The Profit Prophet

I hope all finds you well on this BLUE MOON Fryday…yep, today is the 2nd full moon of the month, making it a blue moon, a somewhat rare event. That brings me to my Fryday humor post. Yes, it is about a Winter / Spring relationship, but it is not all bad..read on and you understand why and I hope YOU have a GREAT weekend too! ________________________________________ A balding, white haired man from Ft Pierce, Florida, walked into a jewelry store on a Friday evening with a beautiful much younger gal at his side. He told the jeweler he was looking for a special ring for his girlfriend. The jeweler looked through his stock and brought out a $5,000 ring. The man said, 'No, I'd like to see something more “special.”' At that statement, the jeweler went to his special stock and brought another ring over. 'Here's a stunning ring at only $50,000 the jeweler said. The lady's eyes sparkled and her whole body trembled with excitement. The old man seeing this said, '...

I am writing this because I sent a somewhat cheeky email about a Father and Daughter (Dem v. Rep), and I got ONE irate response saying I was a propagandist! I was totally insulted, not because he thought I was a propagandist, but because if I was using propaganda, it would have been so much better than that email. Anyway, it did get me thinking about the morass this country is in, and why we are so far apart concerning the budget, taxes, and pretty much everything. So, being an engineer and a bridge builder (yes I love it when everyone agrees with me!!!), I thought about a solution that I think both sides of the political spectrum could agree on. If you really want to have a true redistribution of the wealth, then one thing needs to happen: wealthy, rich people need to go out and spend it on people trying to make a living locally, not charity..but prosperity…ooh, new slogan..…or invest it in companies…or whatever. Hording money is never a good thing, so how can we loosen those purs...

Have you ever noticed that some people show up EXACTLY on time, like the cavalry, and others are habitually late?  Be it in business or your private life, the way you conduct yourself concerning other people's time is often tantamount to your success.  Here is an article by John W. Wheat describing what it means to be punctual. Punctuality is the characteristic of being able to complete a required task or fulfill an obligation before or at a previously designated time. "Punctual" is often used synonymously with "on time." According to each culture, there is often an understanding about what is considered an acceptable degree of punctuality. Usually, a small amount of lateness is acceptable; this is commonly about ten or fifteen minutes in Western cultures. In some cultures, such as Japanese society, or in the military there basically is no allowance. Some cultures have an unspoken understanding that actual deadlines are different from stated deadl...

In an effort to move the world in a more user friendly direction,  I put this together this document to help an company I have been working with, Help Find Care , develop their automation process when dealing with payroll and ACH (Automated Clearing House).  This document takes each of the NACHA fields needed to upload a text file to your bank. The screen shots are below (click on the images to enlarge), or you can download the PDF with this link . Notes: Field was is the header record field..Each field consists of 94 characters. To submit a payment file you will need Feilds 1, 5, 6 (may be multiple field 6s), 8, and 9. Field 5 is the Company Batch Header designator   Note: Field 6 is the actual payment field, and there would be on field (94 characters) for each employee you would want to pay.

Sometimes the left hand has no idea what the right hand does! The Food Stamp Program, administered by the U.S. Department of Agriculture, is actually proud of the fact it is distributing the greatest amount of free meals and food stamps ever. Meanwhile, the National Park Service, administered by the U.S. Department of the Interior, asks us to "Please Do Not Feed the Animals." Their stated reason for the policy is because the animals will grow dependent on handouts and will not learn to take care of themselves. "A government big enough to give you everything you want, is strong enough to take everything you have." --Thomas Jefferson 

Many of us in business want to set the world on fire with our ideas..we want to radically and profoundly change the world...but you know what..there is only one way to change the world..and that is to change yourself first...as the old monk professes here is the process: When I was a young man, I wanted to change the world. I found it was difficult to change the world, so I tried to change my nation. When I found I couldn't change the nation, I began to focus on my town. I couldn't change the town and as an older man, I tried to change my family. Now, as an old man, I realize the only thing I can change is myself, and suddenly I realize that if long ago I had changed myself, I could have made an impact on my family. My family and I could have made an impact on our town. Their impact could have changed the nation and I could indeed have changed the world. - Unknown Monk (1100AD).

I was recently reading a "How To" by Hugh MacLeod (the founder of gapingvoid ) and it occurred to me that I also have a short list that I have learned about creativity, and I will share it below (some Hugh & I share BTW).  My list follows: How to be creative my Hugh MacLeod 1: Do Not Listen to Naysayers 2. Surround yourself with free thinkers 3. Make lots of mistakes (this is real creativity) 4. Practice, Practice.. see #3 5. Sing in your own voice (do what YOU want to) 6. Make your OWN mistakes 7. Do NOT think of what cannot be done...just do it 8. Focus on the art 9. Do exceptional work for the few who will appreciate it 10. Put all your heart into it. 11. Make sure what you are doing is really different (no copies) 12. Be original..rather than a poor copy of someone else 13. Realize that what you are doing is a gift..you may get nothing for it, but do it anyway Sorry, that is it...short and sweet...just do it...there is no 2nd place for doing 1st rate...