Posts Tagged ‘education’

When To Consider Letting An Employee Go In This Economy

Posted in Other - Business & Finance on November 15th, 2009 by Bender Hodges – Be the first to comment

With the hard times facing our country, the last thing you want to think about is giving someone bad news. The decision to let someone go will no doubt have emotional and financial consequences.

The number one cause for termination usually is accredited to inferior work performance. Policies and procedures should be clearly outlined and the employee should review this information periodically to help safeguard them from an unexpected departure.

Perseverance to your status as well as improving your skills is another way to help make certain you protect your employment. Some ways to do this would be through extra guidance or instruction. Asking for help shows you are concerned.

The method in which you carry yourself significantly affects your quality of work and the quality of those around you. A problematic or demanding attitude tends to reduce overall group morale. Lack of enthusiasm is not tolerated in the work environment.

Employees who are habitual offenders with calling in sick or being late are clear signs to an employer that they are not a model employee. Schedule a meeting with the employee as soon as possible. Addressing the problem immediately could have some sort of resolve.

As a person managing others, it’s important to set reasonable expectations for those within your group. A company manual that outlines these expectations will be helpful to all concerned. Heading off the problem before it begins is a great start.

When faced with the difficulty of delivering the bad news, be sympathetic but professional. The discussion should be held in a quiet place, preferably without onlookers. Share with the employee the areas in which they lacked in an effort to help them understand the situation.

As a leader, you too should gain something from your encounter. Something as simple as a monthly meeting in the conference room may allow some additional input which could help prevent the same situation from happening again.

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Life-Changing Quotes In ONE Book: Solving The Mystery Of Life

Posted in Other - Business & Finance on November 14th, 2009 by Masami Sato – Be the first to comment

Part One of Three

This collection of beautiful quotes that will inspire you to awaken your curiosity about the mystery of life is excerpted from “ONE”, a book by Masami Sato, the founder of Buy1GIVE which is a global giving organisation sharing the joy of giving. The quotes in this first edition include topics that are profoundly related to our everyday lives, such as mystery, judgment and connection. This article is the first part of the 3 “ONE Book Life-Changing Quotes Series”.

On transforming judgment

“Judgment often has very little relation to reality.”

“Actions and words don’t always accurately reflect who we are. Every single one of us has had the experience of wanting to undo what we did or said.”

On the mystery of life

“It’s very, very clear that we don’t need to know all of the ‘hows’ and ‘whys’ of life to keep living on this planet.”

“There are so many things we don’t understand in life. In spite of that lack of understanding though, we often enjoy experiencing those things.”

“Seeing is important but trying to figure out everything isn’t necessary.”

“The scientists are not here to reveal the ‘truth’ because we are here to seek it forever. They are actually here to complicate the game (of life) so that we can have more questions and enjoy the game longer.”

Connection

“Connection is the core of everything. That’s what life is. Connection.”

“Every single thing we do is to satisfy the need for connection.”

“We cannot feel unhappy when we are feeling totally connected. It’s impossible!”

“We are designed to constantly seek ways to connect to each other and to a greater purpose.”

“’solutions’ coming from fear and doubt may not be the most effective ways. We end up feeling more and more disconnected from each other.”

“We can only truly celebrate the victory with others when we win together. Then we feel connected.”

“This is the game called ONE. The aim of the game is to ‘connect’! We keep connecting until we all become ONE.

Discover more about how Buy1GIVE1 (BOGO) can transform your business using Cause Marketing. You can get a unique content version of this article from the Uber Article Directory.

BOGO

Posted in Other - Business & Finance on November 13th, 2009 by David Anttony – Be the first to comment

Definitions of English words often change quite rapidly these days. In the not-too-distant past the definition of words was often set in concrete. Today the meaning can change in the blink of an eye. With new and faster ways to exchange ideas and with wider and more culturally, socially and educationally diverse groups connecting together – words are put back on the hard anvil of evolution and transformed into something new and more reflective of current life and living.

There’s a significant global movement happening where consumers are asking business to take care of the things they care about such as the less fortunate in society and the environment. The request is mainly tacit and despite it being an ironic request it by far indicates still that we are in a time of vast change. Consumers these days want their cake and eat it. They not only want cheap products, they also want the environment to be preserved and they want workers to be well looked after.

There does not seem to be an answer to this conundrum and yet one does exist. It exists in the recoining or reforging of a single word. This word is a simple one – GET. Today, new movements of people who want to get but give at the same time are reforging it. It is being transformed into the word GIVE.

