How does a Government get around the fact that it has a bankrupt pension fund?

Easy. They start a new one and name it KiwiSaver.

After being signed up to this scam called KiwiSaver by an “employer” who I hadn’t actually worked for in recent years, I was feeling a little ticked.  This person for whatever reason signed me up after making a submission to our Inland Revenue Department (IRD). The fact that he neglected to pay me the amount in question for work I never did doesn’t seem to matter to IRD.

So I have been signed up to KiwiSaver. Now it is up to me unsign myself. I am supposed to do this every time I start a new job within a couple of weeks. Which is a little hard since I didn’t know I wasn’t being paid the wages submitted to IRD at the time. I only just found out months later.  Now I have to make a submission that is examined on a case-by-case basis.

If this isn’t a case of people creating job security I don’t know what is. It is costing the country thousands of dollars to keep signing people like me up for me to unsign days later. This is Government efficiency at its best!

So how do we solve this problem.

Well it appears that we make KiwiSaver compulsory – that will solve the unsubscribing issue, and it will create a fund that the Government can borrow more money against to pay the retirement fund of an aging population who’s retirement fund the Government has squandered.

This is just another case of communism alive and well in our parliamentary system. It shows that our “center right” Government is so center right it is in the middle of the communist left. I predict that a genuine right leaning party will be the undoing of our current Government – in like manner to the role Sir Robert ‘Bob’ Jones played. The difference being that it is highly likely they will be elected this time around.

I am tired of Governments mismanaging my money and I would like to manage my own and I believe I am not alone.

So go ahead and make my day John Key – it may be your last chance.

I see this topic debated on forums regularly.

It is worth giving some thought to if you are looking at starting a business.  What do you want from your new business, and what do you expect to put into it?

As far as starting a business goes, there is no cheaper way to begin than what is traditionally called a home based business – a Multi Level Marketing or MLM business. But is this really a “business”?

I suggest that MLM businesses are actually commission based sales jobs and not businesses. As a “distributor” you are bound by the rules of the company that you belong to. You run the risk of losing your “business” should the company deem you to have broken any of the rules. You have no control over the direction the company may choose to take, and many people have lost their incomes when the company decides that the MLM business model is no longer in their best interest so they switch other forms of marketing.

I have been told that I am wrong in my assertion, but I see no difference to someone working in MLM as compared to someone selling life insurance for example. A life insurance sales person gets monthly residual checks based on their clients continued business with the company, they may get an initial signing bonus, and they may get performance based incentives. Some companies also pay bonuses for every new sales you bring to the company. It sounds very similar to an MLM pay scheme, and the control over the way you conduct business is equally similar. Again you are usually penalized for poor performance in both – if not being fired, then by lower/lost commissions.

Does this mean that you should not enter into an Multi Level Marketing or Network Marketing business?

Absolutely not. They generally have a very low entry cost, and many millionaires have been created in this industry. If you treat it like a business and work hard there is every opportunity to make a good income in MLM. It can be worked in conjunction with another job until such time as you are making enough money from your part time job that you have replaced your income from your full time job should you choose. Just remember that despite the hours it is still a job and not a “business.”

A more expensive option that is closer to a “normal” business is a Franchise. These are often considerably more expensive to buy into as they require a premises or specialist equipment, stock, and branding rights. Once you are established any franchise worth their salt will provide you with the training and systems to help you build your business. Although you are running your own business, it is again not fully your own business. The franchiser can at any time revoke your right to the brand should you break any of the terms, and they can take the company in a direction that you have no say over.

The reasons to get into a franchise are similar to the reasons to enter into Multi Level Marketing; they are generally cheaper than starting from scratch with no brand recognition, and they provide the training and systems that a new business does not offer.

But there are advantages of starting your own business if you have the capital do so. The rewards can far exceed the other options, and you have complete control over the business – you won’t be fired. A good business will continue to grow without your input if you hire good staff and a growing business is going achieve good capital gains.  For me the ability to run the business as I choose is worth the extra investment.

Your goals may be different, and the vehicle needed to get you to your goals may also be different. Just do not blindly believe what you are being told by someone trying to sell you a business. Make an informed decision.

Relationships And Business – Diametrically opposed?

I have had some interesting experiences recently that highlight for me the value in building relationships. These were people who I initially had no business involvement whatsoever, although we meet through a business forum. We connected as “friends” first and then as friends. We never tried to recruit each other, or to sell to each other.

