Overcoming the Fear of Prospecting
By Wes Schaeffer
"I'm good enough, I'm smart enough, and dog-gone it, people like me." This was the mantra of Stuart Smalley, a fictional self-help guru on Saturday Night Live. The Stuart Smalley's of the world tell everyone who will pay them that "You can change your career and change your life but if you'll only do these 5 things:
Be positive. Make positive affirmations and have a vision board.
Set some goals. Dream big. Go sit in the new BMW you want and see yourself driving it.
Work on your attitude.
You gotta BELIEVE in you and your product and your company.
Get motivated. Come on, stand up, do some jumping jacks, shout "Yes" 10 times.
Now go get 'em!"
Really?
Is that all it takes?
How I wish that were so.
I wish we all possessed telekinesis and could float the pen into the prospect's hand with our energizing smile. Then move their hand across the dotted line ("press real hard, the 3rd copy's yours.") Then have the prospect hug us and cry Grande's and Venti's full of happy tears because our product or service is so wonderful and they're going to sing our praises from the top of their cubicle...SLAP!
"Send us some literature!" Click!
"We're already working with someone!" Click! "
May I ask who's calling?"
"May I ask what this call is in regards to?"
"Is she expecting your call?"
"He's in a meeting. May I put you through to voicemail?"
"See-more, our resident one-way, dead end, cul-de-sac, expert will talk to you (and drink your coffee, and pump you for information, and tell you he needs a company shirt and a golf outing and never recommend you to the boss!)
Welcome to reality my perennially paralyzed prospecting pals. If you are like most people in sales today - and like me when I got started - you are confused and exhausted, under quota and over your recommended resting heart rate despite your darndest efforts at following the self-help gurus.
Why?
The same reason your sour cream coffee cake won't win any prizes with 1 cup butter, 1 1/3rd cups of sugar, 3 eggs, 3 tsps baking powder, 1 tsp baking soda, 8 oz of sour cream and 1/4 cup cream.
That recipe, just like your self-help sales recipe above, is missing one key ingredient. Both are 90 - 95% complete.
Both are almost good enough. But both, as is, will leave you in a far distant second.
For the coffee cake, that missing ingredient is 3 cups of flour (and baking it at 350 degrees for 55 minutes.)
To be profitable in prospecting the missing ingredient is...WORDS.
And not just any words but the proper SEQUENCES OF WORDS that are appropriate for your situation.
While I cannot teach you telekinesis, I can help you form the proper sequences of words for virtually any sales situation you may encounter. This will empower you with the ability to perform what will seem like "Jedi mind tricks."
When you are confident that your training has equipped you to handle any situation it's amazing how positive and motivated you will become. Your attitude will improve. You'll believe in yourself and you'll be flying by your goals on a regular basis.
Are you willing to commit the time, money and energy to master those sequences of words?
Beginning Monday, April 27th, at 8 am PT, I'll be covering this topic and more for 6 straight weeks via live teleconference.
I'd snag a seat right now if I was you.
"The three great essentials to achieve anything worth while are, first, hard work; second, stick-to-itiveness; third, common sense."
Thomas Edison
Wes Schaeffer, The Sales Whisperer�
P.S. For the first 10 of you that take action you will be able to invite a co-worker, staff member or business partner to participate in the full 6 week training program with you at no additional charge! So do not dilly-dally!
P.P.S. Would you like to participate in this program at no charge? The Sales Stimulus Contest Rules of Engagement will be posted soon but one committed, hard-working, sales champion will have their full tuition reimbursed! Stay tuned.
Wes Schaeffer is The Sales Whisperer�, http://www.TheSalesWhisperer.com
Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Wes_Schaeffer
http://EzineArticles.com/?Overcoming-the-Fear-of-Prospecting&id=2179388
วันพุธที่ 15 มกราคม พ.ศ. 2557
Does Memory Reside Inside the Brain
Does Memory Reside Inside the Brain
By Gang Liu
On Jun 2, 2005, NBC Philadelphia had an interesting report. Christina Santhouse had caught a virus that caused a rare brain disorder known as Rasmussen's Syndrome at an age of 8. And her doctor had to perform hemispherectomy, removal of half of the brain, on her. After 10 years, Christina was about to graduate from high school with honors. After the surgery, she had a slight limp and her left hand didn't work at all. She had also lost her peripheral vision, but otherwise, she was an ordinary teen. A similar case was reported on Telegraph (UK) on May 29, 2002, a girl named Bursa had the same disorder and her left brain was removed when she was 3, she became fluent in Dutch and Turkish when she was 7. In 1987, A. Smith reported that one patient with hemispherectomy had completed college, attended graduate school and scored above average on intelligence tests. Studies have found no significant long-term effects on memory, personality, or humor after the procedure, and minimal changes in cognitive function overall.
The outcome of hemispherectomy is surprising. Neuroscience tends to suggest memory is stored in the neurons in the brain. If that premise stands true, removing half of the brain would destroy one's memory if memory is stored in the network structure of neurons as one school of cognitive physiology suggests, or at least destroy half of the memory if bits of memory information are stored in individual neurons in the brain as suggested by another school of cognitive neuroscience. But it is apparent that the results disagree with either of the explanations. Removing part of the brain has been one of the standard surgical operations for severe epilepsy and has been performed thousands of times. Many of the results are quite similar to those of hemispherectomy.
The orthodox explanation for the observation is that information stored in the infected brain areas is duplicated in the health part of the brain prior to the surgery. This rationalization is still inadequate when you take into account how a brain surgery is performed. Surgeon has to remove the infected area and some surrounding health tissue, sometimes a much larger tissue than the infected area, to make sure infection does not spread. If the information stored in the infected areas is reproduced somewhere in the brain before surgical procedure, some information is still lost when surrounding health brain tissue is removed, consequently the memory would suffer.
This is not observed after the surgery. So it is necessary to assume that the memory stored in the neighboring health tissue is also replicated in other parts of the brain. This raises a question: how does the brain know how much health tissue is going to be taken out? If the brain does not know, surgeries will inevitable destruct part of the memory. The belief that memory is stored in the brain (in neurons or in the network of neurons) apparently contradicts with findings in brain surgeries.
In the 1920s Karl Lashley conducted a series of experiments trying to identify which part of the brain memories are stored. He trained rats to find their way through a maze, and then made lesions in different parts of the cerebral cortex in an attempt to erase its original memory trace. His experimental animals were still able to find their way through the maze no matter where he put lesions on their brains. He therefore concluded that memories are not stored in any single area of the brain, but are instead distributed throughout it. Distributing the memory of every single event over the whole brain is energetically inefficient and mathematically impossible. If his reasoning is not confined to the brain, the logical conclusion should be that memory is not stored in the brain.
Instincts are obviously inherited and nobody has any slight idea where the information making up the instincts is stored, and cognitive memory is thought to be acquired through experience and stored by changing the signal chemicals in the neurons in the brain.
New research reveals that even cognitive memory can be inherited. A study by Larry Feig at Tufts University School of Medicine in Boston indicates that mother mice that receive mental training before they become pregnant can pass on their cognitive benefits to their young even there is no direct contact among the mothers and their offspring. It is obvious that the cognitive memory is not acquired by the young through experience, and there is no apparent way for the young to store the information in their neurons, then where do the young retrieve the memory from? Maybe from where they store their instincts information, a place nobody knows yet.
"Brain areas such as the hippocampus, the amygdala, the striatum, or the mammillary bodies are thought to be involved in specific types of memory. For example, the hippocampus is believed to be involved in spatial learning and declarative learning, while the amygdala is thought to be involved in emotional memory. Damage to certain areas in patients and animal models and subsequent memory deficits is a primary source of information. However, rather than implicating a specific area, it could be that damage to a pathway traveling through the area is actually responsible for the observed deficit" (excerpt from http://www.wikipedia.com). If one stores all his possessions in a warehouse connected to his house through a highway, he would not be able to get anything from the warehouse if the highway is broken down. To infer that everything is stored on the highway based on the facts he can not get anything when the highway is interrupted is ridiculous. Even the connection between the brain and memory is well established, it is beyond logic to conclude that memory reside inside the brain.
Wilder Penfield was a pioneer in associating particular type of memory with specific area in the brain. When he was conducting surgeries to remove specific types of temporal lobe loci which were causing epilepsy, he made ground-breaking discoveries by taking notice that his un-anesthetized patients (with local pain blockers) could listen and respond to his questions while their temporal lobe was being operated upon. Indeed, the verbal feedback by the patient was an essential requirement so that Penfield could determine that he was excising exact portion of the brain which was the cause of the neurological symptoms being treated. He would insert an electrode into patient's brain and provide electrical stimulation to see how the patient responds.
One of Penfield's patients heard a specific music selection being performed by an orchestra "when a point on the superior surface of the right temporal lobe was stimulated after removal of the anterior half of the lobe." The sound was so clear that the patient believed that there was a phonograph in the operating room. As the same point was re-stimulated (without withdrawing the electrode, only stop and re-supply electrical stimulus) the music began at the same spot in time where it had previously begun.
When Penfield withheld the electrode, the patient heard nothing. He found that the patient could not guess what was to happen after the electrode had been withdrawn. "L.G. saw a man fighting. When the point was re-stimulated he saw a man and a dog walking along a road." Often the memory is no longer able to be recalled.
At the beginning of his career in brain surgery, Penfield reasoned memory must be stored somewhere in the brain and the stimulus opened the gate of river of memory. His work originated numerous researches to associate memory and emotion to specific area in the brain. Penfield's continuous research convinced him that memory can not exist in the brain. He and his colleague reported that removing more cortex after injury to the brain raised the Intelligence Quotient. In one case, he was surprised to find out that his patient's Intelligence Quotient went from 75 to 80 - 95 after he made extensive bilateral removal of the prefrontal lobes. William Cone reported similar result after removing part of his patient's brain. Penfield's continued work, especially on hippocampus and cortex, had changed his views on brain, consciousness and memory mechanism. He late suggested that the interpretive cortex of the temporal lobes acts as a bridge, and the hippocampus holds "keys of access" to those past recorded experiences which are located somewhere outside of the brain.
Philosopher William James had a technically different but very similar view on consciousness as Penfield. He held that consciousness operates through the brain rather than the brain producing consciousness. The notion that consciousness is separated from the body has a long tradition in the west thinkers. Plato portrayed the earthly body as a limiting factor on conscious experience. Kant insinuated the body as "an imposition to our pure spiritual life". The idea matured into a proposition called Transmission Hypothesis --- brain and body serve not as the originators of consciousness but rather as its trans-receiver. The cited supporting evidences for this hypothesis are mostly in the typically considered unscientific fields, such as, psychedelic research, psi effect, after death experience, etc.. As a result this hypothesis is ill received within the philosophic and scientific community. But that does not mean they are wrong, to separate consciousness from body might a very sensible thing to do in the light of above facts.
Since memory does not reside inside the brain, the functions of the brain need to be reinvestigated. It is possible that the brain acts as a bridge to consciousness as suggested by Penfield, or a trans-receiver suggested by William James. The similarity between the two is obvious, and the brain is the only pathway to consciousness and memory for both cases. The importance of brain to memory has been supported by a vast number of critical researches over a long history. But the evidence to suggest that the brain is the only organ associated with memory is lacking, on the contrary, some evidences suggest that the heart might be associated with memory too.
Does the heart have memory? The question has been around for years. The question arises anew after years of transplanting the heart or other organs into human beings and noticing some changes in the recipients. After having had heart transplants some recipients have noticed profound changes in their personalities. For some, there is an overwhelming need to consume quantities of Mexican foods when that type of cuisine was never a favorite. For others, a sudden love for football, when sports were previously hated, comes into play.
How can these phenomena be explained? Can the heart actually feel, think, and remember? The answer could shed light on how memory is handled by human.
Rollin MacCraty from California's Hearthmath University has devised tests which show how the heart processes information. His tests showed that the heart responded before the brain when encountering an emotional event. He concluded the heart must have the ability to process emotional data.
To associate heart with memory is a legitimate proposition based on these findings. But there is no medical evidence indicating that changing the heart to a mechanical heart leads to memory loss. This implies memory is not stored in the heart. Could it be because that heart does not store memory but is a gateway to the memory? What kind of memory can be accessed through heart? Are other organs gateways to limited memory too? These questions ask for expanding memory research to a much wider ground besides the brain.
The inevitable question is, if memory is not inside the brain, where does memory reside? The short answer is: we don't know. Scientific pursuit has always been looking for evidence to support a logic conclusion derived from a general theory. If the general theory is fundamentally flawed, the progressing of science will stop and wait for convincing evidence to overturn the general theory. Only from there, science will flourish again on the new foundation. Materialism has been very successful for the advancement of living standard and scientific queries. Recent research in quantum mechanics suggests reality in a more basic level might not be materialism at all. Memory might be in a physical form we do not know or reside outside our physical world. We shall wait for new evidence to emerge.
Please send your comments to gliu2001@163.com, visit www.myspace.com/gang100 for latest articles.
Gang Liu
True Seeker
gliu2001@163.com
Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Gang_Liu
http://EzineArticles.com/?Does-Memory-Reside-Inside-the-Brain&id=2011790
By Gang Liu
On Jun 2, 2005, NBC Philadelphia had an interesting report. Christina Santhouse had caught a virus that caused a rare brain disorder known as Rasmussen's Syndrome at an age of 8. And her doctor had to perform hemispherectomy, removal of half of the brain, on her. After 10 years, Christina was about to graduate from high school with honors. After the surgery, she had a slight limp and her left hand didn't work at all. She had also lost her peripheral vision, but otherwise, she was an ordinary teen. A similar case was reported on Telegraph (UK) on May 29, 2002, a girl named Bursa had the same disorder and her left brain was removed when she was 3, she became fluent in Dutch and Turkish when she was 7. In 1987, A. Smith reported that one patient with hemispherectomy had completed college, attended graduate school and scored above average on intelligence tests. Studies have found no significant long-term effects on memory, personality, or humor after the procedure, and minimal changes in cognitive function overall.
The outcome of hemispherectomy is surprising. Neuroscience tends to suggest memory is stored in the neurons in the brain. If that premise stands true, removing half of the brain would destroy one's memory if memory is stored in the network structure of neurons as one school of cognitive physiology suggests, or at least destroy half of the memory if bits of memory information are stored in individual neurons in the brain as suggested by another school of cognitive neuroscience. But it is apparent that the results disagree with either of the explanations. Removing part of the brain has been one of the standard surgical operations for severe epilepsy and has been performed thousands of times. Many of the results are quite similar to those of hemispherectomy.
The orthodox explanation for the observation is that information stored in the infected brain areas is duplicated in the health part of the brain prior to the surgery. This rationalization is still inadequate when you take into account how a brain surgery is performed. Surgeon has to remove the infected area and some surrounding health tissue, sometimes a much larger tissue than the infected area, to make sure infection does not spread. If the information stored in the infected areas is reproduced somewhere in the brain before surgical procedure, some information is still lost when surrounding health brain tissue is removed, consequently the memory would suffer.
This is not observed after the surgery. So it is necessary to assume that the memory stored in the neighboring health tissue is also replicated in other parts of the brain. This raises a question: how does the brain know how much health tissue is going to be taken out? If the brain does not know, surgeries will inevitable destruct part of the memory. The belief that memory is stored in the brain (in neurons or in the network of neurons) apparently contradicts with findings in brain surgeries.
In the 1920s Karl Lashley conducted a series of experiments trying to identify which part of the brain memories are stored. He trained rats to find their way through a maze, and then made lesions in different parts of the cerebral cortex in an attempt to erase its original memory trace. His experimental animals were still able to find their way through the maze no matter where he put lesions on their brains. He therefore concluded that memories are not stored in any single area of the brain, but are instead distributed throughout it. Distributing the memory of every single event over the whole brain is energetically inefficient and mathematically impossible. If his reasoning is not confined to the brain, the logical conclusion should be that memory is not stored in the brain.
Instincts are obviously inherited and nobody has any slight idea where the information making up the instincts is stored, and cognitive memory is thought to be acquired through experience and stored by changing the signal chemicals in the neurons in the brain.
New research reveals that even cognitive memory can be inherited. A study by Larry Feig at Tufts University School of Medicine in Boston indicates that mother mice that receive mental training before they become pregnant can pass on their cognitive benefits to their young even there is no direct contact among the mothers and their offspring. It is obvious that the cognitive memory is not acquired by the young through experience, and there is no apparent way for the young to store the information in their neurons, then where do the young retrieve the memory from? Maybe from where they store their instincts information, a place nobody knows yet.
"Brain areas such as the hippocampus, the amygdala, the striatum, or the mammillary bodies are thought to be involved in specific types of memory. For example, the hippocampus is believed to be involved in spatial learning and declarative learning, while the amygdala is thought to be involved in emotional memory. Damage to certain areas in patients and animal models and subsequent memory deficits is a primary source of information. However, rather than implicating a specific area, it could be that damage to a pathway traveling through the area is actually responsible for the observed deficit" (excerpt from http://www.wikipedia.com). If one stores all his possessions in a warehouse connected to his house through a highway, he would not be able to get anything from the warehouse if the highway is broken down. To infer that everything is stored on the highway based on the facts he can not get anything when the highway is interrupted is ridiculous. Even the connection between the brain and memory is well established, it is beyond logic to conclude that memory reside inside the brain.
Wilder Penfield was a pioneer in associating particular type of memory with specific area in the brain. When he was conducting surgeries to remove specific types of temporal lobe loci which were causing epilepsy, he made ground-breaking discoveries by taking notice that his un-anesthetized patients (with local pain blockers) could listen and respond to his questions while their temporal lobe was being operated upon. Indeed, the verbal feedback by the patient was an essential requirement so that Penfield could determine that he was excising exact portion of the brain which was the cause of the neurological symptoms being treated. He would insert an electrode into patient's brain and provide electrical stimulation to see how the patient responds.
One of Penfield's patients heard a specific music selection being performed by an orchestra "when a point on the superior surface of the right temporal lobe was stimulated after removal of the anterior half of the lobe." The sound was so clear that the patient believed that there was a phonograph in the operating room. As the same point was re-stimulated (without withdrawing the electrode, only stop and re-supply electrical stimulus) the music began at the same spot in time where it had previously begun.
When Penfield withheld the electrode, the patient heard nothing. He found that the patient could not guess what was to happen after the electrode had been withdrawn. "L.G. saw a man fighting. When the point was re-stimulated he saw a man and a dog walking along a road." Often the memory is no longer able to be recalled.