Every day automated email notices arrive from Google Alerts for two keywords – B1G1 and BOGO. I see all the new places these words are being used on the Internet. I can now see that the new meaning of these words is coming alive ‘poco a poco’ -little by little.

B1G1 and BOGO are acronyms for Buy One GET One free. You buy one and they give you an extra one for the same price.

If you look on Wikipedia you will find these definitions for BOGO (there isn’t a definition yet for B1G1) -

* An acronym in the retail industry that stands for Buy One Get One. For example, you could say “Buy 1 DVD, Get 1 FREE!

* An acronym in slang British that stands for Britons Of Greek Origin or Greek Britons.

* Bogo, Cebu, a city in central Philippines.

* An alternate name for the Bilen ethnic group of Ethiopia or their language, Blin.

* Norway, a village in Norway.

* The mascot of the ITESM CEM.

* Bogosort, an ineffective sorting algorithm

* Bogosort, an ineffective sorting algorithm

BOGO light

There is an organisation in the USA called SunLight Solar founded by a gentleman called Mark Bent. He has created a special torch that not only is an amazing and robust solar-powered light; his company also gives a free torch to a family in need in developing nations for each one purchased. If you look on their website you will learn about their “BOGOlight”.

“The BoGo – our Buy one/Give one – program has successfully provided lights to many, many thousands of people in the developing world, changing lives because of your purchase and participation.” – BOGOlight.com

Mark Bent turned the acronym upside down when he started to use the word as part of his product name. For him now and the thousands who buy his lights, BOGO now means Buy One GIVE One. Each person gets to give a light every time they buy one for themselves. So now with each sale, people who do not have the luxury of electricity can harness the power of the sun to support their lives.

There are many other well known and less well know businesses now doing Buy One Give One giving or transaction based giving as it is becoming known. Some of the famous ones are One Laptop Per Child and TOMS Shoes. Some of the less well-known ones (in the USA at least) are based in Australia, New Zealand and the UK – Maple Muesli, Blinds Couture, Earthstar Publishing, Figure 8 Body Chains, Honestly Women magazine, Sunsplash Homes and Thavibu Gallery based in Thailand are just a few special businesses that are leading the Buy One Give One movement in their parts of the world.

Many Buy One Give One businesses are uniting under the common banner of Buy1GIVE1 run by a social enterprise based in Singapore. Buy1GIVE1 is the home of transaction-based giving. Any business based anywhere in the world can now start doing Buy One Give One giving with ease. It is becoming like a ‘CSR plug-in’ allowing a business to instantly start giving from each and every product or service sale, starting from just one cent. And it is no longer about giving an equivalent product to someone else; instead it is about contributing to a project that resonates with a company’s activities. So for example a restaurant can feed a child, a TV manufacturer can give a cataract blind person the gift of sight (Get Vision-Give Vision), a magazine publisher can plant a tree for every subscription and a builder can build a low-cost family home for those in need (Buy1BUILD1) – the list is endless.

There is something very special happening these days as more and more people are switching to giving and what are known as ‘citizen brands’ as a part of their everyday experience. In the 2008 Goodpurpose study of global consumer attitudes it reveals that almost 68% of consumers would choose to remain loyal to a brand during an economic downturn if it supports a good cause. And 71% say that when they think about the economic downturn, they have either given the same or more time and money to good causes. This study also highlighted some other key points as well such as:

* 54% would promote a brand and its products if there was a good cause behind it.

* and 54% would champion a brand to promote a product if there was a good cause behind it.

* Consumers are now voicing a clear desire for marketers to associate their brands to social causes. 42% say that if two products or services were of a similar quality and price, commitment to a cause outranks factors like innovation, design and brand loyalty when selecting one brand over another.

Transforming Getting into Giving

In the minds of consumers, Buy One GIVE One is expected to replace Buy One GET One as the new global giving movement led by Buy1GIVE1 spreads. Certainly with the massive sales results and consumer demand shown for companies like BOGOlights, One Laptop Per Child (OLPC) and TOMS Shoes, this tide will continue to spread and grow.

I did a Google search on the 25 topmost key words connected with the keyword BOGO as an experiment to see what would show up. The results were interesting so I have displayed them below. You may notice that right now the word Give doesn’t show up. It will be interested to do this test again in twelve months time to see what changes. Consumers are now driving change and yes they want to receive free gifts (traditional B1G1/BOGO) but equally they also want to give to others or see others being given to.