Some time later we have found ourselves in a position where we can work together.  It has just been a natural progression and not forced in any way. But there is potential for good rewards for all concerned.

Recently I was talking to a young man doing a business training program at a local polytechnic. He is being taught in the business management class, that good business managers are less about relationships and more about efficiency. He is also doing an entrepreneurial class which does teach more about the value of relationships to the entrepreneur. It is good that the business owners are being taught about relationship building, but where have we gone wrong that managers are not.

It is as Robert Kiosaki predicted going to be the downfall of Western businesses. You have a boss (manager) who cares only about efficacious production figures. Their bonus/reputation is built only on how much they produce and at what margin. The workers do not factor into the equation. And because the type of managers this system breeds are either insecure (more intelligent people threaten them) or they are natural power trippers (they like to abuse their authority) there is no flow of information from the lowly worker to the corporate box office.

A more beneficial relationship is as Kiosaki describes with the Japanese business world. Where workers are listened to by their superiors and a family type relationship is fostered. Not only is productivity improved by a naturally more pleasant work environment, but also by the adaptation of the system by the workers for the workers.

There are many ways in which good relationships build stronger businesses. To be teaching otherwise is backwards and typical of our way of business management. The “us” and “them”relationship has failed for decades and yet we continue to encourage it.

No matter what job you have, or what stage you are in life, today is a perfect time to start working on building your relationships. You never know where they might lead you.

I was reading Seth Godin’s blog today and one line made me laugh.

When you talk to yourself is anyone listening?

We all want to talk about ourselves, and although you may deny it, you only really discover just how true this is when you are with someone who just won’t quit. They leave you no opportunity to speak up and before long you either start trying to talk over the top of them or you walk away (or wish you could).

So we like to talk about ourselves. But do we stop to listen to what we are saying about ourselves? This was the point that Seth was making. How are we presenting our self to others, and what do we really believe about ourselves?

I watched a movie last night that had a punchline of “Who are you? And what are you going to do about it?” (in slightly more colorful language). Do you really know who you are and what your potential is?  If you do, are you making the most of that potential or are you drifting through life being tossed to and fro?

Today would be a good time to stop and listen to what you are actually saying about yourself if you have not done so recently. What we truly believe about ourselves will influence the way we conduct ourselves and the decisions we make. Often we may think we know we feel about ourselves but our actions reveal thoughts.

If you can’t hear what you are saying about yourself ask some close friends to tell you what you are saying about yourself!

Today I went to two hardware stores. They are both large stores and they are next door to each other.

One store has a greeter at the door (a pretty young lady today) the other does not. I went into the store without a greeter at the door and wandered up and down the isles for 5 minutes  looking for an item. I was only approached by a member of the store staff because they wanted to walk past me and I was blocking the isle.

The store with the greeter was holding workshops for children during the school holidays. Today they got to decorate a small flower pot with paint, then a small candle was given to them to put in it. They were also given a blow-up tool with the company logo and were able to choose a cardboard box to put their treasures in. Total cost to children = $0.00.

Of course I went shopping while the children were busy being entertained. I was approached by several staff during the course of my browsing. The experience was entirely different from the other store. Guess which one is the most popular store with the general public?

There were a few staff members that I noticed even in the user friendly store that were more interested in personal conversations than making sales. So they could use some kind of monitoring system to ensure everyone is pulling their weight.

Amazingly there are many stores that do not train their staff in how to spend their time. Perhaps equally amazing is the attitude of the staff. In a time of recession you would think they would be doing everything can to ensure they have a job next week. This would include proving that you are a valuable member of the team, and making sales to ensure the profitability of the business.

You can tell those who go to work with an employee mentality. They believe the company owes them, is probably screwing them, and they are always looking for a way to get something for nothing. Entrepreneurs, even when working for other people, will be looking for ways to improve productivity and increase sales. A smart company will make sure they invest in these staff to retain them. A company that looses staff members with this aptitude will not only loose the benefits that these staff members generate, they will be giving their competitors a boost in productivity or may even be creating new competitors if the entrepreneur starts up their own business.

Tip for employees:

No matter your role in the company you have the ability to make yourself indispensable to the company.

Tip for employers:

Train and monitor the performance of your staff – then provide good staff an incentive to stay.

Irrational is probably not what you would care to be labelled as, and yet that is exactly what you are. Dan Ariely shows not only are you irrational, but you are predictably irrational.

