening the exchange of leading practices, deepening research and recognizing those on the leading edge of forward thinking transformation, futurists aim to catalyze a global shift toward humanity in business, inspiring and enabling organizations to cultivate purpose-rich cultures that better serve their employees, customers and the world.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Its original research and year-round events, including at global forums such as the Clinton Global Initiative Annual Meeting and the World Economic Forum, are bringing together a diverse mix of business leaders, academics, scientists, entrepreneurs and storytellers to advance the science and execution of purpose in business.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">More and more, customers are making their buying decisions based on an organization's stated aims and more millennial's are choosing their employer based on its purpose. Now that companies are armed with the impetus and the business case to transform around purpose, the discussion needs to shift from ‘why’ to ‘how.’ And this is where forward thinking planning and strategies comes into play. The old quote by Mark Twain: <b>"To stand still is to fall behind"</b>, is more relevant today than it has ever been before.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">IT'S HERE NOW</span></div>
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Michael Trigghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09976720452628864290noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3604751069548689204.post-23254091583236719822021-12-09T22:15:00.000-08:002023-03-09T16:38:54.833-08:005 REASONS WHY YOUR SMALL BUSINESS NEEDS A BUSINESS PLAN<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><b><br /></b></div><div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhD0WZihkvq1tu2PnX5JkgKfqX80xSIhFfTa3rDmvSjgibguSupN82hg-4Ofc_JCOsHnb6guSYjFguRCSRmGD5af3SwYoPCZ1diDi6ukSB70QIDeYyv7fIqz5R0OyP39mqqv_gDTGHUlk9W8LiJPMjJzKY5YmWwNyMucqIKgPZ3VCE2Mt8VXlJa08sc/s504/Business%20Plan.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="384" data-original-width="504" height="368" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhD0WZihkvq1tu2PnX5JkgKfqX80xSIhFfTa3rDmvSjgibguSupN82hg-4Ofc_JCOsHnb6guSYjFguRCSRmGD5af3SwYoPCZ1diDi6ukSB70QIDeYyv7fIqz5R0OyP39mqqv_gDTGHUlk9W8LiJPMjJzKY5YmWwNyMucqIKgPZ3VCE2Mt8VXlJa08sc/w483-h368/Business%20Plan.jpg" width="483" /></a></div><br /><b><br /></b></div><div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><b>1. To map the future</b></div><div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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A business plan is not just required to secure funding at the start-up phase, but is a vital aid to help you manage your business more effectively. By committing your thoughts to paper, you can understand your business better and also chart specific courses of action that need to be taken to improve your business. A plan can detail alternative future scenarios and set specific objectives and goals along with the resources required to achieve these goals.<br />
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By understanding your business and the market a little better and planning how best to operate within this environment, you will be well placed to ensure your long-term success.<br />
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<b>2. To support growth and secure funding</b><br />
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Most businesses face investment decisions during the course of their lifetime. Often, these opportunities cannot be funded by free cash flows alone, and the business must seek external funding. However, despite the fact that the market for funding is highly competitive, all prospective lenders will require access to the company’s recent Income Statements/Profit and Loss Statements, along with an up-to-date business plan. In essence the former helps investors understand the past, whereas the business plan helps give them a window on the future.<br />
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When seeking investment in your business, it is important to clearly describe the opportunity, as investors will want to know:<br />
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<li>Why they would be better off investing in your business, rather than leaving money in a bank account or investing in another business?</li>
<li>What the Unique Selling Proposition (USP) for the business arising from the opportunity is?</li>
<li>Why people will part with their cash to buy from your business?</li>
<li>A well-written business plan can help you convey these points to prospective investors, helping them feel confident in you and in the thoroughness with which you have considered future scenarios. The most crucial component for them will be clear evidence of the company’s future ability to generate sufficient cash flows to meet debt obligations, while enabling the business to operate effectively.</li>
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<b>3. To develop and communicate a course of action</b><br />
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A business plan helps a company assess future opportunities and commit to a particular course of action. By committing the plan to paper, all other options are effectively marginalized and the company is aligned to focus on key activities. The plan can assign milestones to specific individuals and ultimately help management to monitor progress. Once written, a plan can be disseminated quickly and will also prompt further questions and feedback by the readers helping to ensure a more collaborative plan is produced.<br />