Keyword results:

Free, photography, blogging, discount, networking, African, boots, groups, music, dallas, togo themes, wallpapers, buy, applications, skins, values, coupon, gift, sharing, shopping, pics, join, prose

Transactional or transaction based giving

Unlike traditional charity giving, Buy One Give One giving is transactional in that every time you buy something, you give something. In the case of SunNight Solar they happen to give a physical light for every light sold. However, in most cases, Buy1GIVE1 associated businesses give in a different way. At Buy1GIVE1, giving can start from just USD 1c contribution per sale and go up to thousands of dollars in the case of Buy1BUILD1. At 1cent almost every business in the world can afford to give from each sale especially when they know 100% contributed goes to the cause.

The actual amount given from each and every sale is not the point of focus with Buy1GIVE1 transaction based giving. It is not about saying 10% is contributed or 5c from each sale – instead the focus is on the story and sharing the simple joy of giving. In the end, if you think that 1c is not a lot to contribute and is not likely to make much of a difference think again and consider the following.

From its origins in Ethiopia, where the main coffee production is still from wild coffee tree forests, coffee consumption has spread throughout the world. Today Brazil is still by far the largest producer producing an average output of 28% of the world’s total coffee. Brazil produced enough coffee in 2006 to make 216 billion four hundred million – 216 400 000 000 – espresso coffees. If we calculate that across global production then we get a daily global consumption of around 2,117,416,830 cups of coffee. The figures are hard to find but let’s guess that 40% of the world’s coffee is sold in coffee shops then we would get that 846,966,732 cups are sold commercially each day globally. This would equate to about’5,485,714 cups in the USA alone seeing they purchase around 21.9% of the world’s coffee beans.

If we considered the impact of the coffee industry alone taking up Buy1-Give1, imagine now that for every cup of coffee sold a child in a developing region like Sub-Sahara Africa received clean drinking water from a well and it only costing 1cent to do this. Surely any coffee shop could afford to contribute this amount from the sale of a single cup of coffee. Imagine the different that this one action alone would make in the world.

Transactional giving is the story of the thousand-mile journey starting with that first single step. Digging a well costs a few thousand dollars so it’s a big barrier for communities in developing nations. However if you break the cost down it only takes the sale of a cup of coffee to give clean water to a single person for a day1. This is the power of transactional giving. It is like the compound interest of giving – a little turns into a lot very quickly.

So many companies are used to doing things on their own. Doing transactional giving is no different. A company can go out find a cause and start doing Buy One Give One giving. And yet they are missing the point when they do this. Buy1GIVE1 giving is about sharing the joy of giving and not trying to change the world. As soon as you step up and say you are going to change the world then the world will step up and challenge you. Within a heartbeat a company would experience the sharp scrutiny of the media inspecting their every move. And yet when a company steps up and says it is supporting what its customer want and joins with others in its industry to do that in a win-win way, the story is different. When companies choose to join together under a commonly recognised banner/brand they can have a powerful joint effect. The ripple that a single company creates is added to that of another and the ripple grows into a tidal wave that benefits so many. This is the power of giving and doing things together.

The final power of Buy One Give One transaction based giving is that everyone wins – the consumer wins – at no extra cost to themselves they have made a difference through their purchasing choices – the business wins in so many ways – and the worthy cause or charity wins because they can now receive small amounts from many sources all aggregated and paid as a lump sum from a single source if done through the Buy1GIVE1 service.

A new start

If you go and check Wikipedia.com today for the word BOGO you should find that a new definition has been added. It’s time for a tide-change – a change from focusing on GETTING to working with GIVING. I added this small addition to Wikipedia’s BOGO definition: “… an acronym in the marketing industry that stands for Buy One GIVE One.”

Imagine a world where every time you buy you are giving a gift forward to someone in greater need than you. This is the magic of transactional giving – seamless and simple.

This is the world I want to be part of.

And remember – you don’t ‘get’ giving till you get giving.

References:

http://www.coffeepoet.com/2007/09/

http://www.dep.org.uk/globalexpress/13/page1.htm

http://www.scfnw.org.uk/site/article183.html

http://www.tesco.com/greenerliving/what_we_are_doing/ethical_clothing.page

http://www.scfnw.org.uk/site/article183.html

http://www.goodpurposecommunity.com/

http://www.dep.org.uk/globalexpress/13/page1.htm

Footnotes: 1 Calculated by taking the average cost to dig a well, dividing it by its average expected life without major maintenance divided by the number of people in the community benefiting from the well on a daily basis.

Discover more about how Buy1GIVE1 (BOGO) can transform your business using Cause Marketing. This and other unique content ‘education’ articles are available with free reprint rights.

