Until We Meet Again part 2 | Peter Mehit

April 27, 2015April 27, 2015 ~ knjohn ~ Leave a comment

You’ve no doubt heard the expression that a person has a ‘hidden agenda’. We’re here to tell you the shocking truth. Everybody has a ‘hidden agenda’ and only a few people have an actual agenda. I know, I was scared too when I first heard this.

Are agendas important? You bet. Without one, meetings are unstructured discussions that will take longer than you expect and won’t deliver the results you want. With one, you’ll make millions and be ecstatically happy every day. Well, maybe not, but you’ll be happier than you would have been without one.

To be successful, agendas need to be:

Realistic – Can you really get to all the items on the agenda in the time you have? This is important because you always have to finish on time (more later).

Continue reading “Until We Meet Again part 2 | Peter Mehit” →

Success Is Controlling How You Spend Your Time | Inc.com

April 27, 2015 ~ knjohn ~ Leave a comment

I blew the mind of one of my Babson College students this morning.

Like most people, he believes that success is measured by how much money you have and how much money you make. By that measure, there is no single individual who is the world’s most successful.

After all, Bill Gates–whose net worth totaled $79.6 billion according to Forbes’s January 29, 2015, tally–probably has the most money, but I sincerely doubt he makes the most money every year.

That title probably goes to a hedge fund manager. For example, Ray Dalio–who runs $120 billion (assets under management) Bridgewater Associates–pulled in a cool $3 billion in personal earnings last year, according to Forbes.

But if you believe that success means both having the highest net worth and getting paid the most every year, then neither Gates nor Dalio is successful.

That’s because the pursuit of the most wealth or the highest annual income is success only if you keep winning every year. Otherwise, you are going to spend time trying to figure out how you can get to be number one–rather than taking pleasure in what you have achieved.

Google Is About to Make Your Wireless Carrier a Lot Less Relevant | WIRED

April 24, 2015 ~ knjohn ~ Leave a comment

GOOGLE’S NEW WIRELESS phone service, Project Fi, offers a long list of modern day perks. It automatically moves phones between traditional cellular networks and the WiFi wireless networks inside homes and businesses. Once on WiFi, you can still make calls and send texts. And you can pay for all this in small, flat, monthly fees—avoiding the sort of inflated, strings-attached pricing that so often accompanies our cell services.

Three Strategies to Engage Your Clients | Getentrepreneurial.com

April 24, 2015 ~ knjohn ~ Leave a comment

“What have you done for me lately?” is the client attitude du jour. And by “lately,” they mean very recently. The number of client experiences with and impressions from your competition expands daily with a multitude of tech-driven access points.

Client engagement—from relationship to results—is a key to your increasing sales with greater productivity to get out of the office earlier to do what you love with those you love.

How do you strategically engage your clients?

Here are 3 Strategies to Engage Clients for more business:

Be Initiating

The Science Of Why You Should Spend Your Money On Experiences, Not Things | Co.Exist

April 24, 2015 ~ knjohn ~ Leave a comment

Most people are in the pursuit of happiness. There are economists who think happiness is the best indicator of the health of a society. We know that money can make you happier, though after your basic needs are met, it doesn’t make you that much happier. But one of the biggest questions is how to allocate our money, which is (for most of us) a limited resource.

There’s a very logical assumption that most people make when spending their money: that because a physical object will last longer, it will make us happier for a longer time than a one-off experience like a concert or vacation. According to recent research, it turns out that assumption is completely wrong.

“One of the enemies of happiness is adaptation,” says Dr. Thomas Gilovich, a psychology professor at Cornell University who has been studying the question of money and happiness for over two decades. “We buy things to make us happy, and we succeed. But only for a while. New things are exciting to us at first, but then we adapt to them.”