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<b>4. To help manage cash flow</b><br />
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Careful management of cash flow is a fundamental requirement for all businesses. The reason is quite simple–many businesses fail, not because they are unprofitable, but because they ultimately become insolvent (i.e., are unable to pay their debts as they fall due). While the break-even point–where total revenue equals total costs–is a highly important figure for start-ups, once a business is up and running profitably, it becomes less important.<br />
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Cash flow management then becomes more vital when businesses pursue investment opportunities where there are significant cash out flows, in advance of the cash flows coming in. These opportunities need to be assessed against any seasonal variations in the business and the timing of the flows. If you are a “cash-only” business, you can bank the income immediately; however, if you sell on credit, you receive the cash in the future and hence may need to pay some of your own expenses before that income hits your account. This will put a further strain on the company’s solvency and hence a well structured business plan will help you manage funding requirements in advance.<br />
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<b>5. To support a strategic exit</b><br />
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Finally, at some point, the owners of the firm will decide it is time to exit. Considering the likely exit strategy in advance can help inform and direct present day decisions. The aim is to liquidate the investment, so the owner/current investors have the option of cashing out when they want.<br />
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Common exit strategies include;<br />
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<li>Initial Public Offering of stock (IPO’s)</li>
<li>Acquisition by competitors</li>
<li>Mergers</li>
<li>Family succession</li>
<li>Management buy-outs</li>
<li>Investment decisions can be taken in the present with one eye on the future via a well-thought-out business plan. For example, if the most attractive exit route appeared to be selling to a competitor, present day management and investment decisions could focus on activities that would increase the company’s attractiveness to that competitor.</li>
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Given that valuing firms is notoriously difficult and subjective, a well-written plan will clearly highlight the opportunity for the incoming investors, the value of it and increase the likelihood of a successful exit by the current owner.</div>
Michael Trigghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09976720452628864290noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3604751069548689204.post-81129760444041372322021-10-14T14:55:00.000-07:002023-03-09T12:06:33.991-08:00RENEWABLE ENERGY - CANADA and GERMANY<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
My wife and I recently drove from Vancouver to Saskatoon to visit friends. Neither of us had travelled through the prairies since the 1970's before we met; my wife by train from Toronto to Vancouver and me by car after crossing the border from North Dakota into Western Saskatchewan to drive back to Vancouver after an extended driving tour in the USA.<br />
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We were both amazed at the wide open spaces and the almost unlimited amount of uncluttered landscape which reminded us a great deal of northern Germany where we travelled extensively in 2017. The big difference between the prairies and northern Germany is the lack of renewable energy producing sources on the Canadian prairies. In Germany, we came across huge solar farms and wind farms, kilometer after kilometer. Farm houses, barns and most buildings had solar panels on the roofs. Towns had clusters of wind vanes on high ground near each town.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiumWdCmpAocY9nY-CFsFXIj1z6WKaR8wgD49mJbSK5HV3C7MKz8OjxDTxb-8FVqYUGlpGIUedhyphenhyphen00uHPlfTJVHwDXSvZZZs8_J7KQJzvBPbH3yzyW4pXwXEumlCzLKTksrPNwjes8pwzY/s1600/germany-renewable-energy-889x680.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="680" data-original-width="889" height="305" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiumWdCmpAocY9nY-CFsFXIj1z6WKaR8wgD49mJbSK5HV3C7MKz8OjxDTxb-8FVqYUGlpGIUedhyphenhyphen00uHPlfTJVHwDXSvZZZs8_J7KQJzvBPbH3yzyW4pXwXEumlCzLKTksrPNwjes8pwzY/s400/germany-renewable-energy-889x680.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
Saskatchewan grows many crop including canola and wheat that contribute a great deal to the Canadian economy, but much of the countryside we drove through lay fallow or was unused. While I understand the highest wind speeds in Saskatchewan are in the southwest, it seemed the unused land in the rest of this very flat land could be used to create massive solar farms. Given that Saskatchewan is the sunniest province in Canada, in all seasons, and boasting almost 3,000 hours of sunshine a year, building environmentally friendly, clean energy solar farms across the province would seem to be a no brainier.<br />