How can this be so?

Well, many of the illogical decisions you make can be predicted in advance. For example, one of the illustrations in the book involves two samples of chocolate. One is a world famous exotic chocolate and the other is the recycled waste sold as chocolate in convenience stores.

The experiment began by selling the two chocolates side by side in small one bite sized samples. The price of the authentic chocolate experience was 15 cents and the price of the imitation chocolate was only 1 cent. An overwhelming majority of people confronted with this decision concluded that the exotic chocolate was a better buy.

However, once the price of both chocolate samples was dropped by 1 cent something strange happened. You could say it was entirely irrational. The price difference between the chocolates was exactly the same, but now the majority of people took the low quality chocolate.

What caused this switch when the price differential was exactly the same?

The low end chocolate had dropped from 1 cent to free. That magic word free had altered the equation, tipping the value balance away from the quality chocolate.

This is just one of the many cases where our irrational behaviour can be totally predictable. Advertisers are taking advantage of this knowledge all the time. Even when you think you know what the advertiser is doing, you may be surprised to find that he is doing something entirely different on your subconscious level.

This is a great book for anyone who markets anything, or even sets prices on supermarket stock. It is also a must have for anyone considering making a shopping excursion.

If you would like to help support this blog please purchase through this link.

Everyone loves the under dog.

The current Soccer World Cup is no exception. The host nation, South Africa, were the first home team to bow out before the second round in the history of the Cup. But they are heralded as heroes.

Why this heroic celebration of what others consider to be a failure? Because there were the under dogs. No one expected them to win. However, they went out and played with heart and enthusiasm. They gave their best.

New Zealand has now been adopted by many South Africans. They will be cheering for the team from down under because they too were never given a chance. Several of their team are not even full time soccer players, and many of the other teams are made up of professionals all earning million dollar cheques.

Will they win? Unlikely. But while they are still in there is always a chance. And in the mean time we will all celebrate each victory (and anything other than a loss is a victory when you are at the bottom of the table) as if we had won the cup.

We all like a victorious under dog story. Sylvester Stallone made a career out of playing this role in movies.

Why do we cheer the under dog so?

Because we all wish life had turned out a little differently?

Maybe we have given up the fight to achieve our dreams and would rather live vicariously through the actions of others.

Many a successful person is remembered for what they achieved, but we have forgotten the many failures that person went through to achieve what they did.

Don’t stop short when the next action you take could be the one that propelled you to achieve your dreams.

Success Isn’t An Accident. It Is A Culmination Of Failures
~ Dean McNamara

Has innovation died?

Time Magazine published an article “10 Ideas For The Next 10 Years” and number ten on that list made the statement that we have entered the “boring age.”

We think we are innovative because we now have phones integrated with web browsers and touch screens. But the article asks where is the innovation that invented the phone? Where is the innovation that invented the combustion engine?

Sure we are tweaking already existent technology, we have smart phones and more efficient engines. But we don’t drive flying spaceships and we don’t have vacations on the moon.

What we do have is oil slicks destroying large tracts of our oceans. We have more cool electronic gadgets that replace old clunky items that came from the past. But how much of this innovation is just filling in time. Much like the new social media craze online – people waste a lot of time on social network sites. Some even believe they are building a business. The reality is that they will be doing the same things 5 years from now, still believing they are building a business.Just as engineers believe all their gadgetry is innovative.

I think we are ready for some real innovation. Who knows it might create some jobs and economic growth.

source

We have a meet the teacher evening coming up next week for our primary school kids. After getting their second term reports we have no real reason to go, although we will anyway. It is good to know what the teachers are trying to accomplish.

The interesting thing about the reports is not so much the teacher’s assessment, they just tick the boxes to say average, above average, or not average. But it was the section where the kids got do their own assessment.

One of my daughters achieved a mostly average report from her teacher, and when it came to assessing herself she ticked mostly “achieving” boxes as well. The daughter is one of the oldest in her class because of they way school system works here (essentially holding her back 6 months instead of pushing her forward). So she is mostly above average in her class. But when it came to the self assessment she ticked all the “excelling” boxes. She has a high opinion of herself!

Combine these results with the book I am currently reading by Robert Kiyosaki:

I may make a few cents if you buy through the above link

Although it is 20 years old, few lessons have been learnt since the time it was written. The school system has become a little less results oriented (although I am not entirely sure I agree that this is actually better for most students), but they still do not teach a child that they can achieve anything they can dream.