At the beginning of his career in brain surgery, Penfield reasoned memory must be stored somewhere in the brain and the stimulus opened the gate of river of memory. His work originated numerous researches to associate memory and emotion to specific area in the brain. Penfield's continuous research convinced him that memory can not exist in the brain. He and his colleague reported that removing more cortex after injury to the brain raised the Intelligence Quotient. In one case, he was surprised to find out that his patient's Intelligence Quotient went from 75 to 80 - 95 after he made extensive bilateral removal of the prefrontal lobes. William Cone reported similar result after removing part of his patient's brain. Penfield's continued work, especially on hippocampus and cortex, had changed his views on brain, consciousness and memory mechanism. He late suggested that the interpretive cortex of the temporal lobes acts as a bridge, and the hippocampus holds "keys of access" to those past recorded experiences which are located somewhere outside of the brain.
Philosopher William James had a technically different but very similar view on consciousness as Penfield. He held that consciousness operates through the brain rather than the brain producing consciousness. The notion that consciousness is separated from the body has a long tradition in the west thinkers. Plato portrayed the earthly body as a limiting factor on conscious experience. Kant insinuated the body as "an imposition to our pure spiritual life". The idea matured into a proposition called Transmission Hypothesis --- brain and body serve not as the originators of consciousness but rather as its trans-receiver. The cited supporting evidences for this hypothesis are mostly in the typically considered unscientific fields, such as, psychedelic research, psi effect, after death experience, etc.. As a result this hypothesis is ill received within the philosophic and scientific community. But that does not mean they are wrong, to separate consciousness from body might a very sensible thing to do in the light of above facts.
Since memory does not reside inside the brain, the functions of the brain need to be reinvestigated. It is possible that the brain acts as a bridge to consciousness as suggested by Penfield, or a trans-receiver suggested by William James. The similarity between the two is obvious, and the brain is the only pathway to consciousness and memory for both cases. The importance of brain to memory has been supported by a vast number of critical researches over a long history. But the evidence to suggest that the brain is the only organ associated with memory is lacking, on the contrary, some evidences suggest that the heart might be associated with memory too.
Does the heart have memory? The question has been around for years. The question arises anew after years of transplanting the heart or other organs into human beings and noticing some changes in the recipients. After having had heart transplants some recipients have noticed profound changes in their personalities. For some, there is an overwhelming need to consume quantities of Mexican foods when that type of cuisine was never a favorite. For others, a sudden love for football, when sports were previously hated, comes into play.
How can these phenomena be explained? Can the heart actually feel, think, and remember? The answer could shed light on how memory is handled by human.
Rollin MacCraty from California's Hearthmath University has devised tests which show how the heart processes information. His tests showed that the heart responded before the brain when encountering an emotional event. He concluded the heart must have the ability to process emotional data.
To associate heart with memory is a legitimate proposition based on these findings. But there is no medical evidence indicating that changing the heart to a mechanical heart leads to memory loss. This implies memory is not stored in the heart. Could it be because that heart does not store memory but is a gateway to the memory? What kind of memory can be accessed through heart? Are other organs gateways to limited memory too? These questions ask for expanding memory research to a much wider ground besides the brain.
The inevitable question is, if memory is not inside the brain, where does memory reside? The short answer is: we don't know. Scientific pursuit has always been looking for evidence to support a logic conclusion derived from a general theory. If the general theory is fundamentally flawed, the progressing of science will stop and wait for convincing evidence to overturn the general theory. Only from there, science will flourish again on the new foundation. Materialism has been very successful for the advancement of living standard and scientific queries. Recent research in quantum mechanics suggests reality in a more basic level might not be materialism at all. Memory might be in a physical form we do not know or reside outside our physical world. We shall wait for new evidence to emerge.
Please send your comments to gliu2001@163.com, visit www.myspace.com/gang100 for latest articles.
Gang Liu
True Seeker
gliu2001@163.com
Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Gang_Liu
http://EzineArticles.com/?Does-Memory-Reside-Inside-the-Brain&id=2011790
วันอังคารที่ 14 มกราคม พ.ศ. 2557
Interview with Peter Davies - Author of "Scatterlings of Africa"
Interview with Peter Davies - Author of "Scatterlings of Africa"
By Juanita Watson
Interview with Peter Davies
author of Scatterlings of Africa
Literally Publishing Limited (2006)
ISBN 9780955440908
Reviewed by Olivera Baumgartner-Jackson for Reader Views (4/07)
Today, Juanita Watson, Assistant Editor of Reader Views talks with Peter Davies, author of the action/adventure novel "Scatterlings of Africa."
Born and raised in Africa, Peter Davies served as a territorial soldier in Rhodesia from 1963 to 1975. He saw action, and took part in captures and interrogation. This gave him insight into terrorist minds, many of which were successfully encouraged to 'turn' and fight alongside Rhodesia's soldiers against their former comrades. Davies wrote his novel, "Scatterlings of Africa," using his own recollections of how the war was fought, and how it affected Rhodesia and its people.
Juanita: Welcome to Reader Views Peter, and thanks for the opportunity to talk with you today about your new novel "Scatterlings of Africa." Your story takes place in 60's-70's Rhodesia. Would you paint a picture of this area for readers, and tell us what was happening politically in the region?
Peter: Well, thank you for inviting me, Juanita. As you know; after almost fifteen years of war, Rhodesia fell under the grip of Marxist dictator Mugabe who changed its name to Zimbabwe in 1980. But Scatterlings of Africa takes you back to December 1972 in Rhodesia's Zambezi Valley. At that time, the Valley was full of animals that were wild and free - it was what was known as a 'protected hunting area', not one of the relatively tame 'game reserves' that most people see. I had many encounters with lions, elephants, buffalo and other big game in addition to all the usual smaller stuff like wart hogs, antelope, etc. in this beautiful but wild part of the Valley. Scorpions, tsetse fly and other nasty insects abounded and there was abundant bird life.
Sadly, a civil war was getting underway, and the Zambezi Valley; Rhodesia's north eastern border with Zambia and Mozambique, was the route insurgents used to gain access to the more populated areas of Rhodesia up on the highveld.
In 1965, Rhodesia's government had declared independence from the United Kingdom. Radical black African politicians were not satisfied with the slow progress being made by the mainly white Rhodesian government towards universal franchise. Their demand was 'one-man-one-vote'.
Rhodesians had watched this happen in all the other former colonies of Africa and saw that once that happened, future elections - if they took place at all - were rigged in favour of the incumbent African government. When they discovered that they were worse off than they had been under colonial rule, black African electorates were unable to change their black African governments. It had turned out to be a case of one-man-one-vote... once. Mass murder, corruption and economic disaster became the norm for independent Africa.
Back in Rhodesia, the frustrated radical black politicians soon became exiles and set up external military wings; a bit like radical Muslims and Al Qaeda today. These Rhodesian terrorist organizations were funded by the West; yet trained and armed by the Soviet Union and Communist China. Like the modern fanatics of Islam around the world today, terrorist insurgents set about trying to indoctrinate the peaceful black peasant populations of Rhodesia. Those who did not join the 'cause' were intimidated, tortured and sometimes killed. That is why I - along with many others - was a civilian soldier and hunting terrorists in the Zambezi Valley during the 1960s and 1970s. My book is a novel, and all the characters are fictional; but the events are based on what I saw and experienced during those years of war.
Juanita: What was your history with Rhodesia at this time?
Peter: I was born there. When I was a child in the 1940s and '50s, my family lived in the bush many miles from the nearest town and I had only black friends. I spoke the local African language, 'Ndebele as fluently as I spoke English - possibly better. But we moved to areas where other languages were spoken and I was sent away to attend school. So through lack of use, I've since forgotten all but the most basic greetings in 'Ndebele... It was an exciting childhood: I clearly remember my mother's anguish when a small herd of elephants came through one night and wreaked havoc with her flowerbeds. That was an unusual event. But I often lay awake, terrified by the distinctive grating snarl of a leopard outside my open bedroom window as he prowled close by looking for a tasty dog or cat - or maybe even me - as a snack; and the row when he broke into the chicken run. It was too hot to keep the windows closed. Snakes abounded - everything from the huge, deadly black mambas, notorious for their aggressive nature down to the smallest adders; almost as deadly. I remember seeing a cobra once and it looked all of twelve feet to me, but my father scoffed at that and said it was 'only' about eight feet! I lived and worked a regular civilian life in many parts of Rhodesia and Northern Rhodesia - now Zambia.
Juanita: What inspired you to write this book?
Peter: That's a good question, Juanita; mostly my love for the Africa that was. And its people - especially the black Africans who, unlike most of us white Africans had nowhere else to go when the bad guys took over. The decent, often kind and gentle, black Rhodesian Africans were the ones who suffered most during the war. They're suffering even more today...
Juanita: What happens in "Scatterlings of Africa"?
Peter: By December 1972, the war is beginning to hot up. Civilian soldiers are increasingly being called upon to leave their families and careers to fight terrorists 'in the bush'. Unlike most of his compatriots, protagonist Lieutenant Ron Cartwright prefers his life as a soldier. But things are changing back home. His wife, Angela; desperately unhappy about her husband's obsession with the war feels neglected and becomes involved in an illicit romance with her long-lost cousin, Mark. Cartwright is suspicious and trouble brews; he's a hard-bitten, tough soldier by choice and not a man to cross... There's a dramatic end involving all four of the main characters.
Juanita: How did you own experience influence this story and its characters?
Peter: The military parts are very much based on what I experienced during the war. There's one hard-to-believe scene involving an elephant during the story, but I served alongside a man that this actually happened to. All I did was take a number of incidents, many of which happened to me personally, and wove them into the Scatterlings of Africa story. I'd better make it clear that the romantic part did not happen to me - my wife will be reading this - but I knew people whose marriages came under serious strain because of the war, and I knew about wives who had affairs while their husbands were away - it happens more than usual during wars, I think.
Juanita: Would you tell us about Lieutenant Ron Cartwright's obsession with catching the freedom fighter, Gadziwa, and why he chooses to focus his attention militarily rather than on his family?
Peter: Well, it begins with Ron's inclination for the army life in the bush in preference to the rather more mundane life of a civilian at work and home. Cartwright is a hard man. Working as an accountant is no match for the comradeship and excitement of the military. A pretty wife and even limited involvement with three small female children is a mixed blessing and rather boring by comparison with life in his beloved wilds of Africa. The terrorists are bad guys but a good excuse to get away from it all. But atrocities committed by one particular insurgent group turns Ron from general hatred of all terrorists to an obsession with one in particular - led by Comrade Captain Gadziwa, a proud but ruthlessly cruel guerrilla. This gets Cartwright into serious trouble with his Army superiors. In the end the two of them battle it out in hand-to-hand combat.
Juanita: Peter, who are the "scatterlings of Africa"?
Peter: Another good question. During the early 1980s an artist listed as Juluka released this distinctly Africa sounding song - I think it's the same person who is today known as Johnny Clegg... 'They are the scatterlings of Africa Each uprooted one... Scatterlings and fugitives Hooded eyes and weary brows Seek refuge in the night'.
It's really about how Africa is the cradle of humankind, and how we are all scatterlings of Africa. When my wife and I eventually left Africa in the late 1980s we felt like scatterlings - we'd lost our homeland, and I still miss it. So when I was looking for a title for the book I'd written, I decided to use Scatterlings of Africa. If Johnny Clegg's lyrics - and current anthropologists are to be believed, the whole of humankind are scatterlings of Africa. But I believe that we exiled former Africans, black and white, are the modern-day scatterlings of Africa. Those who read my book will see how this fits.
Juanita: You have delved deep into the characters of your book, making this a significant exploration into relationships and personal motivations. It is quite profound. Would you comment?
Peter: Yes, I'm glad that many readers have found this and delighted that you asked the question. I wanted Scatterlings of Africa to appeal to both men and women readers. I also wanted it to be a story about people and how they're affected by war - not just a book about war. So I worked hard at taking my readers deep into each main character's viewpoint - to become one with each character and to understand what he or she was feeling and why they were acting they way they did. Readers will be able to understand what motivates the terrorist, Gadziwa - why he's fighting for his cause, his country - the Zimbabwe that belonged to his ancestors. And why Cartwright is equally determined to fight for his country - the Rhodesia where his settler grandparents and parents carved out a living for themselves from the barren bush. Gosh, that sounds a bit like the American West doesn't it? I want my readers to be able to feel as if they're living in Rhodesia in the 1970s, experiencing some of what people felt during that earlier war against terror.
Juanita: What is the take home message of your book?
Peter: Mostly that there's more to what happened in Rhodesia than the media and governments of the West would like people to know. In reality, there are many sides to the story. And your reviewer, Simon Barrett recognised the link between what's happening in the world today and what happened in Rhodesia way back in the 1970s. I see the same cynical manipulation of the media - propaganda, and similar terror tactics being used in the wars of Afghanistan and Iraq as those used by Mugabe and his insurgents in Rhodesia.
Juanita: The rawness of your story that exposes the reality of violence/turmoil in Africa and juxtaposes it with love/romance is an interesting statement in itself. Would you elaborate? Do you think this dichotomy is true to the African experience?
Peter: Great question - you really have hit the nail on the head. I've tried to take the tragedy of Rhodesia and make it into a readable novel that will entertain as well as educate. After all, we who lived through it had good times as well as bad - mostly good times until near the end. Of course love happens during terrible times... I think love is even more intense; people's inhibitions become less constraining.
Juanita: Many readers of your book remark that your story isn't politically correct. Would you comment?
Peter: You're right there, and I was aware that I'd fall foul of the PC brigade as I wrote the book. I told the story from the viewpoint of the people who were there and lived through it... People who have never been at the sharp end, set the agenda for so called political correctness. With the benefit of hindsight some things could have been done better in Rhodesia; that is the case with almost any endeavor. Could the Romans have ruled the world better and prevented the downfall of civilization that plunged Europe into the mediaeval 'Dark Ages' if they'd done things differently? Maybe Pearl Harbor wouldn't have happened if the Americans had been more alert in December 1941? I don't happen to go along with current thinking on political correctness. One day I think we will come to regret much of what has been and is being done under the guise of political correctness. But Scatterlings of Africa reflects what I saw and believed when I lived through those times. I make no apology.
Juanita: Peter, what are your thought about Africa today, and the continued civil unrest in many of its countries?
Peter: Despair; and anger. It's not just civil unrest that's happening in Africa; the terrible situation in Darfur, for example is close to being genocide. Thanks to liberal western media and politicians, millions of innocent black Africans have died and are still dying; some due to war, others from famine and disease. None of this happened on any scale during colonial times. In 1970s Rhodesia, life expectancy was the highest in Africa - well over 60 years. Now it is 37 years for men and 34 years for women there (see the World Health Organization statistics on Zimbabwe). No wonder there's civil unrest. The (mainly white) liberals and socialist agitators who called for, and financed "freedom" for Africa - many of whom had never actually lived in Africa - mostly now live safe, comfortable lives in Britain, the US and other civilized countries.
I'm not suggesting we should go back to having colonies. That's not possible in Africa anyway; Islamic fundamentalists are taking over north of the equator and Communist China to the south. Africa's vast mineral resources are being exploited today more ruthlessly than was ever the case under colonial rule. And the Muslim religion is being imposed on black African Christians and other 'non-believers' more ruthlessly than Missionaries of old ever preached Christianity. But democracy, as we know it, does not always work in all parts of the world. I even wonder if it's the right thing for Iraq or Afghanistan.
Juanita: Peter, did you find it difficult writing this book? I imagine you would have had to dig deep, into memories that have been buried for years. What was the experience like for you?
Peter: Yes, I did dig deep; I have written this book from my heart. It was difficult, sometimes painful, but at the same time immensely rewarding.
Juanita: Do you ever go back to Africa?
Peter: Juanita, there's an old saying; "you can take the man out of Africa, but you can't take Africa out of the man". Africa is in my blood, my very bones; so yes, I do visit from time to time. It's such a beautiful place. I get depressed with the dirt and poverty now though; it was never like that when I lived there. But the game reserves are still wonderful. I loved going on safari in the Okavango Delta in Botswana a few years ago. And South Africa is a huge country that still has much of its infrastructure intact - and the scenery there is wonderful. On the border between Zimbabwe and Zambia is the mighty Victoria Falls - one of the original seven natural wonders of the world.
Juanita: The writing style in this book, including your realistic descriptions of the land, its people, the conflict, combined with its fast-pace, is receiving high accolades from readers. What is your background with writing?
Peter: Apart from non-fiction, none. But even as a young man I always wanted to write fiction, so I took early retirement some years ago and began the business of learning how to do it. I attended writing courses, read books about writing and went to writers' workshops. When I'd finished writing Scatterlings of Africa, I asked a professional appraiser, who is a published author herself to read and criticize the manuscript for me. She did a wonderful job but I had to virtually re-write the whole book. I sent it back to her a year later and she found less to criticize, and more to praise; another six months of hard work. Last year I gave it to her again and she passed it as being up to publishable standard. The whole thing took me over three years of hard work. Even now that I've learned the trade, every time I read another good book, I learn more.
Juanita: Do you have any more projects in the works?
Peter: Yes, I'm working on a new novel, which I hope will take much less time than Scatterlings of Africa did because of what I've learned. The research takes a lot of time; even though you know your subject well, you forget details after more than thirty years. I want my novels to be authentic, so that veterans will say - 'yes, that's how it was; this author knows what it was like...'
Juanita: How can readers learn more about you and your book?
Peter: For more information about Scatterlings of Africa, please take a look at my website: it's quite easy to find on any of the main search engines - just key in the words Africa Peter Davies and http://www.peterdaviesbooks.com should be near the top of the page. There's a section that enables visitors to read the first few pages; I keep it up to date with the latest reviews, plus links to Amazon. There are a few pictures from my last visit to Botswana, and the unique Okavango Delta - a wildlife-filled water paradise in the middle of a desert, deep in Southern Africa.
Juanita: Peter, thank you for the opportunity to talk with you about "Scatterlings of Africa." Your life experience is incredible and readers will certainly be intrigued by this fascinating dialogue. Before we depart today, do you have any last thoughts you'd like to share?
Peter: Yes, please Juanita; I wrote Scatterlings of Africa to entertain people who like a good action-filled adventure story. I'm grateful that people who have read and reviewed it seem to be saying I've achieved that.