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Upon our return, I did a bit of research on Germany and came across the following information. Germany recently increased its renewable energy goal from 55 to 65 percent by 2030 to compensate for the decommissioning of aging nuclear and coal plants. Germany has been called "the world's first major renewable energy economy." Renewable energy in Germany is mainly based on wind, solar and biomass. Germany had the world's largest photovoltaic installed capacity until 2014, and as of 2016, it is third with 40 GW. It is also the world's third country by installed wind power capacity, at 50 GW, and second for offshore wind, with over 4 GW.<br />
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In Germany, the share of renewable electricity rose from just 3.4% of gross electricity consumption in 1990 to exceed 10% by 2005, 20% by 2011 and 30% by 2015, reaching 36.2% of consumption by year end 2017. As with most countries, the transition to renewable energy in the transport and heating and cooling sectors has been considerably slower.<br />
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Now however, more than 23,000 wind turbines and 1.4 million solar PV systems are distributed all over the country. According to official figures, around 370,000 people were employed in the renewable energy sector in 2010, particularly in small and medium-sized companies. This is an increase of around 8% compared to 2009 (around 339,500 jobs), and well over twice the number of jobs in 2004 (160,500). About two-thirds of these jobs are attributed to the Renewable Energy Sources Act.<br />
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Germany's federal government is working to increase renewable energy commercialization, with a particular focus on offshore wind farms. A major challenge is the development of sufficient network capacities for transmitting the power generated in the North Sea to the large industrial consumers in southern parts of the country. Germany's energy transition, the Energiewende, designates a significant change in energy policy from 2011. The term encompasses a reorientation of policy from demand to supply and a shift from centralized to distributed generation (for example, producing heat and power in very small cogeneration units), which should replace overproduction and avoidable energy consumption with energy-saving measures and increased efficiency.<br />
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Compare these statistics to Canada's record. In the electricity sector, hydroelectricity is the largest renewable energy source in Canada, accounting for approximately 60 percent of Canada's electricity generation. Other non-hydro renewable energy sources, such as biomass, wind, tidal and solar, contribute 3 percent, compared to Germany's 36% at the end of 2017.<br />
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The big issue with hydroelectricity is its impact on the environment due to the enormous amounts of concrete required. A major component of concrete is cement; the cement industry is one of the primary producers of carbon dioxide, a potent greenhouse gas. Concrete causes damage to the most fertile layer of the earth, the topsoil.<br />
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Solar energy systems have some certain negative impacts on the environment just like any other energy system, but solar energy is a lot cleaner when compared with conventional energy sources. Solar energy systems have many advantages such as being cheaper and not producing any pollutants during operation and, being almost an infinite energy source when compared with fossil fuels.<br />
On a closing note, a common myth is that solar panels do not work during winter, but on the contrary, cold temperature will typically improve solar panel output. The white snow can also reflect light and help improve PV performance. Winter will only hurt solar production if the panels are covered with snow, a problem easily solved.<br />
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Saskatchewan, if not Canada could be a leader in this field climate and geography.<br />
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Michael Trigghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09976720452628864290noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3604751069548689204.post-45211129269019337182017-11-06T08:54:00.003-08:002017-11-06T08:54:43.493-08:005 SMART HOME PRODUCTS THAT CAN LOWER YOUR ENERGY COSTS<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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Smart thermostats</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhpx8EecZS3WNLUQIQnbP2KFM0zok8xIiTvAq1_MMsk0Aq289D7HnByVMP9sLvM7xzk-wX4gNa3NGQq83Bqdo6lmQi1Pi96oDlumm10EMeJsQ6Ke8unKbH5j4yhzdLrwOpvX8MN-t3II_c/s1600/Thermostat+copy.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1197" data-original-width="1500" height="255" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhpx8EecZS3WNLUQIQnbP2KFM0zok8xIiTvAq1_MMsk0Aq289D7HnByVMP9sLvM7xzk-wX4gNa3NGQq83Bqdo6lmQi1Pi96oDlumm10EMeJsQ6Ke8unKbH5j4yhzdLrwOpvX8MN-t3II_c/s320/Thermostat+copy.png" width="320" /></a></div>
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<span style="text-align: left;">Smart plugs</span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiQj29en8lcOZKekDAOcKE1REmHl-YgwS5zg2gv6iF7lakomOKGb2rU42XirTPskkGwjAUOeE_vgSAfWP_UXNih0XIX_4mf3HpXcS5HNu7l1rxzfDkKIYsVqtMfrQ2rFJdgdHs5pvo9seI/s1600/Smart+Switches+copy.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="602" data-original-width="1070" height="180" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiQj29en8lcOZKekDAOcKE1REmHl-YgwS5zg2gv6iF7lakomOKGb2rU42XirTPskkGwjAUOeE_vgSAfWP_UXNih0XIX_4mf3HpXcS5HNu7l1rxzfDkKIYsVqtMfrQ2rFJdgdHs5pvo9seI/s320/Smart+Switches+copy.png" width="320" /></a></div>