I will be interested to see if my optimistic daughter still believes she is “excelling” in all areas as she moves through the school system.

I hope I can teach my children what the school system failed to teach me. And I hope they can learn it at a much earlier age than I learnt it.

What about you?

Have you educated yourself so that you can educate your children in a way that they might have a chance of retiring independent of the Government? Or so they might achieve any of their dreams?

Great news! The recession is over in New Zealand.

At least that is what our Government believes, so they have raised the OCR (Official Cash Rate). This done the same week that the financial spending of our politicians has been exposed by way of the public information act.

So these same politicians who believe that the tax payer should be funding their porn addictions, golf clubs, alcohol addictions, and clothes (and who knows what else is about to be uncovered) are in a position to know how financially sound the rest of the country are.

I suggest they are that far removed from reality that they have no business running a tap never mind a country. Although running is certainly not something that many of them could manage anyway.

Even if there was a slight recovery happening (although this is still in dispute) you would think the politicians might give the country a little slack before the tax hikes already set in place actually take effect. But no.

I am guessing that we are supposed to react with a ho-hum oh-well there we go attitude. Not a corrupt lets see how we can work the system and make the other taxpayers pay for it kind of attitude.

Today I received a great gift in my inbox. Adam Taha announced that I won his Facebook fan page creation.

From the blog of Adam Taha

This was certainly an unexpected surprise.

Why I am surprised that I won is because this really is a great prize. Adam Taha is an amazingly talented person and his works are legend in so many different circles. He has transformed his own city and beyond. He has excelled in a variety of businesses. He is renown on the internet for his graphics abilities and widely respected for his knowledge.

If you wanted to hire Adam Taha it would cost you thousands – if you could persuade him to work for you.

So when I saw this offer I recognised the value instantly. I immediately shared it with my friends because I wanted to be known as the cool guy who showed them how to win an amazing prize. I never considered actually winning for myself (if I didn’t have bad luck I would have no luck at all).

However, it seems that many others must have thought they would never win too. And they must have combined that lack of belief with a lack of action. So all I can do is encourage you take action in the future. You never know your luck – you just may win literally thousands of dollars worth of prizes like I did today.

I will post an update once we have built the fanpage so you can see the kind of talent that Adam Taha has.

Nuclear weapons were once thought to be the most destructive force on the planet. But even the horrific devastation that nuclear weapons can cause they are no match for another force we see in the world today.

That force is man’s greed. This would have to be the single most destructive force in the world around us. After watching “Ross Kemp: In Search Of Pirates” and delving into the source of Nigerian pirate forces I am appalled.

These are people who have fallen below the poverty line because their environment has been destroyed by oil. Large tracts of land and water-ways have become black wastelands. The pollution is mind-boggling. Of course, America is just beginning to experience the devastation of oil pollution to the detriment of its coastline. And we in New Zealand are opening our coast up to oil exploration.

Oil is not the only source of pollution in the world. Many other countries are belching fumes into the atmosphere, and toxic waste into the waterways. There is no need for the majority of the waste we create other than greed. Profit margins are the reason that we allow this destruction of the planet.

I fear for the legacy that we have left for my children, never mind my children’s children. The world will be a very different place 50 years from now, and it will not be for the better.

I’ll finish my rant and crawl into my clean comfortable bed, while others will go hungry in their polluted makeshift shacks. A little more of the world will die while I sleep. And tomorrow I’ll have forgotten the images of death and destruction … or will I?

It never ceases to astound me what the network channels think is newsworthy.

You can tell when there is no war going on with a political agenda (the majority of wars barely rate a mention). We get all sorts of tripe broadcast to fill the gap. News that shouldn’t even be news in the country of origin is somehow considered worthy of international attention.

That is bad enough. But what of these mass murders? Should we devote so much attention to them? It seems to me it is just glamorizing a sad event. Do we really need to ask friends and family how they felt about their tragic loss? Are we expecting them to come out and say “about time, they had it coming”?

Never mind that we drag up all the mass killings of the past and compare body counts. This one was more horrific than that one. This guy is more famous than that. If that is not encouraging people to go out and claim the most notches in their belt then I don’t know what is.

Perhaps we should stick with how drunk Fergie was, and how much she tried to elicit for access to her husband.

What difference does one make?