Secrets About Giving

Posted in Other - Business & Finance on November 13th, 2009 by Masami Sato – Be the first to comment

Here is the secret to get what one wants. It is just giving. The reasons for it are based on the well-known philosophical dictum “Which comes first, the chicken or the egg?” The egg, and the chicken that is born out of it, create the circle of life, and form the basis for a profound comparison for attaining and giving what one wants: the circle of joy. This brilliant concept is analyzed in the clear voice and lucid prose of Masami Sato, the author of the book named ONE.

As humans, many of us have longings for all kinds of things. And of course, theories of economics inform us that while requirements are unlimited, resources remain limited. This provokes us to think, the more the range of resources that we have, the more the longing that we will be able to fulfill. That is why we tend to defend our resources. We feel that dividing it between others or giving the resources away will reduce the amount we can retain to get what we ourselves want. This is the basic game of success and failure that is being acted out.

Could it be true, then?

What if the answer was “no”? What if it actually contradicts the secret of getting more? What if the secret to get more is simple – by giving more?

A person can get a thing by the simple act of giving. In the same way that he can get eggs by breeding chicks. In the most simple way. Naturally. Spontaneously. And it is a fully satisfying joyful sensation.

First of all, let us begin with some analogy to explain things.

Chicken and Egg: The Circle of Life

Philosophers have asked this question since the dawn of time, “Which comes first, the chicken or the egg?”

The answer to this endless discussion is simple: It actually doesn’t matter because both chickens and eggs are here now. But if we want to have more great outcomes, we can choose to start somewhere.

Giving and Receiving: the Cycle of Joy

What happens, if we pose a different question? “Which comes first, giving or receiving?”

Again, if we want a better outcome, we should choose to start somewhere. Giving off things to others is certainly easier than striving to get it first!

What is the outcome, when we try to get it first?

If we want to have something, naturally we try to get it. And we try to hold on to it after getting it. This is very natural to do-it makes sense intellectually.

But the real results of ‘trying to get’ are often not abundance and real long-term rewards.

For example, wanting to see others being happy is not about getting the joy from them or controlling them to become happy. It is about how much joy we can give them and share with them. Period.

So where do we start to get what we want?

By starting from the reverse end – by giving generously!

When we are ready to give away first before we have even got what we hope for – what we are dreaming of – we are sending a strong message to ourselves which says, ‘there is enough, and more will come.’ It lets us feel the joy today – the joy of sharing.

We only need to give out the love generously to others. It simply comes back to us. Giving love is the only way to be generously loved. When we acknowledge everyone for the great things they do and the great qualities they have, again it comes back to us. Others acknowledge us because we acknowledge them.

In much the same manner, if we want to have enough of everything in our lives physically, financially, and emotionally, we must share these things in ample measure with others.

Some people may choose to give materially by giving their time. Others would choose to give financially by giving their wealth. Those who give much more (like time, wealth, kindness, affection, principles etc.) have more of all these because it is the balance. And balance is the law of nature.

Just remember the rule of the game

One rule: never expect a return when we give.

When we have the anticipation that giving involves ‘getting’ something back, we become unhappy when we do not see the thing returning to us fast. We may even feel unhappy towards the one who gets the gift. And having a negative feeling for someone is definitely not a right state of affairs! So we can know the real pleasure of giving when we are doing it with the awareness that we are actually doing it for ourselves – we are doing it for our own pleasure!

Losing to win, giving to get..

In the beginning it may appear that we are the losers. Still, at some level we realize that receiving things without giving anything is not a realistic life pattern. We have always been aware of it. That is the reason why giving away a part of their income has been a pattern with many well known people. And they have not done it openly, so it was not done to make themselves popular. It was just the way they wanted it to be.

Take a look around. ‘Simpler’ living things do it naturally. The bumblebees pollinate the flowers as they receive the honey so more flowers bloom in abundance. Naturally. That’s the game. They do not do it for conscience or justice. That is why they create such sustainability without even trying.

Giving to another is just a role of who we are, it is the same as having; nothing more, nothing less. No confusion, no strings attached, just letting go easily.

The gist of getting more can be summarised into two steps: Give first, and do not hope to get anything in return.

When we let go and give open-handedly, what we require would come to us. On its own.

Find out more about how Buy1GIVE1 (BOGO) can transform your business using Cause Marketing. Click here to get your own unique version of this article with free reprint rights.