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Smart hub</div>
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Motion sensor</div>
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Smart switches</div>
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<a href="http://www.tecus.ca/">www.tecus.ca</a></h2>
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Michael Trigghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09976720452628864290noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3604751069548689204.post-58982831049991125212015-04-17T09:17:00.005-07:002015-04-17T09:17:56.521-07:00SHOULD YOU CONSIDER PAYING UPFRONT BUSINESS FINANCING FEES?<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><a href="http://blog.businessfinancespecialist.com/business-financing/up-front-business-financing-fees">Should You Consider Paying Upfront Business Financing Fees</a></span><br />
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Michael Trigghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09976720452628864290noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3604751069548689204.post-63940375743943438022015-04-10T17:36:00.000-07:002015-04-13T08:53:32.964-07:00THE UPFRONT FEE SCAM<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">There have been many business people, entrepreneurs and dreamers been caught with their wallet open by the <a href="http://www.crimes-of-persuasion.com/Crimes/Telemarketing/Inbound/MinorIn/MoneyProbs/loan_brokers.htm">UPFRONT FEE SCAM</a>. It is rampant on the internet and propagated to a large degree by business websites such as LinkedIn who do not monitor their service as well as they should. However, that is not the point of this post.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The upfront fee for financing is nothing but a big, fat scam. I have never heard of any upfront business financing deal that has ever been legitimate. I have heard of and heard from a number of people who have been taken in by this fraud.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Many of the financing terrorists (this is what they are far as I am concerned) are very, very professional. Some piggy back on the backs of legitimate companies even using cloned email addresses. Some of them are as dumb as a sack of hammers with terrible spelling, amateurish documents and idiotic presentations. In spite of this, they still manage to reel in a few suckers. </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The problem lies with people believing what they want to hear. If a business person is desperate for financing and does not have the wherewithal to raise funds from conventional sources, they will grasp at straws. These upfront fee scammers know this and bait their hooks accordingly. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">We live in an electronic age. The internet is a tool, a business tool that has trillions of bytes of information at ones fingertips. Why don't people use it to carry out due diligence? A very easy way to start is to type into a search engine the name of the individual or the company offering the financing followed by the word "scam". And don't just look at </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> the first</span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> page that comes up. Often a website with some relevant information</span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> will show up on the subsequent pages. Also, check out scam websites. There are many out there and often or not, a name will pop up. Of course many of these scammers change identities often. If there are no hits in a search, the next best means of testing the validity of a financing offer with upfront fees required is to advise the lender / investor you will place the required upfront fees in trust with your lawyer. Advise the lender / investor to deposit the investment / loan funds in trust with his lawyer and let the two lawyers handle the transaction. If the investor / lender balks at this and advises that is not the way he does business, ITS A SCAM!! No if's, and's or buts. Run for your life.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">If anyone who reads this post can provide 100% concrete evidence that an upfront fee financing has been successfully completed, I would be interested in hearing about it. To date I have never seen one or heard of one that has been nothing but a scam. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Caveat Emptor. Or as P.T Barnum said; "There's a sucker born every minute" Don't let yourself be one. </span><br />
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Michael Trigghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09976720452628864290noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3604751069548689204.post-54020379142249759452015-02-02T16:54:00.002-08:002015-02-02T19:53:39.690-08:0050 Ways NOT to Start and Run a Business<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<h3 style="text-align: left;">
Plan to fail if you;</h3>
<ol style="text-align: left;">
<li>Don't research the market you wish to enter</li>
<li>Don't develop a business plan</li>
<li>Don't create a business model</li>
<li>Don't adjust your goals and plans as you move forward</li>
<li>Don't create 3 year revenue and expense projections</li>
<li>Don't understand the meaning of Cash Flow</li>
<li>Don't create a budget and stick to it</li>
<li>Don't keep receipts for every purchase no matter how small</li>
<li>Don't keep good records</li>
<li>Don't set money aside for tax payments. GST, PST, Income Tax</li>