One day you are a high roller living it up with all the toys money can buy. Then next day the stock market plummets and you are bankrupt. What difference does one day make?

Or perhaps you are struggling to make ends meet and not sure where the rent is coming from this week. You get given a lottery ticket for your birthday and that one ticket makes you a millionaire in an instant (incidentally I didn’t win a thing – but I am sure someone did). One day, one ticket, one life that will never be the same again.

What about one person? Have you ever met one person had such an impact on your life that it will never be the same again? If you are married then I would hope that you have at least had this experience once. Perhaps it was even one teacher at school, or one employer that took an interest in you. Maybe it is a friend or relative that has helped you out. It could even be an author or someone you have never met in person.

There are many stories of a Sunday School teacher, a sports coach, or someone in the neighbourhood who have invested time in others inspiring them to achieve greatness. From Presidents to Olympic champions tales are told of the one person that is credited with their success.

It only takes one moment in time, one action, one person to transform a life forever. A challenge this week is to try and be that person. See if you can change someone else’s life for the better.

If you have one person that has impacted your life feel free to share that story here.

Is it me, or is there less days between birthdays now?

You’d think with another year passing that I would be wiser. I am not so sure about that. But I have learned a few more things along life’s way.

One of the things that I have learned is that it is when the going gets a little tough is when people show their true colours. You never really know someone until you have seen them under pressure, even if you thought you knew their character previously.

Children grow up way too fast – they make you feel even older than you are (who would have thought that possible?).

Sheep can be one of the stupidest animals on the planet. Yet I see a lot of myself in their stupidity. I make a lot of the same kinds of mistakes over and over. Perhaps some time over the next 40 years I will learn to do better.

Machines still break down. You’d think all the advances of technology we would have sorted that out by now. So much for evolution. It seems things don’t improve over time after all.

The Government is still not the solutions to my problems.And if you watch parliament TV it is rather obvious why nothing good normally comes out of the Government.

Still, I have some new ideas and new prospects on the horizon so hopefully I will be too busy to worry about what others are up to. I’ll be interested to look back in another 12 months to see how far I have come.

It is great to have positive things to say – this week seems to have had its share of positive experiences so I will share another one with you.

This one is about building a reputation and establishing oneself in a niche.

Joyce Penner, a member of the BetterNetworker forum created a name for self this week within the forum.

How did she create a name for herself?

Well she created a thread on the forum asking for some input as to why people be interested in her if she went around telling everyone about this great advice she had – got from XYZ guru.

She wanted to know why people wouldn’t just go and look up XYZ guru for themselves leaving her out of the loop.

Anyway, the thread attracted a few replies, some thoughtful and some witty (honestly, the same sentiments were expressed if you look behind the witt ).

Well that is as maybe. But then Joyce created a bit of a stir because she offered a free backlink to everyone that made the effort to comment. What Joyce Penner did was create the linked article detailing her blog thread. And in it she highlighted the people who had come to her party.

Now, I wonder if there will be any extra interest in commenting on her next thread?

The point being that she has now made a name for herself in the forum as someone who rewards the efforts of others.

It is a forum about “attraction marketing” but very few people there lead by example. Most just run off at the mouth telling you why you should be following them.

See the difference when someone actually practices what they preach! Well done Joyce.

Recently I had good pleasure of meeting someone over internet who turned out to be very genuine (a rare commodity these days) and a great help.

This person understands the principles of attraction marketing very well.

In the first instance they have created an extremely good plugin for Wordpress Blogs. The plugin makes it very simple to secure your blog from hackers. A problem that I was needing to solve at the time. So immediately they are giving value to people upfront – no strings attached.

In the second instance they provide support for their software. Remember this software costs nothing to install and now they are charging nothing to advise you on how to make sure it is working properly on your system.

If you have spent much time online you will know that service of this kind is very rare indeed. I was so appreciative of the value I had received that I sent a virtual cup of coffee (or a beer depending your drink of choice) by way of saying thank you.

It would seem that either I am the only person who has ever had a problem (which given my track record with computers is not unlikely) or I am the only person who has ever thought to say thank you. Because my actions stood out enough that the man behind the product took the time to contact me and offer an extra bonus.

So here I am once again in the debt of Edward Alexander the man behind Bullet Proof Website Security

I highly recommend the product, the person behind the product, and the business model that Edward exemplifies. If you think you are generous I challenge you to try and out-give this man!