Saving on Sustainability | IBIS World

April 23, 2015 ~ knjohn ~ Leave a comment

While many US companies are making swift moves toward eco-friendliness to boost their corporate images or because they truly care, many others simply have to because of the nature of their businesses or ever-stricter environmental regulation. For instance, the daily operations of energy and manufacturing companies’ already necessitate monitoring of output and waste. Meanwhile, EPA legislation revisions planned this year are expected to expand the pool of companies at risk of costly noncompliance fines if they don’t implement more sustainable practices.

Already taking those steps are behemoths like Bank of America and its internal recycling program, Hewlett Packard and its e-waste initiative and Walmart and its use of energy-efficient lighting. While these corporate giants may have the necessary funds and resources to make drastic investments in sustainability, there are many steps businesses of all sizes can take to lessen their negative impact on the environment or simply stay compliant as regulation tightens. And with the right purchasing strategies, businesses can avoid taking an axe to their bottom line. IBISWorld has identified some key products and services that can help companies achieve their sustainability goals, as well as the strategies to do so for the best price.

IS TECHNOLOGY SLOWING US DOWN? | BusinessTips.com

April 22, 2015 ~ knjohn ~ 1 Comment

Ways That Technology Might Be Inhibiting Our Efficiency and Solutions to Maximizing its Benefits

Welcome to the Digital Age. Gone are the days of typewriters, Polaroid cameras and rotary phones. Computers, digital cameras and smart phones have not only replaced their prehistoric counterparts in our ever-advancing technological world, but they are seemingly as much a necessity to one’s survival as food and clothing. Why? Simply put, they are the normal means of communication, productivity and solutions in both the corporate world and our personal lives. As technology continues to advance, however so must our understanding of how it all works and how to use it correctly. Failure to utilise technology correctly can negatively impact communication and efficiency. Here are three signs that the technology you are using may actually be slowing you down, and solutions for improvement and maximizing its benefits.

1. Despite the use of technology, your tasks are taking you the same amount of time or sometimes longer to complete.

Keep your inbox empty with one of these four strategies | Mashable

April 21, 2015 ~ knjohn ~ Leave a comment

No matter how much time we spend trying to optimize our inbox — from batch checking messages to adding bells and whistles — email takes over our lives. Looking at my stats from last month, I received and processed over 10,000 emails (eek!), so finding the right way to manage all this online correspondence has been critical for my day-to-day sanity.

Turns out, though, the “right way” to manage email depends a lot on your own personal style. I’ve rounded up some of the most popular and successful strategies so that you can decide which one is best for you:

1. LIFO: Last In First Out

This technique is predicated on letting the old stuff deal with itself. It’s the most common way that people deal with their inbox, reading through email top-down (a.k.a., starting with the most recent email received).

This is highly convenient and intuitive, but there are two primary risks of this strategy. The first risk is that you’ll likely end up with inconsistent responsiveness. On days that you have a lot of time to spend on email, you’ll reply to contacts lightning-fast. On days that you’re busy and in meetings, you’ll have messages pile up and get buried under newer emails.

Google shaking up search results on smartphones | LA Times

April 21, 2015 ~ knjohn ~ Leave a comment

Google is about to change the way its influential search engine recommends websites on smartphones in a shift that’s expected to sway where millions of people shop, eat and find information.

The revised formula, scheduled to be released Tuesday, will favor websites that Google defines as “mobile-friendly.” Websites that don’t fit the description will be demoted in Google’s search results on smartphones while those meeting the criteria will be more likely to appear at the top of the rankings — a prized position that can translate into more visitors and money.

Most 20-Somethings Can’t Answer These 3 Financial Questions. Can You? |Time Money

April 21, 2015 ~ knjohn ~ Leave a comment

A new study finds that young Americans could use some help when it comes to managing their money.

Just in time for financial literacy month, a new San Diego State University study of young Americans has found that they are lacking when it comes to financial knowledge and behavior.

Out of these three questions measuring basic financial knowledge, the average respondent could answer only 1.8 correctly—and only a quarter got all three right. (Answers are at the bottom of this story.)

(1) Do you think that the following statement is true or false? Buying a single company stock usually provides a safer return than a stock mutual fund.