<li>Don't learn what is deductible and what is not. Accountants are not babysitters</li>
<li>Don't set up a good bookkeeping system with the help of a good accountant</li>
<li>Don't avail yourself of a good insurance agent</li>
<li>Don't have insurance covering yourself and your key employees.</li>
<li>Don't have business interruption insurance </li>
<li>Don't treat people as you would like to be treated</li>
<li>Don't listen to good advice from peers</li>
<li>Don't listen to your customers and clients</li>
<li>Aren't prepared to go all out to satisfy an unhappy client or customer</li>
<li>Don't consistently check your revenues against your expenses</li>
<li>Don't pay your suppliers on time</li>
<li>Don't contact your suppliers if your cash flow has slowed down and you need an extension</li>
<li>Don't keep a journal and jot down ideas as they come to you</li>
<li>Provide a product or a service no one wants</li>
<li>Let your ego take over and ignore good advice</li>
<li>Get married to your idea and don't listen to people offering ways to improve upon your idea</li>
<li>Are arrogant and unbending</li>
<li>Stop learning because you know it all</li>
<li>Hire relatives and friends to save money instead of qualified personnel </li>
<li>Aren't prepared to work long hours</li>
<li>Aren't prepared to learn how to work smarter</li>
<li>Don't take courses to improve your knowledge</li>
<li>Don't join groups who can provide referrals</li>
<li>Aren't prepared to network</li>
<li>Chose cheaper materials for your products to save money</li>
<li>Cut back on advertising and marketing during busy times. </li>
<li>Don't take your accountants advice</li>
<li>Don't do your research on what is the best bank for your business. Not all banks are alike</li>
<li>Don't keep money aside for a rainy day.</li>
<li>Are not prepared to negotiate deals. Therefore give up something to get something</li>
<li>Don't learn to bargain</li>
<li>Don't become web savvy. </li>
<li>Don't take the time to learn more about marketing in the 21st century</li>
<li>Don't use your family in the business to create additional tax benefits.</li>
<li>Don't become tax smarter</li>
<li>Don't read, read and read more about your industry and your clients industries</li>
<li>Don't subscribe to influential trade magazines in your business</li>
<li>Don't manage your time efficiently</li>
<li>Are late for appointments, particularly with clients</li>
<li>Don'r recognize good employees for their handwork and diligence</li>
</ol>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">These are listed in no particular order of importance but do cover many of the reasons businesses fail. The old saying; "if you fail to plan, you are planning to fail" is as true today as when it was first stated by Benjamin Franklin. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">IN THE IMMORTAL WORDS OF THOMAS EDISON:</span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgwN8tGj50NnJvXKOSZadPSGzPrdncrZrUNwTZ_lbg5oybZ5Mw0ny8ZHG_9kysXajgW59CktOnUukRAhVxL5aBpcS-5ItG99b8VIpkVqQ_eMsEdm40NY8je51vIUVCRRkRaUcYVnegrtLg/s1600/Not+Failing.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgwN8tGj50NnJvXKOSZadPSGzPrdncrZrUNwTZ_lbg5oybZ5Mw0ny8ZHG_9kysXajgW59CktOnUukRAhVxL5aBpcS-5ItG99b8VIpkVqQ_eMsEdm40NY8je51vIUVCRRkRaUcYVnegrtLg/s1600/Not+Failing.png" height="240" width="320" /></a></div>
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Michael Trigghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09976720452628864290noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3604751069548689204.post-5955663309619921742014-11-11T20:12:00.002-08:002014-12-11T10:15:45.602-08:00THIRTY GREAT BUSINESS QUOTES<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Some of these quotes are well known. Most are very good and worth reviewing. </span><br />
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<div style="font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 20px; margin-bottom: 10px;">
Whether you’re in the early stages of your start-up or looking for some inspiration to keep going, here is the first of 100 kickass quotes for entrepreneurs. Remember when starting your own company, it’s not a sprint, it’s a marathon.<span id="more-3144"></span></div>
<ol style="font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 20px; margin: 0px 0px 10px 25px; padding: 0px;">
<li dir="ltr"><div dir="ltr" style="margin-bottom: 10px;">
“Your reputation is more important than your paycheck, and your integrity is worth more than your career.” — Ryan Freitas, About.me co-founder <a href="http://clicktotweet.com/dRW5p" rel="nofollow" style="color: #00709a; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">Click to Tweet</a></div>
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“Every time we launch a feature, people yell at us.” —Angelo Sotira, deviantART co-founder <a href="http://clicktotweet.com/aT695" rel="nofollow" style="color: #00709a; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">Click to Tweet</a></div>
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“Be undeniably good. No marketing effort or social media buzzword can be a substitute for that.” —Anthony Volodkin, Hype Machine founder <a href="http://clicktotweet.com/6BIqa" rel="nofollow" style="color: #00709a; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">Click to Tweet</a></div>
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<li dir="ltr"><div dir="ltr" style="margin-bottom: 10px;">
