19 May 2008

Game 5

18 May 2008

Seeking Opportunity

Success is not having lots of money in your bank. Success is the preferred planned action that is completed. The goal you set out for is accomplished. You have completed the race. If the action completed gives an enormous value to others huge wealth is created.

Opportunity seeking precedes all goals. But real opportunity can be found if you can follow these simple points:

Be Original

Many people just go into the business because they want to join the ‘bandwagon’. When fierce competition builds up profit cannot be maximised and it will be no more lucrative in staying with that business. If everyone starts dancing and singing exactly like Michael Jackson, what is the value the competitors are giving to the audience. Copying works reversely in a success story.

Do not go into a business or trade just because it gives good profit. Be original in what you do. Originality is the function of having the ability to discover new things that can be valuable to others. Be a creator and not a competitor.

Time

In the success game time is important. By time it is not waiting for the ‘golden opportunity’ to fall on you. You need to know a little on what is happening around the world or in your country.

If for example, if you expect an increase of population about 2 million in the next 5 years, think about what kind of business you can get into to serve the demand. Housing, food, water and medical are all essential for them. If you expect baby boom in another 10 years, go into baby product business.

The crucial thing to note here is to be there before the trend starts. Look out for the trend!

Disadvantage to Advantage

The world’s disaster in a corner of the globe ignites a new demand for housing, medicine, food and water. Large part of the desert wasteland can be changed to ‘oasis tourist spot’ by shielding ‘hot’ desert spots by glass with air conditioned facility for an organised desert tour.

Seeking opportunity is simple. But to implement it needs conscious effort.

Game 4

17 May 2008

13 May 2008

How To Disagree?

If you want to be a successful orator, you need to disagree without offending the other party’s proposition. Oratorical ability is one of the keys for successful leadership. It is the salt in the soup.

We need friends, colleagues, family, and many others. Life will be lonely if we do not have these relationships. Communication builds or breaks these relationships if we are not careful in what we transpire.

But then perfect agreement in a conversation is boring and impedes development of ideas. Total disagreement is the main factor for all conflicts. A middle path is chosen.

Disagree politely

In a conversation, do not disagree totally. Reading makes a man and so will his thoughts. The proposition can be disagreed partly and politely if you can use proper words and phrases. Use words like ‘suggestion’ rather than ‘opinion’. Use phrases like ‘If I may add some to your idea…’, ‘My suggestion is this…’

Try not to use the word ‘but’ as it give a signal of disagreement. Instead, use the word ‘and’. ‘You have all heard Mr George’s remarks and I will like to say something here…’

Conditions vary

A man walks holding a piece of wood in his hand. He drops it. What are the probabilities?

The wood falls
The wood floats
The wood rise up


The above probabilities vary with situations or in which conditions the man let go the wood. The wood falls if he is on earth – force of gravity. If he is outer space it floats. If he is under water – the wood rise up.

Therefore, if a proposition is put forward there must be an ‘environment’ which supports it. Remember, there is always an environment which supports a proposition. You need to see the other point of view.

Be less emotive

In any discussion or meeting, use much less emotion. Use more thinking ability in your suggestions. If your emotion can be managed, you can bring forward a better piece of picture in your ideas.

Man cannot live by bread alone. Currently, even man lives by internet he has to communicate in a subtle manner. If you need a business deal disagree with caution.
If you want that relationship, my suggestion is that you disagree partly and politely.

07 May 2008

Passive Income

Passive income is the part of income that is coming in with minimum effort on your part. An example shall be as follows:

A fisherman goes out to the sea to for his morning ‘blessings’. He threw out his net and catches some fish. He also places 5 fishing lines across his ‘hotspot’. The 5 catch is his ‘passive income’.

In real estate, the senior manager will receive a small percentage of the sale’s commission when his realtor closes a deal as a passive income. A simple way to see an opportunity of creating a passive income is by integrated values. The art of discovering new methods of creating good values can enrich our lives.

Entrepreneurs have the opportunity to retain good staff by paying them a passive income from their total sales. All part time bloggers are on the road of securing passive income.


03 May 2008

BID IT!