I'd also like to take this opportunity to say thanks to Olivera Baumgartner-Jackson of your organization for his excellent and perceptive review of my book on your site; and to thank you for undertaking this interview with me. I found your questions profound and have really enjoyed answering them.
http://www.readerviews.com/
Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Juanita_Watson
http://EzineArticles.com/?Interview-with-Peter-Davies---Author-of-Scatterlings-of-Africa&id=586469
By Juanita Watson
Interview with Peter Davies
author of Scatterlings of Africa
Literally Publishing Limited (2006)
ISBN 9780955440908
Reviewed by Olivera Baumgartner-Jackson for Reader Views (4/07)
Today, Juanita Watson, Assistant Editor of Reader Views talks with Peter Davies, author of the action/adventure novel "Scatterlings of Africa."
Born and raised in Africa, Peter Davies served as a territorial soldier in Rhodesia from 1963 to 1975. He saw action, and took part in captures and interrogation. This gave him insight into terrorist minds, many of which were successfully encouraged to 'turn' and fight alongside Rhodesia's soldiers against their former comrades. Davies wrote his novel, "Scatterlings of Africa," using his own recollections of how the war was fought, and how it affected Rhodesia and its people.
Juanita: Welcome to Reader Views Peter, and thanks for the opportunity to talk with you today about your new novel "Scatterlings of Africa." Your story takes place in 60's-70's Rhodesia. Would you paint a picture of this area for readers, and tell us what was happening politically in the region?
Peter: Well, thank you for inviting me, Juanita. As you know; after almost fifteen years of war, Rhodesia fell under the grip of Marxist dictator Mugabe who changed its name to Zimbabwe in 1980. But Scatterlings of Africa takes you back to December 1972 in Rhodesia's Zambezi Valley. At that time, the Valley was full of animals that were wild and free - it was what was known as a 'protected hunting area', not one of the relatively tame 'game reserves' that most people see. I had many encounters with lions, elephants, buffalo and other big game in addition to all the usual smaller stuff like wart hogs, antelope, etc. in this beautiful but wild part of the Valley. Scorpions, tsetse fly and other nasty insects abounded and there was abundant bird life.
Sadly, a civil war was getting underway, and the Zambezi Valley; Rhodesia's north eastern border with Zambia and Mozambique, was the route insurgents used to gain access to the more populated areas of Rhodesia up on the highveld.
In 1965, Rhodesia's government had declared independence from the United Kingdom. Radical black African politicians were not satisfied with the slow progress being made by the mainly white Rhodesian government towards universal franchise. Their demand was 'one-man-one-vote'.
Rhodesians had watched this happen in all the other former colonies of Africa and saw that once that happened, future elections - if they took place at all - were rigged in favour of the incumbent African government. When they discovered that they were worse off than they had been under colonial rule, black African electorates were unable to change their black African governments. It had turned out to be a case of one-man-one-vote... once. Mass murder, corruption and economic disaster became the norm for independent Africa.
Back in Rhodesia, the frustrated radical black politicians soon became exiles and set up external military wings; a bit like radical Muslims and Al Qaeda today. These Rhodesian terrorist organizations were funded by the West; yet trained and armed by the Soviet Union and Communist China. Like the modern fanatics of Islam around the world today, terrorist insurgents set about trying to indoctrinate the peaceful black peasant populations of Rhodesia. Those who did not join the 'cause' were intimidated, tortured and sometimes killed. That is why I - along with many others - was a civilian soldier and hunting terrorists in the Zambezi Valley during the 1960s and 1970s. My book is a novel, and all the characters are fictional; but the events are based on what I saw and experienced during those years of war.
Juanita: What was your history with Rhodesia at this time?
Peter: I was born there. When I was a child in the 1940s and '50s, my family lived in the bush many miles from the nearest town and I had only black friends. I spoke the local African language, 'Ndebele as fluently as I spoke English - possibly better. But we moved to areas where other languages were spoken and I was sent away to attend school. So through lack of use, I've since forgotten all but the most basic greetings in 'Ndebele... It was an exciting childhood: I clearly remember my mother's anguish when a small herd of elephants came through one night and wreaked havoc with her flowerbeds. That was an unusual event. But I often lay awake, terrified by the distinctive grating snarl of a leopard outside my open bedroom window as he prowled close by looking for a tasty dog or cat - or maybe even me - as a snack; and the row when he broke into the chicken run. It was too hot to keep the windows closed. Snakes abounded - everything from the huge, deadly black mambas, notorious for their aggressive nature down to the smallest adders; almost as deadly. I remember seeing a cobra once and it looked all of twelve feet to me, but my father scoffed at that and said it was 'only' about eight feet! I lived and worked a regular civilian life in many parts of Rhodesia and Northern Rhodesia - now Zambia.
Juanita: What inspired you to write this book?
Peter: That's a good question, Juanita; mostly my love for the Africa that was. And its people - especially the black Africans who, unlike most of us white Africans had nowhere else to go when the bad guys took over. The decent, often kind and gentle, black Rhodesian Africans were the ones who suffered most during the war. They're suffering even more today...
Juanita: What happens in "Scatterlings of Africa"?
Peter: By December 1972, the war is beginning to hot up. Civilian soldiers are increasingly being called upon to leave their families and careers to fight terrorists 'in the bush'. Unlike most of his compatriots, protagonist Lieutenant Ron Cartwright prefers his life as a soldier. But things are changing back home. His wife, Angela; desperately unhappy about her husband's obsession with the war feels neglected and becomes involved in an illicit romance with her long-lost cousin, Mark. Cartwright is suspicious and trouble brews; he's a hard-bitten, tough soldier by choice and not a man to cross... There's a dramatic end involving all four of the main characters.
Juanita: How did you own experience influence this story and its characters?
Peter: The military parts are very much based on what I experienced during the war. There's one hard-to-believe scene involving an elephant during the story, but I served alongside a man that this actually happened to. All I did was take a number of incidents, many of which happened to me personally, and wove them into the Scatterlings of Africa story. I'd better make it clear that the romantic part did not happen to me - my wife will be reading this - but I knew people whose marriages came under serious strain because of the war, and I knew about wives who had affairs while their husbands were away - it happens more than usual during wars, I think.
Juanita: Would you tell us about Lieutenant Ron Cartwright's obsession with catching the freedom fighter, Gadziwa, and why he chooses to focus his attention militarily rather than on his family?
Peter: Well, it begins with Ron's inclination for the army life in the bush in preference to the rather more mundane life of a civilian at work and home. Cartwright is a hard man. Working as an accountant is no match for the comradeship and excitement of the military. A pretty wife and even limited involvement with three small female children is a mixed blessing and rather boring by comparison with life in his beloved wilds of Africa. The terrorists are bad guys but a good excuse to get away from it all. But atrocities committed by one particular insurgent group turns Ron from general hatred of all terrorists to an obsession with one in particular - led by Comrade Captain Gadziwa, a proud but ruthlessly cruel guerrilla. This gets Cartwright into serious trouble with his Army superiors. In the end the two of them battle it out in hand-to-hand combat.
Juanita: Peter, who are the "scatterlings of Africa"?
Peter: Another good question. During the early 1980s an artist listed as Juluka released this distinctly Africa sounding song - I think it's the same person who is today known as Johnny Clegg... 'They are the scatterlings of Africa Each uprooted one... Scatterlings and fugitives Hooded eyes and weary brows Seek refuge in the night'.
It's really about how Africa is the cradle of humankind, and how we are all scatterlings of Africa. When my wife and I eventually left Africa in the late 1980s we felt like scatterlings - we'd lost our homeland, and I still miss it. So when I was looking for a title for the book I'd written, I decided to use Scatterlings of Africa. If Johnny Clegg's lyrics - and current anthropologists are to be believed, the whole of humankind are scatterlings of Africa. But I believe that we exiled former Africans, black and white, are the modern-day scatterlings of Africa. Those who read my book will see how this fits.
Juanita: You have delved deep into the characters of your book, making this a significant exploration into relationships and personal motivations. It is quite profound. Would you comment?
Peter: Yes, I'm glad that many readers have found this and delighted that you asked the question. I wanted Scatterlings of Africa to appeal to both men and women readers. I also wanted it to be a story about people and how they're affected by war - not just a book about war. So I worked hard at taking my readers deep into each main character's viewpoint - to become one with each character and to understand what he or she was feeling and why they were acting they way they did. Readers will be able to understand what motivates the terrorist, Gadziwa - why he's fighting for his cause, his country - the Zimbabwe that belonged to his ancestors. And why Cartwright is equally determined to fight for his country - the Rhodesia where his settler grandparents and parents carved out a living for themselves from the barren bush. Gosh, that sounds a bit like the American West doesn't it? I want my readers to be able to feel as if they're living in Rhodesia in the 1970s, experiencing some of what people felt during that earlier war against terror.
Juanita: What is the take home message of your book?
Peter: Mostly that there's more to what happened in Rhodesia than the media and governments of the West would like people to know. In reality, there are many sides to the story. And your reviewer, Simon Barrett recognised the link between what's happening in the world today and what happened in Rhodesia way back in the 1970s. I see the same cynical manipulation of the media - propaganda, and similar terror tactics being used in the wars of Afghanistan and Iraq as those used by Mugabe and his insurgents in Rhodesia.
Juanita: The rawness of your story that exposes the reality of violence/turmoil in Africa and juxtaposes it with love/romance is an interesting statement in itself. Would you elaborate? Do you think this dichotomy is true to the African experience?
Peter: Great question - you really have hit the nail on the head. I've tried to take the tragedy of Rhodesia and make it into a readable novel that will entertain as well as educate. After all, we who lived through it had good times as well as bad - mostly good times until near the end. Of course love happens during terrible times... I think love is even more intense; people's inhibitions become less constraining.
Juanita: Many readers of your book remark that your story isn't politically correct. Would you comment?
Peter: You're right there, and I was aware that I'd fall foul of the PC brigade as I wrote the book. I told the story from the viewpoint of the people who were there and lived through it... People who have never been at the sharp end, set the agenda for so called political correctness. With the benefit of hindsight some things could have been done better in Rhodesia; that is the case with almost any endeavor. Could the Romans have ruled the world better and prevented the downfall of civilization that plunged Europe into the mediaeval 'Dark Ages' if they'd done things differently? Maybe Pearl Harbor wouldn't have happened if the Americans had been more alert in December 1941? I don't happen to go along with current thinking on political correctness. One day I think we will come to regret much of what has been and is being done under the guise of political correctness. But Scatterlings of Africa reflects what I saw and believed when I lived through those times. I make no apology.
Juanita: Peter, what are your thought about Africa today, and the continued civil unrest in many of its countries?
Peter: Despair; and anger. It's not just civil unrest that's happening in Africa; the terrible situation in Darfur, for example is close to being genocide. Thanks to liberal western media and politicians, millions of innocent black Africans have died and are still dying; some due to war, others from famine and disease. None of this happened on any scale during colonial times. In 1970s Rhodesia, life expectancy was the highest in Africa - well over 60 years. Now it is 37 years for men and 34 years for women there (see the World Health Organization statistics on Zimbabwe). No wonder there's civil unrest. The (mainly white) liberals and socialist agitators who called for, and financed "freedom" for Africa - many of whom had never actually lived in Africa - mostly now live safe, comfortable lives in Britain, the US and other civilized countries.
I'm not suggesting we should go back to having colonies. That's not possible in Africa anyway; Islamic fundamentalists are taking over north of the equator and Communist China to the south. Africa's vast mineral resources are being exploited today more ruthlessly than was ever the case under colonial rule. And the Muslim religion is being imposed on black African Christians and other 'non-believers' more ruthlessly than Missionaries of old ever preached Christianity. But democracy, as we know it, does not always work in all parts of the world. I even wonder if it's the right thing for Iraq or Afghanistan.
Juanita: Peter, did you find it difficult writing this book? I imagine you would have had to dig deep, into memories that have been buried for years. What was the experience like for you?
Peter: Yes, I did dig deep; I have written this book from my heart. It was difficult, sometimes painful, but at the same time immensely rewarding.
Juanita: Do you ever go back to Africa?
Peter: Juanita, there's an old saying; "you can take the man out of Africa, but you can't take Africa out of the man". Africa is in my blood, my very bones; so yes, I do visit from time to time. It's such a beautiful place. I get depressed with the dirt and poverty now though; it was never like that when I lived there. But the game reserves are still wonderful. I loved going on safari in the Okavango Delta in Botswana a few years ago. And South Africa is a huge country that still has much of its infrastructure intact - and the scenery there is wonderful. On the border between Zimbabwe and Zambia is the mighty Victoria Falls - one of the original seven natural wonders of the world.
Juanita: The writing style in this book, including your realistic descriptions of the land, its people, the conflict, combined with its fast-pace, is receiving high accolades from readers. What is your background with writing?
Peter: Apart from non-fiction, none. But even as a young man I always wanted to write fiction, so I took early retirement some years ago and began the business of learning how to do it. I attended writing courses, read books about writing and went to writers' workshops. When I'd finished writing Scatterlings of Africa, I asked a professional appraiser, who is a published author herself to read and criticize the manuscript for me. She did a wonderful job but I had to virtually re-write the whole book. I sent it back to her a year later and she found less to criticize, and more to praise; another six months of hard work. Last year I gave it to her again and she passed it as being up to publishable standard. The whole thing took me over three years of hard work. Even now that I've learned the trade, every time I read another good book, I learn more.
Juanita: Do you have any more projects in the works?
Peter: Yes, I'm working on a new novel, which I hope will take much less time than Scatterlings of Africa did because of what I've learned. The research takes a lot of time; even though you know your subject well, you forget details after more than thirty years. I want my novels to be authentic, so that veterans will say - 'yes, that's how it was; this author knows what it was like...'
Juanita: How can readers learn more about you and your book?
Peter: For more information about Scatterlings of Africa, please take a look at my website: it's quite easy to find on any of the main search engines - just key in the words Africa Peter Davies and http://www.peterdaviesbooks.com should be near the top of the page. There's a section that enables visitors to read the first few pages; I keep it up to date with the latest reviews, plus links to Amazon. There are a few pictures from my last visit to Botswana, and the unique Okavango Delta - a wildlife-filled water paradise in the middle of a desert, deep in Southern Africa.
Juanita: Peter, thank you for the opportunity to talk with you about "Scatterlings of Africa." Your life experience is incredible and readers will certainly be intrigued by this fascinating dialogue. Before we depart today, do you have any last thoughts you'd like to share?
Peter: Yes, please Juanita; I wrote Scatterlings of Africa to entertain people who like a good action-filled adventure story. I'm grateful that people who have read and reviewed it seem to be saying I've achieved that.
I'd also like to take this opportunity to say thanks to Olivera Baumgartner-Jackson of your organization for his excellent and perceptive review of my book on your site; and to thank you for undertaking this interview with me. I found your questions profound and have really enjoyed answering them.
http://www.readerviews.com/
Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Juanita_Watson
http://EzineArticles.com/?Interview-with-Peter-Davies---Author-of-Scatterlings-of-Africa&id=586469
Do You Have a Job that You Just Despise Coming to on Mondays?
Do You Have a Job that You Just Despise Coming to on Mondays?
By Rob Mead
"Failure is not a single, cataclysmic event. You don't fail overnight. Instead failure is a few errors in judgment- repeated every day." This is a quote from the prominent businessman/writer named Jim Rohn.
Think about the fact that you go to a job you hate, every Monday through Friday, eight hours a day at the minimum, to get enough money to pay the bills so you can do it all over again. To me, this sounds like an error in judgment repeated every day. Wake up to the new world reality that is computer technology, the world economy and the power of the Internet to get on your own two feet and generate your own income on a 24-7 basis. Here are 8 reasons that will you show in detail why being a slave to your boss is wrong and why your main mission in life should be to quit.
1. Employment income is over-taxed income. The US government likes to keep its citizens in the dark about exactly how much taxes are taken out of your paycheck each week. Your employer only pays a portion of the income tax on your check, you pay the rest. Investors and owners of your company get another huge portion of your employment taxes, so whom are you really working for? Yourself? Not a chance. That's why even if you make your own income of $150/week, you will get more than 80% more of your own personal income from that amount than you would making $200/week at Starbucks. Your actual salary at Starbucks may be almost triple of what you are actually paid when you cash your check! Are you getting angry yet? Good! You should be!
2. Co-workers are like lemmings going over a cliff. Tomorrow morning, when you go to your office, look around at your fellow co-workers. How many smiles do you count? One, two, maybe three if you're lucky? The reason most people in offices are unhappy is because it's not in the best human element to be kept in 70-degree office buildings where you're happy to escape for a 10-minute break to the great outdoors to have a 7-minute conversation with somebody. Office workers are like robots or lemmings that just follow the person next to them and do what they do, no matter the consequences. "Bill works at Capitol One and makes $15/hr, so I applied with them. I hate the job I have now, but the next one I get will be great, because I hear Bill loves doing maintenance on computers in the IT department over there." Haven't you heard a similar conversation lately? It always seems to be better somewhere else, but you get there, and everybody there hates it just as much! Don't be a lemming- think for yourself and take action!
3. Too much risk involved if you stay with your company for a long period of time Every month in America, thousands of workers just like you are laid off with no warning at all. It's called "at will", and 80% of American employers now have that legally binding term in their employee contracts. What that means is that if the company can find a problem with your attendance, tardiness, sexual misconduct or personal habits interfering with the employer's working environment, they can fire you with little notice. Now does that sound risk free to you? I thought not. Check into your own employee contract you signed, and I'm pretty sure it has the "at will" clause in it. You are already gambling with your income if you feel completely secure that one day your employer won't use those two words that Donald Trump is so fond of saying, "You're fired!"
4. You beg and plead for any amount of money you can get from your boss When it comes to getting a raise, what do you usually have to do? I'll tell you: You have to grovel like a hungry dog in front of the boss and give him as many reasons as you can to come up with why you deserve the feeble 5% yearly raise in your salary. Meanwhile, the cost of living has gone up by 8%, making it a moot point to your disposable income even if you do get the limp raise. The 3% difference means you will never have any disposable income as long as you continue to get raises that never keep up with the cost of living. The only choice most people have is whipping out their credit cards and paying for everything on their already maxed-to-the-limit Visa cards. That's why America leads the world in most consumer debt. The credit card companies know this. That's why they raise your credit card limits as well as the A.P.R. fees and take away any income you might have had sitting in your checking account. How does it feel to be a prisoner of the working class? Not too good, I take it.