“Money is like gasoline during a road trip. You don’t want to run out of gas on your trip, but you’re not doing a tour of gas stations.” —Tim O’Reilly, O’Reilly Media founder and CEO <a href="http://clicktotweet.com/74460" rel="nofollow" style="color: #00709a; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">Click to Tweet</a></div>
</li>
<li dir="ltr"><div dir="ltr" style="margin-bottom: 10px;">
“If you can’t feed a team with two pizzas, it’s too large.” —Jeff Bezos, Amazon founder and CEO <a href="http://clicktotweet.com/e7bAb" rel="nofollow" style="color: #00709a; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">Click to Tweet</a></div>
</li>
<li dir="ltr"><div dir="ltr" style="margin-bottom: 10px;">
“Don’t worry about people stealing your design work. Worry about the day they stop.” —Jeffrey Zeldman, A List Apart Publisher <a href="http://clicktotweet.com/ZU3kz" rel="nofollow" style="color: #00709a; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">Click to Tweet</a></div>
</li>
<li dir="ltr"><div dir="ltr" style="margin-bottom: 10px;">
“Chase the vision, not the money, the money will end up following you.” —Tony Hsieh, Zappos CEO <a href="http://clicktotweet.com/4XI1o" rel="nofollow" style="color: #00709a; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">Click to Tweet</a></div>
</li>
<li dir="ltr"><div dir="ltr" style="margin-bottom: 10px;">
“The value of an idea lies in the using of it.” —Thomas Edison, General Electric Co-founder <a href="http://clicktotweet.com/s1I6h" rel="nofollow" style="color: #00709a; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">Click to Tweet</a></div>
</li>
<li dir="ltr"><div dir="ltr" style="margin-bottom: 10px;">
“Make every detail perfect and limit the number of details to perfect.” —Jack Dorsey, Twitter co-founder <a href="http://clicktotweet.com/0nbai" rel="nofollow" style="color: #00709a; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">Click to Tweet</a></div>
</li>
<li dir="ltr"><div dir="ltr" style="margin-bottom: 10px;">
“Your work is going to fill a large part of your life, and the only way to be truly satisfied is to do what you believe is great work. And the only way to do great work is to love what you do.” —Steve Jobs, Apple Inc. co-founder, chairman and CEO <a href="http://clicktotweet.com/19V63" rel="nofollow" style="color: #00709a; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">Click to Tweet</a></div>
</li>
<li dir="ltr"><div dir="ltr" style="margin-bottom: 10px;">
“The most dangerous poison is the feeling of achievement. The antidote is to every evening think what can be done better tomorrow.” —Ingvar Kamprad, IKEA founder <a href="http://clicktotweet.com/a17iq" rel="nofollow" style="color: #00709a; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">Click to Tweet</a></div>
</li>
<li dir="ltr"><div dir="ltr" style="margin-bottom: 10px;">
“Always look for the fool in the deal. If you don’t find one, it’s you.” —Mark Cuban, AXS TV chairman and entrepreneur <a href="http://clicktotweet.com/158fX" rel="nofollow" style="color: #00709a; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">Click to Tweet</a></div>
</li>
<li dir="ltr"><div dir="ltr" style="margin-bottom: 10px;">
“It’s not about ideas. It’s about making ideas happen.” —Scott Belsky, Behance co-founder <a href="http://clicktotweet.com/TwDY7" rel="nofollow" style="color: #00709a; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">Click to Tweet</a></div>
</li>
<li dir="ltr"><div dir="ltr" style="margin-bottom: 10px;">
“There’s nothing wrong with staying small. You can do big things with a small team.” —Jason Fried, 37signals founder <a href="http://clicktotweet.com/gfxa5" rel="nofollow" style="color: #00709a; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">Click to Tweet</a></div>
</li>
<li dir="ltr"><div dir="ltr" style="margin-bottom: 10px;">
“Don’t worry about failure; you only have to be right once.” —Drew Houston, Dropbox founder and CEO <a href="http://clicktotweet.com/f6f6X" rel="nofollow" style="color: #00709a; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">Click to Tweet</a></div>
</li>
<li dir="ltr"><div dir="ltr" style="margin-bottom: 10px;">
“Get five or six of your smartest friends in a room and ask them to rate your idea.” —Mark Pincus, Zynga CEO <a href="http://clicktotweet.com/WY94A" rel="nofollow" style="color: #00709a; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">Click to Tweet</a></div>
</li>
<li dir="ltr"><div dir="ltr" style="margin-bottom: 10px;">
“If there’s something you want to build, but the tech isn’t there yet, just find the closest possible way to make it happen.” —Dennis Crowley, Foursquare co-founder <a href="http://clicktotweet.com/bAOG5" rel="nofollow" style="color: #00709a; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">Click to Tweet</a></div>
</li>
<li dir="ltr"><div dir="ltr" style="margin-bottom: 10px;">
“Fail often so you can succeed sooner.” —Tom Kelley, Ideo partner <a href="http://clicktotweet.com/9IhCd" rel="nofollow" style="color: #00709a; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">Click to Tweet</a></div>
</li>
<li dir="ltr"><div dir="ltr" style="margin-bottom: 10px;">
“Nothing works better than just improving your product.” —Joel Spolsky, Stack Overflow co-founder <a href="http://clicktotweet.com/7wdZW" rel="nofollow" style="color: #00709a; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">Click to Tweet</a></div>
</li>
<li dir="ltr"><div dir="ltr" style="margin-bottom: 10px;">
“It’s not that we need new ideas, but we need to stop having old ideas.” —Edwin Land, Polaroid co-founder <a href="http://clicktotweet.com/27AJ8" rel="nofollow" style="color: #00709a; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">Click to Tweet</a></div>
