Prosperity For You

Take II - My Midlife Awakening

I know my posts have been few and far between on this blog lately but I have been asked to write an article for Rosa Say's Talking Story Blog to be included in her Joyful Jubilant Learning Forum 2006. 

My story kind of tells you why I haven't been posting much lately.  If you care to know you can read it here.

Take a minute to go on over and check it out.  There were 26 other authors that each wrote a post for the forum this month and they are all excellent. 

Have an awesome day!
Ken

A different perspective

Yesterday I talked about the impact on Americans of the rise in short term interest rates but I just want to make a simple point today.

If you will make it a priority to pay off all of your credit cards and only use them in an emergency, your life will not be affected as much by what the Federal Reserve, or anyone else for that matter, decides to do with interest rates.

Have an awesome day!
Ken

Help me understand...

I meant to make this post yesterday but time just got away from me.

Anyway, on Monday the stock market tanked because of a few words uttered by the new Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke.

From the front page of the USA Today:

"In a speach to a banking conference here, Bernanke said the economy is entering 'a period of transition to less robust growth.'  But he also implied that inflation, pressured by high energy prices, is now the bigger threat."

My question is this, If high energy prices are the bigger threat, why not do something about that?  I realize that the Federal Reserve has absolutely no power over the cost of crude or natural gas but why clobber the majority of Americans with even higher costs of borrowing funds by continuing to raise short term interest rates?

Your feedback would be appreciated.

Have an awesome day!
Ken

Happy Holidays!

Greetings to all!

Merry Christmas!
Happy Hanukkah!
Happy Kwanzaa!

Well, its the day after Christmas and Ann has done it again.  She has an uncanny knack for finding really cool and unique gifts.  This year was no exception.

She commissioned a painting of my long time pal Buddy.  Buddy has been with me for 13 years now since he was a tiny puppy.  He is blind and deaf now but still gets around very well, but I know he won't be around that much longer which makes this gift even more special.

This painting was created by Leigh at Noisy Dog Studio in Gig Harbor, Washington and she did a fantastic job.  Ann sent her three pictures of Buddy when he was younger and Leigh created this painting from them.  She did a very good job of capturing the essence of his personality.  Thanks, Leigh!

If you would like to have an original painting of your best friend visit her web site.

I can't wait to see what Ann comes up with next year!

Have a great day!
Ken

Satellite tracking of Santa at Christmas

I came across a great site today.  If you have small children you can track Santa as he makes his rounds this Christmas Eve.  The site is Norad Tracks Santa.

Have fun!
Ken

Putting Christmas back in Christmas

I read an article from Friday's edition of the USA Today entitled Some Retailers give the word 'Christmas' a nod.

I say its about time. 

Just about every retailer out there makes about half their annual revenue in the weeks leading up to December 25th.

I was in retail for nine years and I know what it is like.  I worked for a retailer where we were encouraged to say "Happy Holidays" instead of "Merry Christmas" so we didn't offend anyone if they were shopping for another occasion such as Hanakkuh or Kwanzaa.

I can appreciate the need to recognize all religions and belief systems and I respect every one of them, I just think that in many cases we have taken being politically correct too far.

I for one am glad to see that the word 'Christmas' is coming back into favor with retailers.

Here's a funny aside: I also noticed in this same edition a cute cartoon.  A woman and a little boy were walking past a store with a sign in the window that said "XMAS Sale".  The woman stated that she wished they would spell it correctly to which the little boy replied, "I know.  Everyone knows its spelled XBOX."

Have a great day!
Ken

The Customer's Perspective

Every week day I receive an email from The Credit Union Journal.  It helps me stay up to date with what is going on in the industry each day.  Some articles are pretty interesting and others (the ones that mention what bank or credit union got robbed yesterday) are pretty useless from my point of view.  Maybe the security team at a nearby credit union needs to know this, but I would think they would get word of it much quicker from some other source than an email that they may or may not read the next morning.  Anyway, I digress.

The point of this post today is one of the articles in today's email mentions a study that was done by The Bank Administration Institute. 

"The "Frontline Experience Study" of 3,700 consumers found that consumers and banks view what constitutes a "relationship" in different terms. While banks view relationships as the number of accounts a person has with a bank, consumers viewed relationships in terms of trust and confidence and acting in the consumer's best interest."

There is a disconnect there that needs to be rectified.  Maybe that is why one of the Assistant Vice Presidents of Citibank is making door to door sales calls to set up new accounts.

It is time to take a look at our business from our customer's perspective.  I know that sounds like something that everyone should be doing but the banks don't seem to be getting it.  Maybe it is time we stopped and actually listened to our customers.  When was the last time you actually called up one of your customers and asked them what they thought of your business or services or how you might improve your service to them?

I am reading a book now called The Big Moo which is a book of short vignettes about being remarkable that was compiled by Seth Godin.  In this book there are several short stories about being remarkable by finding out exactly what it is that your customers want from you.  I would encourage you to get a copy.  All proceeds go to charity and it can really inspire some creative thinking.

Have a great day!
Ken

Helping Out

As I was searching through the blog search engines to see which ones are actually indexing this blog, I found this post that quickly brought a tear to my eye. 

When people go out of their way to help people who are doing all they can it inspires me to look for ways to give back.

When I am working in my hotel room, I sometimes have the TV on.  Tonight the news had a story about the people who are rescuing animals that were stranded after the evacuation of New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina.  Maybe I'm just a sucker for animals, but I am encouraged that there are people out there doing what they can to reunite evacuees with their beloved pets.

There are a lot of organizations that still need assistance.  Take a look around today and help where you can.

Have a great day!
Ken

The Business Experiment

Have you ever wanted to be a part of something really big?  Something beyond what your mind can bring together in a cohesive idea?  Here is your chance.  

Robert May has come up with the idea to create an open source business.   The Business Experiment.  This is similar to the idea behind the creation of the Linux operating system - a collaboration of people all over the world (conceivably). This is one of the coolest ideas I have seen in a long time. 

Being the entreprenuer that I am, I immediately signed up to be a part of this.  I am very excited to see where this takes us.  Check it out here and get involved. 

Have a great day!
Ken

Poetic Justice?

The USA Today reported last week that the U.S. Supreme Court decided it was ok to seize land for private use.

Well, in an interesting turn of events a creative entreprenuer from Weare, New Hampshire has put together a plan to develop a hotel on the property owned by Supreme Court Justice David H. Souter, who voted to allow this eminent domain to take place.

You can read the press release for yourself here.  I don't know if this story is true or not, but I almost fell out of my chair laughing when I read about it.

I personally don't think it is a good idea to allow the government to go in and take peoples private property for commercial development.  Yes, I know, they are supposed to pay them a fair amount of money for their property, but in many cases these people have been there for many, many years and this just completely uproots their lives.

Let me know what you think.

Have a great day!
Ken