5. Your working life is your social life This could not be a worse scenario for personal contacts on a daily basis. If you're not talking to one of your co-workers about how slutty Jane is, or how badly your boss sucks, you're talking about when will the coffee maker ever get fixed, or why is the air conditioning still on the fritz, and even more mundane topics of conversation. Why don't you go outside into the real world and interact with people that your boss has not put his stamp of approval on? Are you so relegated to just talking to fellow co-workers that you lost the ability to speak to strangers that are far more interesting? Now that's just plain sad.
6 No more freedom Have you ever wondered why when you begin a job, the employee's handbook is over 50 pages long, and filled with every rule, mandate and regulation known to man? It's because the employer wants to break down the will of every employee so they cannot make their own decisions anymore. The perfect employee now thinks that if he breaks one of the 42 rules in the handbook, he will be fired or otherwise disciplined. There are more and more corporations coming down hard on employees that have too many family pictures on their gray cubicles, or listen to their radio or I-pod's too much throughout the day. The self-employed individual would never stand for that in a million years. They understand that the loss of their ability to live the way they want to is way too much to give up, no matter how much money is offered.
7. Being fearful becomes a state of mind Employees at most companies live in a constant state of fear, hoping they never have to find another job if they are laid off of the one they have. Every employee who fears their employers like this has no real courage in the rest of their lives, either. It causes a psychological breakdown of any self-respect they have, and most employees carry their lack of self-respect with them throughout the remainder of their careers. That's why most people keep generating the same level of income, never becoming what they wanted to be when they were kids. Who wanted to be a gutless coward who cowers in fear every time their boss walks into the room with an angry look on his face? Not this writer, for damn sure!
8. You can generate your own passive income by starting out small. Most people who are in desperate need to quit their job and retire well beyond when they should, are always looking for a "get rich quick" scheme. Sorry to say, this has always been an urban myth, and just a way for shady marketers to take your $9.95 out of your wallet and give you nothing back except empty promises. Those schemes will never work, but what will work is finding something you love to do, and putting it together with a way to generate royalty income from it. An example: You love going to swap meets to find great bargains on picture frames. Start a small website selling the picture frames you bought at a 45% profit for every picture frame sold. By combining a nice-looking site with a decent blog about art and artists, along with classic picture frames from the 1800's for instance, you'll have a great shot at making upwards of $2000 a month with no problem. It has to be a service or product that you love, because you have to keep your passion about the business alive and kicking to get your new business in the profit margin. You could go on E-Bay to sell them on your E-Bay site linked to their main page, but E-Bay fees are high right now, so you might start with them, and then go set up your personal site after generating your own loyal buyers. You also can add pop-up ads to your site to generate more income, and when you update your site blog, you can take your older blogs and turn them into articles, which you can then sell to article submission sites like "Associated Content." This might take at least six months and some detailed work to get going, but when the money starts rolling in, you can take more time off from work until eventually you can quit, and start doing something you really love to do.
If you are having a problem reading about the reasons you need to leave your job immediately, then you are probably a well-conditioned employee of a large to fairly large corporation, and this is hitting too close to the bone. Don't get defensive about it- do something about it! Look into generating your own passive income, or any other way to get a self-employed income that frees you up from being a prisoner to the American workplace. Re-train your mind to quit behaving like a trained animal locked in a cage, and break free of your captors to become what you truly desire to be: a strong-willed human being.
Rob Mead has written many articles about internet marketing and how to create and find great website content that will increase your web site's traffic overnight. Go to [http://www.perfectwebcontent.com] and you will be able to use all of the web site's resources and articles in your quest for internet success.
Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Rob_Mead
http://EzineArticles.com/?Do-You-Have-a-Job-that-You-Just-Despise-Coming-to-on-Mondays?&id=564453
By Rob Mead
"Failure is not a single, cataclysmic event. You don't fail overnight. Instead failure is a few errors in judgment- repeated every day." This is a quote from the prominent businessman/writer named Jim Rohn.
Think about the fact that you go to a job you hate, every Monday through Friday, eight hours a day at the minimum, to get enough money to pay the bills so you can do it all over again. To me, this sounds like an error in judgment repeated every day. Wake up to the new world reality that is computer technology, the world economy and the power of the Internet to get on your own two feet and generate your own income on a 24-7 basis. Here are 8 reasons that will you show in detail why being a slave to your boss is wrong and why your main mission in life should be to quit.
1. Employment income is over-taxed income. The US government likes to keep its citizens in the dark about exactly how much taxes are taken out of your paycheck each week. Your employer only pays a portion of the income tax on your check, you pay the rest. Investors and owners of your company get another huge portion of your employment taxes, so whom are you really working for? Yourself? Not a chance. That's why even if you make your own income of $150/week, you will get more than 80% more of your own personal income from that amount than you would making $200/week at Starbucks. Your actual salary at Starbucks may be almost triple of what you are actually paid when you cash your check! Are you getting angry yet? Good! You should be!
2. Co-workers are like lemmings going over a cliff. Tomorrow morning, when you go to your office, look around at your fellow co-workers. How many smiles do you count? One, two, maybe three if you're lucky? The reason most people in offices are unhappy is because it's not in the best human element to be kept in 70-degree office buildings where you're happy to escape for a 10-minute break to the great outdoors to have a 7-minute conversation with somebody. Office workers are like robots or lemmings that just follow the person next to them and do what they do, no matter the consequences. "Bill works at Capitol One and makes $15/hr, so I applied with them. I hate the job I have now, but the next one I get will be great, because I hear Bill loves doing maintenance on computers in the IT department over there." Haven't you heard a similar conversation lately? It always seems to be better somewhere else, but you get there, and everybody there hates it just as much! Don't be a lemming- think for yourself and take action!
3. Too much risk involved if you stay with your company for a long period of time Every month in America, thousands of workers just like you are laid off with no warning at all. It's called "at will", and 80% of American employers now have that legally binding term in their employee contracts. What that means is that if the company can find a problem with your attendance, tardiness, sexual misconduct or personal habits interfering with the employer's working environment, they can fire you with little notice. Now does that sound risk free to you? I thought not. Check into your own employee contract you signed, and I'm pretty sure it has the "at will" clause in it. You are already gambling with your income if you feel completely secure that one day your employer won't use those two words that Donald Trump is so fond of saying, "You're fired!"
4. You beg and plead for any amount of money you can get from your boss When it comes to getting a raise, what do you usually have to do? I'll tell you: You have to grovel like a hungry dog in front of the boss and give him as many reasons as you can to come up with why you deserve the feeble 5% yearly raise in your salary. Meanwhile, the cost of living has gone up by 8%, making it a moot point to your disposable income even if you do get the limp raise. The 3% difference means you will never have any disposable income as long as you continue to get raises that never keep up with the cost of living. The only choice most people have is whipping out their credit cards and paying for everything on their already maxed-to-the-limit Visa cards. That's why America leads the world in most consumer debt. The credit card companies know this. That's why they raise your credit card limits as well as the A.P.R. fees and take away any income you might have had sitting in your checking account. How does it feel to be a prisoner of the working class? Not too good, I take it.
5. Your working life is your social life This could not be a worse scenario for personal contacts on a daily basis. If you're not talking to one of your co-workers about how slutty Jane is, or how badly your boss sucks, you're talking about when will the coffee maker ever get fixed, or why is the air conditioning still on the fritz, and even more mundane topics of conversation. Why don't you go outside into the real world and interact with people that your boss has not put his stamp of approval on? Are you so relegated to just talking to fellow co-workers that you lost the ability to speak to strangers that are far more interesting? Now that's just plain sad.
6 No more freedom Have you ever wondered why when you begin a job, the employee's handbook is over 50 pages long, and filled with every rule, mandate and regulation known to man? It's because the employer wants to break down the will of every employee so they cannot make their own decisions anymore. The perfect employee now thinks that if he breaks one of the 42 rules in the handbook, he will be fired or otherwise disciplined. There are more and more corporations coming down hard on employees that have too many family pictures on their gray cubicles, or listen to their radio or I-pod's too much throughout the day. The self-employed individual would never stand for that in a million years. They understand that the loss of their ability to live the way they want to is way too much to give up, no matter how much money is offered.
7. Being fearful becomes a state of mind Employees at most companies live in a constant state of fear, hoping they never have to find another job if they are laid off of the one they have. Every employee who fears their employers like this has no real courage in the rest of their lives, either. It causes a psychological breakdown of any self-respect they have, and most employees carry their lack of self-respect with them throughout the remainder of their careers. That's why most people keep generating the same level of income, never becoming what they wanted to be when they were kids. Who wanted to be a gutless coward who cowers in fear every time their boss walks into the room with an angry look on his face? Not this writer, for damn sure!
8. You can generate your own passive income by starting out small. Most people who are in desperate need to quit their job and retire well beyond when they should, are always looking for a "get rich quick" scheme. Sorry to say, this has always been an urban myth, and just a way for shady marketers to take your $9.95 out of your wallet and give you nothing back except empty promises. Those schemes will never work, but what will work is finding something you love to do, and putting it together with a way to generate royalty income from it. An example: You love going to swap meets to find great bargains on picture frames. Start a small website selling the picture frames you bought at a 45% profit for every picture frame sold. By combining a nice-looking site with a decent blog about art and artists, along with classic picture frames from the 1800's for instance, you'll have a great shot at making upwards of $2000 a month with no problem. It has to be a service or product that you love, because you have to keep your passion about the business alive and kicking to get your new business in the profit margin. You could go on E-Bay to sell them on your E-Bay site linked to their main page, but E-Bay fees are high right now, so you might start with them, and then go set up your personal site after generating your own loyal buyers. You also can add pop-up ads to your site to generate more income, and when you update your site blog, you can take your older blogs and turn them into articles, which you can then sell to article submission sites like "Associated Content." This might take at least six months and some detailed work to get going, but when the money starts rolling in, you can take more time off from work until eventually you can quit, and start doing something you really love to do.
If you are having a problem reading about the reasons you need to leave your job immediately, then you are probably a well-conditioned employee of a large to fairly large corporation, and this is hitting too close to the bone. Don't get defensive about it- do something about it! Look into generating your own passive income, or any other way to get a self-employed income that frees you up from being a prisoner to the American workplace. Re-train your mind to quit behaving like a trained animal locked in a cage, and break free of your captors to become what you truly desire to be: a strong-willed human being.
Rob Mead has written many articles about internet marketing and how to create and find great website content that will increase your web site's traffic overnight. Go to [http://www.perfectwebcontent.com] and you will be able to use all of the web site's resources and articles in your quest for internet success.
Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Rob_Mead
http://EzineArticles.com/?Do-You-Have-a-Job-that-You-Just-Despise-Coming-to-on-Mondays?&id=564453
วันจันทร์ที่ 13 มกราคม พ.ศ. 2557
You... An Immortal Entrepreneur?
You... An Immortal Entrepreneur?
By Scott Groves
This is probably one of the most important lessons I have shared with business people this year.
Do you want to know the secret of becoming Immortal in Business?
You leave behind a legacy that outlives you and your business. Your business becomes a vehicle for giving you AND others a level of freedom.
How do you reach such success to be able to do this?
You find a way to turn your passion into profit for a purpose.
Passion is the starting point to all great successes and happiness in life. The business owners who thrive are driven internally by their love for what they do. If you have ever found yourself lacking motivation it's because you have lost your passion for a moment.
Your passion can come from the strangest source. It doesn't have to be your product necessarily. It can be the Team work. It could be the success of your customers as a result of dealing with you. It can be training others to succeed.
Whatever it is, stay focused on that passion and act on it daily. You will notice it becomes effortless as you get into the "flow".
This "flow" is something many sports people speak of. Business owners can access the same power.
But turning your passion into profit is another thing. To do this, you must combine your passion with your strengths. Without your strongest talents and skills being naturally used, your passion can leave you running around in circles like a motivated dog chasing its tail.
You see, I have a passion for music. The problem is I'm not highly talented in music. So for me to pursue a career in it would be foolish. We all have passions in many areas. To succeed you need to work with your greatest strengths.
One of my other passions is for business. I love the psychology of selling and marketing. Thankfully, it is also one of my greatest strengths. You must get clarity around your own strengths and passions to truly experience freedom, wealth and happiness.
"Success becomes a natural consequence of combining your passions with your strengths."
Delegate what you are not strong at and give it to someone who is.
Every minute you invest working on something you are passionate about is a minute well invested. Every minute spent doing something that you don't enjoy or aren't very good at is doubly wasted.
You lose the minute you could have invested on your own passion. And you lose a minute of someone else's life by not giving them the opportunity to work with their strengths and passions by delegating it to them.
Ever notice how many people are running around working on projects or jobs they don't like. If we all began to develop a deeper understanding of this, we could collectively begin to change it. And it all begins with you and me.
I hope this helps give you some clarity as you enter the New Year.
Since this is the final time I get to chat with you this year I have an extra gift for you.
Free 18 Day Online Course from one of the World's Best Thinkers
Just go to http://www.scottgroves.simpleology.com/?cellwireless
This is a powerful course that can triple your effectiveness in as little as 15 minutes a day. It's very powerful and very simple. Enjoy it as a gift from me to you. It won't cost you a cent to get the 101 course if you use the link I set up for you above.
I wish you all a Merry Christmas and may you enter the New Year more focused and more driven to make a difference than ever before.
Think BIG! Act BOLD! Have FUN!
Your friend,
Scott Groves is the Founder of "Immortal Entrepreneurs" Discover how easily you can become Immortal in business - visit http://www.ScottGroves.com
(C) Copyright Scott Groves 2006
Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Scott_Groves
http://EzineArticles.com/?You...-An-Immortal-Entrepreneur?&id=382275
By Scott Groves
This is probably one of the most important lessons I have shared with business people this year.
Do you want to know the secret of becoming Immortal in Business?
You leave behind a legacy that outlives you and your business. Your business becomes a vehicle for giving you AND others a level of freedom.
How do you reach such success to be able to do this?
You find a way to turn your passion into profit for a purpose.
Passion is the starting point to all great successes and happiness in life. The business owners who thrive are driven internally by their love for what they do. If you have ever found yourself lacking motivation it's because you have lost your passion for a moment.
Your passion can come from the strangest source. It doesn't have to be your product necessarily. It can be the Team work. It could be the success of your customers as a result of dealing with you. It can be training others to succeed.
Whatever it is, stay focused on that passion and act on it daily. You will notice it becomes effortless as you get into the "flow".
This "flow" is something many sports people speak of. Business owners can access the same power.
But turning your passion into profit is another thing. To do this, you must combine your passion with your strengths. Without your strongest talents and skills being naturally used, your passion can leave you running around in circles like a motivated dog chasing its tail.
You see, I have a passion for music. The problem is I'm not highly talented in music. So for me to pursue a career in it would be foolish. We all have passions in many areas. To succeed you need to work with your greatest strengths.
One of my other passions is for business. I love the psychology of selling and marketing. Thankfully, it is also one of my greatest strengths. You must get clarity around your own strengths and passions to truly experience freedom, wealth and happiness.
"Success becomes a natural consequence of combining your passions with your strengths."
Delegate what you are not strong at and give it to someone who is.
Every minute you invest working on something you are passionate about is a minute well invested. Every minute spent doing something that you don't enjoy or aren't very good at is doubly wasted.
You lose the minute you could have invested on your own passion. And you lose a minute of someone else's life by not giving them the opportunity to work with their strengths and passions by delegating it to them.
Ever notice how many people are running around working on projects or jobs they don't like. If we all began to develop a deeper understanding of this, we could collectively begin to change it. And it all begins with you and me.
I hope this helps give you some clarity as you enter the New Year.
Since this is the final time I get to chat with you this year I have an extra gift for you.
Free 18 Day Online Course from one of the World's Best Thinkers
Just go to http://www.scottgroves.simpleology.com/?cellwireless
This is a powerful course that can triple your effectiveness in as little as 15 minutes a day. It's very powerful and very simple. Enjoy it as a gift from me to you. It won't cost you a cent to get the 101 course if you use the link I set up for you above.
I wish you all a Merry Christmas and may you enter the New Year more focused and more driven to make a difference than ever before.
Think BIG! Act BOLD! Have FUN!
Your friend,
Scott Groves is the Founder of "Immortal Entrepreneurs" Discover how easily you can become Immortal in business - visit http://www.ScottGroves.com
(C) Copyright Scott Groves 2006
Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Scott_Groves
http://EzineArticles.com/?You...-An-Immortal-Entrepreneur?&id=382275
Snap Out of It - 13 Tips for Breaking Out of a Slump, and Getting Back on Track
Snap Out of It - 13 Tips for Breaking Out of a Slump, and Getting Back on Track
By Colleen Francis
Sales people who have a poor start at the beginning of a year, often find themselves struggling for the rest of the year to catch up. The good news is, whatever you're experiencing, we've all been there at least once. The bad news is, most of us don't know exactly how to snap out of a slump, and start making sales.
First - don't panic! If you're in panic mode, you can't be creative, and creativity is exactly what you need right now. Besides, just as dogs can smell fear in humans, prospects can smell desperation in sales people. If you panic, your prospects will sense that you're desperate, and they'll avoid you like last night's leftover Tuna Surprise. Just take a deep breath, stay calm and focus on what needs to be done.
Next, don't get down on yourself. Think about a time in your past when you were in a similar situation, and how you were able to climb out if it. Focus on that positive experience, instead of focusing on the negative.
Third, don't get angry. Anger will be misinterpreted by your clients, peers and managers as being emotional or out of control. When you're in a slump more than at any other time, you need to be totally in control, and assure others around you that you know exactly what to do. Whenever you find yourself becoming angry, try to be as honest as possible, and focus on solutions and options - not on laying blame.
Last but most definitely not least, don't quit! The worst thing you can do during a slump is to stop trying. The Chicago White Sox were on the verge of a 90-year slump before winning the World Series last year. Yet during that entire period, their team motto stayed the same: "Win, or die trying." Guess it paid off for them in the end.
Remember: there could be an almost unlimited number of reasons why you're in a slump. It could be the economy, for example. But even in a poor economy, there are top performing sales people, and those who just scrape by. Admitting that your success is up to you is the first step in getting out of a slump, and getting your career back on track.