</li>
<li dir="ltr"><div dir="ltr" style="margin-bottom: 10px;">
“We are currently not planning on conquering the world.” —Sergey Brin, Google co-founder <a href="http://clicktotweet.com/LNMP4" rel="nofollow" style="color: #00709a; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">Click to Tweet</a></div>
</li>
<li dir="ltr"><div dir="ltr" style="margin-bottom: 10px;">
“Get big quietly, so you don’t tip off potential competitors.” —Chris Dixon, Andreesen Horowitz investor <a href="http://clicktotweet.com/7dD20" rel="nofollow" style="color: #00709a; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">Click to Tweet</a></div>
</li>
<li dir="ltr"><div dir="ltr" style="margin-bottom: 10px;">
“Don’t try to be original, just try to be good.” —Paul Rand, Graphic Designer <a href="http://clicktotweet.com/9vEHY" rel="nofollow" style="color: #00709a; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">Click to Tweet</a></div>
</li>
<li dir="ltr"><div dir="ltr" style="margin-bottom: 10px;">
“It’s hard to do a really good job on anything you don’t think about in the shower.” —Paul Graham, YCombinator co-founder <a href="http://clicktotweet.com/i_dnz" rel="nofollow" style="color: #00709a; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">Click to Tweet</a></div>
</li>
<li dir="ltr"><div dir="ltr" style="margin-bottom: 10px;">
“If you’re interested in the living heart of what you do, focus on building things rather than talking about them.” —Ryan Freitas, About.me co-founder <a href="http://clicktotweet.com/s4I40" rel="nofollow" style="color: #00709a; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">Click to Tweet</a></div>
</li>
<li dir="ltr"><div dir="ltr" style="margin-bottom: 10px;">
“Entrepreneur is someone who has a vision for something and a want to create.” —David Karp, Tumblr founder and CEO <a href="http://clicktotweet.com/eafK0" rel="nofollow" style="color: #00709a; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">Click to Tweet</a></div>
</li>
<li dir="ltr"><div dir="ltr" style="margin-bottom: 10px;">
“Best startups generally come from somebody needing to scratch an itch.” —Michael Arrington, TechCrunch founder and co-editor <a href="http://clicktotweet.com/lL9pS" rel="nofollow" style="color: #00709a; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">Click to Tweet</a></div>
</li>
<li dir="ltr"><div dir="ltr" style="margin-bottom: 10px;">
“I don’t think an economic slump will hurt good ideas.” —Rob Kalin, Etsy founder <a href="http://clicktotweet.com/SfUbV" rel="nofollow" style="color: #00709a; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">Click to Tweet</a></div>
</li>
<li dir="ltr"><div dir="ltr" style="margin-bottom: 10px;">
“The last 10% it takes to launch something takes as much energy as the first 90%.” —Rob Kalin, Etsy founder <a href="http://clicktotweet.com/UyYdb" rel="nofollow" style="color: #00709a; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">Click to Tweet</a></div>
</li>
<li dir="ltr"><div dir="ltr" style="margin-bottom: 10px;">
“Don’t play games that you don’t understand, even if you see lots of other people making money from them.” —Tony Hsieh, Zappos CEO <a href="http://clicktotweet.com/im9o7" rel="nofollow" style="color: #00709a; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">Click to Tweet</a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 20px;"><br /><br />Read more: <a href="http://onboardly.com/content-marketing/101-kickass-startup-quotes/#.UitGbrx56yU#ixzz3Lc92FIeL" style="color: #003399; text-decoration: none;">http://onboardly.com/content-marketing/101-kickass-startup-quotes/#.UitGbrx56yU#ixzz3Lc92FIeL</a></span><br />
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Michael Trigghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09976720452628864290noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3604751069548689204.post-7717679772165053412014-11-10T14:26:00.000-08:002014-11-10T17:58:23.207-08:00IMPROVING YOUR COMPANY'S BOTTOM LINE<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">There are two basic methods for improving the bottom line of any business. </span><br />
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<li><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Lowering overheads / costs.</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Increasing cash flow. </span></li>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The former is a great deal easier to accomplish than the latter. Increasing cash flow means developing new business, finding new customers / clients or providing more products or services. The latter is a relatively simple exercise if you do not know how much revenue you have to generate each month to make a profit.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">If you plan on </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">reducing costs a</span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">s a first stage, you need to know what your monthly "nut" is. The monthly nut is the amount of money required to operate the business month to month including every business cost down to the cost of toilet paper and excluding the business owners or partners salary or draw. That can be included in the monthly total if you wish.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">In the businesses I have owned, I have always wanted to know what my monthly cost is before my draw. How much money do I need to bring in over the next 30 days to cover my company expenses.