The world is full of opportunity. You need to look onto the right direction. The saying ‘opportunity only knocks your door once’ might need to be rethought. Once you have spotted the opportunity zone, you need to look on to its bright side, dark side and the interesting side of it.

There is so much talk on the general increase in price of goods and services. Whatever the reason is, there is an opportunity in this scenario. Let me give you an example.

BID IT!

Suppose you are having a refuse disposal company. All your competitors are generally increasing the fees charged. This is an opportunity. I came to know that the fees consisted of three components: rental charges to clients for the compactor to be stationed in the estate; haulage charges; waste disposal fees. Waste disposal charges are fixed and the others are variable cost. I told a company to hold on to the variable charges as this might be attractive to customers who wants to opt for cheaper services.

How To Apply BID Theory

The bright side of it is that the business will be getting more clients. The dark side is relatively more capital need to be forked into the business. If the bright side (B) is more than the dark side (D) then the interesting side need some attention. The interesting point (I) is that company can become the biggest player in this business. BID for it!

B > D go to ‘I’

B < D go to ‘I’- but need to decide on I’s weightage.

The second scenario shall be no matter what happens I still want that beautiful girl. This part is quite tedious as the decision will be based on mostly emotion. The solution shall be then:

What will be the “Bs” and “Ds” of the “I” point.

Do not always take a decision based on emotion or impulse. Put in the ‘Bs’ and the ‘Ds’ and see the point that is interesting – a point that no one sees.


02 May 2008

Interpretation For Success

What is Interpretation? It is the mental representation of the meaning of something. But how this mental representation came about? It is all part of our thinking process.

As explained in How Your Mind Works, our brain has been ‘painted’ with a set of pattern which has resulted from our experiences. This pattern is a like an infrastructure whereby we can use it for our daily living. It helps us in bringing out certain behaviour. However, it is not always the right pattern to live with.

With our changing environment, it is necessary to ‘re draw’ the pattern by superimposing a new one. This is essential to effect a change in our behaviour. Behavorial change is one part of reaching our success.

For example, two friends visit a fruit shop. There they found variety of fruits being displayed on the shelf. One of them asked the other ‘Why the fruits are being dipped with water and placed on the shelf’

His friend answered ‘Oh yes, it gives more weight to the bunch of fruits and the shopkeeper can sell less fruit for the same price’

His friend responded that it might not be the case ‘I think it is to give a glossy outlook which can attract buyers’

Both can be right and wrong. That is not the point. The point is that what is the result of that interpretation? To one the fruit seller is a cheat. The other the fruit seller is an exceptional seller.

The sales manager recent remarks that his salesperson has not been updating the monthly sales record should be interpreted as the salesperson information is valued by the manager. The sales person should give him a fortnightly report if necessary.

If the fruit is tasteful then it is worth to buy. Interpretation should add value to behaviour. Otherwise find another way of interpreting.


01 May 2008

Barber Taboo

There are two barbers in a street of shophouses. One barber shop has the most customer because of the following reasons:

- it is located near to the residential areas
- it is located next to the bus stop
- it is located next to the temple
- it is located very near to the market

The other barber shop without the above reasons and the shop is facing very few average customers in a day. But both barbers are brothers and have acquired the same techniques of a perfect haircut.

One day the ‘unlucky’ barber had an idea to sway customers to his shop. He had his friend who is a fortune teller. He begged the fortune teller to tell a lie to the people who visit his shop to seek for good fortune. What is that lie?

The fortune teller to convince the ‘fortune seekers’ to avoid hair dressing saloon on Tuesday and this will bring in better luck for them. In time to come there were no customers in any of the barber shops. The barber shop owner who was having good business decided to close his shop on Tuesday due to poor business. The other barber shop did not close the business on Tuesday but gave 50 percent discount on Tuesday. This resulted in more customers coming to his shop and customers found out that his service was as good as other shop-his business began to improve.

Just because of a ‘taboo’ can make us to take different course of actions. So next time if you have such beliefs, see if it is worthwhile to go along that line. Read between the lines of your belief. It could be originated for the advantage of someone.