To help you snap out of a slump and get your year back on track, try some of the following tips, adapted from the strategies of the Top 10%:
1. Reconnect to your plan.
Review your goals and either recommit to the action plan you set for yourself at the beginning of the year - or create a new one! One client of mine recalculates his plan after every month he doesn't hit his quota, to ensure his quota for the next month includes both what he was supposed to do PLUS whatever he missed last month. This helps him redefine his actions and gain clarity on exactly how many calls he needs to make, meetings he needs to secure and business he needs to close to get back on track. If you had a really bad month, you could perhaps work your underage into the next 2-3 months to make it more attainable.
2. Get back to basics.
Once, after Tiger Woods had spent hours on the practice green sinking hundreds of puts, a commentator asked him why he was still practicing considering how consistent he had been. Tiger responded: "I don't like the way the ball is rolling into the cup." That's mastering the basics.
As Tiger knows full well, problems aren't usually caused by something complicated. They're usually the result of doing the simplest thing just slightly wrong. And more often than not, we know exactly what the problem is. In my experience, for example, slumps are almost always caused by not having enough qualified buyers in the pipeline - in other words, not enough prospecting. If you're in a slump, start by looking internally, not externally. Remember that the slump is your slump, not someone else's. Be strong enough to realize this, and take corrective action.
3. Work smarter and harder.
Think of 10 things you could do this week to work more effectively. Then commit to working just a little bit harder until you're out of this bad spell. So you have to be out of "balance" for a short time. Would you rather that you're out of balance, or your checkbook? The choice is yours.
4. Get a coach.
Have someone you respect listen to your phone calls, watch you at networking events and evaluate your presentations. This could be a manager, a colleague, a friend or a hired gun. Whoever you choose, ask them to be honest with you, and when they are, do something with the advice they give you.
5. Coach yourself.
Video or audio tape your presentations and calls, and be honest with yourself. Would you buy from you?
6. Change your presentation.
Maybe it's time to turn your presentation style upside down, or inside out. What you're doing now obviously isn't working, so if you want a different result, you have to do something different. Try starting with the end, or in the middle. And while we're talking about change, everyone should read the cover story of the June 2005 issue of Fast Company magazine: "Change or die." It's an excellent article on why change is so hard - yet so necessary.
7. Stay away from life suckers.
You know who they are. The one who lies in wait at the water cooler, just so they can whine, moan and complain to whatever poor, parched soul happens to wander by. The one lurking in the lunchroom way past 1pm to tell you about how nothing is ever right, and they're always getting the short end of the stick.
When you've slept only 4 hours, they were up all night. If you have a stomachache, they've got near-fatal food poisoning. When you have a headache, you better believe they've got a migraine. Life suckers can't help you; they have problems of their own.
8. Get to work earlier.
Yes, I know, you're already screaming at me: "Colleen, I need balance!" Not while you're in a slump, you don't. Right now, you're behind, and you need to do something about it. Only the mediocre use balance as their battle cry during a slump. So suck it up for this short period, and save the balance until you're back on top.
9. Change your mood.
Listen to your favorite song, comedian or motivational speaker in the car on your way to your next sales meeting. This will help put you into an excellent, upbeat mood when you start your presentation, which will cause you to shine - and your prospect to take a shine to you.
10. Change your environment.
This could be as simple as de-cluttering your office. It's impossible to feel fresh and excited about what you do if you can't see your desk. A chaotic work environment will make you depressed to be there, and if you're depressed to be at work, you won't snap out of your slump.
Changing your environment could also mean - gasp, yes, it's true! - taking the day off from selling! If you need motivation, go sit in a coffee shop or someplace with a nice view and read books and articles on positive attitude and self-development. If you need to be re-created, take a hike (literally), and then come back to the office re-energized and ready to take on the world.
Personally, I find that getting away for around 4 days (say, Thursday-Sunday, as I'm doing as I write this to you right now) can dramatically help me to create, re-organize and re-energize. It's also one of the best ways I know of to avoid another slump in the future.
11. Follow a leader.
Trail the best sales person you know on their calls for a day. See what they're doing differently than you, and how you can incorporate those ideas in your business. Note that this doesn't have to be someone from the office. You can learn a lot from watching sales people in other industries, too.
12. Take your boss to work.
Take your boss with you on calls for a week. This will force you to be more prepared and on your best behavior. You'll also probably receive more feedback than you probably want. Instead of rejecting this feedback, use it to be better.
13. Prove that money can buy a little happiness.
Buy something you can't afford. This is radical, I know, and not many of you will like this idea or think it's responsible of me to suggest it. But it works better for me than any other "counter slump maneuver" I know of, so I felt it wouldn't be right not to at least share the possibility with you.
Of course, I don't mean racking up all your credit cards to the limit buying gold toilets, and then spending the next twenty years paying them off at 21% interest. What I mean - and what I personally do - is book a first-class trip for 6 months from now. Then, I have to make more sales to earn the money to go. Or book a training class 9 months from now, and again you'll be motivated to sell more in order to pay for it. I don't know about you, but for me, the "coming into work early" and all the other hard tasks on this list get a whole lot easier to embrace when I know that I have a trip to Hawaii coming up in a few months, which I really don't want to cancel.
Having a slump is not the end of the world, so long as it's short, temporary and you know what to do about it.
Know what motivates you. Be disciplined - it's the one thing that separates the best from the mediocre - and stay focused on those activities that you know will pull you out of the slump. And remember to keep it all in perspective.
You are responsible for your slump, and only you can change it. But you can change it, and once you accept the fact that you can reverse your fortune, you'll already be on the road to recovery.
Believe in yourself. I know you can do it.
Colleen Francis, Sales Expert, is Founder and President of Engage Selling Solutions, which delivers sales solutions that realize immediate results, achieve lasting success and permanently raise the client�s bottom line. Engage Selling - Everything you need to sell more, in less time and make more money! For more great sales tips, articles, resources: http://www.engageselling.com
Engage-U: Lead-Up coaching membership headquarters: http://www.engage-u.com
Engaging Ideas e-zine & no-charge 10 week e-course: http://www.engagingideasonline.com
Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Colleen_Francis
http://EzineArticles.com/?Snap-Out-of-It---13-Tips-for-Breaking-Out-of-a-Slump,-and-Getting-Back-on-Track&id=379711
By Colleen Francis
Sales people who have a poor start at the beginning of a year, often find themselves struggling for the rest of the year to catch up. The good news is, whatever you're experiencing, we've all been there at least once. The bad news is, most of us don't know exactly how to snap out of a slump, and start making sales.
First - don't panic! If you're in panic mode, you can't be creative, and creativity is exactly what you need right now. Besides, just as dogs can smell fear in humans, prospects can smell desperation in sales people. If you panic, your prospects will sense that you're desperate, and they'll avoid you like last night's leftover Tuna Surprise. Just take a deep breath, stay calm and focus on what needs to be done.
Next, don't get down on yourself. Think about a time in your past when you were in a similar situation, and how you were able to climb out if it. Focus on that positive experience, instead of focusing on the negative.
Third, don't get angry. Anger will be misinterpreted by your clients, peers and managers as being emotional or out of control. When you're in a slump more than at any other time, you need to be totally in control, and assure others around you that you know exactly what to do. Whenever you find yourself becoming angry, try to be as honest as possible, and focus on solutions and options - not on laying blame.
Last but most definitely not least, don't quit! The worst thing you can do during a slump is to stop trying. The Chicago White Sox were on the verge of a 90-year slump before winning the World Series last year. Yet during that entire period, their team motto stayed the same: "Win, or die trying." Guess it paid off for them in the end.
Remember: there could be an almost unlimited number of reasons why you're in a slump. It could be the economy, for example. But even in a poor economy, there are top performing sales people, and those who just scrape by. Admitting that your success is up to you is the first step in getting out of a slump, and getting your career back on track.
To help you snap out of a slump and get your year back on track, try some of the following tips, adapted from the strategies of the Top 10%:
1. Reconnect to your plan.
Review your goals and either recommit to the action plan you set for yourself at the beginning of the year - or create a new one! One client of mine recalculates his plan after every month he doesn't hit his quota, to ensure his quota for the next month includes both what he was supposed to do PLUS whatever he missed last month. This helps him redefine his actions and gain clarity on exactly how many calls he needs to make, meetings he needs to secure and business he needs to close to get back on track. If you had a really bad month, you could perhaps work your underage into the next 2-3 months to make it more attainable.
2. Get back to basics.
Once, after Tiger Woods had spent hours on the practice green sinking hundreds of puts, a commentator asked him why he was still practicing considering how consistent he had been. Tiger responded: "I don't like the way the ball is rolling into the cup." That's mastering the basics.
As Tiger knows full well, problems aren't usually caused by something complicated. They're usually the result of doing the simplest thing just slightly wrong. And more often than not, we know exactly what the problem is. In my experience, for example, slumps are almost always caused by not having enough qualified buyers in the pipeline - in other words, not enough prospecting. If you're in a slump, start by looking internally, not externally. Remember that the slump is your slump, not someone else's. Be strong enough to realize this, and take corrective action.
3. Work smarter and harder.
Think of 10 things you could do this week to work more effectively. Then commit to working just a little bit harder until you're out of this bad spell. So you have to be out of "balance" for a short time. Would you rather that you're out of balance, or your checkbook? The choice is yours.
4. Get a coach.
Have someone you respect listen to your phone calls, watch you at networking events and evaluate your presentations. This could be a manager, a colleague, a friend or a hired gun. Whoever you choose, ask them to be honest with you, and when they are, do something with the advice they give you.
5. Coach yourself.
Video or audio tape your presentations and calls, and be honest with yourself. Would you buy from you?
6. Change your presentation.
Maybe it's time to turn your presentation style upside down, or inside out. What you're doing now obviously isn't working, so if you want a different result, you have to do something different. Try starting with the end, or in the middle. And while we're talking about change, everyone should read the cover story of the June 2005 issue of Fast Company magazine: "Change or die." It's an excellent article on why change is so hard - yet so necessary.
7. Stay away from life suckers.
You know who they are. The one who lies in wait at the water cooler, just so they can whine, moan and complain to whatever poor, parched soul happens to wander by. The one lurking in the lunchroom way past 1pm to tell you about how nothing is ever right, and they're always getting the short end of the stick.
When you've slept only 4 hours, they were up all night. If you have a stomachache, they've got near-fatal food poisoning. When you have a headache, you better believe they've got a migraine. Life suckers can't help you; they have problems of their own.
8. Get to work earlier.
Yes, I know, you're already screaming at me: "Colleen, I need balance!" Not while you're in a slump, you don't. Right now, you're behind, and you need to do something about it. Only the mediocre use balance as their battle cry during a slump. So suck it up for this short period, and save the balance until you're back on top.
9. Change your mood.
Listen to your favorite song, comedian or motivational speaker in the car on your way to your next sales meeting. This will help put you into an excellent, upbeat mood when you start your presentation, which will cause you to shine - and your prospect to take a shine to you.
10. Change your environment.
This could be as simple as de-cluttering your office. It's impossible to feel fresh and excited about what you do if you can't see your desk. A chaotic work environment will make you depressed to be there, and if you're depressed to be at work, you won't snap out of your slump.
Changing your environment could also mean - gasp, yes, it's true! - taking the day off from selling! If you need motivation, go sit in a coffee shop or someplace with a nice view and read books and articles on positive attitude and self-development. If you need to be re-created, take a hike (literally), and then come back to the office re-energized and ready to take on the world.
Personally, I find that getting away for around 4 days (say, Thursday-Sunday, as I'm doing as I write this to you right now) can dramatically help me to create, re-organize and re-energize. It's also one of the best ways I know of to avoid another slump in the future.
11. Follow a leader.
Trail the best sales person you know on their calls for a day. See what they're doing differently than you, and how you can incorporate those ideas in your business. Note that this doesn't have to be someone from the office. You can learn a lot from watching sales people in other industries, too.
12. Take your boss to work.
Take your boss with you on calls for a week. This will force you to be more prepared and on your best behavior. You'll also probably receive more feedback than you probably want. Instead of rejecting this feedback, use it to be better.
13. Prove that money can buy a little happiness.
Buy something you can't afford. This is radical, I know, and not many of you will like this idea or think it's responsible of me to suggest it. But it works better for me than any other "counter slump maneuver" I know of, so I felt it wouldn't be right not to at least share the possibility with you.
Of course, I don't mean racking up all your credit cards to the limit buying gold toilets, and then spending the next twenty years paying them off at 21% interest. What I mean - and what I personally do - is book a first-class trip for 6 months from now. Then, I have to make more sales to earn the money to go. Or book a training class 9 months from now, and again you'll be motivated to sell more in order to pay for it. I don't know about you, but for me, the "coming into work early" and all the other hard tasks on this list get a whole lot easier to embrace when I know that I have a trip to Hawaii coming up in a few months, which I really don't want to cancel.
Having a slump is not the end of the world, so long as it's short, temporary and you know what to do about it.
Know what motivates you. Be disciplined - it's the one thing that separates the best from the mediocre - and stay focused on those activities that you know will pull you out of the slump. And remember to keep it all in perspective.
You are responsible for your slump, and only you can change it. But you can change it, and once you accept the fact that you can reverse your fortune, you'll already be on the road to recovery.
Believe in yourself. I know you can do it.
Colleen Francis, Sales Expert, is Founder and President of Engage Selling Solutions, which delivers sales solutions that realize immediate results, achieve lasting success and permanently raise the client�s bottom line. Engage Selling - Everything you need to sell more, in less time and make more money! For more great sales tips, articles, resources: http://www.engageselling.com
Engage-U: Lead-Up coaching membership headquarters: http://www.engage-u.com
Engaging Ideas e-zine & no-charge 10 week e-course: http://www.engagingideasonline.com
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http://EzineArticles.com/?Snap-Out-of-It---13-Tips-for-Breaking-Out-of-a-Slump,-and-Getting-Back-on-Track&id=379711
วันอาทิตย์ที่ 12 มกราคม พ.ศ. 2557
Gothic for PC - A Perfect 10
Gothic for PC - A Perfect 10?
By April Whidden
Back in the early days of my marriage, I had made the mistake of bringing the game Gothic into our home. My husband and I were still in that blissful, honeymoon period and I really had no idea that his addiction for games rivaled only Bobby Brown's addiction for..well...anything other than games. Happily, I installed Gothic, giddy that I had found a game that looked interesting to play and was a bargain at under twenty bucks. My husband had already informed me that he had downloaded the demo and wasn't interested, and so for a few sweet hours Gothic was all mine.
And then my husband woke up from his nap.
"What's that?" he asked, looking over my shoulder.
"Oh, Gothic. You tried it, remember? You didn't like it so I'm going to play it."
"Yeah...I remember." He said warily. He leaned in closer.
Now, I'm not the greatest gamer that has ever lived. In my twenty years of gaming I've finished exactly one game (unless you count Pong). My love of games is only exceeded by my complete inability to be any good at them. Having my die-hard, gamer husband giving orders behind me got to be a bit nerve-racking. "Go here." "You should have bought the sword." "Why didn't you train when you had the chance?" "You can't leave the camp without pants."
After nearly two hours of this I finally gave in and let him have at it. That was the very last I saw of my husband's face for the next three months. He was so absorbed in the Gothic world that I actually began to wonder what he might look like. I took out old pictures to remind me. Every once in awhile I'd catch a fleeting glimpse of him, running from the computer to the fridge, and maybe to the bathroom, but other than that I was a single woman.
That experience was as close as I've ever felt to being cheated on.
When he finally beat the game, (and then later Gothic 2) he emerged, a tired lion after the hunt "It's the best game ever," he'd tell anyone who would listen. People grew weary of his Gothic banter. They had heard of his heroic deeds so many times their ears bled. I had to hire people to pretend to be interested, but he even managed to run them off. For months I endured this, and then on one beautiful spring day he did not mention the game, and I knew life was back to normal.
That was until a few weeks ago, when he returned from a three-week trip to the bathroom, PC Gamer in his hand. "They are going to release Gothic 3 soon!" he announced merrily, plopping down in front of the computer to check his available RAM, and then my world went black. What was it about this game that made my husband disappear so completely that I had to file a missing person's report? I had to find out.
Me: Honey, is Gothic your all-time favorite game?
Darling Husband: Yep
Me: On a scale of 1-10 what would you rate this game?
Darling Husband: 10
Me: A ten? Really? You've never given anything a ten. Whose the hottest woman you can think of?
Darling Husband: I don't see the point of this question
Me: Just answer. Who would you say is the hottest woman you can think of?
Darling Husband: Okay...Angelina Jolie
Me: (throwing a shoe at him). Okay...fine...but the right answer was me. Havn't you learned anything yet?
Disgusting Husband: Oh yeah...I meant to say that.
Me: Uh-huh...Anyways, would you give Angelina a 10?
Disgusting Husband: Nah
Me: Would you give ANYTHING a 10? A food, another game? Anything besides Gothic? (our love perhaps, you cold-hearted man)
Stupid Husband: Nah
Me: Okay, fine. What is Gothic about? Tell me why you wet your pants whenever you hear that word?
Now This is the part of the conversation I like to call....You had to ask.
Long-Winded Husband: Gothic is an open-ended RPG. You start out a prisoner within a clear, magical barrier. If you pass through the barrier you die. You have to join one of the three prison camps. There is the old camp, and the new camp, and a hippy, commune type camp where you sit around and get high.
Me: Well, that's an obvious choice.
Oblivious Husband: (continues unphased) After you decide which camp you join you work your way up through the ranks. You can 'level' any skill you want. If you want to be a mage, you can be a mage. Like archery? You can be a great archer. Melee, thief skills, anything you can think of. You can do whatever you want in Gothic.
Me: Can you sit around and eat cheetos?
Perplexed Husand: There are no cheetos in Gothic.
Me: So, well no cheetos, well then......is there a purpose to the game? And why are you a prisoner?
Not-So-Patient Husband: (exasperated) I just told you the purpose. To become whatever you want to become. And I don't know why you are a prisoner. You just are. You decide why you are a prisoner.
Me: Perhaps because you ignore your wife.
Smart Husband: (silent)
Me: Okay, well, anyway. Say I want to become a non-prisoner. Can I do that?
Still-Somewhat-Patient Husband: Well, yes, I guess that is the overall purpose of the game. But don't you see, you can be an archer?
Me: So Gothic is great because you can be whatever you want to be.
Darling Husband: (nodding excitedly as I was beginning to catch on)YES!
Me: And that's it? So it's basically a clickfest?