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">If you don't know what your business overheads are, how will you know if your business is profitable? First step; create an Excel spreadsheet and list all your expense categories. Next step is to ensure you get receipts for every purchase whether it is paid by cash, check or credit card. With items like parking, if you just use coins, keep a small notebook in the car and write down the amount you paid the meter. If you do a lot of driving and a lot of roadside parking, you will be surprised to see how much you spend on meters. Keep in mind, this amount comes off your business taxable income. Same with meetings over a coffee. Or buying a train ticket, as examples.Get a receipt and keep a file folder for the receipts. Total them up at the end of the month. Carry out this exercise every month for the next 3 months and then do an average. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Costs that have to be paid annually, divide over 12 months in your spread sheet. At the end of 6 months, divide by 6 and at the end of the year, divide by 12. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Now figure out what you (and your partner or partners) need to draw each month. Add this to your monthly total and now you know exactly how much revenue you need to generate each month. From this, you can deduce if the mark-up on the products you sell or the hourly rate you charge for your services is </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">is sufficient. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">You do not need an MBA to carry out this business analysis. </span></div>
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Michael Trigghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09976720452628864290noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3604751069548689204.post-61481032282879677192014-11-05T19:15:00.001-08:002023-03-09T16:48:57.066-08:00BUSINESS IN THE 21ST CENTURY<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<div style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18.48px;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjieAdDZkE-ETVsqcoFjqinhvjhHtMWuzrT-Uroaa2fBruhKmQ0O7nER-FG3IVkPjxWIsKiONL7rr_evV3MPesQCEpBuW0QDvvWoV6K9qXkKQIibnp-u9DmYrrtYqQZ0Uk40fEh4k3rfoP3B_oYCNLxxcGbn0cSpwZ3ID7t-bDiPEGQE7d3D-Qk_Ej0/s460/Business%20Building%20copy.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="330" data-original-width="460" height="380" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjieAdDZkE-ETVsqcoFjqinhvjhHtMWuzrT-Uroaa2fBruhKmQ0O7nER-FG3IVkPjxWIsKiONL7rr_evV3MPesQCEpBuW0QDvvWoV6K9qXkKQIibnp-u9DmYrrtYqQZ0Uk40fEh4k3rfoP3B_oYCNLxxcGbn0cSpwZ3ID7t-bDiPEGQE7d3D-Qk_Ej0/w529-h380/Business%20Building%20copy.jpg" width="529" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div></div><h4 style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18.48px; text-align: left;"><span style="color: black;">Adaptability to the ever-changing marketplace is a characteristic that will help 21st century businesses thrive. The ability to innovate and execute is essential, but without adaptability, your business will fall behind in our rapidly evolving world. Exploring creative solutions to challenges is fundamental in the 21st century business world because businesses constantly face trade-offs. A successful manager will be adaptable by being open-minded and bringing in new perspectives to confront new business challenges.</span></h4>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18.48px;"><span style="color: black; font-family: Arial;">New forms of marketing including advertising, improving customer satisfaction, competitive product or service pricing, staff training, taking advantage of new technology and trimming overheads are just a few of the many challenges facing today's business owners and managers.</span></div>
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<span style="color: black;"><span face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif">Accurate foresight is another essential trait for 21st century business people. You need to have a clear and forward looking</span><span face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif"> vision of who you are, your business goals, and where you see you and your business develop. Many managers spend their days dreaming about the future without taking initiative. Articulate a compelling future vision, develop an operations strategy, and execute that strategy. As a part of the aforementioned adaptability trait, reevaluate your strategy from time to time so it stays current with the changing times in which we live.</span></span></div>
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<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: Arial;">And update your business plan or business model as you proceed. If you don't know where you are going, you won't know when you have arrived. The old adage; "t</span><span face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif"><em>he only place success comes before work is in the dictionary"</em> is so very true. </span></span></div><div style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18.48px;"><span style="color: black;"><span face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif"><br /></span></span></div><div style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18.48px;"><span style="color: black;"><span face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif">And often, it is not a matter of working harder, just a matter of working smarter.</span></span></div>
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Michael Trigghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09976720452628864290noreply@blogger.com0