While you are on his site check out the Flash Design header – I already have my heart set one!

Google Spies Caught.

An interesting apology on New Zealand news tonight.

It seems that when Google spies when around taking pictures for their streetview maps, they were also recording all the houses that had a wireless internet connection.

It does beg the question as to what business it is of Google how many people have wireless internet.  No doubt it is part of market research of some kind – what kind of service are Google scoping out the market for?

Personally, if they can provide me a better service I am all for it.  Did they need to be so covert?  Are they doing something that any other person with a scanner can not do?

I live well away from any neighbours and had not bothered setting up security on my wireless connection because I didn’t want to go to the effort of synchronizing my computers. That was until I noticed someone parked on the side of the road stealing my bandwidth. The person was in a work vehicle (does his boss know how he spends his day) and was parked partially obstructing the road as there is nowhere to pull off the road near my house.

After unplugging his connection, and phoning his employer, I have since installed security. But the point is that he was doing no more than the Google spies travelling around looking for an open wireless connection.  I presume Google wasn’t looking to steal bandwidth – or were they?

Big Brother caught with their pants down again. How embarrassing to be Google slapped!

Britain has a new Government. We have a new “Apprentice.”  The USA has new natural disaster on their doorstep.

But does anything ever really change?

A wise man by the name of Solomon once said that there is nothing new under the sun. He said that just as the seasons come and go and come again, so it is that there is nothing new.  It has all been done before, and will be again.

Teens dying from alcohol overdoses may be a recent phenomenon, although teens doing stupid things is nothing new. I was rather interested to see the parents of a teen who OD’ed on alcohol feature on TV news. They were giving other teens advice about looking out for their mates, and not letting them get too drunk. Unfortunately, there seemed to be no admittance that their own parenting skills may have had anything to do with the matter.

These parents obviously have no understanding of what it means that the sins of the father will be passed down to the next generation.

Governments come and go, but it doesn’t seem to make any different to the average citizen. The only difference seems to be the ways they find to tax you.

How do you cope in a universe such as this?

Is A Website Essential To My Business?

We live in a country where the people love new technology.  New Zealand was world leaders when it came to EFT POS – Electronic Funds Transfer @ Point Of Sale. Many other new gadgets and gizmos are readily taken up by the Kiwi population.

Broadband is something the majority of New Zealanders are screaming out for. We want it available and we want it faster. It is such a big deal that even the Government has felt compelled to step in and try to sort it out.

What does this tell you?

It tells me that as a population most of us are actively online. Ok, no surprises there. But the staggering thing to me is the lack of recognition of this fact that local businesses seem to have.

I look at the number of businesses listed in the local Yellow Pages and then I do a search for these services online, and in some cases I am drawing a total blank. Even the businesses I do find often only have a listing in an online directory, they do not have a website of their own.

Who is to blame for this seemingly head-in-the-sand approach that NZ businesses are taking?  The Universities that produce all these managers? Business owners that hire staff to take care of computer stuff and have no idea how use one?

All I can say is that if you have a business and it isn’t online you are missing out on a lot of customers.  And if your competition beats you to having an online presence you will be left playing catch-up. It is always harder to outrank someone that already has a web presence for your target keywords.

If you need a little help getting online try NZMarketingSystems.com

Life is so busy. We have to rush here and be there. Surroundings become a blur.

People we meet often become apart of that blurred surrounding. Even when we are forced to face other people, we don’t want to take the time to get to know them because we don’t have time in our busy lives for another relationship.

Dale Carnegie made a lot of money when he recognised this tendency of modern society.  His book How to Win Friends and Influence People changed the lives of many people, but it was not enough to reverse the trends of a generation. So, unfortunately, his book is as relevant today as it ever was.

Good relationships are the key to a great business and a happy life. Something overlooked by so many. A point that brought home to me again today as I watched someone “booted” from an internet site for being a little too forward for the status quo. This same person with whom I would later share ideas and form a working relationship.

Is your comfort zone limiting your life?
Is your comfort zone limiting you business?

I suggest you read How To Win Friends and Influence People again if you have read it before. Remind yourself how to really get ahead in this world.

I wasn’t going to comment on the unfortunate mess that Mr. Serepisos seems to have found himself in as I have no vested interested.  However, seeing the way things have played out in the media I cannot help myself.