Not-Quite-As-Patient Husband: Well, you can explore too. Part of the beauty of Gothic is that you never stop exploring. Each little nook and cranny of the universe holds mysteries for you to unfold. And the replayability (sweat beads on his head) is great! You can replay in each different camp pursuing each differerty type of career. It is never the same.
He had the same look of joy I felt when Target was having a two for one hot dog sale.
Me: Is the ending always the same?
Exasperated Husband: Well, yes I guess so. But it's the journey, see?
I was beginning to feel sorry for the guy. He was really doing his best to enlighten me.
Me: If the ending is always the same then you really can't become what you want to be. Ultimately you are a puppet right?
Not-So-Darling Husband: No, you arent a puppet You still have free will.
Me: Anything else I should know?
Defeated Husband: Well, outside the barrier the king is raging war on orcs. The irony is that he needs ore to defeat the orcs. The only place to get the ore is...
Me: Inside the barrier, right?
Jubilant Husband: Yes!
Me: So how do they get the ore if you are destroyed crossing the barrier?
Darling Husband: It's magic ore.
Me: Of course.
Darling Husband: And people can go inside the barrier and ore can be moved out. So, one of the camps has created a barter system with the king. They supply the king ore and the king supplies them with food, supplies, women...
Me: Women???? Do the women WANT to go in there, with all the prison men? Do they know what they are getting into?
Desperate Husband: Well, nobody wants to go in there. But...
Me: How can you like a game where women are treated like a commodity? I bet the men are fat and greasy and old too. Right?
Husband-Who-May-Have-Said-Too-Much: ......
Me: I bet the women have to cook and clean after their "other" duties too. I bet the men don't have any hair. You know what it's like to have to be a slave to a bald man?
Wishes-He-Wasn't-A-Husband: They aren't real women you know.
Me: ....
Darling Husband: ....
Me: Sounds like a horrible game.
Distressed Husband: (looking defeated)
Me: Okay, fine. I'm an adult. I will get beyond the traficking of women. Tell me more.
Darling Husband: Well, the best part of the game is the layers. There is politics and espionage among the camps. Each has it's own agenda. It's a huge spiral storyline. It's (wipes a tear from his eye) the best game I have ever played.
And we had come full circle. Now for my husband to say it's the best game he has ever played is truly something. I can't think of a game he hasn't played. For him to play tribute to this sleeper game, Gothic, really gave me pause.
Me: Honey, do you love me as much as you love that game.
Darling Husband: Of course I do. If it wasn't for you, I never would have played Gothic in the first place.
April Whidden is a freelance writer from Portland, OR. She writes on a variety of topics including video games, humor, parenting, marriage and family and child care. Her website is [http://www.aprilwhidden.com]. Feel free to email her at april@aprilwhidden.com.
Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=April_Whidden
http://EzineArticles.com/?Gothic-for-PC---A-Perfect-10?&id=140266
By April Whidden
Back in the early days of my marriage, I had made the mistake of bringing the game Gothic into our home. My husband and I were still in that blissful, honeymoon period and I really had no idea that his addiction for games rivaled only Bobby Brown's addiction for..well...anything other than games. Happily, I installed Gothic, giddy that I had found a game that looked interesting to play and was a bargain at under twenty bucks. My husband had already informed me that he had downloaded the demo and wasn't interested, and so for a few sweet hours Gothic was all mine.
And then my husband woke up from his nap.
"What's that?" he asked, looking over my shoulder.
"Oh, Gothic. You tried it, remember? You didn't like it so I'm going to play it."
"Yeah...I remember." He said warily. He leaned in closer.
Now, I'm not the greatest gamer that has ever lived. In my twenty years of gaming I've finished exactly one game (unless you count Pong). My love of games is only exceeded by my complete inability to be any good at them. Having my die-hard, gamer husband giving orders behind me got to be a bit nerve-racking. "Go here." "You should have bought the sword." "Why didn't you train when you had the chance?" "You can't leave the camp without pants."
After nearly two hours of this I finally gave in and let him have at it. That was the very last I saw of my husband's face for the next three months. He was so absorbed in the Gothic world that I actually began to wonder what he might look like. I took out old pictures to remind me. Every once in awhile I'd catch a fleeting glimpse of him, running from the computer to the fridge, and maybe to the bathroom, but other than that I was a single woman.
That experience was as close as I've ever felt to being cheated on.
When he finally beat the game, (and then later Gothic 2) he emerged, a tired lion after the hunt "It's the best game ever," he'd tell anyone who would listen. People grew weary of his Gothic banter. They had heard of his heroic deeds so many times their ears bled. I had to hire people to pretend to be interested, but he even managed to run them off. For months I endured this, and then on one beautiful spring day he did not mention the game, and I knew life was back to normal.
That was until a few weeks ago, when he returned from a three-week trip to the bathroom, PC Gamer in his hand. "They are going to release Gothic 3 soon!" he announced merrily, plopping down in front of the computer to check his available RAM, and then my world went black. What was it about this game that made my husband disappear so completely that I had to file a missing person's report? I had to find out.
Me: Honey, is Gothic your all-time favorite game?
Darling Husband: Yep
Me: On a scale of 1-10 what would you rate this game?
Darling Husband: 10
Me: A ten? Really? You've never given anything a ten. Whose the hottest woman you can think of?
Darling Husband: I don't see the point of this question
Me: Just answer. Who would you say is the hottest woman you can think of?
Darling Husband: Okay...Angelina Jolie
Me: (throwing a shoe at him). Okay...fine...but the right answer was me. Havn't you learned anything yet?
Disgusting Husband: Oh yeah...I meant to say that.
Me: Uh-huh...Anyways, would you give Angelina a 10?
Disgusting Husband: Nah
Me: Would you give ANYTHING a 10? A food, another game? Anything besides Gothic? (our love perhaps, you cold-hearted man)
Stupid Husband: Nah
Me: Okay, fine. What is Gothic about? Tell me why you wet your pants whenever you hear that word?
Now This is the part of the conversation I like to call....You had to ask.
Long-Winded Husband: Gothic is an open-ended RPG. You start out a prisoner within a clear, magical barrier. If you pass through the barrier you die. You have to join one of the three prison camps. There is the old camp, and the new camp, and a hippy, commune type camp where you sit around and get high.
Me: Well, that's an obvious choice.
Oblivious Husband: (continues unphased) After you decide which camp you join you work your way up through the ranks. You can 'level' any skill you want. If you want to be a mage, you can be a mage. Like archery? You can be a great archer. Melee, thief skills, anything you can think of. You can do whatever you want in Gothic.
Me: Can you sit around and eat cheetos?
Perplexed Husand: There are no cheetos in Gothic.
Me: So, well no cheetos, well then......is there a purpose to the game? And why are you a prisoner?
Not-So-Patient Husband: (exasperated) I just told you the purpose. To become whatever you want to become. And I don't know why you are a prisoner. You just are. You decide why you are a prisoner.
Me: Perhaps because you ignore your wife.
Smart Husband: (silent)
Me: Okay, well, anyway. Say I want to become a non-prisoner. Can I do that?
Still-Somewhat-Patient Husband: Well, yes, I guess that is the overall purpose of the game. But don't you see, you can be an archer?
Me: So Gothic is great because you can be whatever you want to be.
Darling Husband: (nodding excitedly as I was beginning to catch on)YES!
Me: And that's it? So it's basically a clickfest?
Not-Quite-As-Patient Husband: Well, you can explore too. Part of the beauty of Gothic is that you never stop exploring. Each little nook and cranny of the universe holds mysteries for you to unfold. And the replayability (sweat beads on his head) is great! You can replay in each different camp pursuing each differerty type of career. It is never the same.
He had the same look of joy I felt when Target was having a two for one hot dog sale.
Me: Is the ending always the same?
Exasperated Husband: Well, yes I guess so. But it's the journey, see?
I was beginning to feel sorry for the guy. He was really doing his best to enlighten me.
Me: If the ending is always the same then you really can't become what you want to be. Ultimately you are a puppet right?
Not-So-Darling Husband: No, you arent a puppet You still have free will.
Me: Anything else I should know?
Defeated Husband: Well, outside the barrier the king is raging war on orcs. The irony is that he needs ore to defeat the orcs. The only place to get the ore is...
Me: Inside the barrier, right?
Jubilant Husband: Yes!
Me: So how do they get the ore if you are destroyed crossing the barrier?
Darling Husband: It's magic ore.
Me: Of course.
Darling Husband: And people can go inside the barrier and ore can be moved out. So, one of the camps has created a barter system with the king. They supply the king ore and the king supplies them with food, supplies, women...
Me: Women???? Do the women WANT to go in there, with all the prison men? Do they know what they are getting into?
Desperate Husband: Well, nobody wants to go in there. But...
Me: How can you like a game where women are treated like a commodity? I bet the men are fat and greasy and old too. Right?
Husband-Who-May-Have-Said-Too-Much: ......
Me: I bet the women have to cook and clean after their "other" duties too. I bet the men don't have any hair. You know what it's like to have to be a slave to a bald man?
Wishes-He-Wasn't-A-Husband: They aren't real women you know.
Me: ....
Darling Husband: ....
Me: Sounds like a horrible game.
Distressed Husband: (looking defeated)
Me: Okay, fine. I'm an adult. I will get beyond the traficking of women. Tell me more.
Darling Husband: Well, the best part of the game is the layers. There is politics and espionage among the camps. Each has it's own agenda. It's a huge spiral storyline. It's (wipes a tear from his eye) the best game I have ever played.
And we had come full circle. Now for my husband to say it's the best game he has ever played is truly something. I can't think of a game he hasn't played. For him to play tribute to this sleeper game, Gothic, really gave me pause.
Me: Honey, do you love me as much as you love that game.
Darling Husband: Of course I do. If it wasn't for you, I never would have played Gothic in the first place.
April Whidden is a freelance writer from Portland, OR. She writes on a variety of topics including video games, humor, parenting, marriage and family and child care. Her website is [http://www.aprilwhidden.com]. Feel free to email her at april@aprilwhidden.com.
Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=April_Whidden
http://EzineArticles.com/?Gothic-for-PC---A-Perfect-10?&id=140266
The Challenge of Biotech
The Challenge of Biotech
By Paul B Little
In 1990 I saw a film in the career department of my school that was simply called "Pharmaceutical". It was a true piece of propaganda that I could not possible see through at the time. Men (and some women) in white lab coats drew chemical structures on the board and 'designed' the next new great drug. "Let's just try putting a phenyl group here." This is the biggest single driving quotation that I recall. There was simplicity in those few words. It seemed so trivial; all I need to do was learn to draw chemical structures and make bold suggestions and the world will be mine! Of course, from one end to the other it is nonsense. Chemistry is not as easily tamed as a humble white board. The word "just" is so misplaced when one considers the implications on a molecular level. How is it possible to persuade 6.022 x 10 (with 17 0s behind) molecules (we often work on the millimolar scale) to dance to one's tune? You cannot is the answer, they are not thought driven and they do not have what it takes to be persuaded. They follow the energy and do what chaos dictates: you get a mess, is what I am saying.
It took another eight years of chemistry training to be fully cognizant of the fact that molecules are more like cats than like dogs. You cannot train them, but you can make it seem like they are doing what you want by making the conditions right so that what they want is what you want, or will accept! So "just" putting a phenyl group there can be a very lengthy exercise and need not ever actually happen!
Let us describe now the pharmaceutical development process: imagine for a minute that you are a molecule and you are eaten by a human, what do you see and where do you go? Imagine that you are supposed to make your way to a single receptor that sits on a particular cell type in a specific organ and you are to do one job, get out, do not get caught. It all sounds very 'Mission Impossible' and somehow it is. The human body is a magnificently complex place and there are huge challenges for Doctor Molecule wherever he goes. The good Doctor can get stuck in fat, or never make it out of the stomach, be chewed up by the liver or rapidly sent out to the bladder. Of course the other side to the story is Mister Chemical. All drugs are chemicals, all life is organized chemistry, but for the sake of this metaphor Mister Chemical could attack the body, or disrupt it balance, do more harm than good and even kill the body if enough friends are present. The pharmaceutical development process is the long road from the lab bench to the bed side where hundreds of studies are undertaken to assess the good qualities of Doctor Molecule and the bad qualities of Mister Chemical. If the balance is right and there is separation between the good side and the darker impulses then clinical trials begin and the lucky few will get permission to be marketed.
This few, this lucky few, this pharmacopeia is the result of a huge effort. It is estimated that 95-97 % of all projects will end in failure, 80% or more of all medicinal chemists (the cat herders) will never work on a project that leads to a marketed drug. Some time ago it was often quoted that 10000 compounds were synthesized for each drug that is marketed. That number had grown substantially since the development of new synthetic techniques. Try to imagine 10000 struggles to "just" put a phenyl group there. Try to consider the huge amount of data that is published each day that goes into the hundreds of scientific journals covering every aspect of this crazy world. All of the data combined is used to make the best possible guesses as to which phenyl group should go where and what disease should be treated in which way. It is a mind boggling pit of insanity to dive into and expect that one will succeed.
So why do we do it? The answer is the same as the lottery: to win, because the rewards of success greatly outweigh the insanity of the small chance of attaining that success. For some of us it is also the "because it is there" drive to do something unusual and to potentially make a big difference in people's lives.
The biotech industry is the modern answer to the problem of this insanity, insofar as biotech is meant to mean small, highly focused companies with a very small number of projects. The point being that the individual drive of the people to make the individual projects a success is supposed to develop them faster, give them a higher chance of success or to fail faster and be cheaper doing so.
Why do I do this insane job of biotech? The answer is because I can. Somehow the last dozen years in this industry have given me the skills to understand that working for five to ten years on a project that can fail tomorrow is fine. The uncertainty is substantial, but when it works the benefits are enormous. Biotech is a business, and the only business I know that has to invest so much money, for so long without any certainty at all of any form of success. Which success stories should I quote to end this piece, to show that biotech has a benefit through the madness: it could be many: insulin for diabetics, cancer therapies that increase life expectancy, treatments for HIV infection, a whole pharmacopeia of remedies that I hope that you will never need but is designed to be there in case you do.
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Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Paul_B_Little
http://EzineArticles.com/?The-Challenge-of-Biotech&id=7739315
By Paul B Little
In 1990 I saw a film in the career department of my school that was simply called "Pharmaceutical". It was a true piece of propaganda that I could not possible see through at the time. Men (and some women) in white lab coats drew chemical structures on the board and 'designed' the next new great drug. "Let's just try putting a phenyl group here." This is the biggest single driving quotation that I recall. There was simplicity in those few words. It seemed so trivial; all I need to do was learn to draw chemical structures and make bold suggestions and the world will be mine! Of course, from one end to the other it is nonsense. Chemistry is not as easily tamed as a humble white board. The word "just" is so misplaced when one considers the implications on a molecular level. How is it possible to persuade 6.022 x 10 (with 17 0s behind) molecules (we often work on the millimolar scale) to dance to one's tune? You cannot is the answer, they are not thought driven and they do not have what it takes to be persuaded. They follow the energy and do what chaos dictates: you get a mess, is what I am saying.
It took another eight years of chemistry training to be fully cognizant of the fact that molecules are more like cats than like dogs. You cannot train them, but you can make it seem like they are doing what you want by making the conditions right so that what they want is what you want, or will accept! So "just" putting a phenyl group there can be a very lengthy exercise and need not ever actually happen!
Let us describe now the pharmaceutical development process: imagine for a minute that you are a molecule and you are eaten by a human, what do you see and where do you go? Imagine that you are supposed to make your way to a single receptor that sits on a particular cell type in a specific organ and you are to do one job, get out, do not get caught. It all sounds very 'Mission Impossible' and somehow it is. The human body is a magnificently complex place and there are huge challenges for Doctor Molecule wherever he goes. The good Doctor can get stuck in fat, or never make it out of the stomach, be chewed up by the liver or rapidly sent out to the bladder. Of course the other side to the story is Mister Chemical. All drugs are chemicals, all life is organized chemistry, but for the sake of this metaphor Mister Chemical could attack the body, or disrupt it balance, do more harm than good and even kill the body if enough friends are present. The pharmaceutical development process is the long road from the lab bench to the bed side where hundreds of studies are undertaken to assess the good qualities of Doctor Molecule and the bad qualities of Mister Chemical. If the balance is right and there is separation between the good side and the darker impulses then clinical trials begin and the lucky few will get permission to be marketed.
This few, this lucky few, this pharmacopeia is the result of a huge effort. It is estimated that 95-97 % of all projects will end in failure, 80% or more of all medicinal chemists (the cat herders) will never work on a project that leads to a marketed drug. Some time ago it was often quoted that 10000 compounds were synthesized for each drug that is marketed. That number had grown substantially since the development of new synthetic techniques. Try to imagine 10000 struggles to "just" put a phenyl group there. Try to consider the huge amount of data that is published each day that goes into the hundreds of scientific journals covering every aspect of this crazy world. All of the data combined is used to make the best possible guesses as to which phenyl group should go where and what disease should be treated in which way. It is a mind boggling pit of insanity to dive into and expect that one will succeed.
So why do we do it? The answer is the same as the lottery: to win, because the rewards of success greatly outweigh the insanity of the small chance of attaining that success. For some of us it is also the "because it is there" drive to do something unusual and to potentially make a big difference in people's lives.
The biotech industry is the modern answer to the problem of this insanity, insofar as biotech is meant to mean small, highly focused companies with a very small number of projects. The point being that the individual drive of the people to make the individual projects a success is supposed to develop them faster, give them a higher chance of success or to fail faster and be cheaper doing so.
Why do I do this insane job of biotech? The answer is because I can. Somehow the last dozen years in this industry have given me the skills to understand that working for five to ten years on a project that can fail tomorrow is fine. The uncertainty is substantial, but when it works the benefits are enormous. Biotech is a business, and the only business I know that has to invest so much money, for so long without any certainty at all of any form of success. Which success stories should I quote to end this piece, to show that biotech has a benefit through the madness: it could be many: insulin for diabetics, cancer therapies that increase life expectancy, treatments for HIV infection, a whole pharmacopeia of remedies that I hope that you will never need but is designed to be there in case you do.
http://www.littleebookreviews.com
Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Paul_B_Little
http://EzineArticles.com/?The-Challenge-of-Biotech&id=7739315
วันศุกร์ที่ 10 มกราคม พ.ศ. 2557
3 Easy Ways To Increase Sales For Your Small Business
3 Easy Ways To Increase Sales For Your Small Business
By Roy J Derrick
Having started my business career using the more traditional bricks and mortar business route I know only too well how difficult it can be to increase sales for a small business. Sadly, nowadays it is even harder for local businesses to survive as more and more of us opt for the more convenient route of ordering our goods online... But are there any "tactics" that small businesses can employ to lure more of us to buy their goods or services?