Secrets About Giving

Posted in Other - Business & Finance on April 25th, 2009 by Masami Sato – Be the first to comment

The secret of attaining what one wants has been revealed. It is just the simple act of giving. The basis of this is explained in the background of the classical dictum “Which comes first, the chicken or the egg?” Chicken and the egg, continuously forming the cycle of life and renewing it, is a profound example of giving and getting what one wants: the circle of joy. This idea is fully analyzed in the resonant voice of Masami Sato, the author of the book ONE.

As humans, many of us have longings for all kinds of things. And of course, theories of economics inform us that while requirements are unlimited, resources remain limited. This provokes us to think, the more the range of resources that we have, the more the longing that we will be able to fulfill. That is why we tend to defend our resources. We feel that dividing it between others or giving the resources away will reduce the amount we can retain to get what we ourselves want. This is the basic game of success and failure that is being acted out.

Could it be true, then?

And if the answer is “no” what then? What if it actually goes against the secret of getting more? What if the secret to earn more is simple – just by managing to give more?

A person can get a thing by the simple act of giving. In the same way that he can get eggs by breeding chicks. In the most simple way. Naturally. Spontaneously. And it is a fully satisfying joyful sensation.

First of all, let us begin with some analogy to explain things.

Chicken and Egg: The Circle of Life

Many a philosopher has come out with this question from the beginning of time, “Which comes first, the chicken or the egg?”

There is a simple answer to this unending doubt. It is that the question is unimportant, since both chicks and eggs are here now. Nevertheless, if one wants a greater effect, one can choose to start somewhere.

Giving and Receiving: the Cycle of Joy

What if we asked a different question? “Which comes first, giving or receiving?”

Again, if we want a better outcome, we should choose to start somewhere. Giving off things to others is certainly easier than striving to get it first!

What is the outcome, when we try to get it first?

If we yearn to own something, naturally we would try to get it. And once we get it, we would try to hold on to it. This is absolutely normal – it does make sense logically.

But the real results of ‘trying to get’ are often not abundance and real long-term rewards.

For example, wanting to see others being happy is not about getting the joy from them or controlling them to become happy. It is about how much joy we can give them and share with them. Period.

So where do we start to get what we want?

By starting from the other end of the circle- by giving generously!

When we are ready to give away first before we have even got what we hope for – what we are dreaming of – we are sending a strong message to ourselves which says, ‘there is enough, and more will come.’ It lets us feel the joy today – the joy of sharing.

All that is required of us is to give out the love in abundance to others. It would somehow come back to us. Giving love is the only way to be completely loved. When we recognize others for the big things they do and great credentials they have, again it would come back to us. Others accept us because we accept them.

In the same way, if we wanted to have enough in our life materially, financially and emotionally, we just need to share the things we want generously with others.

Some would give more physically by giving their time. Some would give more financially by giving money away. The people who give more (time, money, kindness, love, ideas) have more of these things because that’s the balance. And balance is the natural law of life.

Just keep in mind the rule of the game

One rule: never expect a return when we give.

When we have the conviction that giving has got as its inherent part, ‘getting’ something back, we become upset when do not see the return immediately. We may even feel a slight dissatisfaction towards the receiver of our gift. And surely, nurturing a bad feeling for someone is not a proper thing to do! So we can experience the real happiness of giving when we are doing something with the knowledge that we are doing it only for ourselves – we are doing it for our own happiness!

Losing to win, giving to receive

In the beginning it may appear that we are the losers. Still, at some level we realize that receiving things without giving anything is not a realistic life pattern. We have always been aware of it. That is the reason why giving away a part of their income has been a pattern with many well known people. And they have not done it openly, so it was not done to make themselves popular. It was just the way they wanted it to be.

Just take a look around. ‘Simple’ forms of life on the earth do it routinely. The bumblebees fertilize the flowers in return for the honey they take from them and ensure that the flowers bloom profusely. Habitually. That is the rule. They do not do it consciously. That is why they maintain nature’s balance, without even trying.

Giving is just a part of who we are, the same as having; nothing more or less. No complications, no strings attached; just letting go.

The real secret of getting more can be summarised in two steps: Give first, and do not expect anything in return.

When we let go and give open-handedly, what we require would come to us. On its own.

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Invoice Factoring, Discount Factoring, AR Factoring, Factoring Loan

Invoice Factoring, Discount Factoring, AR Factoring, Factoring Loan

Invoice Factoring, Discount Factoring, AR Factoring, Factoring Loan,Invoice Factoring, Discount Factoring, AR Factoring, Factoring Loan,Invoice Factoring, Discount Factoring, AR Factoring, Factoring Loan