The similarity between the way Mr. Serepisos seems to operate and certain individuals that I have the misfortune of doing business with recently is striking. Why is that these individuals who live the high-life seem to think that their own lifestyle is more important than those to whom they owe money?

More to the point, why do they continue to ignore people trying to deal with them as long as the matter is kept private. These people will only sort out matters once brought into the public light it would appear. No doubt they rely on the fact that the majority of people would not go to the trouble, or have the knowledge of how to bring public attention to their plight.

Is it arrogance? A lack of conscience? Or have they just lost touch with reality?

It isn’t that I particularly like seeing a high fliers crash and burn, but I like it even less when I see the working man struggling because his money has not eventuated. And it always seems like it is those at the bottom of the food chain who suffer because they have no options.  The people they owe money to can not be ignored.

Meanwhile, the high fliers in their fancy cars and expensive clothes, when confronted with complaints from the working class cry “tall poppy.” Is it any wonder that the general population has a distrust and low image of the flashy high flier when all too often their suspicions end up proven correct?

Should we gloat? Or should we hang our head in shame with the state of the society that we live in?

ANZAC Day – a day of rememberance for our valient men of war.

ANZAC standing for Australia – New Zealand – Army Corps. A relationship stretching back to 1914 when the first ANZAC unit was formed.

The spirit of the men from down under was undeniably robust, and despite horrific skirmishes such as that of Gallipoli the ANZACs were feared and respected by their opponents.

Traditionally ANZAC day has been set aside as a memorial of the many men fighting under the Australasian banner who gave their lives.  The sale of red poppies has helped generate money for the casualties and families of these men.

ANZAC day memorials have become more popular in recent times as the younger generations rally together to show support for the valiant men of generations past.

So what should we think of anti war protesters who are now encroaching upon tradition? This year they began selling white poppies only days before the traditional red poppies came onto the market.

Should protests against modern wars and politics desecrate the precious memories of past sacrifice? Does the act of remembering fallen soldiers of years gone by endorse current political actions?

Or is this just part of the social engineering that is determined to destroy the past for the sake of their own agenda? The same philosophy that is determined to drive a wedge between the indigenous people and the colonizers. The same movement that wants control over our children and our land, not to mention our income.

I don’t know if I just becoming more aware or if there is actually an increasing trend of cancer mortality.  It seems that everyone I meet either has some form of cancer or is immediately connected with someone who is fighting cancer. If it isn’t cancer it is a heart condition.

Is it the Universe fighting back against the blight that mankind has become on the planet?

Is it the Creator of the Universe reminding us of our mortality?

Obviously we should be prepared for any such reality in our lives. But what lengths should we go to?

It would be hard for anyone to step into my business and take over. Should I have someone trained up to do that?

Insurance is another interesting dilemma.  A doctor suggests that health insurance is over-rated because they generally find a loophole to weasel out of paying when you find yourself in a situation to cash in on the policy.

Life insurance, or more correctly death insurance, is designed to pay out to those you leave behind.  But the amount you pay in compared to the payout becomes very redundant if you live an extended period of time. The way the fees are set up there is no reward for joining early in life anyway.

In this day and age the majority of people do not have the discretionary income to cover such expenditure anyway, and these are the people who would most benefit from the policies.

Death might be the great leveller but there is nothing fair about the when and how, nor the effect on those left behind.

When you are thinking about how to measure if you are successful or not, how does your death feature into the result?

The Bank Is Foreclosing!

I was somewhat intrigued by a news item this evening.

A couple borrowed several million dollars to buy a farm. They already had a block of land and were able to get 100% financing (this was a couple of years ago – toward the end of the property boom) on the new farm.

To get the equity required they had their original block revalued.  They say that they felt the new valuation was too high but it was that that enabled the purchase of the new block.

They borrowed and additional $200 thousand to make improvements.

Long story short – they were unable to get the returns they expected/needed, the land values have plummeted post property bust so they are facing bankruptcy.

They are blaming the banks for giving them the money and not making sure their business was a sound investment.

I am sorry, but borrowing 100% on a farm is a recipe for disaster. The nature of farming is such that if you need maximum returns every year to meet your bills you will fail.  Sooner or later a bad year (or string of bad years) will come.

What did you think would happen when you are millions of dollars in debt and you fail to make your payments?

Obviously they thought they would grab the capital gains, but under a forced sale they have now made a (significant) capital loss.

Some people may pick themselves up again from this point but probably not those who are living in a world of blame and denial.