Mobile Marketing-Promoting To The Converted
Many local businesses miss out "big time" as they waste too much valuable time and resources chasing new customers when the real money (and consistent income) comes from marketing to existing customers. After all, people who have already bought from you will already be aware of the quality of your product or service and providing that the buying experience that they had with you was good, then chances are that they will buy from you again and even encourage others to buy from you as well... They just need a little prompt or reminder that you are still open for business.
One of the easiest and most instant ways to promote to existing customers is to use mobile marketing. Let's be honest most of us now carry our mobiles with us 24 hours a day and more texts are opened straight away than any other form of communication.
Indeed, most of us now provide a mobile phone number as our first point of contact as opposed to the more traditional landline contact number. Therefore all you small business owners out there need to make a point of storing these valuable mobile numbers and start using them to promote your business via a cheap text messages. Don't worry of you don't know how to get started as there are affordable training packages out there that will show you step by step how to set a mobile marketing campaign.
The best way to achieve instant results for your business by using this method is to promote an offer or a promotion. Let's be honest we all like a bargain so simply offering, for example, a free glass of wine to customers who book a table at your restaurant on a quiet evening will help to attract more business. Even though it will cost you a glass of wine, you will more than make up for it by filling empty tables with paying customers.
Mobile marketing can benefit other small businesses too including texting appointment reminders for businesses like dentists or doctors, luring people into car showrooms via Bluetooth messages, promoting special offer up sells for businesses like beauticians or health spas. There are endless benefits that using mobile marketing as part of your local business marketing can offer, not least of all that it's cheap, quick and offers instant results.
What Is A Business Without A Good Website?
I am amazed by how many local businesses are still not online. Given the ever growing popularity of the internet, small business that are not promoting their business online are losing out on massive income potential and are passing that business onto other business savvy owners instead.
Creating a website for your business does not have to cost a fortune... In fact some websites even offer free templates that you can use. You then simply need to purchase a domain name and some hosting for your website. If you lack the confidence or knowledge to do this yourself, there are websites out there that offer a way of outsourcing this task to others quite cheaply, simply check out outsourcing sites for that offer that type of service. Often you can put a bid on the outsourcing websites that will invite people to bid for the work. This can be a great way of getting the best value for your money.
Again, there are training packages available that offer step by step training on the best ways to create a website for you business together with the cheapest ways to drive traffic to the website including how to get onto page 1 of Google.
Without a doubt, regardless of what small business you own, it is vital to have a good internet presence to ensure consistent sales for your business.
Business Blogs- Seeing The Bigger Picture
It's often quite challenging to persuade small businesses to start blogging. They fail to realise that writing a blog can significantly increase sales for their business; most sadly fail to see the bigger picture.
Blogging takes time but if you are consistent, your business will begin to see dramatic results. Blogging for your business can help you to connect with people, especially if you are careful to write in a style that is unique to you and that you offer valuable content. If you are careful to offer useful advice within you blog, then you will help to promote yourself as an expert who people can trust, which will result in the reader buying from you rather than your competitor. It doesn't matter what business you own, whether you're a dog trainer, a piano teacher, a shop owner or a driving instructor, writing a blog can offer an affordable and fun way of getting your business noticed.
You can then drive traffic to your business blog by sharing the link to your blog on social media sites like Facebook, Twitter and Pinterest. There are also opportunities available, (for a small monthly fee) for small businesses to use existing high ranking blogging sites to promote their business.
These are the 3 ways that I personally consider to be the most effective way to increase sales for your small business. They are methods that I have personally used, with success, within all of my businesses as they are affordable and create instant results.
Having owned several successful businesses I now how enjoy combining both my bricks and mortar and online business experience, to advise individuals and small businesses on the best methods and products to use to make more money and sales. If you would like me to advise you on the best ways to start making more money simply check out the "products and opportunities" section within our website and get in touch. I'd love to help you get started.
Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Roy_J_Derrick
http://EzineArticles.com/?3-Easy-Ways-To-Increase-Sales-For-Your-Small-Business&id=7730397
By Roy J Derrick
Having started my business career using the more traditional bricks and mortar business route I know only too well how difficult it can be to increase sales for a small business. Sadly, nowadays it is even harder for local businesses to survive as more and more of us opt for the more convenient route of ordering our goods online... But are there any "tactics" that small businesses can employ to lure more of us to buy their goods or services?
Mobile Marketing-Promoting To The Converted
Many local businesses miss out "big time" as they waste too much valuable time and resources chasing new customers when the real money (and consistent income) comes from marketing to existing customers. After all, people who have already bought from you will already be aware of the quality of your product or service and providing that the buying experience that they had with you was good, then chances are that they will buy from you again and even encourage others to buy from you as well... They just need a little prompt or reminder that you are still open for business.
One of the easiest and most instant ways to promote to existing customers is to use mobile marketing. Let's be honest most of us now carry our mobiles with us 24 hours a day and more texts are opened straight away than any other form of communication.
Indeed, most of us now provide a mobile phone number as our first point of contact as opposed to the more traditional landline contact number. Therefore all you small business owners out there need to make a point of storing these valuable mobile numbers and start using them to promote your business via a cheap text messages. Don't worry of you don't know how to get started as there are affordable training packages out there that will show you step by step how to set a mobile marketing campaign.
The best way to achieve instant results for your business by using this method is to promote an offer or a promotion. Let's be honest we all like a bargain so simply offering, for example, a free glass of wine to customers who book a table at your restaurant on a quiet evening will help to attract more business. Even though it will cost you a glass of wine, you will more than make up for it by filling empty tables with paying customers.
Mobile marketing can benefit other small businesses too including texting appointment reminders for businesses like dentists or doctors, luring people into car showrooms via Bluetooth messages, promoting special offer up sells for businesses like beauticians or health spas. There are endless benefits that using mobile marketing as part of your local business marketing can offer, not least of all that it's cheap, quick and offers instant results.
What Is A Business Without A Good Website?
I am amazed by how many local businesses are still not online. Given the ever growing popularity of the internet, small business that are not promoting their business online are losing out on massive income potential and are passing that business onto other business savvy owners instead.
Creating a website for your business does not have to cost a fortune... In fact some websites even offer free templates that you can use. You then simply need to purchase a domain name and some hosting for your website. If you lack the confidence or knowledge to do this yourself, there are websites out there that offer a way of outsourcing this task to others quite cheaply, simply check out outsourcing sites for that offer that type of service. Often you can put a bid on the outsourcing websites that will invite people to bid for the work. This can be a great way of getting the best value for your money.
Again, there are training packages available that offer step by step training on the best ways to create a website for you business together with the cheapest ways to drive traffic to the website including how to get onto page 1 of Google.
Without a doubt, regardless of what small business you own, it is vital to have a good internet presence to ensure consistent sales for your business.
Business Blogs- Seeing The Bigger Picture
It's often quite challenging to persuade small businesses to start blogging. They fail to realise that writing a blog can significantly increase sales for their business; most sadly fail to see the bigger picture.
Blogging takes time but if you are consistent, your business will begin to see dramatic results. Blogging for your business can help you to connect with people, especially if you are careful to write in a style that is unique to you and that you offer valuable content. If you are careful to offer useful advice within you blog, then you will help to promote yourself as an expert who people can trust, which will result in the reader buying from you rather than your competitor. It doesn't matter what business you own, whether you're a dog trainer, a piano teacher, a shop owner or a driving instructor, writing a blog can offer an affordable and fun way of getting your business noticed.
You can then drive traffic to your business blog by sharing the link to your blog on social media sites like Facebook, Twitter and Pinterest. There are also opportunities available, (for a small monthly fee) for small businesses to use existing high ranking blogging sites to promote their business.
These are the 3 ways that I personally consider to be the most effective way to increase sales for your small business. They are methods that I have personally used, with success, within all of my businesses as they are affordable and create instant results.
Having owned several successful businesses I now how enjoy combining both my bricks and mortar and online business experience, to advise individuals and small businesses on the best methods and products to use to make more money and sales. If you would like me to advise you on the best ways to start making more money simply check out the "products and opportunities" section within our website and get in touch. I'd love to help you get started.
Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Roy_J_Derrick
http://EzineArticles.com/?3-Easy-Ways-To-Increase-Sales-For-Your-Small-Business&id=7730397
2 Easy Ways To Make Money Online - Even If You're Flat Broke
2 Easy Ways To Make Money Online - Even If You're Flat Broke
By Erin P Smith
On the internet, there is no shortage of ways to earn a living. People are making money in every niche imaginable, leveraging just about every skill imaginable.
From dog grooming to shoes to even selling a gold mine on eBay (the price at the time was $2 million), there is no shortage of opportunities to earn a decent cash flow.
So why does it seem so hard for so many people? Why is it that everyone around you, including your next door neighbor and his goldfish, are earning millions on the internet, but you're left behind? Why is it so easy for them?
You're not alone.
I know the feeling.
If there's one thing I've learned being around the internet, it's that a really, really small percentage of people are actually making money! It's just that we happen to hear more about the insanely rich people because we want to believe their story will be our story.
It's the same thing with news stories... kidnappings get insane amounts of coverage, yet there were only 115 of the "Law and Order" type kidnappings in the entire United States in 2009. Compare that to 115 people dying per day from car crashes in the U.S. Which one do we hear more about?
Sorry for the little tangent... I just thought those numbers were fascinating.
The point is, there's nothing to be ashamed about if you haven't made your money yet on the internet.
How about we change that?
I understand that a lot of people who are looking to make money on the internet have little or no start-up money. People usually turn to the internet when they have bills to pay off immediately, hate their job, or need to pay off some debt.
Now, my two favorite ways to make money are to leverage your skills and build a network marketing business.
Each has its pros and cons.
A network marketing business can earn you boatloads of money, but it usually takes a little longer to get going. You can earn long-term residual income from the efforts of others.
Leveraging a skill can earn you instant income. You can do it as many times as you like, and there are plenty of places on the web where you can find people who are willing to pay for what you know how to do.
The only problem is, the instant you stop, the income stops. You get paid for what you do and not what a team can produce.
What skills can I earn money for?
I would first head on over to Elance.com. Elance is my favorite freelancing site where people post a job they want done, and people can come in and bid for it. Then, whoever posted the job decides who they want to pay.
I would check out Elance and browse through the different sections and see what people are willing to pay for.
Elance has tens of thousands of jobs posted at any one time, so the possibilities are limitless.
It's also a great place to see how others "describe" themselves. Find someone who's made a lot money on the site (it usually displays their career earnings on their profile), and see how they present themselves.
Now, the easiest skill to learn is writing articles.
There are always hundreds of people on Elance looking for people to write massive amounts of articles for them. Some are even looking for people to write for their blog over a long period of time.
These long-term jobs are an amazing way to earn some extra (virtually guaranteed) income for the foreseeable future doing something relatively easy.
But, finding people to write articles is like finding the haystack instead of the needle; they're all over the place. For that reason, most people won't pay more than 2$-5$ to write an article. If the articles require research, it may take you too much time to be worth it.
My all time favorite skill to leverage is setting up WordPress blogs. Because this skill is a little more specialized and technical, people will pay you more of a premium!
I've been building blogs for people for several months, and I've put as much as a $1,000 in a single month in my account, and all for no more than 10-15 hours of work.
I know, you're probably saying something like, "But I can't set up WordPress blogs! That's waaay to technical for me!"
As a rebuttal, let me tell you a little about myself.
I graduated college with a biology degree. Any real job I've had has involved working with animals or bra-fitting at J.C. Penney. I currently know less than 10 HTML codes, and I've never taken a class or read a book on web design, Photoshop, or anything to do with any internet techie stuff.
I had never even heard of WordPress 10 months ago.
Now? I can set up WordPress blogs, including headers, incorporating graphics and videos, setting up opt-in forms, installing themes and plugins, and everything else in my sleep. And... it takes me less than 3 hours.
So how'd I do it? How long did it take me to learn?
Believe me when I say that you can find a tutorial for anything you can think of on the internet. I basically taught myself by trial and error, and Googling for tutorials when I got stuck.
Within a week, I had my own WordPress blog set up, and had the process mastered.
If you're not sure of what plugins to install, Google it! If you don't know a good theme to use on someone else's blog, Google it!
If I told you that you could spend a week learning a skill, and then use that skill to make $1,000 a month (or more) whenever you wanted, would you do it?
Some people also believe that the header is really complicated to set up as well. The very first time that I ever played around with Photoshop was when I was trying to set up my very own header.
An hour later, my header was done. Not as hard as people think.
If you decide to learn a skill and have an open mind, willing to Google something when you get stuck, it really becomes easy to learn.
Of course, there are other skills that you can leverage, but they are usually much more complicated, like redesigning websites, writing iPhone applications, writing CSS and HTML codes, and other crazy stuff.
Now, you can head on over to elance.com, guru.com, and odesk.com. These are some of the most popular freelancing sites on the internet, where you can set up a profile and display your skill.
Then, spend some time every day browsing these sites and bidding on jobs that you would be willing to do. Of course, a lot of the jobs you won't win, so be sure to apply to more than you want to do.
You can easily get a few jobs a week and earn a significant income, or even a full time income if you dedicate enough time.
And the best part? All of this is free! That's the beauty of being taught by online videos and tutorials.
How can I build a network marketing business with no start up?
So, getting people to pay you for a skill is pretty cool, but you have to work and you lose money if you go on vacation.
So, the other option is to work on building a network marketing business. Of course, it's a little more difficult when you don't have money at the beginning, but read on to see how to overcome that.
The first step is to make a little bit of money so that you can buy some cool tools (they'll make life a lot easier) and join a network marketing business.
For now, you need to find a digital product that you can sell. Preferably, at this beginning phase, I would say it's not a good idea to use your own product.
The idea here is that you need to make some quick money to get into gear, and it doesn't even have to be very much. It would take you too long to develop your own product, plus it would be near impossible to avoid any set up or design fees.
Plus, if you use somebody else's products, you don't have to be bothered with returns, distribution of the product, product development, sales page creation, or customer service in general. Sounds perfect for your immediate goals.
The place to do this completely for free is at Clickbank.com. If you don't know what it is, it's basically a gigantic marketplace where people can come and post products that they have created. Anyone else can go on and find a product they like and start selling it for a commission.
Now, because you're working toward a network marketing business, pick a product that would appeal to most people in your niche.
Then, make sure that the product has a good track record. You can see the "grav" rating for each product, and the higher the number basically means that it sells more.
Another alternative (and the one I would go with), would be to purchase Magnetic Sponsoring by Mike Dillard. Not only is this probably the most well-known and successful eBook written on network marketing, but then you can sell ALL of his high-converting products.
The only problem is that you have to actually buy the eBook before you can sell his others... and that's $40.
However, once you generate a lead, that person is "coded" to you forever. If they buy another Magnetic Sponsoring product a year later, you still get the commission.
Plus, in the back office of Magnetic Sponsoring, you can see all of your leads and their info. Now, you can even follow up with them to increase your sales.
Like I said, I think this is the way to go to make some quick money because Magnetic Sponsoring is guaranteed to sell well, you get control of leads, and your people are coded to you. This adds up to some serious dough!
Now, how do you sell the product?
Without any money, it will take a little more blood and sweat to make it work.
The two suggestions I have are to post on Facebook groups and write articles.
The name of the game here is consistency with these two strategies, but hey, they're free!
For Facebook groups, the key is to be as widespread as you can. Join as many groups as possible, and write as many different ads or messages as you can.
Writing a generic ad about MLM success will produce the most results. In other words, don't post blatant ads about exactly what you're trying to sell. Sell them on benefits and curiosity, but if you say specifically what it is, no one will click through.
For placing articles, it comes down to writing on a variety of topics. It doesn't have to do with your product; in fact you'll do better if it's not a product pitch.
All you need to do is write articles about success tips for network marketing. Article directories allow you to place a resource box at the bottom of your posts.
There, you can say something like "Erin has helped lots of people to generate more leads for their businesses. Click here for more tips on how to generate free leads for your online business."
Then, the link goes to your product!
After you use these two free methods, eventually you'll be able to generate enough traffic to your sales page (or a capture page if you are using Magnetic Sponsoring) that you'll begin to see some results.
Really, as soon as you've generated even a couple hundred dollars, you can now invest in some tools to help you take your business to the next level.
First of all, you need an autoresponder, like AWeber. It gives you the capability to organize all of your leads' information and send out a mass email to everybody on your list whenever you like.
Every big business uses this same model; how many different companies send you emails or coupons in the mail?
These are companies that have collected your information, and are now able to market to you over and over again over a long period of time.
This is how you are able to build a long-term following of loyal prospects and eventually buyers.
Then, with AWeber, you can now create opt-in forms for your prospects to leave their name, email, and number. All you need now is a site to put it on!
In order to create your very own capture pages (basically sites with an opt-in form for capturing your prospects' info), you'll need software like Pagebreeze or NVU, both of which are free to download.
Now, with your very own capture pages, you'll also need something free to give away. I highly recommend creating a free report or video series. Although this can be time consuming, and maybe a little technical at first, it pays off huge dividends by branding you immediately as a leader.
However, creating quality capture pages and reports can be very difficult, if not impossible, to make look professional.
That's why I use My Lead System Pro because it already has capture pages and free offers incorporated in the system. Throw in top notch training for any lead generation strategy and that the system sells affiliate products on autopilot for you, and it's basically the fastest and most efficient way to be up and live on the internet.
Then, the last step is to join a company that you want to be a part of! I'm not going to go into details here, because everybody has their preferences.
Now you promote your company after your prospects go through your funnel and leave their information on your capture pages.
Here's a little recap on how you're going to build your business from scratch:
First, you're going to earn a little start-up money by using free strategies like article marketing and posting in Facebook groups to promote Magnetic Sponsoring or a ClickBank product. This takes a little time and consistency.
Next, you step it up a notch by purchasing a AWeber to build your subscriber list.
Then, you create a report and build your own capture pages, or simply use My Lead System Pro to take care of all the technical stuff.
Then, using these tools, you can now promote products and your MLM to your list using AWeber and by talking to them on the phone.
Of course, if you have a little money to burn, this whole process can be sped up to almost overnight. Or, you can leverage skills you have, and then use that money to skip past promoting a ClickBank product and immediately buy the essential tools necessary.
Anyway, I hope some of this will help you understand how you can begin to make money on the internet! Just realize that it takes dedication and consistency, and don't get down if it doesn't happen overnight.
Keep your long-term goals in sight, and don't do things that will endanger the continuing success of your business.
Erin wrote this article about Making Money Online to help the internet marketer know how to create an income stream for their business. Erin has helped hundreds of people generate leads for their business. If you want to learn how to generate 30+ leads a day for free, visit Erin Smith's MLM Secrets [http://art.attraction-marketing-success.com/].
Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Erin_P_Smith
http://EzineArticles.com/?2-Easy-Ways-To-Make-Money-Online---Even-If-Youre-Flat-Broke&id=5859859
By Erin P Smith
On the internet, there is no shortage of ways to earn a living. People are making money in every niche imaginable, leveraging just about every skill imaginable.
From dog grooming to shoes to even selling a gold mine on eBay (the price at the time was $2 million), there is no shortage of opportunities to earn a decent cash flow.
So why does it seem so hard for so many people? Why is it that everyone around you, including your next door neighbor and his goldfish, are earning millions on the internet, but you're left behind? Why is it so easy for them?
You're not alone.
I know the feeling.
If there's one thing I've learned being around the internet, it's that a really, really small percentage of people are actually making money! It's just that we happen to hear more about the insanely rich people because we want to believe their story will be our story.
It's the same thing with news stories... kidnappings get insane amounts of coverage, yet there were only 115 of the "Law and Order" type kidnappings in the entire United States in 2009. Compare that to 115 people dying per day from car crashes in the U.S. Which one do we hear more about?
Sorry for the little tangent... I just thought those numbers were fascinating.
The point is, there's nothing to be ashamed about if you haven't made your money yet on the internet.
How about we change that?
I understand that a lot of people who are looking to make money on the internet have little or no start-up money. People usually turn to the internet when they have bills to pay off immediately, hate their job, or need to pay off some debt.
Now, my two favorite ways to make money are to leverage your skills and build a network marketing business.
Each has its pros and cons.
A network marketing business can earn you boatloads of money, but it usually takes a little longer to get going. You can earn long-term residual income from the efforts of others.
Leveraging a skill can earn you instant income. You can do it as many times as you like, and there are plenty of places on the web where you can find people who are willing to pay for what you know how to do.
The only problem is, the instant you stop, the income stops. You get paid for what you do and not what a team can produce.
What skills can I earn money for?
I would first head on over to Elance.com. Elance is my favorite freelancing site where people post a job they want done, and people can come in and bid for it. Then, whoever posted the job decides who they want to pay.
I would check out Elance and browse through the different sections and see what people are willing to pay for.
Elance has tens of thousands of jobs posted at any one time, so the possibilities are limitless.
It's also a great place to see how others "describe" themselves. Find someone who's made a lot money on the site (it usually displays their career earnings on their profile), and see how they present themselves.
Now, the easiest skill to learn is writing articles.
There are always hundreds of people on Elance looking for people to write massive amounts of articles for them. Some are even looking for people to write for their blog over a long period of time.
These long-term jobs are an amazing way to earn some extra (virtually guaranteed) income for the foreseeable future doing something relatively easy.
But, finding people to write articles is like finding the haystack instead of the needle; they're all over the place. For that reason, most people won't pay more than 2$-5$ to write an article. If the articles require research, it may take you too much time to be worth it.
My all time favorite skill to leverage is setting up WordPress blogs. Because this skill is a little more specialized and technical, people will pay you more of a premium!
I've been building blogs for people for several months, and I've put as much as a $1,000 in a single month in my account, and all for no more than 10-15 hours of work.
I know, you're probably saying something like, "But I can't set up WordPress blogs! That's waaay to technical for me!"
As a rebuttal, let me tell you a little about myself.
I graduated college with a biology degree. Any real job I've had has involved working with animals or bra-fitting at J.C. Penney. I currently know less than 10 HTML codes, and I've never taken a class or read a book on web design, Photoshop, or anything to do with any internet techie stuff.
I had never even heard of WordPress 10 months ago.
Now? I can set up WordPress blogs, including headers, incorporating graphics and videos, setting up opt-in forms, installing themes and plugins, and everything else in my sleep. And... it takes me less than 3 hours.
So how'd I do it? How long did it take me to learn?
Believe me when I say that you can find a tutorial for anything you can think of on the internet. I basically taught myself by trial and error, and Googling for tutorials when I got stuck.
Within a week, I had my own WordPress blog set up, and had the process mastered.
If you're not sure of what plugins to install, Google it! If you don't know a good theme to use on someone else's blog, Google it!
If I told you that you could spend a week learning a skill, and then use that skill to make $1,000 a month (or more) whenever you wanted, would you do it?
Some people also believe that the header is really complicated to set up as well. The very first time that I ever played around with Photoshop was when I was trying to set up my very own header.
An hour later, my header was done. Not as hard as people think.
If you decide to learn a skill and have an open mind, willing to Google something when you get stuck, it really becomes easy to learn.
Of course, there are other skills that you can leverage, but they are usually much more complicated, like redesigning websites, writing iPhone applications, writing CSS and HTML codes, and other crazy stuff.
Now, you can head on over to elance.com, guru.com, and odesk.com. These are some of the most popular freelancing sites on the internet, where you can set up a profile and display your skill.
Then, spend some time every day browsing these sites and bidding on jobs that you would be willing to do. Of course, a lot of the jobs you won't win, so be sure to apply to more than you want to do.
You can easily get a few jobs a week and earn a significant income, or even a full time income if you dedicate enough time.
And the best part? All of this is free! That's the beauty of being taught by online videos and tutorials.
How can I build a network marketing business with no start up?
So, getting people to pay you for a skill is pretty cool, but you have to work and you lose money if you go on vacation.
So, the other option is to work on building a network marketing business. Of course, it's a little more difficult when you don't have money at the beginning, but read on to see how to overcome that.
The first step is to make a little bit of money so that you can buy some cool tools (they'll make life a lot easier) and join a network marketing business.
For now, you need to find a digital product that you can sell. Preferably, at this beginning phase, I would say it's not a good idea to use your own product.
The idea here is that you need to make some quick money to get into gear, and it doesn't even have to be very much. It would take you too long to develop your own product, plus it would be near impossible to avoid any set up or design fees.
Plus, if you use somebody else's products, you don't have to be bothered with returns, distribution of the product, product development, sales page creation, or customer service in general. Sounds perfect for your immediate goals.
The place to do this completely for free is at Clickbank.com. If you don't know what it is, it's basically a gigantic marketplace where people can come and post products that they have created. Anyone else can go on and find a product they like and start selling it for a commission.
Now, because you're working toward a network marketing business, pick a product that would appeal to most people in your niche.
Then, make sure that the product has a good track record. You can see the "grav" rating for each product, and the higher the number basically means that it sells more.
Another alternative (and the one I would go with), would be to purchase Magnetic Sponsoring by Mike Dillard. Not only is this probably the most well-known and successful eBook written on network marketing, but then you can sell ALL of his high-converting products.
The only problem is that you have to actually buy the eBook before you can sell his others... and that's $40.
However, once you generate a lead, that person is "coded" to you forever. If they buy another Magnetic Sponsoring product a year later, you still get the commission.
Plus, in the back office of Magnetic Sponsoring, you can see all of your leads and their info. Now, you can even follow up with them to increase your sales.
Like I said, I think this is the way to go to make some quick money because Magnetic Sponsoring is guaranteed to sell well, you get control of leads, and your people are coded to you. This adds up to some serious dough!
Now, how do you sell the product?
Without any money, it will take a little more blood and sweat to make it work.
The two suggestions I have are to post on Facebook groups and write articles.
The name of the game here is consistency with these two strategies, but hey, they're free!
For Facebook groups, the key is to be as widespread as you can. Join as many groups as possible, and write as many different ads or messages as you can.
Writing a generic ad about MLM success will produce the most results. In other words, don't post blatant ads about exactly what you're trying to sell. Sell them on benefits and curiosity, but if you say specifically what it is, no one will click through.
For placing articles, it comes down to writing on a variety of topics. It doesn't have to do with your product; in fact you'll do better if it's not a product pitch.
All you need to do is write articles about success tips for network marketing. Article directories allow you to place a resource box at the bottom of your posts.
There, you can say something like "Erin has helped lots of people to generate more leads for their businesses. Click here for more tips on how to generate free leads for your online business."
Then, the link goes to your product!
After you use these two free methods, eventually you'll be able to generate enough traffic to your sales page (or a capture page if you are using Magnetic Sponsoring) that you'll begin to see some results.
Really, as soon as you've generated even a couple hundred dollars, you can now invest in some tools to help you take your business to the next level.
First of all, you need an autoresponder, like AWeber. It gives you the capability to organize all of your leads' information and send out a mass email to everybody on your list whenever you like.
Every big business uses this same model; how many different companies send you emails or coupons in the mail?
These are companies that have collected your information, and are now able to market to you over and over again over a long period of time.
This is how you are able to build a long-term following of loyal prospects and eventually buyers.
Then, with AWeber, you can now create opt-in forms for your prospects to leave their name, email, and number. All you need now is a site to put it on!
In order to create your very own capture pages (basically sites with an opt-in form for capturing your prospects' info), you'll need software like Pagebreeze or NVU, both of which are free to download.
Now, with your very own capture pages, you'll also need something free to give away. I highly recommend creating a free report or video series. Although this can be time consuming, and maybe a little technical at first, it pays off huge dividends by branding you immediately as a leader.
However, creating quality capture pages and reports can be very difficult, if not impossible, to make look professional.
That's why I use My Lead System Pro because it already has capture pages and free offers incorporated in the system. Throw in top notch training for any lead generation strategy and that the system sells affiliate products on autopilot for you, and it's basically the fastest and most efficient way to be up and live on the internet.
Then, the last step is to join a company that you want to be a part of! I'm not going to go into details here, because everybody has their preferences.
Now you promote your company after your prospects go through your funnel and leave their information on your capture pages.
Here's a little recap on how you're going to build your business from scratch:
First, you're going to earn a little start-up money by using free strategies like article marketing and posting in Facebook groups to promote Magnetic Sponsoring or a ClickBank product. This takes a little time and consistency.
Next, you step it up a notch by purchasing a AWeber to build your subscriber list.
Then, you create a report and build your own capture pages, or simply use My Lead System Pro to take care of all the technical stuff.
Then, using these tools, you can now promote products and your MLM to your list using AWeber and by talking to them on the phone.
Of course, if you have a little money to burn, this whole process can be sped up to almost overnight. Or, you can leverage skills you have, and then use that money to skip past promoting a ClickBank product and immediately buy the essential tools necessary.
Anyway, I hope some of this will help you understand how you can begin to make money on the internet! Just realize that it takes dedication and consistency, and don't get down if it doesn't happen overnight.
Keep your long-term goals in sight, and don't do things that will endanger the continuing success of your business.
Erin wrote this article about Making Money Online to help the internet marketer know how to create an income stream for their business. Erin has helped hundreds of people generate leads for their business. If you want to learn how to generate 30+ leads a day for free, visit Erin Smith's MLM Secrets [http://art.attraction-marketing-success.com/].
Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Erin_P_Smith
http://EzineArticles.com/?2-Easy-Ways-To-Make-Money-Online---Even-If-Youre-Flat-Broke&id=5859859
วันพฤหัสบดีที่ 9 มกราคม พ.ศ. 2557
10 Fun Things For Grandparents to Do With Their Grandchildren
10 Fun Things For Grandparents to Do With Their Grandchildren
By Mary Bodel
We will be grandparents for the first time in May. It is a special time for us, and it has me remembering the fun times we had with my grandmother. She was a unique woman in many ways, and I would have been the poorer without her. I would also be minus a career, as she is the first teacher I had on my path to becoming a Master Herbalist.
Some of the things on this list are from this era of my life, and others are more aligned with the things we like to do and think children would enjoy. It's fun for all ages.
Bike Rides: Feeling the wind in your face as you pedal down the road is fun at any age. Once the grandkids get the knack of it, it is fun to take them to bike paths and let them try their wings. It's easier to use a bike path because you will have less concern about them being hit by a car. They are also usually flatter, so you won't have to work quite as hard.
Christmas: While the day is obviously going to be fun, I'm referring here to the entire season, starting with Advent. I remember smelling the candy my grandmother was making along with the fresh scent of the tree. I loved to sit and watch the village under it, complete with train and train tracks. Caroling is fun, and there are many other activities you can participate in. It's great to see the wonder on the faces of the kids, too.
Cooking: The two places we would most likely find Grandma in was either her nursery/garden or the kitchen. I remember how proud I felt when she finally felt I was old enough to help. Many summer days were spent in her kitchen, canning and freezing vegetables for winter. On special occasions, Grandma made her special fried apple pies, and if we were helping, we'd get one of the first ones finished...to make sure the batch would turn out right.
Fourth of July: Grandma always had a huge party on our nation's birthday. We'd make ice cream and eat hot dogs and hamburgers. In the evening, we'd sit in her back yard and watch the fireworks display. Before they became illegal, we'd do a little lighting of our own. I especially remember playing with the sparklers.
Gardening: Every woman in our family had a garden back in those days. Many of them still do, though some of us don't have the space for it. It's a joy to see the awe kids feel when the seeds they plant begin to come up. Even if you only have a window sill, it is a fun thing to do with the kids.
Hiking: If your grandkids live in the city, this is a good way to get them out into nature. Many areas have hiking trails of varying difficulty levels. In the Mid-Atlantic, they are taking up some of the tracks and have a program called Rails to Trails. In our area, the local park department has several trails set up, some of them interlinking with county, state or federal trails.
Music: Whether you're watching them perform at church or school or you're teaching them to play your favorite instrument, this is a good bonding experience for you. Grandma never missed a performance any of us were in, and she often sang lullabies to the babies of the family. Taking them to see concerts and plays are always fun, too.
Playground: Grandma taught us to use wax paper on the slide before we went down it. We always flew down after it had been used. Grandpa would help me down from the "monkey bars," and it was always enjoyable. Find out what the amenities are at the local parks and you can have free fun for years.
Read Aloud: This was one area that Grandma couldn't do. She only had two years of schooling, and reading was something she had a hard time with. My mother read to our children and they loved it. You can share so many wonders when reading, and instill a love of it into your grandchild.
Tea Party: I always loved playing this as a child, but never more than when the tea party was real and not imaginary. When we were young, it was a pot of herbal tea to avoid giving us to much caffeine, but it was a blast. Who knew a couple of cookies and a cup of tea would bring such a lasting memory?
We're looking forward to doing these and other fun things with our new grandchild. It will be a delightful experience.
See my website: http://www.alternative-herbal-remedies.com
Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Mary_Bodel
http://EzineArticles.com/?10-Fun-Things-For-Grandparents-to-Do-With-Their-Grandchildren&id=5519838
By Mary Bodel
We will be grandparents for the first time in May. It is a special time for us, and it has me remembering the fun times we had with my grandmother. She was a unique woman in many ways, and I would have been the poorer without her. I would also be minus a career, as she is the first teacher I had on my path to becoming a Master Herbalist.
Some of the things on this list are from this era of my life, and others are more aligned with the things we like to do and think children would enjoy. It's fun for all ages.
Bike Rides: Feeling the wind in your face as you pedal down the road is fun at any age. Once the grandkids get the knack of it, it is fun to take them to bike paths and let them try their wings. It's easier to use a bike path because you will have less concern about them being hit by a car. They are also usually flatter, so you won't have to work quite as hard.
Christmas: While the day is obviously going to be fun, I'm referring here to the entire season, starting with Advent. I remember smelling the candy my grandmother was making along with the fresh scent of the tree. I loved to sit and watch the village under it, complete with train and train tracks. Caroling is fun, and there are many other activities you can participate in. It's great to see the wonder on the faces of the kids, too.
Cooking: The two places we would most likely find Grandma in was either her nursery/garden or the kitchen. I remember how proud I felt when she finally felt I was old enough to help. Many summer days were spent in her kitchen, canning and freezing vegetables for winter. On special occasions, Grandma made her special fried apple pies, and if we were helping, we'd get one of the first ones finished...to make sure the batch would turn out right.
Fourth of July: Grandma always had a huge party on our nation's birthday. We'd make ice cream and eat hot dogs and hamburgers. In the evening, we'd sit in her back yard and watch the fireworks display. Before they became illegal, we'd do a little lighting of our own. I especially remember playing with the sparklers.
Gardening: Every woman in our family had a garden back in those days. Many of them still do, though some of us don't have the space for it. It's a joy to see the awe kids feel when the seeds they plant begin to come up. Even if you only have a window sill, it is a fun thing to do with the kids.
Hiking: If your grandkids live in the city, this is a good way to get them out into nature. Many areas have hiking trails of varying difficulty levels. In the Mid-Atlantic, they are taking up some of the tracks and have a program called Rails to Trails. In our area, the local park department has several trails set up, some of them interlinking with county, state or federal trails.
Music: Whether you're watching them perform at church or school or you're teaching them to play your favorite instrument, this is a good bonding experience for you. Grandma never missed a performance any of us were in, and she often sang lullabies to the babies of the family. Taking them to see concerts and plays are always fun, too.
Playground: Grandma taught us to use wax paper on the slide before we went down it. We always flew down after it had been used. Grandpa would help me down from the "monkey bars," and it was always enjoyable. Find out what the amenities are at the local parks and you can have free fun for years.
Read Aloud: This was one area that Grandma couldn't do. She only had two years of schooling, and reading was something she had a hard time with. My mother read to our children and they loved it. You can share so many wonders when reading, and instill a love of it into your grandchild.
Tea Party: I always loved playing this as a child, but never more than when the tea party was real and not imaginary. When we were young, it was a pot of herbal tea to avoid giving us to much caffeine, but it was a blast. Who knew a couple of cookies and a cup of tea would bring such a lasting memory?
We're looking forward to doing these and other fun things with our new grandchild. It will be a delightful experience.
See my website: http://www.alternative-herbal-remedies.com
Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Mary_Bodel
http://EzineArticles.com/?10-Fun-Things-For-Grandparents-to-Do-With-Their-Grandchildren&id=5519838
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